Dynamixx E2DI Journal November 2009

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Contents 4

Engaging the Challenges Ahead – The E2DI Interview with Lord Paul Drayson

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Adapting, Surviving and Thriving in the 21st Century – By Ian Godden, Chairman of ADS

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Aerospace, Defence, Transportation and Energy – Taking Responsible Action – By Mattia Cavanna

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Charging Forward: Lockheed Martin Consolidates its Move into Energy

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Observing Our Planet From Space – Astrium and the Environment –

By Dr Mike Healy

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New Market Horizons: Boeing Integrated Defense Systems on Defence, Energy and the Environment – E2DI Interviews Dr David Whelan & Anthony Galasso

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BAE’s Smart Decisions Lead to Greener, Sustainable Products –

By Chris Courtaux & Martin Pearce

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The Keys to Climate Change –

By Dr Alexis Livanos

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Plan B’: Is Geo-Engineering –

By Ben Hargreaves

Published by Dynamixx Ltd If you have a story or contribution for the E2DI Journal, please contact: Nick Cook, Editor nick@dynamixx.co.uk; Tel: (+44) 20 7198 8425 For General Enquiries, please contact: Roz Littlewood roz@dynamixx.co.uk; Tel: (+44) 20 7198 8425 For Advertising, Event Sponsorship and Exhibiting, please contact: Graham Hart graham@dynamixx.co.uk; Tel: (+44) 7540 134437 Editor: Nick Cook Editorial Manager: Roz Littlewood Production Manager: James Lamont Dynamixx Limited, One Hardwicks Square London, SW18 4AW, United Kingdom.

Tel: (+44) 20 7198 8425 www.dynamixx-e2d.com © 2009 Dynamixx Ltd.

Beyond Copenhagen Whatever transpires at the COP 15 climate change conference in Copenhagen this December, one thing has almost universally been agreed in advance: failure to bring about an agreement is not an option if we are to avoid fast-approaching tipping points – points of no return – that are threatening endangered eco-systems and, long term, the planet as a whole. The new COP 15 president, Connie Hedegaard, Danish Minister for Climate and Energy, has called Copenhagen a “window of opportunity” which should not be missed, arguing that it may take years to rebuild the momentum.

o effectively seal the deal, she noted that two primary requirements needed to be fulfilled at Copenhagen. Politicians, including heads of state, needed to become more actively involved; and developed countries needed to come forward with specifics on finance. And she added: “We know what we ought to do on mitigation, on reductions, on adaptation, on technology and on finance. Well, yes, it’s difficult. But my bet is, it’s not going to get any easier by postponing decisions.”

Her words could have been paraphrased by a single word: action.

Without action in the wake of Copenhagen, COP 15, which is designed to deliver a new climate change treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol, might as well not take place. But how to deliver that vision?

In this, the second issue of the E2DI Journal, we are presented with a snapshot – an abundant set of clues – as to how a coherent action-plan might be put together – by an industry that has a track-record of systems-engineering on a very large scale. On page 4, Lord Paul Drayson, UK Minister of State for Science and Innovation and Minister for State for Strategic Defence Acquisition Reform, readily acknowledges that the industry has a key role to play in combating climate change; and as the following pages make clear, the industry itself is already taking steps to ensure that it is readying itself for the call – demonstrating a willingness to engage that would have been unthinkable little more than a year ago.

On page 9, Finmeccanica, Europe’s only fully integrated aerospace, defence,

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transport and energy conglomerate, outlines the benefits of cross-sector integration in understanding the complexities of climate change as a prelude to delivering solutions. On page 22, two top scientists and engineers from Boeing’s International Defense Systems explain the company’s rationale in diving into the energy market – a market that is already firmly embedded in forward operating plans, as our article on page 13 demonstrates, at Lockheed Martin. These strategies, underpinned by the need for knowledge and clean energy, are all echoed, in some way, shape or form in our other features.

When it comes to engaging the aerospace and defence industry against the threat of catastrophic climate change, there is a timing issue that is becoming increasingly significant. Whilst defence budgets in the Western hemisphere continue to slide, the technological demands of energy and environmental markets - and the budgets earmarked to them - are set to go through the roof. As this issue of E2DI makes clear, the A&D industry has knowledge in-depth in both fields, as well as a top-down ability to ‘system-ofsystems engineer’ that is global in its perspective. If politicians really do want momentum after Copenhagen, they already have an 'action arm' - a strategic industry with proximity to government that is waiting in the wings.

Nick Cook Dynamixx; Editor, E2DI Journal

June 2009

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Engaging the challenges ahead In an exclusive interview, Lord Paul Drayson, the UK Minister of State for Science and Innovation and Minister of State for Strategic Defence Acquisition Reform, offers his views on Aerospace and Defence industry engagement in the fight against climate change. As the man responsible (then as Defence Procurement Minister) for the UK’s widely praised Defence Industrial Strategy, which was published in 2005, Lord Drayson is respected for his wealth of knowledge and experience of the defence sector. He is also known to be extremely interested in innovative solutions for combating climate change. He spoke to E2DI Editor Nick Cook. Highlights of their conversation follow.

E2DI: The Aerospace and Defence industry has tactical and strategic skill-sets with which it can proactively combat climate change. Is that an idea that resonates with you?

Lord Drayson: Yes, it does. I was really struck by how (Dynamixx and E2DI have) identified a need and I am very keen to support it. Let me start from first principles. The challenge of climate change is, I think, the greatest challenge our generation faces and as Science Minister I get to see the latest data, working with the Chief Scientific Advisor, and it’s very clear that the data is now completely compelling. We have been through in the past few years the public debate of ‘is it real, is it not’ and I think we’ve come through that. And now we’re into the ‘what do we do about it’ debate.

E2DI: Would it be fair to say that you see climate change as an opportunity as well as a threat?

Lord Drayson: From an innovation standpoint, absolutely. I see it very much as a threat and a challenge. But the response to that challenge has to be, I believe, one which takes an optimistic view: (where) we are able to use human ingenuity to come up with solutions that will enable us to adapt our lifestyle – we’ve got to adapt. I believe that we have to use our resourcefulness and our ingenuity to come up with technological solutions which enable people to be able to change their lives, adapt their

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lifestyles, both in the West and in developing countries, without us requiring absolute revolution and change.

People aren’t like that. I think defence has a huge contribution to make because I’ve seen for myself, previously as Defence Procurement Minister and now as Defence Reform Minister, that the defence industry has had to tackle some of the (world’s) most challenging science and engineering questions. … I am absolutely aware (for example) how much brain-power and expertise and

We have under“invested in energy research and we need to put that right.

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Lord Paul Drayson, the UK Minister of State for Science and Innovation and Minister of State for Strategic Defence Acquisition Reform

systems-engineering and understanding has to go into dealing with the challenges of operating a nuclear submarine. Now, I think the industry has a huge contribution to apply the knowhow that it has developed for defence in addressing some of these challenges of climate change. I think it’s a real opportunity. I also think it’s a threat to defence, because defence like everything else has to address issues such as the emissions that are produced by (weapons platforms and) the still-rising cost of fuel.

E2DI: Some senior aerospace and defence executives have said that the sector faces an innovation gap on a macro-scale, at a time when the industry is challenged by shrinking defence budgets. Do you think it can switch its recognised skill-sets, particularly on a systems-engineering level, to tackling climate change?

Lord Drayson: Particularly when we’re tackling very difficult operations in Afghanistan, I’m certainly not coming from the point of view of swords into ploughshares. I am coming from a point of view where I do think there’s real opportunity for the expertise which has been developed for defence purposes to be applied to challenges around climate change. … But it’s not clear at the moment – and this is why I think your publication and your initiative are very timely - how that can be done. That’s why I think we need to do a bit more thinking about it.

Qinetiq is a great example of a business that came out of defence research and was very much defence-focused, but has tremendous science research expertise.

It had begun a process of successfully diversifying into other areas of science.

E2DI: Governments should obviously lead the charge against climate change, but is there a natural sector that can ally itself with government?

It should, rightfully, perhaps, be the energy sector, but a lot of people point out that the energy sector is conflicted.

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Lord Drayson: We have underinvested in energy research and we need to put that right. Where does the R&D get spent in this country? It’s predominately in pharmaceuticals, life sciences and defence. That defence investment in R&D has real latent value, I think. Therefore there is an opportunity for the defence industry to move into this space (from the point of view of applying system-of-systems knowledge to climate change work connected to satellite earth-observation, for example.). We have a very strong space industry in this country (that in some areas is derived from) civilian applications of systems that were often started in defence.

E2DI: But isn’t the energy sector’s natural business extracting oil and gas?

Lord Drayson: Yes, but there is the development of alternative energies.

Nuclear (technology) is a great example of where the defence industry has developed real expertise - in terms of nuclear power-generation for application on submarines. That has real relevance in terms of next generation civilian power plants. I really don’t think the energy industry is (overly) conflicted; it’s just that it has not invested enough in the past. It hasn’t been in the nature of the industry, a highly regulated industry, to invest, because there hasn’t been the pull to acquire the innovation.

E2DI: Do you see any stimulus to innovation coming from alliances between the defence industry and the energy sector?

Lord Drayson: I think there are models (from) other industry sectors (that) have worked with the defence industry to mutual benefit in the past.

The one which I was involved in was defence and motor sport, where the defence industry had (some significant) computing capability that was relevant to tackling some of the challenges of modelling air-flows across racing-cars.

What the defence industry (gained) was some of the know-how the motor sport had in fast-prototyping more efficiently. … I think that there is an opportunity for the defence industry to do this with energy applications … that there is a (chance here) to think about this as a market opportunity in applying some of the technologies that they have.

E2DI: And how might your

department help to catalyse that process?

Lord Drayson: I think that the role of the department is to help make those linkages happen but the role of the government and the low carbon national strategy, in particular, is to create a framework - in terms of stimulus, the regulations and the incentives that are put in place. But most importantly (government) must give as much certainty as possible for innovators, entrepreneurs and investors that if they build it, it will be bought; that there is a market.

