Guest Speaker: Stefano Stramigioli
Stefano Stramigioli received the M.Sc. with honors (cum laude) in 1992 and the Ph.D with honors (cum laude) in 1998. Since 1998 he has been a faculty member and is currently full professor of the chair of Advanced Robotics at the University of Twente, an entrepreneurial research university in Enschede, Netherland... Profile
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Associate Professor
University of Twente
said: On 01/07/2008
Before this question can be answered some considerations are required.
First it should be stated that when we speak of energy in this context, in fact free energy is meant, as true energy cannot be consumed or dissipated according to the principle of global energy conservation, which is one of the pillars of physics. This is no pedantic nitpicking, as the misunderstanding of the concept of (free) energy is a source of its waste.
Secondly, automation will be considered an attempt to meet a specific criterion without human intervention by means of man-made additions to our environment. These automatons or controllers mostly require energy themselves.
Thirdly, we should identify our so-called energy problem: given the overpopulation of our planet, existing (free) energy resources, i.e. all forms of converted and biochemically stored solar power, are consumed at a much higher rate than they are formed, with all the negative side effects like generation of products that cannot be absorbed by the environment in a balanced manner (e.g. carbon dioxide), even though they may be building blocks of living organisms like plants.
Having said this, automation can play a role in different ways:
1) It can play a role in preventing waste of energy by optimizing energy generation processes as long as the prevented energy waste largely exceeds the energy consumed by the automaton, including the energy required for its production, an often forgotten factor. This strategy is the current focus of the automotive industry for instance, where efficient combustion is based on advanced control systems. It may reduce the need of energy, although the rapidly increasing number of users make that it will not solve the global problems, but just reduce the growth of the need.
2) It can play a role in preventing waste of energy by preventing waste of materials that require energy to be produced, ranging from heat and light to food and other consumables, including drinking water.
3) It can play a significant role in making (almost) direct use of solar power, e.g. directing photovoltaic cells or heat collectors towards the sun and by adapting a windmill or water turbine to the ever-changing environmental conditions.
4) Finally, it can be used to provide immediate feedback on human behavior that is directly (e.g. car driving) or indirectly (e.g. consuming more food than necessary) causing energy waste.
Hence the above question can be answered affirmative. Yet it is highly unlikely that automation will be widely recognized as a strong contributor to the solutions for this planet’s problems as the abstract concepts behind automation make it an often misunderstood discipline that is counterintuitive for most decision makers as it requires simultaneous reasoning instead of common sequential reasoning. Even for many engineers automation is of minor importance as they focus on the creation of material objects and consider automation or control as something simple that can be added at the end in stead of designing a controlled system in an integrated manner. This is why many applications of control systems are rather old-fashioned. Therefore, a more prominent role of integrated design of controlled systems and processes in all our curricula, not limited to the engineering sciences, could largely improve the chance of success of automation in ecological use of energy in the long run.
Member
European Commission
said: On 01/07/2008
Energy efficiency is fundamental in any energy policy; it is indeed the first one that needs to be implemented. Before filling a barrel that leaks, we should first make it watertight. Energy consumption is nowadays consubstantial to human activities. We would never manage to live in a modern society without consuming energy, even if we have to be more efficient in doing so. If we are all aware that we must better control our energy consumption, we won’t succeed in doing so because our human behaviour is erratic and not in line with our wishes (this is so for so many aspect of our life).
Now, it is possible to overcome this wrongdoing thanks to technology – particularly thanks to automatic systems and domotics. One simple example is that of sensors that are able to turn lighting on and off automatically. When a person has to push a button to turn on the lights, he might forget to turn them off.
Today, thanks to electronic devices, we can continuously measure energy flows in houses. By combining them with the time of day, the external temperature or number of persons in the house, we can immediately identify the energy outflow and interfere automatically to stop those wastes. Automatic systems in all sector of human activities will be extensively used in the future to force us to be energy efficient.
Chartered Director
RURobots Ltd
said: On 01/07/2008
Robotics and automation have a role to play in helping to solve some of the world’s energy problems. On the supply side robots can assist in the economic development of new oil fields, particularly those located in deep water. By assisting in roles such as long range exploration, underwater construction and underwater facility maintenance, advanced robots can make deep water fields more economic and extend the viable life of this asset while other energy sources are brought on-stream.
To many the nuclear is an inescapable part of a sustainable energy mix. However, one problem faced by this industry is the uncertainty surrounding the costs of legacy and future decommissioning and final waste storage. These cost uncertainties make it difficult to truly establish the economic viability of this technology versus alternatives. Advanced robots can assist in reducing the uncertainty surrounding these costs by offering a comprehensive facilities audit capability based on relatively small, cooperating robots. Reducing the uncertainty of the issues to be faced during decommissioning reduces the necessity for large contingencies and allows straight forward planning of the tasks. More ambitiously, the use of intelligent robots in long term waste repositories would allow for the possibility of active monitoring and management of the waste in unmanned conditions and again reduce the costs that would otherwise accrue from the contingencies that need to be incorporated into unmanaged repository options.
