Networking company Cisco is spearheading efforts to develop technology that can manage energy conservation and carbon footprints by collecting and processing field data. The company uses wireless networking to monitor the changing environment to track emissions from the threatened Brazilian rainforest to the Golden Gate Bridge.

According to scientists at the Met Office Hadley Centre for Climate Change, even when considering the best-case global warming scenario, 20-40 percent of the Amazon forest could die off within 100 years. Peter Cox, professor of climate systems dynamics at the University of Exeter was quoted as saying that the loss of the Amazon would "significantly" intensify the effects of global warming.

Cisco and NASA are working together to develop a global sensor network large and advanced enough to assess conditions in the Brazilian rainforest. The Planetary Skin system is intended to be a global-monitoring system of environmental conditions. This would survey global environmental information to provide real-time situational information, thereby improving the ability to manage issues on a global and local level.

The watchful sensors of Planetary Skin, which was announced in March, will keep an eye on our resources, like energy, water, food, waste or infrastructure and analyze carbon emissions and biodiversity. The system also allows for increased risk awareness in terms of rising water levels and drought-related crop losses. Planetary Skin also calculates the spread of disease and pandemics; all through open standards based on the latest internet technologies.

The next step in Cisco's local environmental initiatives will be developing an EcoMap of the city of San Francisco, which will be launched on Earth Day, April 22nd. Like Planetary Skin, sensors will be measuring what areas of the city contribute most to global warming and from that data, calculate ways to reduce individual carbon impacts. The EcoMap platform is a free, web-based service intended to engage not only policymakers, but also citizens and private industry.

EcoMap will also have a social networking component, which is intended to create a central area for user generated content to make best practices available. The platform was designed to increase face-to-face interaction through individuals developing EcoPlans and sharing their goals with others.

Cisco’s monitoring technology is also utilized in the EnergyWise system, free software for tracking corporate energy use and carbon emissions that runs on Cisco Ethernet switches over the existing network. Cisco customer Lauth Property Group anticipates energy savings of nearly 20 percent across the commercial office buildings it manages.

Cisco is one of many leading networking and communications companies rolling out smart grid products that leverage existing technologies.