This response to climate change is very much in a pre-market phase. It’s dogged by (a number of) big problems, (such as the) volatility of the oil price where the cost-effectiveness of an innovation in addressing some aspect of climate change or energy-dependence is very dependent on the view of future oil prices. So government has a real role in recognising that it has to address that market failure and to give investors and innovators clarity that, despite the volatility of the oil price, long term trends on climate change require us to meet those objectives and put in place both legislation, regulations and incentives, (so) investors know that if they invest in that technology it will be bought - there will be a market for it.

Also there are the enormous amounts of capital that are required to actually take some of these developments to market.

But that’s another area the defence industry is used to: large projects, long time scales, large capital investment and management of risk, which again play, I think, to the strengths of the industry.

E2DI: Any concluding thoughts?

Lord Drayson: I think (climate change) is a real opportunity for the (aerospace and defence) industry. I think it’s important your (interview) doesn’t come across as me saying, ‘Oh the industry’s under threat because of (declining) defence budgets’. I don’t think it’s a solution to that problem. I just think it’s an opportunity and I’ve seen so much great science and engineering in defence and a number of times I’ve thought, ‘Wow, it would be fantastic if that was applied to this problem over here’. And I’m very keen in my position of Defence Minister, and as Science Minister, to help make that happen, mindful, too, of the conflicts of interest people may be worried about, but even so ...

Lord Paul Drayson, the UK Minister of State for Science and Innovation and Minister of State for Strategic Defence Acquisition Reform

November 2009

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Adapting, Surviving & Thriving in the 21st Century Ian Godden, Chairman of ADS – the UK’s newly amalgamated trade body for the aerospace, defence and security industries – offers a personal view on how the Aerospace, Defence and Security communities need to work together on energy and environmental issues. t comes as a surprise to many people when, in my role as a major promoter of the UK aerospace and defence sectors, I tell them that we are leading the way in tackling climate change. We are often portrayed in the media and public debate as the devil incarnate because our public image has been created by others on our behalf and in no way to our benefit.

That is why I believe passionately that the sector must do more and dedicate extra resources to improving our image, not by greenwash or manipulating reality, but by telling the truth to combat our opponents.

Aviation is responsible for around two per cent of global man-made carbon dioxide emissions. On a “do nothing” basis we are expected to be responsible for three per cent by 2050. These are not our figures but those of the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). But few believe the figures, especially when we say them, because our opponents set the agenda years ago while we did not engage with the public until it was too late.

Defence is the source of many new technologies that benefit our lives.

Why? Because the pressure to defend against real threats drives innovation like nothing else on earth. And the large scale drive to protect human life in battle has such a major impact on medical research and precision engineering that it is creating a major contribution to our society at large.

When people microwave their food, use their mobile phone or the internet or

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even go to hospital to see their unborn baby for the first time through an ultrasound scan they benefit from discoveries first made by the defence industry. Recent new findings on how to preserve life after major traumas is about to have a major impact on how we improve emergency services. The majority of our population do not know this.

The two sectors also collaborate to deliver benefits already, with further improvements to come. For example, civil airliners can use global positioning satellites (GPS) to fly more accurate routes, reducing their fuel burn and in turn carbon dioxide emissions. In future, unmanned aerial systems (UASs) will be able to increase that route accuracy still further to improve fuel-efficiency even more. New software and systems will also improve air traffic management, cutting emissions still further.

Talking amongst ourselves as an industry will only get us so far. We can identify where we can help – such as assisting in the design of wind turbines for power generation in our industry’s wind tunnels and contributing to the major advancements in civil nuclear power generation- as well as the major steps forward from our own contributions. But we can do so much more and more effectively influence the public’s and politician’s perception of us by deeds as well as through words.

To do so we need to seek new partners with which to collaborate. We have a goal that is shared by many and we should engage with those who are happy to work with us to attain that shared aim. For example, airlines and

environmentalists share the same economic and environmental goal – although many of the latter would not believe it – lower fuel burn and hence lower emissions. Fuel costs are the second largest expense for most airlines after staffing costs and they are much less predictable. The oil price spike of 2008 generated a great deal of extra interest from airlines in more fuelefficient aircraft, as the record sales at the Farnborough Airshow of that year went some way to proving. Therefore, we can demonstrate this to fair-minded green campaigners as the UK’s Sustainable Aviation initiative has already done. As it produces its biennial progress reports it ensures that the document is reviewed by experts from the UK Government but also by representatives of the more sensible side of the environmental movement. This ensures that the report is robust and that the arguments in it are sound from their perspective.

As we demonstrate this potential to address the issue of climate change it also plays a part in another goal that we have set for ourselves in the UK. Our industry is on the verge of a “silver tsunami” whereby a large proportion of our highly-skilled workforce is approaching retirement age. To retain Britain’s leading edge in the global aerospace and defence markets we have to attract bright young minds from education into our sector. Contrary to the image of being dragged kicking and screaming into becoming environmentalists we need to show young people that they can contribute to

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overcoming climate change by joining the industry rather than demonstrating against it.

Our work to engage young people in our industry will have to form part of a wider engagement strategy. We already work with our Government on many issues but there is some way to go to ensure that both of us see the bigger picture on the matter of climate change.

For example, does one Government department that is handling environmental issues work with another that is deciding on research and technology funding in aerospace and defence? Perhaps or perhaps not. The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has a sustainable procurement initiative with which we are heavily engaged and supportive. But procurement decisions are still made with the heavy shadow of the Treasury over them and would rarely, I would suggest, see environmental factors outweigh short term financial criteria. Would the procurement of a new aircraft for the MoD that would enable the supplying company involved to invest in new technology to deliver even cleaner civil aircraft sway a defence procurement decision? I doubt it.

Therefore, we need to work harder to show how such decisions inter-connect with other Government priorities, such as sustainability and lower carbon emissions.

Engaging with the general public, especially in the UK, where environmentalists with an implacable opposition to our sectors were given freedom to influence the popular perception because we did not respond

quickly enough, will be more difficult.

But it is not impossible. Over half of the British population flew at least once during the last year. So we have a majority of people who value our products and services. Our aim now should be to ensure that anyone who does take a flight has some basic information about what the sector is doing to address the small but growing environmental impact that we know we have. We have the information, the UK has the Sustainable Aviation initiative

on something so vital to ensure the continued vibrancy of that market.

Competition drives innovation and will deliver solutions much more surely than any legislation ever could. Together we need to work collaboratively on this vital issue, demonstrate progress, engage decision-makers, the general public and most importantly our young people. We must continue to innovate as well as explain outside our sector where we aim to go, how that will be of benefit and why our opponents are often

To retain Britain’s leading edge in the global aerospace and defence markets we have to attract bright young minds from education into our sector. that demonstrates the economic benefits that we bring as well as the action being taken to address local and global environmental impacts, but we have to do more to pass that information on.

Luckily we have around half a million people in the UK who work in aviation.

They are our best advocates and if we empower them with the information they can tell their friends. That network is much more powerful than the propaganda of any green group that refuses to acknowledge our efforts.

A|D|S will be developing a public engagement campaign to achieve this aim during 2010.

This is the benefit that a trade body can bring. While our members compete against each other in the marketplace we can bring them together to collaborate

well-meaning but mistaken.

Therefore, I would conclude by saying that the messages that our industry can all agree on must be heard more widely, namely that we are not as bad as we are portrayed, that we offer solutions to the problems around climate change that few other sectors can deliver and that we have the excellence in our workforce to deliver both wealth and lower carbon economies.

Our role now, and it is one that I commit myself and my organisation to wholeheartedly, is to explain and demonstrate this to society at large. I hope that you will join me in doing so and in turn strike a blow for the environment as well as for the truth about our fantastic, innovative and progressive industry.

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Aerospace, Defence, Transportation and Energy – Taking Responsible Action In seeking to answer the challenging question of how best to leverage industrial capabilities in the development of practical and effective solutions against some of the alarming environmental threats and social upheavals that are predicted in connection with climate change, Finmeccanica – Europe’s only fully integrated aerospace, defence, transportation and energy conglomerate - is responding through cross-sector integration, open industrial cooperation, innovation and stakeholder dialogue, writes Mattia Cavanna, Vice President Logistics, Energy and Global Service, Finmeccanica Group Services.

chieving the results industry is looking for will not be easy as there are many seemingly contradictory issues that need to be resolved, such as the alignment of shortterm goals with sustainable, long term strategies, the rising demand for abundant, cheap energy and a chronic scarcity of fossil-fuel resources. In addition, there is the need to support emerging economies in reducing their own carbon footprint, alongside the prospect of ‘climate refugees’ and other global humanitarian and security issues.

All this, in addition to the need to remain industrially competitive in a tough global market.

But there are solid grounds for optimism, as long as a collaborative effort is made to deepen our understanding of the consequences of our actions in economic, social and environmental terms and if we adopt interdisciplinary approaches to the problem.

In the fight against climate change time is of the essence, and it’s right that we have great ambitions, but as we move

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Pivot cultivation, Umatilla along theColumbia river, Oregon , US

forward we need to remain fully aware of both the cost of in-action and the risks of applying the wrong solutions.

Policy-makers, public opinion and different economic sectors need to keep advancing carefully but consistently on three levels: awareness, mitigation and adaptation. Although in the last few years we have witnessed a fall in the number of climate change sceptics, a huge gap still remains between scientific debate and action – what is actually

happening – in the fight against rising levels of CO2.

Mitigation policies introduced at international or European level - like the EU 2020 goals - are producing tangible results, especially in the renewable energies field, but a lot still needs to be done to include emerging economies.

In this respect, the UN negotiations in Copenhagen in December 2009 will be a crucial milestone, especially given recent announcements by the EU of reductions in the funding that will be made available to poorer countries.

Warnings of environmental catastrophe coupled with the current international financial crisis, are forcing our industries to radically rethink their role in society at large. The lack of financial resources available to fuel research and development in innovative areas associated with clean energy solutions may also represent a further obstacle in our race towards a sustainable future.

But we have to be aware that we are all called to action and that we have to contribute responsibly to turn a very real potential threat into an opportunity, as

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www.dynamixx-e2d.com we believe we have the skills to do it and that there is a strong alignment between sustainability and value-creation.

