Saving Energy … By Measuring Better
I’ll admit it — I’m one of those guys who likes to wing it, and then pay attention to qualitative evidence and my own observations in order to improve. However, that just doesn’t get the job done for a lot of things, which is when I put on my nerd hat and jump into data, analytics, spreadsheets, etc.
It seems there are always opportunities for improvement to be found by doing so. With today’s level of data collection, analytics software, and shockingly smart computers, this is the case in sectors across the economy.
Importantly, any sector that uses energy (hmm, are there any that don’t?) can probably cut energy use and reduce emissions simply by measuring better, crunching more numbers, catching issues quicker, and taking a virtual machete to inefficiency.
How Can Measurement Help?
The Swiss solar airplane Solar Impulse that is flying around the world on a record-shattering journey is an interesting example, in action, of how high-quality measurement can help. Naturally, it’s critical that Solar Impulse 2 be closely monitored, and that it use energy very efficiently in order to make it through long stretches of flights only on electricity generated from sunshine. A large team of engineers and other staff keep a close eye on how several components in the plane are working, and they can alert the pilots if too much energy is being used for some reason and energy-saving measures need to be put in place.
Measurements For Better Business
As such, it makes sense that Swiss giant ABB*, one of the world’s leading power and automation companies, is a main Solar Impulse 2 partner. While ABB is popular for its involvement in electric vehicle charging, solar inverters, and microgrids, the company has a whole business dedicated to Measurement & Analytics. The opening line of their website says: “Our goal is to make instrumentation and analyzer technology, selection, purchasing, installation, operation, and ownership easy — so you can focus on your business.”
ABB’s measurement and analytic products span a wide variety of industries — from oil and gas to food & beverage, marine, pulp and paper, water and much more. Dane Maisel, the general manager of the Warminster, PA Measurement & Analytics facility said,
“ABB’s partnership with the Solar Impulse project gives us an opportunity to demonstrate to people in a very visible fashion how technology comes together to help all of us have less impact on the environment.”
Check out this Solar Impulse 2 and Measurement & Analytics video that was shot this summer at ABB’s Warminster, Pennsylvania manufacturing facility, to learn more.
And congratulations is in order to the Solar Impulse 2 for recently finishing its journey around the world! You can see more about the Solar Impulse here.
*This article was kindly sponsored by ABB.
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