We live in a complex world defined by a number of "megatrends", such as the impacts of climate change; globalisation; the growth of cities; the sustainable use of resources; the effects of the demographic revolution and the current global economic slowdown. The challenges these trends throw up require innovative solutions.

Whether it is the challenge of powering the industrial engines of growth in an economic down-turn, de-carbonising the energy that we use or improving people's health and wellbeing, the issues that we face require carefully thought-through strategies delivered by businesses with the scope and vision to implement them.

Already, the number of pensioners in the UK exceeds the number of people under 16, which will create particular challenges in terms of healthcare and its costs. With the demand for health care growing around the world, it is paramount that health services make better use of their resources. Population will continue to grow - there are expected to be 1bn extra people on the planet by 2020 and many of them will be living in "megacities" of more than 10m people.

This, coupled with the growth of economies such as China and India, is leading to an increase in demand for energy - power consumption is increasing by more than 5% a year in emerging markets - at a time when fossil fuels are concentrated in a few countries and it has become clear that we must cut and change our use of these fossil fuels to avoid climate catastrophe.

There are two ways to deal with this: produce energy differently and reduce the amount of energy we use. Solutions for cutting energy use range from using energy efficient motors, appliances and light-bulbs to entire building management systems; from trains that store the energy generated when they brake to hybrid buses and electric cars.

When it comes to "decarbonising" the energy system, there is more to it than using renewable energy, although that is also vital. New technologies such as carbon capture and storage can help to decarbonise the essential continued use of fossil fuels but to get the most out of our power system, a whole new "smart" grid is needed that will allow householders to generate their own electricity and that will integrate everything from offshore wind turbines to small domestic combined heat and power boilers into the distribution system.

 

The issues the world faces in the 21st century require solutions cutting across traditional boundaries between industries and making full use of all the technology available, as well as innovative regulation from governments.

All of these problems are producing an array of regulation at national and international level, as well as sophisticated tools such as emissions trading schemes. The UK is set to be the first country in the world to introduce climate change regulation that commits the government to cutting emissions and this will have an impact on a whole range of businesses.

As part of the Climate Change Bill, the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) will be introduced. It means that large businesses and organisations not already covered by the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme will have to cut their energy consumption or buy emissions allowances. Those affected include manufacturers, supermarkets, hotel chains, universities, government departments and even hospitals.

The climate in which businesses operate is changing, in every sense, and business needs to be prepared for it.

For further information, please visit www.siemens.co.uk or contact Anne Keogh

 

When it comes to cutting carbon, the focus has been on high visibility, high profile projects such as offshore wind farms - and while an increase in the amount of renewable energy we use is vital, many of the more vital changes will take place behind the scenes.

One of the crucial components of a "decarbonised" energy system will be the smart grid. Currently the smart grid is more of an idea than a physical network. "The potential of the smart grid is massive," says Mark Pilling, from Siemens Energy, Transmission and Distribution, "but I don't think anyone really realises yet what the smart grid will mean to them."

Power companies will be able to introduce differentiated tariffs, allowing them to shift demand from peak times to periods that are less busy, helped by smart appliances that will be programmed to run at the cheapest time. Because utilities will be able to predict demand more accurately, they will need less of the spare "just-in-case" generating capacity that is a feature of electricity generation now.

A whole range of new power sources, from solar panels or small wind turbines on individual households to mid-size combined heat and power (CHP) facilities will also be able to feed in power to the grid, further reducing our reliance on central generation. Cogeneration through combined heat and power can offer efficiency of up to 77%, against the typical figure for power generation of 27% and has the potential to cut CO2 emissions in London by 2.1m tonnes every year by 2025.

 

Transmission and distribution infrastructure around the world needs to be updated, so now is an ideal time to fundamentally change the way grids work, not least to incorporate all the new sources of renewable energy that are becoming available. According to analysts New Energy Finance, one of the key features of a smart grid is communication between consumers and power providers. By monitoring consumption, utilities will be able to match production to demand more evenly and consumers will be able to see how they use energy and therefore how they can reduce the amount they use and their energy bills. A number of studies have shown that just having a smart meter in the house - and therefore being more aware of energy consumption - allows consumers to reduce energy consumption by 5-10%.

