If you think the appetite for smart buildings is limited, you might want to reconsider your position. Thanks to a rapidly growing urban population and increased environmental regulation, operational efficiency is getting more attention. The Internet of Things (IoT) and other advances in technology are key enablers of this efficiency. Gartner research shows IoT can help reduce the cost of energy, spatial management and building maintenance by up to 30 percent. Therefore, smart buildings provide a path to a prosperous future.

A smart building uses automated operations, such as IoT, to control its processes. This impacts design and construction, energy usage and how employees engage with the space according to Schneider Electric. Systems are integrated, and data are analyzed to cut energy waste and operating costs — and ultimately boost human and business capital. To do this, the power of new technology including mobile, cloud-based systems, artificial intelligence, self-monitoring and collaborative platforms is harnessed to make radical improvements in the performance of the building.

Smart Building Value

McKinsey, which has analyzed the market opportunity for IoT in many different industries, predicts there will be between $70 billion and $150 billion of value creation by 2025 within offices due to IoT. Key areas of savings include a 25 percent reduction in maintenance costs and a 50 percent reduction in unplanned outages. Smart buildings will also increase revenue opportunities and enable the delivery of new business models.

Given the inherent issues associated with more traditional buildings — adhering to new regulations, inefficient system costs and implications of investment reputation — the value of using cutting-edge technology in buildings is obvious. And lucrative. Additional research by McKinsey revealed the IoT economic impact on buildings could reach $6.3 trillion by 2025.

Advances in IoT mean that the digitization of buildings is a priority for many companies whose operations are increasingly autonomous. Aside from the reduction in manpower and costs required to control these processes, integrated connectivity across the workplace allows the building to work smart and react to the needs of its occupants, inside and outside working hours. An example of this is the automated adjustment of room lighting and temperature based on the number of occupants. Something this simple can substantially reduce energy waste for a business.

Increased Occupant Expectations

More occupants expect their offices to have modern, easy-to-use technology. In research published by Dell and Intel, workers are not only ready for businesses to implement the latest technology to make their offices smarter, they expect it to happen within the next five years. Specifically, 44 percent of employees worldwide feel that their workspace isn’t smart enough, and more than half expect to be working in a smart office within the next five years.

This expectation is highest among the younger workforce, with 69 percent expecting to be in a smart office within the next five years. The consequences for not meeting these expectations is also greater for the millennial workforce. Forty-two percent said they would quit a job with substandard technology and 82 percent said workplace technology influences what role they would take.

Furthermore, most workers place an emphasis on functional benefits with 63 percent of millennials and 55 percent of older workers (over 35 years old) indicating they would rather have high-tech perks, such as augmented/virtual reality (AR/VR) and IoT than low-tech perks like ping pong and free food. The modern workforce is also demanding smarter environments such as apps that guide employees to open workstations and meeting rooms, windows that tint in response to outside conditions, and coffee machines that recognize you and suggest types of drinks.

The Net Zero Example

Smart buildings connect a range of subsystems to ensure data and intelligence is shared. When Deloitte designed its Amsterdam HQ, the company set out with the help of Schneider Electric to create a connective benchmark for energy efficiency. Their bold idea was to create a smart building that generates more energy than it consumes. Through a collaborative IoT platform, Deloitte can now easily connect systems and collect building data to create algorithms, which optimize the comfort and productivity of employees while maximizing energy efficiency. With real-time access to critical building data, Deloitte has the power to control several systems from a single platform.

The result was the “The Edge,” a net zero energy office building. After receiving at the time of its completion the highest sustainability score of 98.4 percent by British rating agency BREEAM, it was labeled one of the greenest offices in the world.

Smart buildings are becoming even more enticing. With The Edge as an example of what is possible, occupants looking for more tech perks and greater environmental regulation, don’t expect this interest to disappear anytime soon.

Related articles:

Smart Buildings at Cisco, Intel and Microsoft

“Smart City” Growth from Coast to Coast

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Ryan Lahti is the managing principal of OrgLeader and author of The Finesse Factor. Stay up to date on Ryan’s STEM organization tweets here: @ryanlahti

(Photo: The Edge, Flickr)

The construction industry is one of the world economy’s largest industries. The economy spends $10 trillion on its good and services every year according to the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI). Unfortunately, construction has lagged other industries in how quickly it evolves. For example, construction is among the least digitized sectors in the world, according to MGI’s digitization index. In the United States, construction comes second to last, and in Europe it is in last position on the index.

