This Saturday, we are joining millions around the world in celebrating Earth Day and renewing our commitment to creating more sustainable world. See what we are doing to preserve our environment both for today and for future generations.
For the last five years, Intellisense has been instrumental in responding to a rapidly changing climate. From the growing intensity of wildfires and hurricanes to increased flooding from rising sea levels, we have devised environmental monitoring solutions that make communities and businesses more resilient to climate change. Our products alert citizens to extreme weather events, keep first responders out of harm’s way, and assist in the construction of renewable energy projects like solar farms and geothermal power plants.
But our efforts must go beyond reacting to climate change. Intellisense is now taking proactive steps to reduce our environmental impact and put sustainability into practice. Learn more about these initiatives below:
Reducing Carbon Emissions and Power Consumption
Because fueling our homes, offices, and cars emits greenhouse gases that trap heat and contribute to global warming, Intellisense is devising ways to diminish its reliance on the electrical grid and the fossil fuels needed to power our lives. It starts with more sustainable business practices. Like many other offices around the world, our campus incorporates motion sensors and timers that automatically turn lights off in rooms that are not in use. Our processes significantly reduce paper consumption by utilizing secure file transfers and cloud-based data storage. And last year, we adopted a 9/80 schedule where instead of working a traditional 8 hours per day for five days a week, our staff had the option of working 9 hours per day over a two-week period. This enabled folks to take every other Friday off and make 26 fewer round trips to and from the office each year. This not only makes our employees happier, but it reduces the electrical burden of lights and HVAC with fewer people in the office. It also saves hundreds of gallons of gasoline per year in commuting. These are just a few small steps that Intellisense is taking to decrease our energy demands and their impact on the environment.
Electric Car Charging
Our employees have been doing their part to reduce their carbon footprint by purchasing electric cars, which generate far less carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases compared to their gas-powered counterparts. The U.S. Department of Energy recently concluded that most electric cars generate about a third of the carbon emissions of a gas-powered car over the course of 11,000 miles. To accommodate our staff and encourage them in their sustainability efforts, we have doubled the number of electric car chargers at our offices. While this may increase some demands on the electrical grid, these chargers encourage us and our employees to make a broader initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from commuting. To encourage an even greater reduction in carbon emissions, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently proposed a 56% cut in vehicle emissions by 2032, which would require two out of every three new vehicles sold in the United States to be electric. So Intellisense is planning ahead for an electrified driving future.
Creating More Sustainable Products
Our environmental monitoring solutions are superlative in terms of size, reliability, and sustainability. Traditional weather stations and flood sensors require more power, raw material, and moving components that ultimately contribute to greater greenhouse gas emissions and waste. Our solutions incorporate ultrasonic, infrared, and lidar-based sensors, which need fewer metals and plastics compared to older products. Forgoing moving parts for highly accurate electronic sensors also make our products more reliable and ensure a longer lifespan than our less sustainable competitors. And because our environmental monitoring solutions integrate solar power systems, they do not need to be connected to hardline power or the electrical grid, which further reduces the demand for fossil fuels and their resultant emissions.
Empowering Environmental Initiatives
Products from Intellisense Systems have helped communities and businesses respond to weather conditions that are intensifying as a result of global warming. Through record-setting storms like Hurricane Ida and 
wildfires that threaten natural wonders like California’s sequoias, our rugged, autonomous sensors have alerted residents to dangerous conditions and ensured the safety of first responders.
But now these solutions are being used in projects that are proactively fighting the causes of climate change. To explore the efficacy of geothermal power (which produce 99% less carbon dioxide than similarly sized fossil fuel power plants), multiple Micro Weather Stations have been installed on glaciers and volcanic islands in Alaska to monitor weather conditions and let researchers know when it is safe to venture out to these remote locations.
Another Intellisense product, the solar-powered AWARE Flood System, provides accurate water level data to hydrologists looking to manage rising sea levels and water runoff during record-breaking rainstorms. Identifying areas where flood risk is higher due to rising water levels not only can save lives and property, but also help in reducing waste. The AWARE Flood System has been instrumental in the development of inundation maps that prevent structures from being damaged or replaced by flooding.
Sustainability is important at Intellisense, and we remain committed to reducing our environmental impact to preserve our planet for future generations. We look forward to contributing to more initiatives like the construction of wind farms and solar arrays that proactively address climate change by reducing emissions and fostering a more sustainable future.