But there are other less obvious benefits, too. For example, a two-way grid would help the spread of electric cars as well as making power stations more efficient and easing the integration of renewable energy into the grid. The cars could be charged at night, when electricity is cheaper. This would improve the efficiency of the network and could also provide more of a market for wind power, which in the UK most often blows at night when demand is at its lowest. The cars could also act as a form of energy storage and feed power back into the grid at peak times.

Using technology to reduce power outages and make the grid more efficient could remove the need for some of the new power stations that are planned and save billions of pounds in the process. A US study on the smart grid found that it would save between $46bn and $117bn in infrastructure spending. In Europe 222TWh of electricity is lost in transmission every year, equivalent to the output of 35 power stations. For Western Europe, more than 7% of capacity is lost, but the problem is even more acute in developing countries - India loses more than a quarter of the power it generates, while Brazil loses 18.3%, according to the International Energy Outlook and World Energy Investment Outlook. Because it is generated on site, "distributed" power does not have the same problems with transmission losses that centralised generation does, so it makes the system more efficient from that point of view.

"The grid as we know it is like a river, where electricity flows from large power stations to the homes and businesses that need it," says Mr Pilling. Much of it is half a century old and it reflects a world where electricity is centrally generated, mainly from fossil fuels and a long way from where it was needed. Of course, this situation remains largely unchanged for now but things will change in future. The smart grid will allow a two-way flow of energy and information that will transform the energy system.

 

However, there is a long way to go and there are a number of obstacles in the way. One of the biggest is the current structure of the power industry - utilities' profits are dependent on the amount of electricity they sell, so it is in their interests to sell as much as possible. It is not in their interests to encourage their customers to reduce the amount they use or even to generate their own electricity, says Mr Pilling. "The utility model will have to change and they will have to be given the incentive to encourage their customers to manage their energy consumption."

There needs to be a shift from the current model to a situation based around the provision of energy services rather than energy itself. An energy services company (ESCO) might offer you an energy performance contract whereby part of its fee depends on it making your house more energy efficient.

The current transmission and distribution infrastructure will need to be significantly enhanced and regulation improved. To enable the widespread use of renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and marine power, which are often a long way from centres of demand, new transmission capacity will be needed both on and offshore - offshore cables have been proposed in the North Sea along the east coast of the UK and between Ireland and the west coast of Scotland. Such cables could link the UK's vast renewable energy resources - wind power in the first instance but wave and tidal power as well in years to come - with other European countries, expanding the potential markets for renewables.

Ofgem, the UK regulator, has proposed changes that would make it easier for low-carbon forms of power generation to connect to the grid network. Parts of the smart grid are coming together already - the development of offshore wind farms, trials of smart meters and micro-CHP boilers, for example - but the next few years will see further breakthroughs, with integrated building management systems, intelligent appliances, on-site generation and differentiated tariffs enabling households to actively manage their energy use. The key to all this is the smart meter.

For further information, please visit www.siemens.co.uk or contact Lynn Hepple

 

They say that knowledge is power - and that holds just as true when it comes to making our energy system more efficient as it does for any other situation.

That is why smart metering is going to be such an important part of the system in future. "Smart metering means meters in every home that have some kind of two-way communications system in place," says Martin Pollock, a smart metering expert from Siemens. Advances in computing, information technology and telecommunications mean that such communication is now entirely feasible, although there is little consensus on exactly how it should be done - options include radio signals, power line cable, broadband and wireless systems.

This two-way communication, coupled with real-time information, brings a number of advantages for electricity users, for energy retailers and for distribution companies. Consumers can see how much energy or water they are using and when, as well as what pieces of equipment use the most power. That information is often enough to encourage people to change their behaviour and use less energy.

On top of that, smart metering allows customers to generate their own electricity and sell it back to the grid, so it is a vital component for allowing the spread of "distributed generation".

Utilities benefit because they can provide accurate bills that are based on factual data with an audit trail, something the government is keen for them to do. Estimated bills are the main source of complaints for utilities, says Mr Pollock, so automated meter reading should reduce errors and cut complaints. They can also save companies money on staff costs as meter reading is automated.