On the demand side, totally automated, “lights-out” automation reduces energy demand through eliminating the need for heating and lighting purely to support the workforce attending the facility. However the scope for such operations is likely to be extremely limited. Of more promise is the ability for specialised robotics and automation to operate within confined areas with specialised environments. In particular, the Food and Drink industry is Europe’s largest manufacturing sector with many areas requiring chilled operations to preserve the shelf life of the food. This often involves the chilling of large areas of the factory floor. By adopting the concepts of “food processing in a pipe” developed at the Swedish Institute for Food and Biotechnology, automation equipment can be placed inside a sealed container surrounding the assembly line and only this relatively small volume needs to be actively chilled, saving vast amounts of energy.
In these and other applications, robotics and automation will not solve the world’s energy problems but they can be a key asset in making sustainable practices viable and economic.
Chairman
British Automation and Robot Association
said: On 01/07/2008
Automation in itself will not solve our energy problems. What it can do, however, is make some of the alternative energy sources viable. Invariably, all our alternative sources of energy involve operating in a hostile environment. With wind power the ideal location is offshore, for solar power the ideal is a hot desert and nuclear power involves creating a radiation-rich environment. All of these facilities require maintenance and repair, and it is here that automation will be crucial to viability. It will be very difficult to persuade anyone to live in a desert and spend all of their days cleaning large photovoltaic cells. In fact it may not be possible for humans to survive in the conditions they operate in. On the other hand, a robot that can crawl about and continually polish the cells to keep them working at maximum efficiency is reasonably possible with today’s technology. The crucial thing is to design the generating facility with the automated cleaning process in mind and not to develop something which we subsequently discover is impossible to clean.
The nuclear industry should by now have learned that lesson, though my understanding is that it hasn’t. If nuclear power is to be a serious long-term player then the issues of decommissioning have to be solved before we build any more facilities. It is important that we design in the decommissioning system now, in order to prevent it being a massive cost to future generations. The only sensible approach is to use automation systems to take them apart and we already know that if automation is going to take something apart it is easiest if the same system put it together in the first place. This is not popular, because to do it in this way adds significantly to the cost of the first facility. In the long run, however, the payback is there, as further facilities are built in exactly the same way. A quick look at the development of the car industry shows us that once the use of automation in an industry is understood, the quality improves greatly and the cost plummets. However, it does require people to adopt a radical approach and to be prepared to spend money up front. Not popular with politicians who would rather have benefits today and the costs later when they have gone.
Postdoctoral Researcher
Cambridge University
said: On 02/07/2008
Automation by itself is not THE solution for our energy problems. However, it plays a major role in energy strategy to decrease energy consumption.
“Nearly all electrical systems – especially those in large industrial and commercial facilities – have a lot of hidden waste,” said Dr. Paul Bleiweis, President of an international leader in industrial and commercial energy conservation. In this context, automation-as-energy strategy is vital and could leverage the basic principals of electrical energy to virtually eliminate the waste. The impact can be enormous.
To some, “energy strategy” may simply mean employing sensible conservation measures. To others, it means developing a comprehensive program that integrates supply, demand, facility operation and maintenance, and financing opportunities for the greatest rewards. And here, automation is crucial to achieve an effective and efficient energy strategy, in particular in the supply chain and facility operation and maintenance. Automation as an energy strategy could be seen as a service provided by Energy and Automation companies.
Currently, the field of industrial support services is undergoing something of a revolution. While conventional support providers are seeking to consolidate spares and support offering under a single banner, original equipment manufacturers are also seeking to enter this field by providing automated through life support for their products.
Senior Vice President
Energy Industries
said: On 08/07/2008
Energy efficiency represents the first thing any company or individual should undertake to address our energy problems. Renewable energy is also a big part of the package, but it starts with efficiency.
One of the easiest things to do is to shut things off when they are not in use. Instead of individuals having this responsibility, which may or may not always happen, automation is the answer. There are control systems for everything from heating and air conditioning to vending machines. Home automation and intelligent devices have the opportunity in reducing energy use by shutting off or setting back devices when the home is not occupied. Sensors for lighting can not only shut off lights, but also can dim lighting based on daylight or even notices from the utility in times of generation deficits.
As technology continues to advance, more and more control of buildings and energy systems will be automated so that energy is not wasted.
It will be up to all of us to accept these intelligent automation devices in our home, workplace, or even the hotels we stay in. One of the biggest issues facing automation is human bypass. Americans in particular love to find ways to maintain control and bypass automated devices. However if we are going to make a significant impact on energy utilization, we are going to have to give up some control.
deputy head and research director
Malardalen University
said: On 08/07/2008
In process industries, energy is normally used in large quantities. For example, in the pulp and paper industry, the energy needed for production of 1 ton of pulp is normally around 13-14 GJ. If a number of actions were taken with new technologies, this could be reduced to approximately 8-9 GJ/ton. The surplus energy could be used to produce Green electricity or chemicals like DME, Methanol, Lignin and other specialty chemicals. For Green electricity and chemical production, Black Liquor Gasification could be used. With the Alstom (ABB) dry CFB process with direct caustization (TiO2) and a gas-combined cycle, we expect a net electricity production of 37-38%, compared to some 10-15% with today’s technology. To make this possible we need both the new process technologies, as well as the automation to make the processes more efficient. Automation may make up approximately 30-50% of the energy efficiency improvements by stabilizing the processes.
