Why pursue a career in CleanTech?
By Diego Baynes
Thinking of building a career in CleanTech? You may have heard the buzzwords CleanTech, GreenTech or SustainTech before, but if you haven’t, let’s explain…
CleanTech, GreenTech and SustainTech are all terms given to an industry that uses technology to create a more sustainable future.
Businesses within this space are at the cutting edge of ‘clean’ innovations, helping to tackle growing issues such as climate change, pollution, energy/water shortages and more. With growing problems comes a growing demand for innovation.
Area’s within CleanTech:
Electric Vehicle Technology
Fun Fact: If I were a betting man (I am) and you wagered a £20 note with me based on the fact that electric vehicles were NOT around in the 1880’s, I would shake your hand and accept…and therefore, inevitably hand over the goods.
The electric vehicle has actually been around since the 1830’s, however the technology wasn’t viable until 1865 (when the storage battery was invented). Even back then, inventors were observing, taking notes, and designing improvements based on all the data that they were collecting.
As you can imagine, technology has greatly improved since then. Now, data science plays a huge role within the EV Market, which includes:
- Smart Grid technology plays an extremely effective solution to meet power system demands which helps to reduce carbon emissions.
- Evolution of traditional combustion engines to green energy engines has a more positive impact on the human environment.
- Data collection from in-built trackers and sensors are playing a helping hand in understanding and estimating customer behaviour, energy generation and forecasting for demand.
Agriculture (also known as AgTech)
‘Data is to an Electric Vehicle as blood is to a living animal’
The precision agriculture market is continuing to evolve exponentially, which allows farmers to embrace real data-driven solutions.
Some of the benefits of data & analytics include:
- Increasing productivity and Innovation – farmers, growers and agribusinesses are leveraging data and innovation to improve productivity which increases both yields and profits.
With the benefits of technology, which has given rise to areas like soil sensors, GPS-equipped tractors and weather tracking, there is now much greater visibility in aspects of both opportunities and operations to maximise resources.
In a nutshell, when farmers have the ability to gain access to real-time data, they are able to gain the exact information to know the when, where, and how, in order to plan right down to the granular level.
Why should you think about a career in CleanTech?
Mordor Intelligence expects the big data and analytics market within the CleanTech sector to grow 11% from 2021 to 2026.
As the sector grows due to the need to innovate, so does the demand for jobs. It is a great time to consider a career in CleanTech.
Prior to developments such as improvements within connectivity and sensor tech, it was extremely time-consuming and costly for businesses within the space to interpret data and derive insights for key decision-making purposes. Now, with the rise of technologies that enable storage, energy conversion and management, data analytics can do so much more than simply derive insights.
You can sleep well at night knowing you’re making a difference
Over the years I had more and more candidates ask me whether I worked with any positive-impact companies, to which I simply answered, ‘no.’
The market is showing a shift – moving away from the usual motivations such as ‘money’ or ‘progression’ to a person’s social responsibility.
Could this be due to lockdown and people being more likely to question their motivations?
Or could it be due to an increase in awareness?
Who knows, but its real. At the end of the day, who wouldn’t want to use their skills and expertise to battle one of the most critical issues in the world?
If you’re interested in working in the CleanTech space, contact us today or take a look at our latest jobs.