It is self-evident that the aerospace and defence (A&D) industry is well placed to deal with emerging threats, given its innovative attitude, its global reach and its familiarity with complex problems and large programmes, almost all of which are underpinned by sophisticated command and control and network-centric technologies. A change in perspective is needed in looking at the technology at the sector’s disposal and in rethinking its possible applications, because by doing so we may discover that significant new opportunities could emerge beyond the stovepipes of ‘stand-alone’ markets in the space, aeronautics, defence and energy fields. This is why the A&D industry has to develop and build a solid forum of engagement in the climate change arena, in order to create opportunities and develop solutions, through both competition and cooperation, not only within its own sector, but with adjacent sectors, such

participating in an open and pro-active way in the EU Clean Sky Joint Technology Initiative, focusing on new engines, increased use of lightweight composite materials, high-efficiency systems applications, and modern aerodynamics for new commercial aircraft; also in the SESAR programme covering the development of a new European air traffic management system.

We are also participating in the GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) programme, a joint initiative of the European Commission and the European Space Agency, which is designed to establish a European capability for the provision and use of operational information services concerned with environment and security.

Finmeccanica’s heritage of diverse industrial sectors - aerospace, defence and security, helicopters, information technology, transportation and powergeneration - allows us to benefit internally from a continuous cross-sector flow of managerial, research and engineering best practices, enabling synergies and accelerating innovation.

manufacture to innovative energy solutions.

IT tools developed by the defence and ICT industries, for instance, once adapted and integrated, can have a key role to play in supplying decision-quality climate change data. Whether coming from earth observation or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, like those developed and produced by SelexGalileo, Alenia Aeronautica and DRS) or from other distributed systems, such data can be integrated by network technologies and sensor-fusion to allow us to maintain a far more effective watch over the greenhouse effect than is happening today.

At Telespazio – the joint-venture between Finmeccanica and Thales - we acquire and process, inter alia, satellite data from the Cosmo-SkyMed satellite constellation, a programme financed by the Italian Space Agency, Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Education, as well as universities and scientific research centres. The Cosmo-SkyMed system consists of four satellites equipped with radar sensors that can operate 24-hours a day under any

As our DNA is composed of diverse capabilities developed and applied successfully over many years, we know these capabilities can be leveraged and applied to the many complex issues related to climate change. as transportation and energy.

Sound industrial cooperation, constructive stakeholder dialogue and innovation are the three pillars on which to build this new era of transformation.

These are already recognised by the Finmeccanica Group and it is moving consistently in this direction.

We believe that integrating on a voluntary basis social and environmental issues into our business practices is delivering value and contributing to a sustainable business future. By way of example, since it started in 2006, the Energy Efficiency Program applied inhouse to all energy-intensive production sites across the Finmeccanica Group, has been funded to the tune of several million Euros, with over one hundred energy-saving measures already implemented.

Research programmes are a clear example of how innovation is relevant to Finmeccanica, with over 1.8 Billion Euros in R&D spent internally in 2008. As a company that works with all the major global aerospace players, we are

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The best results, we believe, come by aggregating our efforts transversally, working across industries, in partnership with our customers and our supply network. This knowledge-flow is one of our key assets, and we actively encourage it, believing it will strengthen our core competences, as well as our technology and our research base. We believe we can best respond to environmental threats with integrated solutions. Our vision is to be a lead system integrator capable of meeting a full spectrum of needs in the broad defence market, operating globally, and evolving rapidly through innovative solutions to market needs.

As our DNA is composed of diverse capabilities developed and applied successfully over many years, we know these capabilities can be leveraged and applied to the many complex issues related to climate change. This is evident simply by looking at Finmeccanica’s industrial and technological footprint, from earth observation to nanotechnologies, from regional aircraft

weather condition, and with a very short revisit time. The system has been conceived to monitor, control and prevent environmental disasters and to assist in environmental emergencies, as well as monitoring land-use. It is also active in civil security, disaster management, cartographic and agricultural roles. It has been designed to operate with other national systems and will meet the stringent operating requirements of GMES. As well as playing a role in land and even buildings conservation, many Earthobservation solutions are increasingly required in the agriculture sector, a vital, yet vulnerable industry that in the near future will be seriously challenged by climate-related issues such as waterscarcity, as well as by regional, national and international policies that will set priorities for land- and biomass-use; in other words, between food and energy demands. Existing capabilities are already enabling government agencies to assess vulnerabilities, the impact of weather on the productivity of arable

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www.dynamixx-e2d.com land, in quantifying the threats to entire ecosystems, in identifying land-use abuses, in assessing the potential effects of natural disasters and in providing the insurance sector with the information needed to evaluate and cover risks.

In the ‘mobility’ sector, which will be a focus for international agreements on greenhouse gas reduction targets at Copenhagen at the end of this year, Finmeccanica delivers a wide range of products and services. For example, we are working on fuel-efficient nextgeneration passenger aircraft (being a partner on the Boeing 787 and a producer of regional aircraft) at Alenia Aeronautica and on cleaner, greener helicopters at Agusta Westland. We are also working on environmentally friendly mass-transit rail and urban transport vehicles at Ansaldo Breda. The latter’s ‘eco-design’ methodology ensures that the energy expended during the whole life-cycle of the product is kept as low as possible.

We are also committed to promoting ‘sustainable mobility’ by further developing our signalling solutions (within Ansaldo Signal), and the existing navigation, traffic-management and infomobility systems offered by Selex Sistemi Integrati and Telespazio. We are working with regulators and airport and harbour authorities to reduce the impact of transport systems on ecosystems by accelerating improvements to global air and naval transportation management systems, thereby eliminating needless traffic congestion - on land, on sea and in the air.

Last but not least, Finmeccanica has very strong competences in the energy field, thanks to Ansaldo Energia, Italy's leading producer of thermo-electric power-plants, with an installed capacity of over 166,000 MW in more than 90 countries. Ansaldo Energia, which is constantly striving to improve performance whilst meeting environmental targets, features a broad range of solutions and acts in various roles, from original equipment manufacturer and co-developer to operations and maintenance contractor.

Ansaldo Energia’s thermal power-plant systems include a series of advanced ‘supercritical units’, in the 400 to 800 MW range, that are designed to meet the most challenging efficiency environmental requirements. New plants use an innovative multi-fuel concept and embody a range of cutting-edge technologies, including an ultrasupercritical boiler, advanced steamturbines, large and highly efficient biomass-boilers, state of the art gas-

turbine technology and extensive use of new materials. These solutions help to meet the growing demand for energy requirements in metropolitan areas, in reducing CO2, NOX, and SO2 emissions, as well as increasing the use of natural gas and biomass and reducing overall consumption.

Ansaldo’s combined-cycle solutions are the most fuel-efficient power-production option for many independent powerproducers, delivering high fuel-efficiency and low air-emission rates, thus contributing to international efforts for cleaner and healthier environments.

The nuclear industry, also pushed by greenhouse gas caps and restrictions, is enjoying a renaissance. Many countries need a new generation of reactors and, in this area, Finmeccanica is ready to play a role at international levels.

Ansaldo Nucleare’s mission is to promote, develop and build a new generation of nuclear power-plants, as well as providing services for operating nuclear plants and decommissioning obsolete facilities.

Ansaldo Energia has also been a developer of ‘molten carbonate fuel cell’ (MCFC) technology for over 20 years, with a ‘stack’ manufacturing facility in operation since 2004. The company is working to improve the performance and reliability of MCFC technology as a means of producing commercial-scale quantities of electricity and is heavily engaged in looking at systems for carbon concentration, capture and sequestration. In the renewables arena, meanwhile, Ansaldo Energia plays a prominent role in the geo-thermal power business (with over 23 units and 640 MW installed) and is also demonstrating increasing commitment to the photovoltaic solar cell business.

What all the above demonstrates is that the full spectrum of capabilities the A&D industry can bring to bear in the fight against climate change shows enormous potential – particularly in the case of industrial groups like Finmeccanica, with its integrated industrial footprint extending into the transportation and energy sectors. Our biggest contribution to meeting the challenge is to pioneer new technologies for environmentally progressive products and services and to design, develop and build them in a responsible way.

Applications are virtually limitless, and their implementation greatly depends on our commitment, our collaboration, on the level of our ambition, and on the capacity of our customers and suppliers to work with us to develop solutions in the most effective and timely manner.

Telespazio: Italy from space

Telespazio’s Space Centre in Fucino

Multitemporal image of Etna volcano

COSMO-SkyMed Constellation/Satellite

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Charging Forward: Lockheed Martin Consolidates its Move into Energy Since the E2DI Journal first reported on Lockheed Martin’s move into the alternative energy arena in our launch issue, the world’s biggest defence company has gone on to consolidate its hold on this important new adjacent market with a growing list of energy-related programs and activities. From energy efficiency programs for utility companies and the federal government, to ocean thermal and solar power plants, LM has leveraged core aerospace and defence technology to build – in a very short space of time - a strong and vibrant presence in an industry that leading proponents of the company’s strategy in this area say is poised to expand*

s a global security company, Lockheed Martin recognizes the economic and strategic challenges posed by a dependence on foreign oil, the potentially destabilizing effect of climate change, and the vulnerability of the USA’s aging power grid, which is why it is focused on addressing global energy and climate challenges — from efficiency and management, to alternative energy generation and climate monitoring.

“Energy and climate change are dominant issues for our customers, our nation and the world,” said Ray O. Johnson, the company’s senior vice president and chief technology officer.

“It is imperative that we apply our tremendous depth of engineering and technical talent to solutions for energy independence, and at the same time open up adjacent markets for continued business growth.”

Lockheed Martin’s vision starts with energy efficiency — the cleanest, cheapest, fastest energy source. The vision continues with leveraging its innovations and manufacturing capabilities to design and produce

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www.dynamixx-e2d.com the next-generation of alternative energy solutions — and make traditional energy sources cleaner. That mix of traditional and alternative energies then needs to be smartly and securely managed and distributed to consumers; Lockheed Martin is leveraging its command-and-control, systems integration, and cyber security expertise to make that vision a reality. Finally, space-based climate monitoring and information technology, areas Lockheed Martin has been supporting for decades, will ensure that that world’s nations are making positive progress.

Here is how the company is specifically supporting these four areas:

Energy Efficiency When Lockheed Martin acquired the Aspen Corporation in 2006, the company began supporting regulated energy customers, such as Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) and Southern California Edison, with energy efficiency services. Since then, energy services sales have increased from $10 million to $100 million a year, making Lockheed Martin one of the nation’s largest implementers of energy efficiency programs for utility customers.