With some large projects running 20 percent over time and up to 80 percent over budget, the construction industry is looking more toward technology to better meet its commitments. This results in a variety of benefits.

Improved Coordination and Collaboration

Most every aspect of a construction project is dependent on some other part of the job. Office workers, such as project managers, must collaborate with field workers, such as foremen, throughout the entire project. While mobile devices can greatly improve communication, companies must also create processes that ease real-time collaboration. Using a cloud-based platform, construction companies can see a complete picture of the entire project from one place and improve efficiency across the entire project. This includes automating approvals and alerts as well as allowing collaboration between employees, contractors, and clients in real time.

Ongoing Transparency

To keep up with increasing pressures, today’s construction teams must be able to update a project’s status remotely from the job site, keeping everyone on the same page. When teams collaborate via a work execution platform, both office and remote employees get the same visibility into project status, as well as the ability to update tasks in real time. Instead of waiting for phone calls, field workers can update information using a mobile app. All departments that are involved on a project — from finance to project management — have the same real-time information, leading to improved productivity and faster results.

Increased Automation

The best software enables users to set up automation rules, so that team members are systematically notified about changes that affect their tasks. For example, if the plumbing contractor will not have their job completed until Friday due to a back-ordered part, the platform can automatically update the schedule based on this change. The most enterprise-ready platforms can send notifications to all team members affected by a change, so they can immediately change their plans. They can also digitize many manual processes such as punch lists, change orders, and safety logs, and keep them in a single central location, so time isn’t wasted chasing down the latest information. The time savings can be significant. In a 2018 TechValidate survey of customers in the construction industry, 47 percent said the platform saves them at least six hours every week.

Predictive Analytics with Artificial Intelligence

New York City-based startup Pillar Technologies is one of a number of companies trying to apply artificial intelligence (AI) to construction and engineering. The objective is to use predictive analytics to do everything from preventive maintenance to work schedule optimization.

Pillar’s wireless devices can flag all sorts of troubles on construction sites before they become multimillion-dollar messes or cause injuries to people. They can identify leaks, which can result in mold, and determine the level of particulates like silica, which can be harmful to construction workers.

Builders can now put dozens of its industrial-grade sensors on their construction sites and leave them there through rain and wind to monitor potentially destructive conditions and send emergency alerts as need be. All this information provides the data for an AI system. The devices include seven different sensors to monitor temperature, humidity, dust, particulates, air pressure, ambient light and carbon monoxide. Over time, as Pillar gathers more data from its own sensors, it will be able to model the data more dynamically to predict problems.

The construction industry has not necessarily been an early-adopter of the latest technology. However, the industry has recognized the gains the right technology can provide and is taking steps to put it in place.

Related article:

Motivators for Smart Buildings

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Ryan Lahti is the managing principal of OrgLeader and author of The Finesse Factor: How to Build Exceptional Leaders in STEM Organizations. Stay up to date on Ryan’s STEM organization tweets here: @ryanlahti

(Photo: Construction Site at Night, Pixabay)

Should the Pentagon invest in small satellite constellations for the United States to remain a military superpower? The Center for a New American Security (CNAS), a Washington think tank, believes it should. In a recent report, the think tank warns that the spread of advanced technologies has allowed state competitors to challenge U.S. military advantages in naval and air warfare, particularly in long-range targeting and missile defense. In a conflict against a peer competitor (e.g., Russia, China), the study said, the U.S. military will be at a disadvantage without a “resilient intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance [ISR] architecture.”

One problem is that current space and airborne sensors do not provide sufficient around-the-clock coverage, CNAS analysts argued. Low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites can spend a few hours over a target area. Drones can spend several days above a target. Satellites in geosynchronous orbit (GEO) can provide continuous coverage of designated target areas. But there are not enough GEO satellites to fully offset LEO satellites and airborne ISR limitations.

Small Satellite Constellations

The answer is to develop lower-cost constellations. “Small satellites should make up the core of the future LEO ISR satellite network,” CNAS suggested. “These satellites range in size from .25 to 400 pounds and cost as little as $150,000.” Large military satellites by comparison cost hundreds of millions of dollars per unit.

Small satellites can be produced and launched in larger numbers. While big-ticket military satellites are far more capable, cheaper alternatives would make it possible to produce ISR constellations made up of thousands of small satellites, said the report. “Within each constellation, sets of small satellites would be assigned to perform each of the tasks previously done by single, expensive satellites. The sheer number of satellites would also allow each constellation to observe a far larger target set than previously feasible.”