Utilities will also be able to nudge customers to use energy in a way that makes the whole system more efficient through the use of more sophisticated and inventive tariff structures that move energy use from peak time to less busy periods. This cuts down on peak time surges and allows more efficient use of power stations. However, smart meters tend to reduce energy use, which cuts profits for the energy companies.

 

Distribution companies benefit from the enhanced communication that smart metering brings because they have extra information about how the transmission system is performing. Information about which parts of the system are heavily used and which are less busy allows them to get the optimum use out of equipment - instead of replacing equipment after a certain number of years regardless of the wear and tear it has suffered, businesses will be able to make more informed decisions based on the stresses a particular component has suffered, cutting costs.

Smart meters can also apply to gas and water usage, too and here, there is another advantage in that the system will identify leakage, enabling companies to repair leaks more quickly and cut wastage. This not only allows them to make more efficient use of resources but will have a powerful reputational effect as well.

However, although smart meters benefit all aspects of the energy system, the benefits are diluted among consumers, utilities and distribution companies, meaning that their introduction is unlikely without some form of regulation.

So when will smart meters become commonplace in our homes and workplaces? "It is coming and it will affect everyone, but what shape it will take we don't know at the moment," says Mr Pollock.

 

The industry is currently in a state of limbo, waiting for guidance from the government. Meters are normally replaced every 20 years, and currently utilities are under no obligation to install smart meters when they upgrade them. "At the moment, they can fit whatever they like," Mr Pollock adds. The Energy Bill that was passed in late 2008 allows the Secretary of State "to modify electricity and gas distribution and supply licences to require the licence holder to install, or facilitate the installation of, smart meters to different customer segments". Lord Hunt, energy minister, announced that the government wanted a smart meter in every home by 2020, but few other details have been revealed.

This mandate is important because without that requirement, it is difficult to see why utilities would introduce smart meters; they are not cheap - a full installation programme would cost about £1bn - and once installed they are likely to cut energy consumption, causing a double hit to companies' profits.

Regulation to force the introduction of smart meters is the first step, but "we need to accelerate the process in some way because otherwise it will take 20 years to get full coverage," says Mr Pollock. He expects smart metering to really take off after 2010, when the results will be available from a number of smart metering trials that are being managed by the regulator Ofgem and part-funded by the Treasury. "The Treasury wants to see that bills will come down over time."

There is a need for a minimum standard for meters, on what information should be collected and how often, but then the process should be opened up to the market, allowing manufacturers to come up with the most efficient way of meeting the standard. The result will be a more efficient energy system for everyone.

For further information, please visit www.siemens.co.uk or contact Martin Pollock

 

The challenges facing healthcare are not primarily environmental, but in its own way, the sustainability of the system is heavily reliant on improved efficiency.

The NHS has finite resources but is facing the prospect of a growing and ageing population - the Office of National Statistics recently announced that there are more pensioners than under-16s in the UK and by the end of the decade, one in five of the population will be eligible for a bus pass. It is not just diseases associated with ageing that are a problem - other conditions such as obesity are increasing the strain on health service resources.

The inevitable consequence of this is an increase in healthcare costs. One of the consequences of ageing is an increase in chronic conditions - ie those that require ongoing treatment, such as diabetes or angina. The developed world will be spending €3.8 trillion by 2010, up from €2.2 trillion in 2002. Hard questions will start to be asked about healthcare costs and our system of universal healthcare will come under pressure to reform.

 

Meanwhile, an increase in targets, payment by results and the need for a better flow of information between GPs and hospitals is piling the pressure on healthcare providers. At the same time, there has been a huge increase in the use of technology in healthcare. All of this both increases the potential complexity of the system and provides opportunities to streamline it by cutting out inefficiencies. To cope with all the demands on them, healthcare providers need to integrate all their different functions to create a lean institution.

So, for example, Rhon-Klinikum, a German healthcare group, has linked its 46 hospitals using a web-based electronic health record provided by Siemens that allows the transfer of information not just between different facilities, but also between different clinical systems such as picture archiving, hospital information and practice management. By making all of a patient's medical information available to doctors, the system allows them to make better diagnosis and treatment decisions as well as cutting costs.

