GE Intelligent Platforms will work with the US Environmental Protection Agency's National Risk Management Research Laboratory (NRMRL) on connecting dissimilar data sources into a software-based platform, that improves decision making capabilities across a water system.
“The availability of safe, reliable drinking water has proven to be the foundation of sustainable economic and cultural growth in every society in history,” said Alan Hinchman, Global Industry Manager Water/Wastewater for GE Intelligent Platforms.“With this agreement, GE and the U.S. EPA will work with third parties to create a sensor-based, data-driven, and software-assisted system for drinking water distributions. The goal would be to optimize water quality improvement and minimize energy usage. By doing so, the product could assist water utilities and other end users with 'greener' distribution network operations and enhanced regulatory compliance.”
“The U.S. municipal water industry collectively consumes 4% of the total U.S. power generation,” said Thomas Speth, Acting Division Director for NRMRL's Water Supply and Water Resources Division in Cincinnati.
“Therefore one of the goals of this CRADA is to reduce energy consumption by 10% to 15%, which will have a positive impact on reducing green house gas emissions. Also since electrical generation is the largest water user in the U.S., the reduction in demand would help better manage water resources.”
The project seeks to transfer past and ongoing R&D results, as well as intellectual properties of all of the parties, into real-world applications. These technological advances will be further developed and integrated with proprietary technologies that GE and PDA Design, a Greer, South Carolina-based green technology think tank and solution provider, have related to sensor networking, wireless and wire-based multi-platform data communication protocols, real-time process equipment control, data warehousing and mining technologies.
Further integration and development, implemented by these parties, will be focused on energy reduction and water quality protections.