Environmental
Natural resources consulting firm DIEHLUX estimates that they have reduced time spent producing environmental regulatory reports by 66% using Ecobot.
Lance also points out recent dramatic changes to federal environmental regulations, adding the need for “the regulated community [to remain] agile amid the changes.” As these changes occur, the task of the environmental consultant remains the same: to assess land use risk and opportunity for their client. Lance adds that, “the need to equip clients with thorough and sound data is more important than ever.” While there has been significant progress in recent years, Lance still believes the industry is “teetering on the edge of a digital boom.” As funding from the IIJA and IRA begins to flow, Lance links a tangible connection between Ecobot’s value to customers working on large infrastructure projects and the ability to perform work with efficiency and reliability. By eliminating time spent generating regulatory reports by up to 50 percent with built-in automations, Ecobot’s customers are able to streamline workflows and ensure seamless data transmission. These capabilities have had major impacts on large infrastructure projects. One example is Ecobot’s impact on infrastructure firm Burns & McDonnell’s management of Georgia Power’s Grid Investment Program, the multi-year plan to enhance approximately 1,700 miles of transmission lines across the state. The firm used Ecobot to conduct environmental assessments with a goal of avoiding sites where there would be environmental impacts. With Ecobot, the Burns & McDonnell team was able to quickly identify those areas and plan sites accordingly, keeping the project moving smoothly forward. Thus far, Ecobot has been deployed by environmental consultants working on linear corridors and on parcels ranging in size from small developments to those that are thousands of acres, such as industrial and utility-scale power generation, transportation improvements and construction, solar developments, multi-state-pipeline projects, environmental restoration projects, and even a spaceport. And, despite what Lance describes as the “environmental industry’s historic slowness to adopt technology,” he also points out the tremendous opportunity in not having old technology to replace, which enables the industry to “jump right in and adopt significantly more impactful new technology.” This drive towards delivering efficiency to customers is fueled by the use of data and AI. Lance notes the extreme amount
of rework involved throughout data collection and permitting, particularly when conducting multiple assessments where data may overlap. “There is a significant opportunity for Ecobot to cut out that rework, and then expand and leverage data to create more strategic and creative value for customers and their clients.,” says Lance. The opportunity extends beyond efficiency on individual projects. Data collected during environmental permitting at scale can be leveraged to track biodiversity, landform, surface, and subsurface soil data nationwide. In anonymized and aggregated form, the data could be used to close the data gap that currently prevents AI models from predicting biodiversity trends. “Ecobot is positioned to close that gap with the data that is currently an underutilized byproduct of permitting by using it in aggregated, anonymized form,” says Lance. “Can you imagine what can be learned from that at a national or planetary scale?”
Ecobot Manager makes it simple to effectively manage project data, ensuring consistent and accurate standards.
30 Fall 2024
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