“Energy efficiency is the fifth fuel, along with petroleum, coal, nuclear and alternative energy,” explains Tom Grumbly, vice president of Energy and Environmental Services. “Here’s a way we can reduce demand by 15 to 20 per cent and postpone the need to build more power plants.”

Whether residential or industrial, the team manages programmes to ensure that utility customers conserve energy, increase operation efficiencies, and maximize capital spending. To help utilities, team members coordinate financial incentives; identify and implement large energy efficient capital improvement projects in their facilities; and help utilities adopt digital technologies. They currently work with the PG&E, Southern California Edison, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, Energy Trust of Oregon, Pepco, AmerenUE and several other utilities.

In December, Lockheed Martin became one of 16 businesses approved as an Energy Savings Performance Contractor (ESPC) under the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Federal Energy Management Program. The ESPC program allows agencies across the government to issue task orders for facility-specific projects

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to lower their energy costs. The program allows for spending of up to $80 billion over the 11-year period of the contract.

Alternative and Renewable Power Generation Lockheed Martin teams are also bringing engineering and manufacturing expertise to the research, design and production of the next-generation of alternative energy solutions.

Solar On Lockheed Martin’s campus at Moorestown, N.J., workers recently completed building a structure that an uninitiated visitor might easily mistake for some type of radar. It stretches over an area longer than a football field and has adjustable parabolic troughs mounted on a stand.

But this is not a surveillance system.

It’s a testbed for concentrated solar energy technology that Lockheed Martin intends to develop into utility-scale solar power plants.

The Solar System Test and Engineering Site (SolSTES) Array provides engineers with the opportunity to integrate and test a variety of solar technologies and materials, and to conduct production modeling.

A concentrated solar energy array uses its curved mirrors to focus sunlight on pipes filled with oil. The hot oil flows through the system and heats water into steam, which in turn drives a turbine generator.

“We believe that the large-system technology integration capabilities we have here at Lockheed Martin put us in a great position to be leaders in the concentrated solar power marketplace,” says Chris Myers, vice president of the solar energy program. “It’s very similar to building a radar, and there aren’t many companies out there that have brought a systems engineering approach to these systems.”

The SolSTES Array is 100 meters long, but it’s a fraction of the size of a fullscale power plant. A typical solar array field, Myers says, would link multiple arrays and might cover 1,700 acres and generate 300 megawatts of power — enough electricity to supply about 65,000 homes.

To bring the technology to the marketplace, Lockheed Martin has teamed with Starwood Energy Group, which is responsible for arranging longterm power purchase agreements with utilities, selecting sites, permitting, and providing construction and financing.

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www.dynamixx-e2d.com MS2 is responsible for engineering, procurement, manufacturing and systems integration.

Concentrated solar power is particularly well suited for utility-scale plants, while photovoltaic panels, which convert sunlight directly into electricity, are increasingly popular for powering commercial buildings and homes, as well as some small-scale utility plants.

Another technology that is some years away but holds tremendous potential is space-based solar power. Lockheed Martin is in the early stages of forming a program in conjunction with government and industry partners to develop a solar power system that operates where the sun is always shining — above Earth’s atmosphere.

Around-the-clock access to sunshine with no weather outages, as well as the space-based system’s ability to collect solar energy before any is lost to the atmosphere, makes it potentially four to eight times more efficient than systems currently on the ground, says Rick Halbach, senior manager of Space Systems. After collecting the solar energy, the space-based solar power system would convert it to radio frequency energy and convey it efficiently and safely to the ground through large-aperture transmitters and collectors.

Wind The wind power industry enjoyed another record year in 2008, investing $15 billion and bringing more than 8,000 megawatts of power on line. That’s good news for the Corporation’s WindTracer® team.

A Dopper lidar (light detection and ranging) system developed to detect dangerous wind conditions at airports, WindTracer can also be used by wind farm developers to select locations with the strongest and most consistent winds.

It’s much more effective than mast anemometers that are used to selectively sample specific points on a site, because it enables developers to map large spatial areas simultaneously while site prospecting and performing wind power production assessments.

Ocean Lockheed Martin is involved in two areas of ocean-based energy: extracting energy from wave action and generating power from the thermal differences between the surface and the ocean depths.

Lockheed Martin recently formed

a partnership with the state of Hawaii to develop a 10-megawatt Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) pilot plant.

The plant will work by drawing warm surface seawater into an evaporator heat exchanger to boil a fluid with a low boiling point. The vapor from this “working fluid” drives a turbine that generates electricity and is then condensed back into a liquid when it passes through a heat exchanger cooled by seawater pumped up from the deep ocean. The seawater is discharged back into the ocean and the working fluid is pumped back to the evaporator to repeat the process.

OTEC platform, which experiences wave-driven motion.

Because of their size, cold water pipes built in the past have often broken apart as they were being deployed to the plant site. Now, however, a team usually focused on space systems has developed an innovative method for both fabricating and deploying the cold water pipe. Drawing on modern fiberglass technology and recent low-cost composite material manufacturing methods, the new fabrication process allows the pipe to be built directly off of the OTEC platform, essentially eliminating the deployment risk and

Lockheed Martin’s vision starts with energy efficiency — the cleanest, cheapest, fastest energy source.

Working OTEC systems have been built before, including one by the heritage Lockheed Martin Ocean Systems Division in Sunnyvale, Calif., in the 1970s. The small generating plant was the first successful floating OTEC system in the world.

The biggest challenge of building a utility-scale plant, such as the one planned in Hawaii, is manufacturing the pipe that draws cold water to the surface. The cold water pipe must be about 1,000 meters long and about 10 meters in diameter for a full-sized plant, and it must be strong enough to survive stresses ranging from buckling under external pressure (it’s a suction pipe) to fatigue caused by being connected to the

reducing costs at the same time. The team performed a successful proof-ofprinciples demonstration of the cold water pipe subsystem last year. Last October, DOE awarded Lockheed Martin a cooperative agreement contract with a maximum value of $1.2 million to take the next step by scaling up the new method to produce a pipe of the necessary diameter for a pilot plant.

Regarding ocean wave energy, the Corporation announced in January that it is collaborating with a company named Ocean Power Technologies (OPT) to develop a utility-scale wave power generation project in North America, probably off the West Coast.

OPT has developed a buoy system that

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“One of the neat aspects of OTEC and wave energy is how well they complement each other,” says Lockheed Martin’s Rich Lockwood. He explains that the “sweet spot” for OTEC systems is near the equator, where temperature differentials are the greatest, while wave energy tends to be stronger in cooler waters.

“Taken together, they have the potential to provide a reliable and renewable energy resource over many parts of the globe,” Lockwood says.

“And a key point is that it’s baseload power that doesn’t have some of the grid integration challenges of variable sources.”

integration, and cyber security expertise to make that vision a reality.

Grid management While Lockheed Martin companies are involved in many areas of alternative energy generation, they also are pursuing business opportunities for better management of power supply, demand and distribution.

The team is tapping the Corporation’s command-and-control and system integration expertise to design products that help power companies manage their enterprises more efficiently. In doing so, the companies are able to meet demand with less generating capacity or off-grid power purchases.

At the 2009 DistribuTECH industry conference, Lockheed Martin created a buzz with its Smart Energy Enterprise

Biofuels Yet another alternative energy being pursued by Lockheed Martin on a large scale is synthetic fuels, or biofuels—and they’ve teamed with another company to build a pilot facility to demonstrate the core technology. The plant will take a non-food material and form it into pellets, which are then converted into a synthetic gasoline that is 91-92 octane quality.

In a separate initiative, the Corporation is leveraging its biomass innovations to power its own facilities.

The company’s Owego, NY, plant hosts the Corporation’s first biomass facility, which boasts a fully automated fuel supply and ash removal system. Using discarded wood chips supplied by local lumber mills, the biomass facility supplies steam heat to the 1.6 million square foot site, reducing the plant’s carbon footprint by 9,000 metric tons and saving approximately $1M per year in fuel costs.

Energy Management & Storage In the near future, a new mix of traditional and alternative energies will need to be smartly and securely stored, managed and distributed to consumers.

Lockheed Martin teams are leveraging command-and-control, systems

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The onset of new Smart Grid technologies brings new challenges in the area of cyber security.

the development of smart grid technologies forward, and Lockheed Martin’s command-and-control and information management capabilities are a great fit for enabling this transformation.”

Aspenson adds that smart grid technologies also will help new renewable and distributed power generation sources, such as solar and wind, integrate more effectively into a power grid that currently finds it challenging to incorporate power from sources other than traditional base-load generating plants.

This spring, Lockheed Martin partnered with Penn State University to develop innovative solutions to tackle critical national energy challenges, specifically funding smart grid research and development this year.

Recently, Lockheed Martin teamed with Black & Veatch to help utility clients improve the reliability, efficiency and interoperability of the electric power grid and protect it against cyber attacks.

Together, the companies offer a comprehensive suite of integrated technology and communication solutions to help utilities shape projects and request grants being offered by the U.S. Department of Energy Smart Grid Investment Grant Program.

Lockheed Martin is also pursuing grid management solutions on a smaller scale.

The Corporation recently created a micro-grid laboratory where it develops software that allows installations such as refugee camps and forward military bases to manage power more efficiently and incorporate alternative energy sources more effectively.

Cyber Security & Energy Suite™, a product that provides enterprise views by integrating information from legacy systems into real-time displays to increase energy reliability, reduce operating costs and improve regulatory compliance. In two and a half days, the team performed more than 60 product demonstrations to energy companies from around the world.

As individual utilities become “smarter,” the nation’s entire power grid can operate more efficiently, says Mike Aspenson.

“The cost and demand for energy is going up, there is a need for improved grid reliability and security, assets are aging, we need to decrease the nation’s carbon footprint and there are new technologies that enable us to meet these challenges,” he says. “The confluence of all these factors is pushing

The onset of new Smart Grid technologies brings new challenges in the area of cyber security. Protecting our nation’s critical infrastructure as we move into a digital age requires new, holistic approaches to address complex cyber issues and vulnerabilities. Relying on device level protection, traditional firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and encryption alone are not sufficient against the evolving threats.