The redundancy built into these constellations would complicate adversary attempts to take them down. “The number of satellites adversaries would be forced to engage to cripple U.S. ISR would be orders of magnitude greater than it is today,” according to the study.

This is not the first time the small satellite topic has come up. In earlier discussions at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, military experts and space industry representatives suggested the U.S. invest in the technology to launch swarms of small satellites into orbit as an insurance policy for larger military satellites in the event of a conflict in space. The current network of large U.S. military and intelligence satellites provides an advantage over other countries, but “was really built in an uncontested environment,” Steve Nixon, vice president for strategic development for the satellite firm Stratolaunch, told SpaceNews. “It’s no longer resilient to threats and probably cannot operate through a contested military environment.”

The CNAS report suggested some caution, because the Pentagon will need to carefully estimate the cost of future constellations of small satellites. While the per-unit price of small satellites is considerably lower, there are additional expenses to be considered such as new terrestrial communications stations and intra-constellation data-sharing systems. “That said, the operational benefits afforded by a shift toward more resilient small-satellite constellations may make even a modest increase in the cost of the U.S. military space architecture worth the added expense.”

Decide for yourself. For more information, check out:

Building the Future Force: Guaranteeing American Leadership in a Contested Environment

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Ryan Lahti is the managing principal of OrgLeader and author of The Finesse Factor: How to Build Exceptional Leaders in STEM Organizations being published in early 2019. Stay up to date on Ryan’s STEM organization tweets here: @ryanlahti

(Photo: Black Marble – City Lights, Flickr)

How soon will self-driving cars impact how you get to work and your home from a night on the town? Automakers, ride-sharing firms and tech startups are forging loose alliances in an effort to advance self-driving technology and claim a piece of what is expected to be a multi-billion-dollar business. General Motors (GM) plans to have its self-driving cars ready for a ride-share service within two years as the automaker looks beyond traditional car ownership for new tech-driven sources of revenue.

After spending more than a year putting the pieces in place to launch a robotaxi business, GM recently shared it expects to have a fleet of self-driving cars in operation in 2019. The automaker or a partner could run the sharing service. Ride-sharing services on the roads now, including those offered by Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc., cost consumers about two dollars to three dollars a mile. GM estimates these companies pay their drivers the equivalent of about three quarters of revenue. Take away driver costs and the rates could drop to below one dollar a mile, according to Kyle Vogt, chief executive officer of Cruise Automation that develops the software for GM’s self-driving cars.

GM President Dan Ammann told analysts and investors last month that GM’s plan to get self-driving cars to market in large numbers could drop the costs of ride-sharing under one dollar a mile by 2025. Once that happens, he said, 75 percent of the miles people drive could be through sharing or hailing services. That’s a $1.6 trillion market, which is 300 times larger than today.

GM’s challenge will be getting its share of the revenue, explained Morningstar Inc. analyst David Whiston in a Bloomberg interview. Picking a partner likely would mean having to split earnings. If the automaker runs its own business, it’ll have to deal directly with consumers and beat out competitors who will have been in the market for years.

To get there, GM is lowering the costs of self-driving cars both by building out its manufacturing capabilities and supply base and finding better technology. Lidar systems that use laser technology to give vehicles a view of the road now cost about $20,000, Vogt said. GM is switching to lidar units developed by Strobe, a company the automaker acquired this year, which will cost $300 apiece.

Uber, Lyft and Waymo

The outlook for when GM thinks it’ll have a self-driving service ready roughly coincides with an Uber milestone. Uber plans to buy up to 24,000 self-driving cars from Volvo, marking the transition of the U.S. firm from an app used to summon a taxi to the owner and operator of a fleet of cars. Volvo said in a November statement it would provide Uber with its flagship XC90 SUVs equipped with autonomous technology as part of a non-exclusive deal from 2019 to 2021. Should Uber buy all 24,000 cars, it would be Volvo’s largest order by far and the biggest sale in the autonomous vehicle industry, giving Uber, which is losing more than $600 million a quarter, its first commercial fleet of cars.

Waymo, the autonomous car unit of Google parent Alphabet Inc., last month said it’s about to start chauffeuring people in Fiat Chrysler minivans without safety drivers manning the steering wheel. Not to be outdone, Uber’s rival Lyft struck a research partnership with Waymo. Lyft also secured deals with Ford Motor Company and startups Nutonomy and Drive.ai to incorporate self-driving cars into its fleet.

