Real-time information is already widely used in facilities management to monitor emission and reduce energy use, for example. And it's increasingly being employed by companies to improve their water and waste management - by pinpointing water leaks, tracking employees' shower time, and highlighting materials being recycled and thrown in the trash.

A big data partnership announced recently - a collaboration among the White House, the World Resources Institute, Google, Amazon, Microsoft and other public and private entities - will also provide a tool to help corporations make long-term infrastructure decisions by improving their climate resilience planning. The project is called the Partnership for Resilience and Preparedness (PREP).

“Understanding the threats posed by climate change and extreme weather are critical to protecting people, homes, businesses and livelihoods. Data must be part of the solution,” said Janet Ranganathan, vice president for science and research at World Resources Institute.

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