“Lockheed Martin brings a wealth of experience integrating and protecting some of the Nation’s most sensitive networks,” said Lockheed Martin’s Bob Kirchner. “By leveraging this experience, we can help ensure that the new Smart Grid technologies not only deliver dramatic increases in efficiency and reliability but that they do it in ways to remain interoperable and secure.”

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Energy storage Another group of technologies that is important to the efficient use of energy is related to storage, making power portable and helping balance supply and demand. Lockheed Martin has developed several battery products, ranging from a personal power vest prototype for soldiers that incorporates a lithium ion battery and fuel cell technology, to a scalable central energy storage unit that could be used to supply power to larger sites in the field.

Commercial Nuclear Power Systems The Corporation also supports the nuclear energy community, on both the commercial and DoD sides, with safetycritical control room solutions and services for power generation. Lockheed Martin has a 50-year history of providing instrumentation and control systems to the U.S. Navy’s nuclear-powered vessels and is now working with global commercial nuclear power plant utilities and companies to help meet energy demands while reducing carbon emissions.

Energy Lab Management & IT Solutions For decades, Lockheed Martin has been involved in helping manage energy research labs around the U.S. Since 1993, the Corporation has run the U.S. Energy Department's Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It also maintains 8,000 desktops and 400 business/scientific systems used to manage DOE’s Hanford Site, in areas such as safety, security and environment, site infrastructure and utilities, site business management, information resources, and content and portfolio management. Additionally, the team leverages expertise in engineering and technology to help our energy customers set up and manage complex facilities, perform advanced R&D and other technical services.

Climate & Environmental Monitoring Finally, climate-monitoring, an area Lockheed Martin has been supporting for decades, will ensure that all the nations of the world are making positive progress in mitigating the effects of global warming. Additionally, data systems can help manage, store and analyze environmental information.

Space-Based Climate Monitoring

Environmental Protection Agency Work

A leading environmental monitoring satellite-builder, Lockheed Martin has helped collect environmental data for nearly 50 years—supporting severe weather monitoring, forecasting, and climate data monitoring—from the world’s first weather satellite to the Earth Observation System. Going forward, these types of spacecraft and technologies can help monitor treaty compliance and validate emissions, as well as support carbon monitoring and sensing.

Lockheed Martin has been supporting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for 25 years with information technology solutions, including helping field a new Web-based system that puts virtually all federal regulatory documents across more than 150 federal agencies at the public’s fingertips. The company supports environmental systems by performing systems development tasks in application security, IT architectural support, training, data management, statistical services, geographic information systems, high-performance computing and visualization, and scientific application and computational science support.

Integrated Ocean Observing System In 2006, Lockheed Martin was one of two contractors to provide a conceptual design for the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS), the first step in a proposed multi-year program to build an integrated environment for the collection, distribution and application of coastal and ocean information. A component of a global observing system, IOOS is envisioned to be a coordinated national and international network of buoys, ships, satellites, underwater vehicles and other platforms to provide information that will improve predictions of climate change and weather, better understand the effect of these elements on coastal communities and the nation, and more effectively protect and restore healthy coastal eco-systems.

The energy industry is rife with complex challenges – and the team at Lockheed Martin is helping by investing its talent in clean, secure, and smart energy—supporting global security, a strong economic future, and climate protection for future generations. The need for high-level capabilities in complex systems integration, information technology, and advanced manufacturing techniques — along with the global security component of the effort — make energy solutions a natural fit for Lockheed Martin.

*This article, specially amended and updated for the E2DI Journal, first appeared in the April 2009 edition of the Lockheed Martin company newsletter, ‘Today’

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Observing Our Planet From Space – Astrium and the Environment The global impact of climate change is a key concern for the international community, with governments, academia and industry all working to better understand the complexities and develop effective solutions. Space technology has for many years provided a unique global perspective in helping us to observe, understand and protect our planet. Dr Mike Healy, Director of Earth Observation, Navigation and Science, Astrium UK, explains how his company is contributing to our understanding of the environment and climate change - a key step on the road to finding and implementing solutions. s Europe’s largest space company, Astrium is at the cutting edge of developing Earth observation satellites that not only provide an unrivalled view of our world, but also enable scientists to, for example, monitor atmospheric changes, measure the depth of the polar ice caps and detect changes in the Earth’s vegetation.

Since as early as the 1970s, when NASA’s Nimbus satellite first detected a growing hole in the ozone layer, space technology has evolved to match the scientific needs of governments worldwide. Today, Astrium works closely with the European Space Agency (ESA) as well as other international partners in providing the technological solutions for understanding and responding to our environment. One of the most obvious effects of climate change is seen in the growing frequency and intensity of natural disasters. In recent years the southern tip of the United States has felt the devastating effects of hurricanes, whilst this summer forest fires raged across large parts of Europe. In such instances, satellite technology played a crucial role in monitoring meteorological changes and helping to coordinate an effective response. A single image taken

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by an Earth observation satellite can cover up to a third of the world’s surface.

With their rapid, frequent revisit capability, Earth observation satellites can monitor phenomena as they evolve, be they natural or man-made, and the imagery they provide can be directly used in disaster situations.

For disaster relief agencies, satellite imagery allows them to make an initial assessment of the severity of a particular disaster and ensure that aid gets to those who need it most. It also means that local emergency services can coordinate an effective response from teams on the ground by allowing them for example to see if local roads are still assessable after a flood, if key bridges are still intact after a hurricane or if an earthquake has destroyed vital power lines. In 2004 the availability of satellite imagery in the immediate aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami proved vital in evaluating the areas most affected and helping to prioritise the global response.

One of the most successful Earth observation satellites developed by Astrium for ESA is Envisat, which was launched in 2002. Envisat is the largest Earth observation satellite ever built and carries ten sophisticated optical and

radar instruments that continuously observe changes to the Earth’s land masses, oceans, ice caps and atmosphere.

This has allowed scientists to consistently follow the evolution of climatic changes on a global scale. In fact it has proved so successful that ESA Member States this year unanimously voted to extend the Envisat mission through to 2013. Envisat’s importance was demonstrated in August as it provided a series of images, which allowed emergency response teams across Europe to continuously monitor the spread of the forest fires that swept throughout Greece, allowing them to effectively manage a highly unpredictable situation.

Envisat has proved to be highly effective in providing a variety of global satellite data and is very much the forerunner to Global Monitoring for Environment & Security (GMES), a joint initiative between the European Commission and ESA. GMES aims to address the growing concern amongst European policy-makers of having reliable access to information on the environment at a global, regional and local level. Astrium is a committed partner to this programme and plays a

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key role in developing the space technology that allows GMES to collect accurate data regarding different environmental phenomena.

As part of GMES, Astrium is involved in the development of a multispectral, high resolution imaging mission to provide visual data on vegetation, soil and water cover, inland waterways and coastal areas in thirteen spectrum bands ranging from the visible to the near infrared. The Sentinel-2 satellite will provide imagery which will help in the future management of forestry and agriculture as well as the effects of flooding and landslides caused by global warming. The first Sentinel-2 satellite is planned to launch in late 2012, with a second satellite currently under construction to ensure that this service can operate continuously over a period of at least ten years.

Satellite imagery is also helping Astrium to support projects worldwide aimed at tackling climate change. Planet Action was launched in 2007 by Astrium’s subsidiary Spot Image, a leading supplier of satellite imagery and

The Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE)

geo-information, to support local projects acting on climate change related issues. By donating geographic information to NGOs, universities and research agencies, Planet Action has helped to assist organisations such as UNSECO and WWF in understanding the causes of and developing solutions for climate change. The programme also aims to raise public awareness and educate people on the subject of climate change and since the launch of this initiative Planet Action has helped over 150 environmental projects worldwide.

From an agricultural perspective, Astrium through its subsidiary Infoterra is developing a variety of commercial space enabled services that have a direct environmental impact. Applications such as Farmstar, allow farmers to access data based on satellite imagery to accurately

ENVISAT observes a plume of smoke originating from the fires in ANthens

measure the growth of crops and the condition of foliage in individual fields.

This provides farmers with information that can be used to determine the quantity of fertiliser required and where irrigation should be targeted. Infoterra’s Oenoview service also provides vineyards with a similar application that facilitates high quality grape yields. These examples are helping to develop sustainable, high-quality agriculture that is environmentally friendly, whilst meeting the needs of modern agriculture, reducing excessive nitrate pollution and allowing for the better use of water resources.

Imagery from Earth observation satellites is also being used in monitoring global deforestation and will soon be able to provide proof of forestry protection. Given the rising value of carbon trading on the world market, governments will soon be able to boost the value of carbon sequestration by forests helping to combat global warming, whilst slowing deforestation.

As well as providing visual imagery in the battle against climate change, space technology is also using a variety of different approaches in analysis of the Earth’s environment. Astrium is currently the prime contractor for an ESA mission that will provide global observations of the Earth’s wind patterns. It is expected that the Aeolus mission will dramatically improve current wind profiling and

atmospheric modelling, benefiting weather forecasting and ultimately climate research. When launched in this decade, the Aeolus satellite will gather wind data by using an instrument that emits laser pulses into the atmosphere.

The reflection of light from dust in the atmosphere allows a wind profile to be created, showing the relative strength and direction of winds at different altitudes. This will provide a better understanding of the behaviour of hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones, and even provide disaster agencies with a potential early warning system.

With regards to our understanding of the Earth’s atmosphere, Astrium is also responsible as prime contractor for developing the Earth Clouds, Aerosols and Radiation Explorer (EarthCARE) satellite. EarthCARE is a joint mission between ESA and JAXA, the Japanese space agency, and will focus on the impact that clouds and aerosols have on atmospheric radiation. The satellite, which is due to launch in 2013, will develop detailed profiles of natural and man-made aerosols in the atmosphere, study the distribution of water and ice and their transport by clouds, and investigate the interrelationships between clouds and precipitation.

EarthCARE will therefore help scientists to gain an understanding of the role aerosols play in atmospheric radiation and ultimately allow for the long-term

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ESA's wind-monitoring satellite Aeolus

forecasting of future weather patterns.

As well as monitoring atmospheric changes, Earth observation satellites are unrivalled in keeping a close and constant watch on topographical changes, such as variations in the thickness of the ice-sheets, coastal erosion, desertification and deforestation. This year Astrium successfully completed the final build on CryoSat-2, an ESA mission dedicated to the observation of the planet’s polar regions. The satellite will study possible climate variations and trends by measuring changes in the thickness of ice sheets and polar sea-ice cover.