 

Meanwhile in the UK Siemens is helping to improve diagnosis and treatment and reducing budgetary uncertainties through its Managed Equipment Services (MES), which allows hospitals to outsource all aspects relating to medical equipment, from purchase to replacement. The company installs and commissions the machines, provides training and maintenance and replaces devices when they come to the end of their life or when technological advances bring new developments on to the market.

MES developed in response to the advent of Private Finance Initiatives and was designed to bring efficiency and innovation into healthcare, says Paul Mulligan, head of PFI and Major Projects at Siemens Healthcare. Technology that helps deliver patient care is at the heart of the modern hospital but having to find the money to buy individual pieces of equipment, or to repair them, out of restricted budgets is not the ideal situation for hospitals.

With MES, hospitals do not buy individual devices, they pay for a guaranteed level of service that lasts for the duration of the contract. Long-term fixed-fee agreements give hospitals certainty and peace of mind. And if something goes wrong, staff know it will be repaired quickly. When a burst water pipe ruined a CT scanner in the A&E department of one hospital, the machine was replaced within 24 hours, says Mr Mulligan. The process is simplified because staff have a single point of contact for any issues to do with the equipment.

 

Previously, cash-strapped hospitals would use equipment until it wore out, and then desperately plunder the budget looking for the cash to replace it. Under MES contracts, trusts have guaranteed equipment availability while a constant exchange of ideas between hospital staff and the MES team ensures hospitals benefit from technological advances and the most efficient ways of working.

They gain access to the most up-to-date equipment, which is vital in a field where technological developments come thick and fast. Having state of the art technology improves speed of diagnosis, which not only improves how patients are treated, cuts costs and waiting lists it can often save lives.

While Siemens is a world leader in diagnostic imaging, pathology, pharmacy and intensive care systems, the scope of an MES can also include IT solutions such as electronic patient record systems and can even extend to non-medical but critical areas such as environmental and energy management, which will become more important from 2010 once the Carbon Reduction Commitment is introduced and hospitals have to cut their energy consumption.

For further information, please visit www.siemens.co.uk or contact Kerry Milton

 

One example of where technology can make a huge difference to patients is in the treatment of strokes. Strokes are the third-biggest cause of death in the UK and the leading cause of severe disability.

A stroke is a brain attack, caused by a bleed or a blood clot in the brain. They strike suddenly, without warning and can affect men, women and children of all ages. Every five minutes someone in the UK has a stroke.

The treatment is very different for strokes caused by bleeds (haemorrhagic) and clots (ischaemic). A new class of clot-busting drugs called TPAs can be very effective for ischaemic strokes if administered within three hours of the onset of symptoms, says Peter Harrison, director of Siemens Imaging and Oncology Systems. However, it is exactly the wrong treatment to give to someone who has had a haemorrhagic stroke, so ascertaining the cause of the stroke as early as possible is vital for treatment to be effective.

 

This is obviously important for individual patients, but it is important for the NHS as a whole as well. Stroke care costs the NHS about £2.8bn a year in direct costs and the total cost to the nation, including lost productivity and informal care costs, is about £7bn.

To ensure prompt treatment, hospital A&E departments need 24/7 access to CT scanners that can play their part in diagnosis. "You need the right equipment in the right place at the right time and you need the staff available to operate that equipment," says Mr Harrison. However, this is far from the case in many hospitals, he says. Even in hospitals that do have the appropriate equipment, if it is not located near A&E, accurate diagnosis is delayed, cutting into the three-hour window of opportunity for effective treatment and harming patients' chances of full recovery.

"Scanners have to be available in A&E, not half an hour away, and they have to be appropriately staffed. If it is widely acknowledged that this would be a good thing, why is it happening so slowly?" Mr Harrison asks. The answer, as so often in healthcare, is due to budgetary constraints. "Acute hospitals are governed by their budgets, but at a commissioning level, managers should be looking at this from a macro perspective and diverting some of their funds to accelerate this kind of care," he adds. "It is a very cost-effective solution."

 

The siting of CT scanners is the kind of issue that can be incorporated into the planning of new hospitals using workflow engineering software that allows designers to discover potential bottlenecks and design them out of the final building, putting architects in the unusual position of contributing to better treatment of stroke victims.