GM’s new focus, Volvo’s agreement with Uber, Lyft’s with Ford and Waymo show the pressure on automakers to avoid becoming obsolete in a world of increased automation. It also shows ride-services companies feel compelled to start automating to cut driver costs and turn profits. Hopefully, this pressure also increases the quality of riding experiences and safety for passengers.

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Ryan Lahti is the founder and managing principal of OrgLeader. Stay up to date on Ryan’s STEM organization tweets here: @ryanlahti

(Photo: Uber Testing Self-Driving Car, Flickr)

Since 3D printing is being used for applications in a variety of industries, how feasible is it for the construction industry? If you ask researchers at MIT, they are likely to tell you 3D printing has immense potential for the construction industry.

MIT researchers have designed a system that can 3D print the structure of an entire building. The system consists of a tracked vehicle that carries a large, industrial robotic arm with a smaller, precision-motion robotic arm at the end. This highly controllable arm can be used to direct any conventional (or unconventional) construction nozzle, such as those used for pouring concrete or spraying insulation material.

Unlike typical 3D printing systems which use some kind of enclosed, fixed structure to support their nozzles which limits the size of the objects they build, this free-moving system can construct an object of any size. As proof of concept, the researchers used a prototype to build the walls of a 50-foot-diameter, 12-foot-high dome — a project that was completed in less than 14 hours of “printing” time.

For initial tests, the system fabricated the foam-insulation framework used to form a finished concrete structure. This construction method, in which polyurethane foam molds are filled with concrete, is similar to traditional insulated concrete formwork techniques. Following this approach for their initial work, the researchers showed that the system can be easily adapted to existing building sites and equipment. It will help meet existing building codes without requiring whole new evaluations.

Ultimately, the system is intended to be self-sufficient. It is equipped with a scoop that could be used to both prepare the building surface and acquire local materials, such as dirt for a rammed-earth building, for the construction itself. The whole system could be operated electrically, even powered by solar panels. The idea is that such systems could be deployed to remote regions (e.g., the developing world) or to areas for disaster relief after a major storm or earthquake to rapidly provide durable shelter.

The creation of this system, which the researchers call a Digital Construction Platform (DCP), was motivated by the overall vision of designing buildings without parts. Such a vision includes combining “structure and skin” along with beams and windows in a single production process. It also includes adapting multiple design and construction processes on the fly as the structure is being built.

The nozzles of the new 3D printing system can be adapted to vary the density of the material being poured and even to mix different materials as it goes along. In the version used in the initial tests, the device created an insulating foam shell that would be left in place after the concrete is poured. Interior and exterior finish materials could be applied directly to that foam surface.

The system can even create complex shapes and overhangs. The team demonstrated this by including a wide, built-in bench in their prototype dome. Any needed wiring and plumbing can be inserted into the mold before the concrete is poured, providing a finished wall structure all at once. The system can also incorporate data about the site collected during the process, using built-in sensors for temperature, light and other parameters. This data allows the system to make adjustments to the structure as it is built.

MIT is not the only organization that sees 3D printing applications in the construction industry. Cazza, a construction firm based in Dubai, has announced plans to build the world’s first 3D-printed skyscraper. The company has confirmed that it will be erected in the United Arab Emirates. It says it will use a new technique called “crane printing” to create the building.

Cazza’s chief operating officer shared that the crane printing system can be easily adopted with existing cranes so that cranes do not have to be built from scratch. Cazza is adding new features to make it adaptable to high wind speeds along with the use of a layer smoothing system that creates completely flat surfaces. Because of this, you won’t know the structure is 3D printed.

3D printing presents potential advantages and disadvantages for the construction industry. The advantages include:

• Increase in speed and accuracy
• Reduction in labor costs and the amount of waste
• Creation of a safer work environment by decreasing health and safety risks

The disadvantages for the industry are:

• Elimination of jobs
• Reduction in demand for materials from traditional manufacturing companies
• Transportation and storage costs of 3D printers

As MIT and Cazza have pointed out, 3D printing does have a potential place in the construction industry. Once MIT and Cazza use more of this technology, we will see how much potential becomes reality.

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Ryan Lahti is the founder and managing principal of OrgLeader. Stay up to date on Ryan’s STEM organization tweets here: @ryanlahti

(Photo: Skyscraper, Pixabay)

How well does IoT fit in the aerospace industry? IoT is a natural fit according to Intelligent Aerospace. The aerospace industry depends on the use of sensors and handheld devices as well as connected electronics systems focused on network-centric data capture, communication and storage. These are prime enablers for IoT. In fact, aerospace organizations who were early IoT adopters are already reaping the benefits. They are developing new revenue streams, modernizing manufacturing and integrating global engineering workflows .

