Sustainable Design and Energy Optimization in Cloud-Enabled Smart Technologies

A sustainable city is one designed with consideration for environmental impact, inhabited by people dedicated to minimizing the required inputs of energy, water, and food, and waste output of heat, air pollution—i.e., CO2, methane—and water pollution. The idea behind it is simple: design towards efficiency and enable humanity to coexist symbiotically with nature. Sustainable development is often defined as "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs".

The term sustainable is used to describe the different activities that aim toward sustainability. Sustainable design considers the potential environmental impact of building materials over their entire life cycle. Sustainable development is the process through which sustainability is achieved. There are different paths leading to sustainability: stable ecology, dynamic equilibrium, working in cycles, living within limits and carrying capacity, appropriate technology and self-reliance, less energy utilization, utilitarianism, and environmental modification. Sustainable development is a continuous, repetitive process aimed at protecting natural resources and improving human life without harming people. It is a process that makes optimum utilization of natural resources; this is necessary for life to be lived in better conditions. Sustainable development is a balanced growth of all factors—population, capital, technology, and resources—achieved by using existing resources efficiently and expanding new resources in turn.