Of course, prevention is the best medicine and Siemens sponsors the Stroke Association's Stroke for Stroke campaign, whose second annual Siemens Stroke for Stroke Week took place from 27 October - 2 November 2008. To highlight the benefits of exercise in preventing strokes, the campaign asked people to sign up to row 10km and get sponsorship for doing it.

For more information, go to http://www.siemens.co.uk/strokeforstroke.

 

Despite the sometimes gloomy stereotype, manufacturing in Britain is alive and kicking. While much low-cost production has been outsourced to cheaper regions, the UK retains a manufacturing sector that is high-tech, cutting edge and involves a high level of intellectual property.

Nonetheless, it is undeniable that these are challenging times for the sector. The chaos in the financial and currency markets has wreaked havoc on the ability of companies to raise capital, while the volatility and increase in the price of energy and other commodities has increased price pressure for everyone.

At the same time, a welter of regulation is pushing manufacturers to use less energy, emit fewer greenhouse gases and other pollutants, produce less waste and increase the proportion of their products that can be recycled.

In times such as these, the drive for efficiency becomes even more important. But how can this be achieved in a complex world of global markets and supply chains?

 

There are a number of simple options that can have big effects, but the best results come from a systematic approach. This starts before a product's design has been finalised. Product Lifecycle Management is a new approach to design that allows you to "virtualise" the process. This goes far beyond Computer-Aided Design (CAD). It allows you to look at not only an individual product but also how it will be made - what is the best configuration for the manufacturing plant, what is the ideal mix of robot and human input and what are the optimum conditions for production, says Neil Dunsmuir, of Siemens PLM Software.

"To do this in the real world requires going through a process of trial and error that is time consuming and costly - by working out where possible bottlenecks and disruptions lie in the virtual world, we allow companies to make significant savings by doing away with trial and error."

For a company of the size, scope and complexity of Siemens, PLM offers real potential for different departments to work together to produce efficiencies for customers.

Such holistic thinking is needed when it comes to saving energy. In industry, two-thirds of energy consumed is electricity, and there are a number of points of attack in the fight to cut consumption, says Steve Barker, an energy efficiency expert at Siemens. Firstly, there are renewable energy devices such as wind turbines, which take greenhouse gases out of the energy flowing into a factory. Siemens is one of the world leaders in wind turbines, but the amount of wind energy generated in the UK remains limited for now, so other options are needed.

 

The first requirement, if you want to save energy, is to know how much energy you use, where you use it, at what times and what for. That is why Siemens has a portfolio of measuring and monitoring products. "Priority Number 1 is monitoring systems. Just by having the information that these provide, you will identify substantial savings," Mr Barker says. "When we carry out site audits, we expect to find at least 30 individual opportunities to save energy that have a payback of 3 years or less, with many of them having a payback of less than 12 months."

Once potential savings have been identified, energy consumption needs to be managed, which requires energy management systems combining process controls and building controls. One example of this is intelligent lighting systems, says Mr Barker. "Lighting accounts for about 20% of energy consumption and everyone thinks that to make savings you just have to switch to energy-efficient light bulbs. However, 80% of the possible savings come from lighting control systems."

 

Finally, you get down to the level of individual pieces of machinery, where some of the most startling savings can be made using more efficient motors. "Variable speed drives offer huge energy-saving potential," says Mr Barker. "If half of the possible applications in the UK were switched from fixed speed to variable speed motors, it would save 25m tonnes of CO2 a year." That CO2 saving translates into lower energy costs as well, which is vital for businesses in today's climate of high energy prices.

The biggest barrier to the introduction of low-carbon, energy-efficient technologies is a lack of resources, whether that be cash, manpower or expertise to consider the complex issues involved. Here Siemens offers further solutions, including consultancy services to identify areas for energy and cost reductions and to help implement the measures needed. Siemens Financial Services, meanwhile, can offer financing packages where the cost of the payments is less than the savings that the energy efficiency programme brings.

For further information, please visit www.siemens.co.uk or contact Lynn Hepple

 

British railways have a terrible reputation that dates back to the days of privatisation and before, with a further blow to the sector coming from a series of horrific accidents around the turn of the century.