CryoSat-2 is crucial to our understanding of the impact climate change has had on the polar ice. The major concern for governments worldwide is that if the ice caps on Greenland and Antarctica melt significantly further, then the runoff could cause huge changes to the Earth’s ocean currents with unforeseen consequences for the world’s climate.

The mission will last for at least three years and with unprecedented accuracy will provide researchers with previously unavailable data from these vast, uninhabited areas. After a launcher malfunction unfortunately resulted in the total loss of the initial CryoSat satellite in the autumn of 2005, ESA decided to rebuild the satellite due to the mission’s global importance.

In terms of understanding climate change, the CryoSat-2 mission highlights the importance of acquiring data on changes to the polar ice caps and ocean currents. Earlier this year another ESA mission was launched to begin this process, in the form of the Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE). Astrium was again part of a core team involved in developing the satellite, in which the objective is to provide models of the Earth’s gravity field on a global scale with high spatial resolution and very high accuracy. This should provide information on the Earth’s interior structure and seismic

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process, which in turn will help to extend understanding of ocean circulation, ice sheet topography and ultimately global sea-level change.

In November this year another satellite will be launched with the aim of understanding ocean circulation patterns. ESA's Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission has been designed to observe soil moisture over the Earth's land masses and salinity over the oceans. Soil moisture data is urgently required for hydrological studies and data on ocean salinity will again be vital for improving our understanding of the effect climate change is having on ocean currents. This data will also contribute to our overall understanding of the world’s water cycle, with the aim of leading to better weather and extreme event forecasting.

Looking ahead to the future, Earth observation satellites are not the only contribution space can make in protecting our planet. Future global positioning systems such as Europe’s

to take advantage of favourable winds, thus saving fuel and reducing emissions.

Whilst telecommunication satellites effectively run on solar power and have the potential to replace carbon hungry ground based systems such as television transmitters.

Surveying the globe and its atmosphere in ever more minute detail, space-based observation systems are continually enhancing our factual knowledge of the Earth’s eco-system.

Earth observation satellites have provided us with an extraordinarily enriched picture of the health of our planet, with space becoming an essential tool in making diagnoses, understanding and predicting changes to our environment. For nearly 40 years, it is through space based technology that our understanding of climate change is continuously improving and in turn aiding the advancement of solutions to the problem.

A single image taken by an Earth observation satellite can cover up to a third of the world’s surface.

Galileo programme and advances in telecommunications satellites have the potential to optimise transport conditions and reduce carbon emissions.

For example, future satellites such as Aeolus could provide a useful data source for air traffic controllers. By accurately understanding global wind patterns air traffic controllers could oversee a more effective routing of global fights. This means that any adjustments made would allow aircraft

Cryosat-2

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Boeing’s New Market Horizons

David Whelan - Boeing Integrated Defense Systems Chief Scientist & Phantom Works Vice President/Deputy General Manager

Anthony Galasso - Boeing Integrated Defense Systems’ Phantom Works Director, Advanced Integration Capabilities

In a wide-ranging interview on Boeing Integrated Defense Systems’ stance on energy, the environment and climate change, two of the company’s top scientists and engineers, David Whelan, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems’ Chief Scientist and Phantom Works Vice President/Deputy General Manager and Anthony Galasso, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems’ Phantom Works Director, Advanced Integration Capabilities, provided written answers to questions submitted by E2DI editor Nick Cook on a variety of technology and market-driven issues. What they reveal are the significant new market horizons opening up to the company.

E2DI: Where does IDS/Phantom Works stand on the climate change issue?

Whelan/Galasso: Boeing is committed to operating in a manner that promotes environmental stewardship.

We will strive to: - Conduct operations in compliance with applicable environmental laws, regulations, and Boeing policies and procedures - Prevent pollution by conserving energy and resources, recycling, reducing waste and pursuing other source reduction strategies - Continually improve our environmental management system - Work together with our stakeholders on activities that promote environmental protection Boeing believes that climate change is a serious environmental challenge that requires credible action. Boeing is committed to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases from our facilities and products.

As the global community develops approaches to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Boeing acknowledges that voluntary measures alone may not be enough and supports development of mandatory, yet flexible frameworks to address emission reductions.

Boeing recognizes that appropriate action may vary from one sector to

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another. A comprehensive approach would take into account the most effective way to deal with each industry sector.

As a technology and aerospace industry leader, Boeing will work with our customers and other industry stakeholders to: - Pioneer new technology to improve the global transportation system - Increase research to improve efficiencies throughout the system: air and ground operations, in-service fleet environmental performance and introduction of sustainable advanced-generation biofuels - Accelerate adoption of environmentally progressive products and services - Reduce carbon intensity of air transportation by reducing CO2 emissions 15 per cent with each new generation of commercial aircraft - Boeing’s greatest contribution will continue to be through innovation – and Boeing will remain committed to improving technologies for sustainable, renewable energy systems.

In addition, Boeing set aggressive and transparent enterprise-wide performance targets to drive environmental thought and action throughout its operations.

By 2012 at its major manufacturing facilities, Boeing targets 25 per cent improvement goals for solid waste recycling rates, energy efficiency and

greenhouse gas emissions intensity, and a comparable goal for hazardous waste reduction. All of Boeing's major manufacturing sites are certified to the internationally recognized ISO 14001 environmental management system standard.

Boeing’s position on environmental matters can be seen in a statement made

by Boeing Chairman, President and CEO Jim McNerney: “Just as employees mastered ‘impossible’ challenges like supersonic flight, stealth, space exploration and super-efficient composite airplanes, now we must focus our spirit of innovation and our resources on reducing greenhouse-gas emissions in our products and operations.”

These statements and implications on product development and support along with internal operations are reflected in a four-part strategy: Vision – Includes technologies and product support for aggressive positive environmental performance Stewardship – Setting aggressive targets for our major manufacturing operations Inspiration – Implementing industry standards (e.g. ISO 14001) within our internal processes to achieve goals across our manufacturing base Communication – Internal and external membership in key organizations that lead to greater awareness, allowing every employee and partner to help us

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achieve our goals Finally, the Boeing view of the need to address global climate change can be seen in a statement by IDS leadership: “The IDS team must be prepared to meet the needs of our customers as their environmental priorities emerge. In the meantime, we can demonstrate our environmental commitment through implementation of lean and green practices throughout our operations.”

E2DI: Does IDS believe it has technologies/approaches that can address parts of the problem?

Whelan/Galasso: Our Environmental Action Strategy contains several key elements that collect and connect several technology development areas currently underway, and internal processes that address our environmental goals. Among the technologies are efforts in the solar energy markets – we are leaders in multijunction solar cells with record efficiencies greater than 40 per cent.

Demonstrations of aircraft engines and support equipment using sustainable biofuels have been performed by Boeing on our own resources for both commercial and U.S. military airframes.

Boeing’s new IDS Energy Solutions Group was formed this year to bring critical Command and Control capabilities to the early development of “Smart Grid” concepts being developed across the United States. In addition, the formation of this unit has allowed the company to apply significant resources (capital, science and engineering leadership) to both the Energy and Environmental markets as they emerge in the military and civilian arenas.

We are currently working to understand and provide solutions through Smart Grid technologies for this emerging opportunity. Second, many solutions being explored in management of greenhouse gases can have dual-use in other aspects of the emerging discipline, Geo-engineering.

E2DI: It is evident that work is going on in Boeing into areas such as solar power. Is this federated, ad hoc work, or is it symptomatic of a broader trend/desire for more energyrelated knowledge inside Boeing?

Whelan/Galasso: There is nothing ad hoc about our approach to the combined Energy and Environment Markets. Boeing has a “lead from the top” strategic plan for both the internal approach to improving our environmental performance and meeting our current and future customer needs. The commercial and military airframe customer’s efforts are supported by the sustainable biofuels and fuel cell programs, and other efforts for their support systems. Our emerging customers are being addressed by our IDS Energy Solutions Group, which has gathered key expertise and resources throughout IDS to focus attention and resources on the family of energy-related services that the company is developing for this market.

Working closely with the Energy Solutions Group is Boeing’s Advanced Integration Capabilities (AIC) unit which focuses on key aspects of the environmental market such as the carbon cycle. Additionally, there are other science and technology efforts in support of other thrusts (such as space exploration) that can have application to the energy market in the future.

E2DI: Does IDS/Phantom Works see any value in developing novel energy technologies for the energy market both in the military and outside it?

E2DI: How about the environment?

Any work going on here?

Whelan/Galasso: In addition to sustainable biofuels, fuel cells, solar energy, and migration of Command and Control systems for Smart Grid applications, Boeing is investing in several key areas of the Energy and Environmental market. These projects and investments cover almost all areas of the energy and environment value chain – from production through consumption including some areas in emerging international systems. Two examples can be provided as illustration. First, as the need for global systems to monitor treaty compliance grows, the need for precise and frequent measurements also grows.

Whelan/Galasso: There are efforts going on to address both the internal and external environmental realities.

Internally, Boeing is working to improve energy efficiency and recycle rates, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions intensity and hazardous waste at its major manufacturing facilities by 25 per cent by 2012. Significant internal resources have been made to sustainable biomass development and demonstration efforts. As discussed, efforts have also begun to address the long term need for solutions and systems in the management of the carbon cycle.

Boeing is also taking steps to reduce

the amount of hazardous materials used in its products, such as hex chrome, cadmium and Halon, which can have a negative effect on both the environment and the health of employees. For instance, Boeing engineers and scientists are developing and testing chrome-free paints and primers that will protect aircraft – both military and commercial – from corrosion just as a traditional primer or topcoat would, but poses no employee health hazards and meets the Department of Defense’s pollution reduction and prevention goals.

Internationally, Boeing is preparing to support its entities in the European Union as the nations roll out the REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals) regulation to cap the amount of hazardous materials that are imported to their countries.

E2DI: Jim Albaugh (recently retired as head of IDS, now head of the commercial aircraft division) once spoke of the need for an innovationpush within the A&D industry. Could an A&D-led system-of-systems approach to (a) an understanding of the climate change threat and (b) the implementation of a possible solution to that threat (if it were to be properly charted and understood) represent the kind of innovation challenge that Jim Albaugh was thinking of?

