From the first day I started this blog I had a topic category for Water, and one of the companies I was amazed to see the importance of water is IBM. They have a youtube video created for Australia and New Zealand where water is treated as a more valuable resource than the US.
And News.com has a headline story on the topic of IBM, Smart Grid, Water.
IBM plunges into the 'smart grid for water'
Even as billions of dollars are being spent around the world to modernize the electricity grid, the systems to delivery fresh water are also in desperate need of a 21st century upgrade.
IBM is developing a portfolio of IT-related water management technologies, a business that it estimates can total $20 billion within five years. At a water conference next week, IBM and Intel will be forming a working group to study how information and technology can be used to improve water management, according to IBM.
The goal is to sketch out the technical architecture required to more efficiently use fresh water, only one percent of the available water on Earth.
Water systems even in developed countries like the U.S. are notoriously outdated, with faulty pipes--some of them still made of wood--result in 25 percent to 45 percent lost water. That means high-tech approaches, such as using sensors to gauge water quality, are a tough sell to cash-strapped municipalities, most of which are more concerned with maintaining the basic infrastructure.
IBM is betting, though, that fresh water will have more value attached to it from the public, governments, and corporations.
If you are looking for alternatives to an IBM army of consultants for water solutions. I have a post I wrote about OSIsoft’s solution for power plants.
Monitoring Water Use at a Power Station
I just blogged about water use at a electric power plant. I mentioned the article to OSIsoft’s Martin Otterson, and he pointed me to a solution for measuring water use at power plant.
Pin-pointing water usage
April 2009
Emerson’s Smart Wireless technology is helping E.ON UK to accurately monitor and measure treated water usage, thus allowing trending and analysis to formulate target values at its Kingsnorth dual-fired power station. Using Emerson’s Rosemount wireless transmitters, E.ON is now able to collect flow measurement data from new flowmeters installed throughout the turbine hall. The self-organising wireless network delivers the data for trending in an OSIsoft PI historian which helps personnel monitor water usage within the system.
Solution evaluation
E.ON Kingsnorth, a 1940 MW generating facility located on the Medway Estuary in Kent needed a solution to monitor and measure water usage within its main plant. They decided to install new non-intrusive ultrasonic flowmeters to carry out this task. The high cost of wiring associated with a conventional cabled solution and a desire to embrace the very latest networking technology led E.ON to evaluate wireless technologies that could meet their needs.
“E.ON is keen to adopt the very latest technology to help improve productivity, efficiency and availability, and wireless technology provides the ideal networking solution to access the flow measurement data from the turbine building without having to install new cabling," said Chet Mistry, team leader, E.ON UK.
Emerson’s wireless transmitters provide access to flow readings from non-intrusive ultrasonic flowmeters