When these aerospace organizations combine Big Data with IoT, they can use data, software algorithms and electronics hardware to predict the likelihood of future outcomes based on historical data. For example, companies are exploiting patterns in data to identify risks and opportunities, enhance decision making, increase efficiency and save resources such as time and money. Aerospace engineers and executives see great promise in predictive analytics to transform operations and business models.

IoT Benefits Civil Aviation

In civil aviation, IoT is driving the use of the Aircraft Health Monitoring System (AHMS). AHMS brings vast improvements in the utilization and analysis of Big Data to enhance the availability, reliability and safety of aircraft. This in turn spurs the need to streamline aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) concerns. What is the impact? An Oliver Wyman MRO survey reported that 63 percent of respondents from leading airlines said AHMS increased reliability, with 35 percent also saying that it helped reduce maintenance costs.

IoT-enabled sensors measuring aircraft health and performance provide data related to speed, torque, vibrations and pressure that can pinpoint faults before they become a major problem. With this actionable information, more focused maintenance decisions can be made. This produces fewer cancellations, better operational and flight safety, less fuel consumption and enhanced passenger and crew experience.

To better appreciate the benefits of IoT, do a comparison of past and present. In the 1980s, the number of detectable faults on a Boeing 767 was 9,000. Now, intelligent sensors on a Boeing 787 can detect 45,000 faults. Furthermore, AHMS data from one aircraft where a fault was detected can be used to analyze an entire fleet.

The return on investment from AHMS in civil aviation is plain to see. The streamlining of maintenance operations and the faster reactions to faults could drastically reduce aircraft downtime for airlines that can cost up to $150,000 for just a couple hours. This is a major benefit as most airlines need every bit of revenue from each flight to stay out of the red.

Global MRO spend is anticipated to increase 46 percent by 2026 due to growing passenger numbers and aircraft fleets. Because of this, airlines are looking at the next step in asset management powered by IoT—predictive maintenance. With this, airlines can detect early signs of potential failure and rectify matters before it impacts service delivery.

IoT and predictive maintenance allow for better sharing of operational and maintenance experiences between airlines, aircraft operators and third-party MROs. This enables further cost reductions. By feeding collected data into an MRO solution, parts can be sourced and work schedules of engineers can be optimized thereby drastically reducing downtime.

Moving from Predicting to Prescribing

Predictive maintenance is an advantage, but it is not the end game. Prescriptive maintenance is the next step beyond predicting the status of an asset. Predictive analytics answer “what will happen, when and why?” questions. Prescriptive maintenance takes it further by allowing operators to predict what will happen and offer “what if” scenarios to show the impact of each possible event on operations.

IoT data is used to prescribe maintenance activities that will provide the best outcome (in terms of reliability and asset uptime). Allowing airlines to know what they could do better in the future is the main benefit. If they know an asset may fail, they want to know the most efficient way to reduce the failure rate while also rectifying problems in the most effective manner. Prescriptive maintenance can guide engineers with sequences of tasks to execute that isolate issues and help them determine the right time to do repairs with the appropriate tools. Ultimately, this reduces aircraft downtime.

Prescriptive maintenance is expected to revolutionize MRO. IDC predicts that 50 percent of all business analytics software will incorporate prescriptive capabilities by 2020. In the future, it won’t be engineers telling you how and when to repair an asset, because the asset itself will tell you what it needs. Although the technology is still in the early stages of adoption in civil aviation, keep an eye on it as it matures in 2017.

The aerospace industry provides a fertile environment for IoT. By embracing IoT, the industry can increase efficiency and performance. AHMS, MRO and prescriptive maintenance are prime examples.

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Ryan Lahti is the founder and managing principal of OrgLeader, LLC. Stay up to date on Ryan’s STEM-based organization tweets here: @ryanlahti

(Photo: Aircraft Engine, Pixabay)

With all of the recent advancements in automation whether due to robots or computerization/artificial intelligence, how will the workforce be affected? There seems to be a difference in opinion depending upon whose research you consider and how the research was conducted. For example, some research uses an occupation-based approach to gauge impact while others use an approach based on job tasks.

Oxford University research in 2013 calculated the potential impact of computerization on 702 occupations in the U.S. labor market. It estimated about 47 percent of total U.S. employment is at risk. This work also provided evidence that wages and educational attainment have a strong negative relationship with an occupation’s probability of computerization.

