Energy demand is expected to double by 2050, and some experts forecast the energy demand of the machine-to-machine Internet to be 100-times greater than the current human-to-human network. We are learning the hard way that the earth’s energy generation capacity is finite. You don’t have to be a scientist or economist to recognize the simple outlook for energy supply and demand. Simply put, energy is expensive today and it promises to become even more costly in the future.
The Two Theories For Greener Future:
1.) Malthusian Restraint
Malthusian Restraint is theorized by Thomas Malthus (Anglican clergyman, political economist, 1766- 1834) who was concerned with the relationship between human population and scarcity.
In the original Malthusian argument, if the human population grows faster than the ability to produce necessities such as food, the cost of these necessities will rise while the wages will fall because there are more people available to work.
Modern Malthusianism goes beyond food; The better we get at making things, the cheaper it is to consume and the faster we reproduce and use up the planet’s resources. Thus, this concerns the greener future concept.
2.) Solovian Innovation
This theory is theorized by Robert Solow (Professor emeritus at MIT and Nobel Prize winner in economics) who believes that productivity is able to solve the problem of limitations and to drive productivity, we need to invest in technological and process innovation.
According to Solow, humanity needn’t conquer new worlds and acquire their resources: We just need to innovate within our existing context.
Comparing these two on the surface, Malthusian restraint is more like dictatorship centralized control system with taste of Utopian, it restricts freedom while cater for calamity. It literary is like a computer system which checks everything for audit.
On the other hand, Solovian strategy permits a freer and unbounded future for humanity by discounting internal struggles which is analogous to a distributed computer system whereby there is no centralized server and that something may go wrong along the chain of connections.
Success Stories:
Malthusian Restraint
The all-alumnium can introduced in 1963 by Reynolds Metals led to a huge increase in recycling because of the ease and profitability of recycling it.
Solovian Innovation
A classic example is when Malaysia was conquered by Japan during World War II, rubber distribution to Allied force countries were interrupted. They needed rubber for making more tires and hence was quick to innovate and mass produce viable synthetic rubber.
Malthusian & Solovian Hybrid
McDonald’s commitment to conserving global fish stocks by having Marine Stewardship Council to certify that the fish in its Filet-O-Fish sandwiches comes from sustainable fisheries.
Walmart contributes to rain-forest preservation by getting its lumber certified by Forest Stewardship Council.
Balancing Act:
In ‘Saving the Planet: A Tale of Two Strategies‘, a guide was developed to determine when best should these two theories be deployed optimally. Two rules.
- Solovian innovation is a longer-term strategy because innovation takes time to formulate and mature.
- Malthusian restraint can buy time for Solovian innovation
Enterprise-wide Energy Savings of Up to 30%?
Schneider EcoStruxure is not a product but rather an approach that creates intelligent energy management systems. EcoStruxure system architecture allows you to see, measure, and manage energy use across your Data Centres, Industrial Plants, Buildings, and Energy & Infrastructure with guaranteed compatibility among your critical energy domains.
Efficient Enterprise:
As energy demands escalate from all aspects of commerce and culture, the most acute pain point is that due to intrinsic inefficiencies, 33 units of energy consumed at the point of use require 100 units of primary energy (the coal required to supply that energy unit)*. It follows that the war on waste – a focus on ‘negawatts’, or watts not used – will deliver the best returns for businesses.
EcoStruxure architecture delivers optimized systems through compatible product designs and open platform software. A single software package animates, controls, and aggregates the energy data output from the components arranged within the architecture. These solutions emphasize three core principles.
It is based on simple four-step life cycle process:
1.) Measure
2.) Fix the basics
3.) Optimize through automation and regulation
4.) Monitor, maintain, improve
EcoStruxure architecture integrates critical energy management domains for consolidated monitoring, reporting, and efficiency. It is compatible with third-party systems, so you can leverage existing investments.
It consists of five groups of features:
1.) Power management
2.) Process & Machine Management
3.) IT Room Management
4.) Building Management
5.) Security Management
EcoStruxure enterprise solutions exceed the traditional boundaries of energy management, power, and process operations software by uniting business and energy strategies across your entire enterprise while performing wide-area analysis of events and conditions.
Schneider EcoStructure is another good example of Solovian innovation towards achieving a greener future for existing and future enterprises.
