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Companies whose product objectives include reducing costs or waste, more reliable equipment management; improved physical asset control or greater situational awareness should investigate the variety of capabilities wireless sensor systems can provide. In addition to the potential savings in energy, there are likely many additional cash benefits to be found.

With 22% of the globe’s energy consumption, the US is the largest energy consumer and lowest energy producer of any developed economy in the world. The result? It is the most CO2 intensive nation in the world with a daily consumption of 6 gallons of oil per person per day or 19 tons of carbon dioxide per capita annually. This is 80% higher than Europe and 94% higher than Japan.

The greatest sources of US energy expenditure are:

• Industrial Energy 35% (chemicals, steel, processing etc)

• Road transportation is 25%

• Residential energy consumption 21%

• Commercial buildings 16%

Over the next decade, those sectors of the economy driven by consumer demand are the ones which will most rapidly increase greenhouse gases – buildings and houses.

The good news is that there are multiple opportunities to improve upon these areas. For example, the demand for energy could be reduced by 25 to 30% through a series of low cost, high return steps:

• Monitor & control of energy consumption specifically heating and cooling in homes and buildings – Smart Grid

• Replacement of incandescent bulbs with compact florescent lighting

• Equipment replacement, choosing high-efficiency water heaters and Energy StarTM appliances when it’s time for new These seemingly small steps save energy and reward investment with a rapid payback of less than 2 years, although many are immediate and some actually pay for themselves instantaneously.

In fact, according to the McKinsey Report “Reducing U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions: How Much What Cost” 40% of the total options for reducing greenhouse gases do not cost, rather releases money into the economy.

As the recognition not only of the costs of global warming, but also the savings to be realized with replacement and upgrading, become apparent, opportunities abound! There are numerous initiatives and programs supporting environmentally friendly products and solutions which continue to unfold at a breakneck pace. These initiatives are for products designed to be manufactured using greener processes and handled responsibly at the end of their life cycle as well as those specifically designed to aid industries and individuals in reducing their carbon footprint. Products such as Western Digital’s GreenPower hard drives and Seimens hybrid drive system for buses reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions up to 40 percent. Both were developed under green initiatives and are taking their industries by storm.

Green Engineering, what is it?

Clean Energy Act, RoHS & WEEE

WEEE As of August 13, 2005, producers have been required to finance the collection, treatment, recycling and recovery of all Waste Electrical & Electronic Equipment

RoHS As of July 1 2006 Electrical & Electronic Equipment may no longer be sold in the European Union if it contains any of six banned substance Restriction of Hazardous Substances On March 1 2007 the first phase of Administration on the Control of Pollution Caused by Electronic Information Products came into effect.

The Climate Control Bill introduced by Representatives Edward Markey (D-Mass.) & Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) in May of 2009 introduced the most recent version of the American Clean Energy & Security Act and aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 17% below 2005 levels by the year 2020. It would distribute up to 85 percent of pollution permits in a proposed cap-and-trade program.

The Carrot & Stick

Cash & Energy Savings Using Wireless Sensor Networks

Industries everywhere are finding ways to save not only on energy and it’s costs but through the use of wireless networks, in numerous other ways too.

According to Oak Ridge National Laboratories, through the use of wireless sensor networks, savings on energy for motors used in industrial processes could improve efficiency by 20%, resulting in significant cost savings. Wayne Manges said: “With electric motor-driven systems accounting for nearly one-fourth of all electricity consumption in the United States, the potential for savings is huge.”

The Department of Energy’s Industrial Technologies Program works with US industry to improve environmental performance and energy efficiency. The ITP is distributing 15 million to support R&D specifically to improve energy efficiency in industrial processes. Already a number of new wireless sensor products are being developed together with the Department of Energy.

Cost savings with wireless systems are recognized in multiple areas including materials and labor where the cost of running wire in plants ranges between $155 and $3,700 per foot. The typical payback for wired systems is 24 months and less than a quarter of that for a wireless equivalent, only six months. Add in the on-going energy savings and the return on investment decision is very clear.

In a large number of industries, companies are recasting their product lines to implement wireless technologies. “We can’t think of any segment of the industry that isn’t going to be impacted by this,” states Honeywell’s CTO Dan Shiflin.

Wireless sensor networks of all varieties are exploding into our world. There is a massive amount of research & development, from academia to start-ups, pushing to create proverbial “better-faster-cheaper” products. A growing number of products are based on an emerging specification “ZigBee”. A majority of utility companies that have settled on a standard have identified ZigBee as their preference due in main to its inherent security capabilities. Real-time data from wireless sensors networks will enable companies to achieve greater productivity and efficiency by continually improving their processes.

Named BP International’s first Director of Technology & Sensory Networks, for the oil company’s Technology Office, Ken Douglas said “You don’t ask people ‘How would you use ZigBee?’ Because they don’t know, but if you ask them: ‘How would you use information that you can now access for the first time?’ They have to think about it for a bit, but then the ideas just starting pouring out.”

In addition to the benefits of ZigBee’s security layers, the mesh network is highly reliable, flexible and can connect a variety of sensors simultaneously including protocols such as OPC, Modbus and HART.

The technologies for green engineering are not only cost effective, if done right, they are cash positive. When it comes to the design and development of products that are energy efficient and eco-friendly, as well as cost effective, wireless sensor networks make “better faster cheaper” energy saving products. Electronic designs using Zigbee products are making home sensors and energy saving devices a reality.It is less expensive when you get smarter, simpler products with better resource utilization while conserving precious resources.

Engineering…great profession…

“Engineering … it is a great profession. There is the fascination of watching a figment of the imagination emerge through the aid of science to a plan on paper. Then it moves to realization in stone or metal or energy. Then it brings jobs and homes to men. Then it elevates the standards of living and adds to the comforts of life. That is the engineer’s high privilege.”