In its 2016 work, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) estimated the automatibility of jobs for 21 OECD countries based on a task-based approach. In contrast to other studies, OECD took into account the heterogeneity of workers’ tasks within occupations. This task-based work found automation had a substantially lower impact. On average across the 21 OECD countries, 9 percent of jobs are automatable. This work found noticeable differences across OECD countries. For instance, while the share of automatable jobs is 6 percent in Korea, the corresponding share is 12 percent in Austria. Differences between countries may reflect general differences in workplace organization, differences in previous investments into automation technologies as well as differences in the education of workers across countries.

A recent 2017 study conducted by the McKinsey Global Institute suggests that automation now has the potential to change the daily work activities of everyone, from miners and landscape gardeners to commercial bankers, fashion designers, welders and CEOs. McKinsey focused on individual activities rather than entire occupations. Given currently demonstrated technologies, very few occupations—less than 5 percent—are candidates for full automation (i.e., every activity making up these occupations is automated). However, almost every occupation has partial automation potential—a significant percentage of its activities could be automated. McKinsey estimated that about half of all the activities people are paid to do in the world’s workforce could potentially be automated by adapting currently demonstrated technologies.

This being said, McKinsey believes the impact of automation will be gradual, and five key factors will influence the pace and extent of its adoption. First is technical feasibility, since the technology has to be invented, integrated and adapted into solutions that automate specific activities. Second is the cost of developing and deploying solutions, which affects the business case for adoption. Third are labor market dynamics, including the supply, demand, and costs of human labor as an alternative to automation. Fourth are economic benefits, which could include higher throughput and increased quality, as well as labor cost savings. Finally, regulatory and social acceptance can affect the rate of adoption even when deployment makes business sense. Taking all of these factors into account, McKinsey estimates it will take decades for automation’s effect on current work activities to play out in its entirety.

Much of the current debate about automation has focused on the potential for mass unemployment, but people will need to continue working alongside machines to produce the growth in per capita GDP to which countries around the world aspire. Therefore, McKinsey productivity estimates assume that people displaced by automation will find other employment. Many workers will have to change, and it expects business processes to be transformed.

The size of labor force shifts over many decades that automation technologies can unleash is not without precedent. It is similar in magnitude to the long-term, technology-enabled shifts away from agriculture in developed countries’ workforces in the 20th century. Those shifts did not result in long-term mass unemployment, because they were accompanied by the creation of new types of work. No one can definitively say whether things will be different this time, but McKinsey’s analysis shows that humans will still be needed in the workforce: the total productivity gains McKinsey estimates will only come about if people work alongside machines.

The McKinsey study further highlights how automation can be an engine of productivity and economic growth that can help with the demographic challenges most nations will face as their populations age. Today, there are 46 million Americans over the age of 65 (15 percent of the population). By 2060, the over-65 group is projected to hit 98 million people (24 percent of the population). So, automation-powered economic growth could be a substantial benefit.

As the work by Oxford, the OECD and McKinsey show, automation will continue to impact the workforce and economy over time. Given all of the factors discussed, determining its exact impact is not clear cut. Therefore, looking at the pace of automation is probably better in the form of ranges and approximations rather than specific predictions. Furthermore, any analysis of impact should fully consider the benefits just as much as the drawbacks of automation as they relate to workforces and economies.

Related posts:

Robots, Automation and Workforce Reduction

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Ryan Lahti is the founder and managing principal of OrgLeader, LLC. Stay up to date on Ryan’s STEM-based organization tweets here: @ryanlahti

(Photo: Tesla Motors Assembly Line, Flickr)

Is the momentum of electric vehicles (EV) increasing or leveling off in the automotive world? The following events should provide an indication.

• Jaguar introduced its first all-electric vehicle. Jaguar said its new concept, the I-PACE, is expected to deliver 516lb-ft of instant torque, 400 HP and 0‑60 mph in around 4 seconds.
• Tesla entered into an agreement to acquire Grohmann Engineering as a way to increase total production output to 500,000 units per year by 2018. Grohmann Engineering will serve as the preliminary base for Tesla Advanced Automation Germany headquarters, with other locations to follow.
• In the racing world, McLaren will double the electric range of Formula E race cars for the 2018 season, as the company begins to supply the race series with new battery technology.

According to Automotive Engineer, Continental says that combustion engine technology will peak by 2027 before electrified powertrains begin to erode its market share. More specifically, the tier one supplier predicts that by 2030, 69 percent of vehicles in mature markets (e.g., China and the U.S.) will be electrified as companies look to reduce emissions levels and legislation becomes increasingly strict.