Whelan/Galasso: We are demonstrating the value of the vision expressed by Mr Albaugh through the creation of Boeing’s Phantom Works and Energy Solutions Group that are applying a “system of systems” methodology to bring elements of Command and Control capabilities to Smart Grid programs to make delivery of electric energy more efficient, flexible and level loaded. In addition, all activities in this market leverage a robust modeling and simulation base applied to the energy and environment solution space.

Our AIC organization is currently applying these methods to understand and define solutions to several aspects of the climate change issue. These analyses will be used to demonstrate the capabilities and affordability of candidate solutions and gaps in engineering and technology to direct our investments.

Key examples coming out of the systematic approach to understanding requirements and integrated solutions are the treaty-monitoring requirement for precision and frequency discussed above and the need for a global solution.

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BAE’s Smart Decisions lead to Greener, Sustainable Products BAE Systems is committed to reducing the effects of climate change and understands that the defence sector has a role to play by reducing the overall cost of energy for its customer armed forces, balancing capability and agility with energy and environmental impact, and making smart decisions based upon timely information. Chris Courtaux and Martin Pearce, of Energy and Power Management, BAE Systems, report.

Stealth Wind Farms Effectively making wind farms invisible to radar.

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www.dynamixx-e2d.com n 2008, BAE Systems formally signed up to the UK Ministry of Defence Sustainability Charter, driving change right across the CADMID cycle (Concept, Assessment, Development, Manufacture, In-service & Disposal). This led to:

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- Smarter Decisions around energy use and choice of materials for manufacture: e.g. energy and emissions modelling leading to products that require less energy - ‘Greener’ Products through design such as the Hybrid Electric Drive used on commercial buses and new materials and more efficient propulsion units used on the Type 45 Destroyer - Sustainable Product Development such as the Commander Radar.

Striking the right balance and combination of innovative measures (including manufacture, sourcing new materials, and energy technologies) and modified behaviours will deliver a major change in reducing environmental impact from the aerospace and defence sector.

Smarter Decisions BAE Systems is pioneering the concept of the Fully Burdened Cost of Energy methodology. It is used to determine the true cost of fuel by considering: -

Transportation Security/protection Infrastructure Maintenance & effort Energy Storage.

This approach delivers new insight into the intricate relationship between: - End-to-end energy cost - Security of energy supply - Carbon footprint - Military effectiveness and performance.

‘Greener’ Products through Design

Today, reducing environmental impact, improving energy efficiency, lowering the cost of propulsion without compromising effectiveness or performance is critical to meeting future customer demand.

Reduced energy consumption has led to massive changes in improved performance and increased endurance.

This has been achieved through a combination of advances in innovation across product design, manufacturing techniques and materials, and through behavioural change.

The defence sector is well placed to develop practical solutions and technology to minimise climate change through focused research and pooling skill-sets and knowledge with industry and academia.

The effect of defence and aerospace products on the environment and the responsibility of companies to minimise their carbon and environmental footprint is becoming more important, where

Over the last 60 years, the aerospace sector has witnessed a continuous drive to improve product capability driven largely by cost reduction.

BAE Systems hybrid technology in the US has covered more than 100 million miles – which is more than 4,000 times around the world.

emissions, for example, have a far reaching global impact. Today’s defence platforms are not only judged by capability performance, but also their ‘green’ credentials in manufacture and operation, including carbon footprint and energy use. Commercial vehicles must meet the same criteria.

BAE Systems’ Hybrid Electric Drive (HED) is just one example of where emissions are already being greatly reduced whilst fuel economy is improving. BAE Systems has delivered 17 hybrid-electric double-decker and single buses to 3 London public transport operators from October 2008 and early 2009.

BAE Systems’ hybrid electric drive technology has already delivered a 50,000 tonne reduction in carbon, raising fuel economy by 30% (compared to the traditional diesel equivalent) through its 2000 HED commercial buses in the USA, and increasingly in Europe and Asia.

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www.dynamixx-e2d.com BAE Systems hybrid technology in the US has covered more than 100 million miles – which is more than 4,000 times around the world!

To date, the availability of the HED system on London buses is very good (98%), fuel economy is much improved, as is the reduction of carbon emissions (>25%). The fuel savings results are as follows based upon 170,000 miles accumulated so far.

Average fuel efficiency across 3 companies was typically 5.3 to 5.7 MPG on diesel double deck buses, and is now typically 7 to 8.1 MPG on HED buses For single deck buses it was 7.31 MPG, it is now typically 9.6 MPG and is expected to achieve over 10 MPG with further tuning of the HED system.

BAE Systems hybrid-drive business is now working to transfer these benefits into the defence sector to deliver gains of a similar magnitude in fuel economy and carbon emission reductions.

An area of defence that is already implementing change is the latest Type 45 Destroyer, developed by BVT for the Royal Navy. It is not only more energy efficient than its predecessor through innovative design and technology, but has been designed with sustainable development in mind. For example, adopting an innovative powder coating for components has saved over 12,600 litres of paint during construction – equivalent to 12 football pitches!

10 tonnes of volatile organic compounds and solvent emissions have been completely eliminated over traditional paint coating methods, saving 326 tonnes of annual landfill.

Tins can now be recycled and no longer need to be classed as special waste.

BAE Systems has won a Business Commitment to the Environment (BCE) UK Best Practice Award for this initiative.

Sustainable Product Development Creating truly sustainable products requires not only innovative technology, but detailed analysis of the entire supply chain and product lifecycle from sourcing of raw materials, manufacture and operation through to ultimate disposal. The factors affecting energy and material sustainability are strategic, organisational, operational and technological – choices have to be made at every level.

BAE Systems has responded to the challenge of increasing demand for affordable energy and minimising the consequences of climate change through

supply chain analysis.

A prime example of where BAE Systems has made clear choices around sustainability is our long range tactical radar for Command & Control (T101/T102), first introduced to the RAF in 1997.

This product development considered the CADMID stages, including Eco-design principles – reducing wastage, material reuse, recycling and obsolescence management, aiming for zero landfill.

The product maximises energy efficiency, minimises the use of hazardous materials, consumables, packaging, repair and training travel mileage.

The net effect is consideration of the total impact the product has on the environment – from consumption of raw materials, energy, carbon emissions and wastage at every stage of the product lifecycle.

Building Capabilities for Success The last 60 years have witnessed unprecedented growth in the aerospace and defence sector – through advances in technology, as products strive to become ever more lean and efficient, while raising the capability envelope.

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions, managing dwindling raw material reserves and dealing with shifting supplies from what are often geopolitically volatile parts of the world will provide constant challenges for the sector.

Sustainable solutions and practices will demand clear choices to be made at a strategic, organisational, operational and technological level, with policy makers working alongside technologists thereby changing behaviour and traditional thinking.

How we manage increasing cost of materials, material scarcity, security of supply, reduce and manage energy consumption, minimise environmental impact will all form an increasingly important requirement for every future development programme.

BAE Systems is the premier global defence, security and aerospace company delivering a full range of products and services for air, land and naval forces, as well as advanced electronics, security, information technology solutions and customer support services. With approximately 105,000 employees worldwide, BAE Systems' sales exceeded £18.5 billion (US $34.4 billion) in 2008.

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The Keys to Climate Change What is the single most important key to knowing what to do about climate change?

Dr. Alexis Livanos, Corporate Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Northrop Grumman Corporation, talks through the clues.

his question has many possible answers: Is it monitoring from Earth observation satellites? Or is it information from air, ground or seaborne in situ sensors? Is it treaties?

Computer modeling? Government programs? Industry? Technology? Private conservation initiatives? What about Mitigation and Adaptation? Or perhaps the key will be discovered through academia, economics, government, public awareness, budgets, or cap & trade.

This strikes me as a trick question for I am sceptical of any one thing identified as the single most important key to any complicated problem.

Our approach to addressing the impact of climate change must be a multifaceted one. It must be a comprehensive plan that sets a standard of global leadership on a topic that is vitally important to everyone on this planet, and it must be a plan that is understandable, supportable, and implementable.

Toward this end, any actions affecting as many people as do those intended to deal with climate change must be informed with data and information that is readily accessible to all and readily and equally available from all parts of the globe. Space is extremely important to providing a common base of global observations and information. The science community associated with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have identified twenty-six of at least 44 of the essential climate variables that should be monitored from space.

Either directly or indirectly, space touches all of the possible answers I listed to the opening question. The fact that we currently have about a hundred

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Dr. Alexis Livanos, Corporate Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Northrop Grumman Corporation

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www.dynamixx-e2d.com Earth monitoring satellites should make us breathe easier until we realize that current plans would result in a reduction in this number out into the future. At a time when we recognize the need for effective monitoring, we should have a systematic approach to identifying, planning, building and deploying a set of the right sensors and maintaining them over long durations to monitor the trends in climate change.

Our approach to the climate change problem must be integrated, merging observations, computer models and decision support tools so that we can make decisions based on the best available data and processes. We need to be able to systematically evolve these capabilities in a way that increases knowledge, confidence, and effectiveness over time.

The solutions must include the technical, but also the non-technical;

sustainable and affordable products and services to our citizenry. This includes insurance companies, water supply, energy concerns, agriculture and many other major industries that are affected by global climate change. Why? Because any solution must be as comprehensive as the problem it seeks to solve – and if the climate change problem is anything, it is comprehensive. Take the study of ecosystems, for example.

There are about 30,000 different data sets that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has identified as a sufficient knowledge base for understanding how climate change impacts life on our planet. On its face, that figure sounds pretty complete. But global coverage is an issue. Of those 30,000 data sets, and despite the two billion people who live there, only a very small number come from the tropics.

This is quite astonishing in light of the fact that, as others have observed, at least half of all species on the planet depend directly on tropical forests to survive. Indeed, the importance as carbon sinks of the forests in these

part of the globe is highly complex, remote, and dynamic. Natural climatic cycles like the Arctic Oscillation further complicate the jobs of measurement and prediction even more.

While the current state of our knowledge does not provide adequate confidence in those decisions that would affect millions (in some cases billions) of people, we have to optimize the use of the information that we do have. It is not enough to understand the dynamics of our climate. If we are to mitigate the effects of the coming changes, we must also understand their implications. If climate understanding is to be anything more that an academic exercise, we must come to understand things like the drought patterns and the migration of humans and other species that these changes will induce for some of these changes could have significant international implications.