Herbert Hoover, Civil Engineer, 1929. 31st President

Decatur, GA, is a small college town outside of Atlanta. It is quaint, with an intelligent culture and beautiful tree-lined roads. Many students and staff of Emory University, which is located here, remain long after their graduation, working in the community and at the university. It is a wonderful place to rent an apartment, with affordable prices and solid job prospects. But if you are planning to relocate you should spend some time researching the school’s history. Just so you know your stuff when asked by a local.

It was chartered as Emory College 1836, opened 1837 at Oxford. It became Emory Univ. in 1915 and in 1919 moved to Atlanta. In 1929, Emory-at-Oxford, a two-year junior college, was opened at the original site of the university; the junior college was renamed Oxford College in 1964. The university’s additional facilities include Emory Univ. Hospitals and Eye Clinic, the Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center, the Carter Presidential Center, and a cooperative program with the National Laboratories in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

Emory University is known for demanding academics, outstanding undergraduate education in the arts and sciences, highly ranked professional schools and state-of-the-art research facilities. Emory encourages students to create their own experiences. Top faculty are accessible and committed to teaching and fostering undergraduate research in the sciences and humanities. 

At Emory, students have four options for their undergraduate education. Entering freshmen can apply to Emory College, which offers a liberal arts education within the heart of a major research university. Students also can apply to Oxford College where students spend the first two years on Emory’s original campus 38 miles east of Atlanta. Oxford offers a small-college setting with the same academic strengths, innovative teaching and unique opportunities for leadership. As juniors, students continue from Oxford to the Atlanta campus. As juniors, students can choose from more than 70 majors in Emory College. 

They can also apply to the renowned Goizueta Business School to earn a bachelor of business administration. Students who aspire to a nursing career can earn their degree at the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, one of the nation’s top private nursing schools.

The world is now full of advancements. And as man’s mechanism to adapt to these advancements, several individuals and groups support different funded projects to further make the present technologies even more sophisticated. Whether these technologies give advantages or disadvantages, what is important is that they are built with the aim of helping mankind.

Among other things, countries are in competition with regard to advanced technology. When one country has invented a system, expect that another country will release a new invention. And so others do the same. And this pattern goes on and on.

On this issue, the state performs an important role in supporting its constituents to produce more and more advanced technologies.

Five next generation vehicle research projects were chosen by the United States Department of Energy to receive a maximum of $19 million from the DOE fund in order to further develop plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), and fuel cell vehicles (FCVs). A total of $33.8 million projects chosen for negotiation of awards were mixed with the industry’s cost share.

The five chosen projects support advanced power electronics and electric motor technologies so that they would be able to help introduce advanced PHEV, HEV, and FCV applications to the market. This was in support of President George Bush’s Twenty in Ten plans. These seek to minimize by twenty percent the country’s gas consumption within the decade through maximizing the use of alternative and renewable sources of energy and advancing the current Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency (CAFE) standards.

While also increasing vehicle efficiency, the projects will emphasize the reduction of cost, weight, and size of electric drive and power conversion devices. High-temperature three-phase inverters, high-speed motors, integrated traction drive systems, and bi-directional DC/DC converters are the four areas in which the chosen projects will focus on.

Selected projects are the Delphi Automotive Systems in Troy, Michigan, the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University of Blacksburg, Virginia, the General Electric Global Research of Niskayuna, New York, the General Motors Corporation in Torrance, California, and the U.S. Hybrid Corporation of Torrance, California.

For negotiation of an award reaching to $4.9 million intended for high-temperature three-phase inverter research, the Delphi Automotive Systems in Troy, Michigan has been chosen. The agility of electric motors are controlled and regulated by three-phase inverters. The Dow Corning, GE Global Research, GeneSiC, Argonne National Laboratory, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory are the other team members for the project.

For negotiation of an award of up to $1.7 million, the DOE has chosen Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University of Blacksburg, Virginia. The project will focus on developing an advanced soft switching inverter in order to minimize switching and power losses. The Azure Dynamics, Powerex, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology are the other team members for the project.

To work on developing high-speed electric motors, the General Electric Global Research of Niskayuna, New York, has been chosen for negotiation of an award of up to $3.4 million. With team members GE Motors and the University of Wisconsin at Madison, the project will be focusing on increasing the traction motor drive power density and efficiency at minimized costs for PHEVs, HEVs and FCVs. This will be done by building an electric motor of at least 55kW peak power and that has the capability to operate on a high speed. The project’s goal is to have at least 14,000 revolutions per minute (RPM).

Maker of quality GMC suspension bushing, General Motors Corporation in Torrance, California, has been chosen for negotiation of an award costing a maximum of $7.9 million. The work is to develop a combined traction motor and power electronic inverter for PHEV, HEV, and FCV. To lower the cost, weight, and package volume, and increase efficiency is the goal of the project. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Ames National Laboratory, Arnold Magnetics, Encap Technologies, Isothermal Systems Research, and AVX are GMC’s team members.

To work on a vehicle system research on order to determine the optimum operating battery and DC-link voltages, allowing for higher efficiency and less costs, the U.S. Hybrid Corporation of Torrance, California has been selected. This was for an award of up to $1.3 million for a bi-directional DC/DC converter for PHEVs. The project will include University of Illinois, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and SiCED as the company’s teammates.

As an essential part of DOE’s Vehicle Technologies Program, advancing vehicle technologies aims to develop and improve vehicle technologies and alternative fuels that could tremendously reduce the need for petroleum, lessen emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases, and enable the U.S. transportation industry to maintain a strong, competitive position in the domestic and international markets.