Big data could help deliver sustainability in Web3

Undoubtedly, discussion of a Web3-based future and the emergence of the metaverse will intensify in the years to come. This also increases the urgency of developing sustainable initiatives.

The potential of the metaverse is enormous. Experts speak of a whole new reality that exists in a purely digital space. This Web3 construct will pave the way for collaboration, communication and socialization in ways that are still difficult to imagine.

Big data is at the heart of this new technological revolution. The sheer volume of data users will produce in the Web3 era means intelligent insights won’t be far off. Crucially, the growth of big data can also help solve some of the world’s biggest sustainability problems.

Before we look at how Web3 can contribute to sustainability, it’s worth taking a speculative look at how the Metaverse may impact the environment. As many people around the world choose to spend much of their time in a digital world, fuel consumption will potentially decrease as fewer people need to travel. However, the sheer computing power required to fully immerse a user in the Metaverse will be immense, with Intel claiming that computers will need to be 1,000 times more powerful than they are today to handle the additional demands.

This will inevitably bring environmental concerns to the fore as the metaverse emerges. But can Web3 and the rise of Big Data help allay concerns about sustainability – and even help make the world greener? Let’s take a closer look at how big data can pave the way for a greener future in the Web3 age:

Finely tuned product life cycle analysis

One way companies are already using big data analytics to improve their environmental footprint is through the development of product life cycle assessments, which can assess the overall environmental impact of their production lines, product use, and subsequent disposal.

These reviews help shed light on a product’s timeline in a transparent manner, which ensures accountability. Factors such as the extraction of substances from the environment, the production process, the use phase and what happens to the product at the end of its life cycle can have an impact on the environment, but big data can provide clarity at every stage.

In a Web3 landscape, such in-depth data analysis might seem tedious given the computing power that would be expended on these comprehensive assessments. However, cloud-based data storage can help alleviate this problem as companies move away from local disk usage.

According to EY data, data center energy efficiency has increased by only 1.1 times over the same period, although internet traffic and data center volume increased by 16.9 times and 9.4 times between 2010 and 2020, respectively have risen.

This offers the data center industry an opportunity to become greener as cloud computing offers a lower cost per gigabyte and higher data redundancy – fueling the continued expansion of the cloud to accommodate data in the Web3 age.

As organizations move toward innovation with a greater focus on sustainability, advanced lifecycle impact assessments can help develop balanced strategies that are fully functional in the cloud.

One of the biggest challenges to corporate sustainability is the broader impact of a company’s carbon footprint. In the case of multinational pharmaceutical company GSK, for example, only 20% of the carbon footprint falls within the company’s own borders, with 80% attributable to indirect emissions such as the use of its products.

Big data will help shed light on this more transparent aspect of sustainability by revealing the more nuanced aspects of the corporate world’s relationship with the environment.

With the Web3 transformation taking center stage, we are likely to see Big Data platforms providing insights into how existing physical products can be replicated in the digital world and the wealth of usage data from customers who live, work and connect online Socializing will help provide much-needed clarity about how businesses are truly helping to save the environment.

The natural world is an extremely complex place, and Big Data in the Web3 era will provide a wealth of insights into how ESG-aware companies can adapt their existing goods and services to an immersive digital environment to strengthen their environmental footprint.

Gamified Sustainability

Big data can also help generate a more sustainability-focused user base among the billions of users expected to embrace the Metaverse.

This can be a significant step in the fight against climate change, as a recent study of 2 billion social media posts found that one of the biggest barriers to a sustainable future is behavior. As users become more willing to normalize climate conditions, these conditions can be more easily ignored.

Big Data can counteract this mindset by helping to create immersive Web3 experiences that anticipate our behavioral disadvantages and can create virtual reality learning opportunities that take audiences on a sustainability journey leading to greater awareness, greener buying habits and a stronger Craving can lead to avoiding bad habits of recycling and energy consumption.

Gaming will be a key focus of the metaverse, and we’re already seeing gamified sustainability solutions being developed to help the environment.

There is perhaps no better example of playful sustainability in action than Alóki, an NFT-based blockchain game in which users can build their own virtual paradise based on 3D LIDAR scans of the real Costa Rican jungle. Alóki founders Maurycy Krzastek and Bartek Lechowski bought real land that would become the Alóki Conservation Area in Costa Rica for US$30 million. acres of jungle.

With big data helping companies to understand user sentiment towards sustainability based on their actions in the metaverse, it can become much easier to help users learn in an immersive and gamified way.

Although the transition to life within the metaverse will take a long time, the groundbreaking is now taking place. For a prosperous future, big data and sustainability must be at the heart of the development of this bold new digital frontier.

Dmytro Spilka is the chief magician at Solvid.