Given all this information, what markets have the greatest potential for EV sales? An Accenture study identified nine domestic markets, in addition to the U.S. and China, that have the potential to generate significant EV growth in the next four years. These markets were analyzed to pinpoint the crucial distinctions that shape EV attractiveness, including Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, South Korea, Sweden and the UK. The criteria for determining their growth potential includes researching the status of government regulations and subsidies, charging infrastructure, vehicle range and charging times.

The study divided the markets into four distinct categories based on the potential of the markets to drive EV growth: best in class, high potentials, hesitators and pensioners. The U.S. and China rank as best-in-class markets, because they show both high EV market size and growth. Furthermore, they have already reached attractive volumes.

Additional markets that are poised to join the U.S. and China in generating greater EV sales are defined as high potentials. France, for example, is receiving support from the French government in the form of EV purchase credits of up to $6,300, free charging station use and free EV parking. The French government aims to establish 2.7 million charging stations by 2020.

The study classifies Brazil, India and Russia as hesitators because of their small market size and expected low EV growth. As Automation World points out in its discussion of the study, the key takeaway is that multiple markets are gearing up for more EVs, driven by technological, economic and political factors. Automakers, particularly those heavily invested in EVs, should consider these factors and be prepared for such growth, including extending their manufacturing footprint.

Related posts:

Volkswagen Joining Tesla in Electric Vehicle Market

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Ryan Lahti is the founder and managing principal of OrgLeader, LLC. Stay up to date on Ryan’s STEM-based organization tweets here: @ryanlahti

(Photo: Jaguar I-Pace, Flickr)

What type of progress is being made in solar plants? Ask SolarReserve LLC, a privately-owned energy company in California. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the Santa Monica-based organization announced plans this month to build the world’s largest solar energy facility in Nevada. It is a $5 billion concentrating solar power (CSP) plant which gathers and focuses the sun’s energy to heat a fluid to drive an engine that produces electricity.

SolarReserve’s project, called “Sandstone,” would include up to 10 concentrated solar arrays, each equipped with a molten salt system capable of storing the sun’s energy to generate power after dark. This would require at least 100,000 mirrors and 10 towers as tall as any building in the state. CEO Kevin Smith explained that project Sandstone would generate between 1,500 and 2,000 megawatts, enough to supply about a million homes. That’s on par with a nuclear power plant or the Hoover Dam and far bigger than any of the world’s existing solar facilities. According to Bloomberg, the biggest solar-thermal plant in the world is the current 392-megawatt Ivanpah facility in California’s Mojave Desert which has three towers and went into operation in 2014.

SolarReserve has already built a 110-megawatt facility, the Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Plant. It sits on 1,600 acres of federal land outside of Tonopah, 225 miles northwest of Las Vegas. This $1 billion array began delivering power to NV Energy late last year.

The Crescent Dunes plant uses more than 10,000 mirrored heliostats, each with the square footage of a small house, to focus sunlight on a 640-foot-tall central tower, heating the molten salt inside to more than 1,000 degrees. The heat stored in the molten salt is then used to boil water, creating steam that drives generators to produce electricity day or night. SolarReserve says its patented storage system allows Crescent Dunes to deliver power on demand like a coal, natural gas or nuclear plant, but with zero emissions, little water use and no hazardous waste.

The Crescent Dunes plant took more than four years to construct, significantly longer than company officials predicted. Smith expects both the cost and construction time to decrease significantly with each new facility SolarReserve builds.

NV Energy agreed to buy the entire output of the Crescent Dunes’ plant at 13.5 cents per kilowatt hour — roughly twice the cost of power from a natural gas-fueled plant — for the next 25 years. Smith said the bulk of the power from the Sandstone project likely will be “exported to the California market,” which already has a variety of solar power options when the sun is out but has a growing need for renewable energy that can be delivered reliably day or night.

Not everyone shares Smith’s optimism. Some energy analysts are worried about the large capital and maintenance costs associated with CSP projects since comparatively cheap and easy-to-build photovoltaic arrays produce power at a lower cost.

In addition to energy analysts’ worries, there are likely to be environmentalists who have concerns about the impact of the Sandstone plant on wildlife and the landscape. The Crescent Dunes facility in Nevada and the Ivanpah facility in California have already drawn the wrath of environmentalists for the number of birds that are killed in collisions with the mirrors and central towers or incinerated in beams of concentrated sunlight that can top 900 degrees.