But without people really noticing, great improvements have been made on the railways and this has been reflected in strong growth. Passenger numbers have increased by about 40% in the last decade and a further 30% growth is expected in the next ten years. Freight is up too, and is expected to double by 2030.

This success story is partly because the train operating services have realised the importance of customer service and have made significant improvements to punctuality, cleanliness and safety, making the railways a desirable option once again for many people.

This is good news for efforts to make Britain's transport system more sustainable - trains are the most environmentally friendly form of transport, and it is important to encourage more people to use them instead of cars, particularly in cities. The main complaint about trains these days is that they are overcrowded, a sign that they have become a victim of their own success.

This should start to ease over the next few years - a new train procurement programme will see an extra 1,300 carriages on the rails by 2013, leading to a big boost in capacity without the need for any significant enhancement of infrastructure.

Even though trains are already the most environmentally friendly form of transport, that does not mean they cannot be improved further, according to Gordon Wakeford, Managing Director of Siemens Mobility.

 

"The carbon footprint of railways is significant," says Mr Wakeford, "so there are more and more requirements from customers to reduce the energy consumption of trains." The company has responded to this with a range of innovations, including measures to reduce the weight of its trains and capturing the energy involved in braking through regenerative braking systems.

The next generation of carriages to be introduced on the Thameslink line, for example, will be 6 tonnes lighter than their predecessors. Further weight savings could be achieved if UK standards were changed to allow electronic control of safety-critical equipment. At the moment, rolling stock in Britain must use miles of copper-wire for such functions, adding weight and cost and reducing the amount of space available.

A fuel-saving initiative in partnership with TransPennine Express introduced measures such as reduction in idling at stations, advice to drivers on coasting, better data capture for fuel used and targeted engine shutdowns have cut fuel burn by 7% per train km and saved 12 tonnes of CO2 emissions per day, adding up to an annual reduction in fuel use of 1.8m litres, all without hardware changes and extra capital cost.

Regenerative braking is used in hybrid cars, and it can be used in trams and trains as well. Siemens is using "supercapacitor" systems in trams and trains to store the energy generated when the vehicles come to a stop. This energy is then released to help the train accelerate as it moves away from the station, cutting energy use by up to 30% and annual CO2 emissions by up to 300 tonnes per train in some cases.

 

Intelligent application of computing power can also pay dividends. Automatic route-setting technology can reduce unnecessary stops at red signals, further cutting energy consumption, while level crossing predictors can even cut emissions from road vehicles by reducing the amount of time they spend with their engines idling while they wait for trains to pass.

The railways should be "smart" in other ways, too. Making trains more attractive to travellers, so they are something they actually want to use rather than are forced to use, is a vital component of making travel more sustainable. Getting people out of their cars and on to the rails is just as much about having trains that are clean, reliable and safe as it is about making trains environmentally friendly.

They also have to fit in with other aspects of peoples' lives, so rail must be integrated with other forms of transport. A prime example of this is airport shuttles such as the airport express trains from Heathrow and Stansted to London. "Every type of transport has its place," says Mr Wakeford. "What is important is to link the different modes of transport, whether that is through improved park-and-ride schemes or transport interchanges."

One way of improving public transport in cities is light rail systems and a number of cities are considering this option - Edinburgh is planning a new system while Manchester, Nottingham and Newcastle are looking at extending or upgrading existing systems. Other cities have already benefited from upgrades - Oslo Metro's new trains are lighter than the old ones, which reduces the stress on the track, are up to 95% recyclable and 30% more energy efficient. Meanwhile, new trams in Budapest have electronic braking systems that do away with brake linings, reducing the emissions of fine particulates, which can cause respiratory problems.

 

This green approach to mobility is not restricted to trains. Extra Low Voltage traffic signals using LED technology and low voltage cables can cut energy consumption by up to 70% and reduce the amount of cabling material by 30%. "Local authorities have moved from asking for green criteria in their procurement to demanding them," says Peter Preston, of Siemens Mobility. "Our customers are interested in reducing the amount of money they spend on energy bills. This is one way they can do that."

The advantages of ELV signals include improved electrical safety, lower installation costs and lower maintenance requirements.

For further information, please visit www.siemens.co.uk or contact Lynn Hepple