We can see similar effects in the steel industry and manufacturing industries. In the latter, it is a combination of redesign of the processes and automation. Simple things like shutting off the light when no one is in the room, optimizing the ventilation and the indoor climate system by adapting to the activities in the room, etc. could reduce energy by some 15%, and combining with new investments in equipments, a reduction by 50% can be met in many cases!
In power plants, automation makes it possible to reduce environmental impact when “bad” fuels are used, like different kind of wastes. This can improve the up-time and give more “green energy” from waste that normally would not be used. Automation is very important in this process, and could save billions of dollars worldwide. Also, automation and optimization are key to the utilization of biomass in a most efficient way to reduce the waste of energy, where production of heat, cool, power and chemicals are integrated. The same energy used many times to get very high efficiencies (over 120 % with respect to the heating value of the fuel!)
Professor
Purdue University
said: On 08/07/2008
There are many ways for automation to achieve energy conservation. Improving the efficiency, scheduling, availability and maintainability of machines provide obvious benefits to energy conservation. In a broader sense, however, we need to use automation in an Energy Internet to harvest even small energy savings from each one of the astonishingly large and growing number of energy consuming devices. For example, imagine future appliances having their own microprocessors and IP addresses, capable of receiving pricing signals and scheduling their own power behavior accordingly. With no loss of function a refrigerator can look-ahead and schedule its motor operation in ways that avoid peak-demand constraints when the price of power may exceed a threshold. Power vending and smart grids combined with pricing signals and short-term elasticities may achieve powerful conservation and environmental benefits in automatic and fully transparent ways. In an Energy Internet, computational capacities (such as anticipating power behavior) are used to offset limitations in energy storage. Significantly expanded nuclear power for base load, improved distributed generation relying mostly on renewables, a better managed power grid, and pricing signals capturing peak-demand constraints as well as carbon costs can make it possible for automation to address our energy problems, including transportation, through the smart use of carbon-free electricity.
Professor
University of Ontario Institute of Technology
said: On 08/07/2008
No, I don’t feel that automation of itself can solve our energy problems, but it certainly can help.
Automation in its broadest sense, including robotics, smart computer controls, and software, certainly enables humans to do what they do more cleverly and in many cases more effectively. That can lead to improved productivity in a manufacturing plant, more reliable electrical grids, and higher quality products. These are all useful and highly beneficial outcomes of advanced automation.
But the energy challenges we face today are immense in their own rights, and require direct and focused efforts on their core aspects if we are to solve them. That is, when considering the entire energy system, we need to find energy resources that are affordable, publicly acceptable and less damaging to the environment. We also need to find efficient ways to convert these energy resources into more convenient energy carriers that are utilizable to provide the energy services needed by people, and we need to improve society’s utilization and management of energy in terms of efficiency and conservation. Certainly automation can help us do these things more intelligently. For example, it can help us search for fossil fuels in remote locations, operate our nuclear reactors more reliably and improve the efficiency with which we use energy in homes, industries and vehicles.
Despite the importance of these benefits, they can only have a minor impact on the energy issues of today and the future. Certainly, these outcomes of automation will help stretch out the lifetimes of resources by increasing efficiency, and help find new oil and uranium reserves. But to address the core issues of increasing scarcity of conventional energy resources and energy-related environmental issues, we first and foremost need to shift to alternative energy sources and technologies that can provide the energy services required by people and that are widely available, while being inherently cleaner and affordable to all.
postdoctoral research associate
University of Cambridge
said: On 09/07/2008
Automation is about helping humans disperse control activities which are frequently monotonous and low level. Think supermarket check outs, error prone visual quality checks on manufacturing lines, or replacing operators with robots, eliminating the need for heating or lighting. Automation at this level is already happening. Observations so far show that although automation is not the sole answer to energy conservation, it is still a key indirect player, as it helps reduce waste and time by indirectly contributing to energy saving.
By saying this, a second wave of industrial automation could occur at a higher level. An example could be giving decisions on which supplier to select during part procurement for a service operation. A human decision maker has to juggle and assess many criteria, be it cost, previous supplier behaviour, design fit, time, and at the same time respect the many constraints in which the supply chain operates in, such as contractual agreements, or schedules. Imagine an automated system where we have a virtual open market, with software entities acting on behalf of different suppliers, and users, to find out which solution will yield the most energy and cost efficient outcome. Now we are talking about intelligent systems helping the human optimise decisions by reducing the enormous search space, leading to faster, consistent, open decisions. Part inventory is reduced, cost and energy is optimised. Futuristic as this may sound, software systems facilitating such autonomous behaviour already exist.
And of course there is the integration of automated behaviour in domestic and public life. Lights that automatically switch off, cars that switch to electrical power at low speeds, etc. are all small but direct contributors to energy saving.
The real challenge we are facing is finding out how we can benefit from such technology, how we can integrate it with human aspects of decision making, and finding the right balance between automation and human involvement.