Smith believes the problem is overblown, especially at Crescent Dunes, where the full-time biologists on site have logged around 60 bird deaths over the past year. He said this number is probably less than the office building where they work in Santa Monica.

Smith expects to be able to announce a 16,000-acre site for the new project within the next six to nine months. He said company officials have looked at about a dozen locations over the past year and narrowed the list to two, both on federal land in Nevada’s Nye County.

With more national interest focusing on alternative energy sources, solar plants are getting more attention. The Sandstone project will be a good litmus test to see how strong the commitment is to continue to build them.

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Ryan Lahti is the founder and managing principal of OrgLeader, LLC. Stay up to date on Ryan’s STEM-based organization tweets here: @ryanlahti

(Photo: Crescent Dunes Solar December 2014 by Amble)

Two NASA astronauts just completed a six-hour spacewalk outside the International Space Station (ISS) to install a parking spot for upcoming commercial space taxis, which will end U.S. reliance on Russia for rides to the orbiting outpost, according to Reuters. Since grounding the shuttle fleet in 2011, the United States has been dependent on Russia to ferry astronauts to and from the space station, at a cost of more than $70 million per person.

During the spacewalk, the astronauts attached an adapter onto the shuttle’s docking port that will allow commercial space taxis under development by Boeing and SpaceX to park at the station, a $100 billion research laboratory that flies about 250 miles (400 km) above Earth. California-based SpaceX plans to begin test flights of its new passenger Dragon capsule to the station in 2017. Boeing’s debut flight of its CST-100 Starliner capsule is expected in 2018.

NASA had hoped to have the first of two new docking ports installed last year, but the equipment was destroyed during a SpaceX cargo ship launch accident in June 2015. A replacement docking port is under construction and expected to be delivered to the station in early 2018.

SpaceX Status

Space.com reports NASA has ordered a second crewed mission to the ISS from SpaceX, which will provide the orbital service using its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule. The order is the fourth and last guaranteed one that NASA will make under the Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contracts the agency signed with SpaceX and Boeing. However, NASA has said it envisions using one or both of these companies’ private space taxis for years to come. Each company’s current deal allows for a potential maximum of six crewed flights.

The uncrewed version of Dragon already flies to the ISS, under a separate cargo contract that SpaceX holds with NASA. SpaceX met the criteria for the second CCtCap flight after meeting developmental milestones and completing design reviews for Crew Dragon, the Falcon 9 and associated ground systems, NASA officials said.

“We appreciate the trust NASA has placed in SpaceX with the order of another crew mission and look forward to flying astronauts from American soil next year,” said SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell. Back in January 2015, Shotwell said that the company will fly more than 50 Falcon 9 missions, including a demo mission without a crew and an in-flight ejection test, prior to putting a crew on the vehicle.

More than a year later SpaceX still has some ways to go to meet those numbers, but the company is persistent, writing, “In 2017, Crew Dragon, the crew-carrying version of the upgraded Dragon 2 spacecraft, will restore the United States’ capability to fly humans to orbit.”

Boeing Status

According to Phys.org, the next generation of America’s human spaceships is rapidly taking shape at the Kennedy Space Center as Boeing and NASA recently showcased the start of assembly of the first flightworthy version of the Starliner crew taxi to the media. Starliner will ferry NASA astronauts to and from the ISS by early 2018.

“We are making fantastic progress across the board,” explained John Mulholland, vice president and program manager of Boeing Commercial Programs, at the July 26 media event in Boeing’s new Starliner factory. “It so nice to move from design to firm configuration, which was an incredibly important milestone, to now moving into the integrated qual phase of the campaign.”

“We are on track to support launch by the end of 2017 [of the uncrewed orbital test flight],” stated Mulholland. Starliner is being manufactured in what is officially known as Boeing’s Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility (C3PF) at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida under contract with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP). Altogether Boeing is fabricating three Starliner flight spacecraft. Spacecraft 1 is underway. The building of Spacecraft 2 will begin in the Fall and Spacecraft 3 will start early in 2017.

NASA hasn’t yet announced which company will fly crews to the station first. Whether it is Boeing or SpaceX, providing the U.S. with the capability to transport its own crews to the station again will be a momentous milestone since it will restore American autonomy for space orbit.

Related posts:

Boeing and SpaceX Propel NASA Commercial Crew Program

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Ryan Lahti is the founder and managing principal of OrgLeader, LLC. Stay up to date on Ryan’s STEM-based organization tweets here: @ryanlahti

(Photo: Dragon V2 by NASA/Dmitri Gerondidakis [Public domain])