That may sound like a tall order, but I think we have a running start. Many scientists would agree that it is possible to substantially enhance our understanding of our environment.

We have made tremendous progress in the last few decades – one simply has to look at the improvements in weather forecasting to see evidence of it.

the familiar, but also the unconventional. It must be flexible and adaptable and provide a variety of information that allows the decision makers to make intelligent choices.

Finding solutions to climate change will require space and other systems that include all the many types and generations of sensors, platforms and communications that space facilitates.

These solutions will require that we of the private sector tighten our relationships with the appropriate offices and ministries in our respective nations (e.g. NASA and NOAA in my country, the United States). We will also have to tighten or establish relationships with universities and other groups such as private conservation groups. We will need to be able to apply the needed computing power, but we will also need more interfaces with industries that need to be informed in order to provide

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zones (e.g., the Amazon and Africa’s Congo Basin) is understood.

Other examples of the inter-related nature of these changes abound. Asian pollution has been measured as far east as Greenland and has been shown to redirect monsoon-related winds driving more rain to Northwestern Australia than normal.

Vast plumes of aerosols soot and smoke lying over large parts of China are suspected of affecting the snow pack accumulation, melt, and run-off in the Sierras and other western ranges in the United States.

Soot traced to 19th century North American industries has been found in core samples in Greenland, and smoke from coal generated electricity in the American Midwest results in acid rain on the east coast of North America.

There are similar challenges to monitoring the Arctic ice melt, which creates a positive feedback process that accelerates the rates of warming and rising sea levels. While recent reports have cast doubt on the accuracy of our past Arctic ice melt measurements, this

To do that, we will have to apply today’s technologies in a systematic way; a way that will allow us to make extensive observations; build highly dynamic models; and test the results rigorously enough to build our confidence in our ability to understand our incredibly complex environment. We have made tremendous progress in the last few decades – one simply has to look at the improvements in weather forecasting to see evidence of it. Large scale solutions, however, will require even more advanced information and modeling capabilities – capabilities that call for one, perhaps more, big steps forward to realize. The technology itself is ready to support this effort. Sensor technologies, computing capabilities, and processing speeds all have reached the point where, if appropriately applied, can support this objective.

Other data gaps can be closed via such technology options as surveillance aircraft, and satellite communication systems, which would enable real-time data availability from anywhere on Earth. In addition, sea sensors,

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www.dynamixx-e2d.com underwater sensors, biosensors and nano-sensors can monitor the impact of climate change on eco-communities. Any of those options would require closer cooperation with the private organizations already hard at work on these problems. And some of these changes could have significant international implications.

Of course, the imperative for a comprehensive solution transcends science. CO2 recognizes no borders, and climate change respects no nation’s sovereignty. So treaties and intergovernmental cooperation are also critical. The proposed Global Earth Observation System of Systems, or GEOSS, has enormous potential but it is not yet a reality. There is a lack of central, coordinated planning between countries. In addition, there are sensors and satellites out there owned by many countries, but not nearly enough for a comprehensive system. The successful climate change solution will be a onefor-all and all-for-one proposition.

Policy, however, is political, so the science associated with this issue must

at their optimum temperatures for their varietals so even the slightest changes will have a large effect. With an average temperature of 64 degrees Fahrenheit, Napa Valley is in the upper range for producing the industry’s most popular and profitable varietals – merlot, cabernet sauvignon, syrah and chardonnay. The Santa Barbara wine growing region might be lost entirely.

The wine industry could be a most valuable partner in an integrated solution – valuable for economic monitoring in the same way that private conservation groups are valuable for the monitoring of ecosystems. The wine industry could also be a valuable partner in the areas of issue advocacy and policy implementation. And let us keep in mind that the wine industry is just one climate-sensitive industry.

A recent report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies estimates that $3 trillion of the U.S. GDP of $13 trillion is sensitive to climate change. This indicates that there are plenty of industries that could make positive contributions to any integrated

It is now projected that if current warming trends continue, wine growers in California are going to be in real trouble. be unimpeachable if it is to induce policy. This implies computer models of ever greater complexity. In turn, that means closer partnerships with the universities and research institutions that possess our nation’s most powerful computers. Technology, policy, international cooperation – these are the components of an integrated solution with which we are all familiar.

Comprehensive, integrated solutions must also include components that are nontechnical and unconventional. An example of the unconventional elements of an integrated solution might include closer cooperation with – and assistance to – industries we might not think would have an interest in space, computing power, or even the kind of high technology we have spent our lives working to advance. Such an example can be found in my home state of California: The wine industry.

In 2007, this was an $18 billion business in California. It is now projected that if current warming trends continue, wine growers in California are going to be in real trouble. California’s regions are

solution. Many of them might relate to our efforts and concerns in unconventional ways, but they could be important nonetheless.

How we choose to address the problems associated with Global Change will largely foreordain the result. We will need to take care not to give in to the easy but futile expedient of problem solving by edict. The solutions we choose to implement will have to be solutions that are consistent with our nature as humans, harnessing the ingenuity that marks our species. The solutions will have to harness the free market system that has made the free world so prosperous. Those solutions will work best that spring from what humans do best, which is innovate.

This is a global problem and we need sustained engagement in this global commons. From space to the ocean’s floor, from elements that are familiar and technical to those that are unconventional and non-technical, the climate change solution will have to be as comprehensive and integrated as the problem it seeks to solve.

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‘Plan B’: Is Geo-Engineering To some, they are groundbreaking ideas with the potential to be vital weapons in the fight against climate change. To others, they are madcap schemes that should never make it out of the laboratory. With as many sceptics as adherents, the controversial and unproven science of geo-engineering – large-scale, manmade interventions to cool down the planet through technology – is now the subject of a fierce debate that is only likely to hot up as the climate change issue intensifies. Ben Hargreaves* reports. hat debate was stoked by the launch of two authoritative reports on geo-engineering at the end of the summer. The Royal Society, which originally considered the science underlying some geo-engineering schemes in a series of papers published last year, said it was now time for a wide-ranging public consultation on geoengineering. Its findings came in the wake of a new study by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) that concluded geo-engineering could buy us enough time to win the race to cut emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

Although geo-engineering itself is unproven, a scientific consensus underlies this rising interest. Efforts to cut CO2 emissions, quite simply, are not working – or not working anywhere near quickly enough. Since the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change was agreed in 1992, fossil fuel CO2 emissions have grown by more than 30%. It is believed that existing efforts to cut emissions are unlikely to limit the global mean temperature rise to the desired level of below 2° C, and that a threshold entailing runaway climate change – and devastation for the planet – could well be crossed before the middle of the century.

Dr Tim Fox, head of environment and climate change at the IMechE, says: “The reality is that all the scientific evidence shows that the climate is changing far more quickly than we originally anticipated. We have not been successful so far in reducing our carbon emissions using mitigation techniques and time is running out.” Professor John Shepherd, who chaired the Royal Society’s working

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IMechE Algae Building, London

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group on geo-engineering, says: “There is significant risk of insufficient progress in emissions reduction.” It is in this context that geo-engineering is starting to be taken seriously. Schemes are broadly divided into two categories: technologies that we could deploy on Earth to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere; and management of solar radiation to reflect a small proportion of the Sun’s energy away from the planet.

Professor Klaus Lackner, a physicist at Columbia University in New York, has proposed capturing CO2 through the deployment of hundreds of thousands of mechanical “trees” constructed with a material that absorbs greenhouse gases [appendix 1]. Meanwhile, Professor Stephen Salter, a mechanical engineer at the University of Edinburgh, with his USbased colleague John Latham, is working on a geo-engineering technique that would increase the albedo of clouds – the extent to which they reflect light from the Sun – by seeding them with seawater droplets [appendix 2]. Perhaps most outlandish of all, Professor Roger Angel of the University of Arizona has suggested launching trillions of reflective disks into space at an altitude of 1.5 million kilometres, known as the L1 Orbit, where they would form a sunshade, blocking out 2% of the Sun‘s rays.

Other potential geo-engineering schemes could see the oceans fertilised with iron filings to encourage the growth of plankton – an unnatural way of developing a natural CO2 sink – or the effects of volcanic eruptions mimicked by injecting sulphate aerosols into the stratosphere. The eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991, the second largest of

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the 20th century, released massive quantities of aerosols into the atmosphere that formed a global haze of sulphuric acid – with the effect of cooling the planet by half a degree Celsius.

It is perhaps not surprising that geoengineering schemes such as these have been met with extreme scepticism by environmentalists. Both Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth have expressed concern about the potential dangers of attempting to manipulate the planet’s delicate and unpredictable climate system, with unforeseen consequences for populations, weather patterns and ecosystems. On publication of The Royal Society report, Canadian green lobbyists the Etc Group claimed that a “small group of geo-engineering enthusiasts had worked hard to give it a veneer of respectability”. “They have succeeded in getting the world’s oldest scientific academy… to legitimize dangerous planet-tinkering schemes.” The Royal Society admitted that geo-engineering could be dangerous. “A cautious approach is needed to better understand the consequences,” says John Shepherd.

But he and his colleagues argue that to not explore the possibilities presented by geo-engineering would be folly when every emissions scenario outlined by the International Panel on Climate Change suggests temperatures will continue to rise throughout this century. Even if just one per cent of the resources devoted to reducing carbon emissions were spent on it, says Professor Ken Caldeira, director of the Caldeira Laboratory at the US Carnegie Institution, we would have a better idea of the consequences and efficacy of geo-engineering techniques.

“We cannot afford to ignore geoengineering,” he says. Tim Fox of the IMechE calls for an annual spend in the UK of £10 million on urgent geoengineering research.

But these scientists and engineers agree that geo-engineering cannot take the place of existing efforts to combat climate change. “Geo-engineering is no silver bullet,” says Fox, “but it does offer us the chance to buy some time while we go about the transition to a low-carbon world.” It is essential, the institution argues, that geo-engineering is employed as part of a three-pronged strategy,

engineering as an “easy way out” when confronted with climate change, instead of trying to cut emissions of CO2. “It could be a way of maintaining the profits of fossil fuel companies while we tinker with the planet. Geo-engineering should not take the focus off mitigation.

There are plenty of things we should be doing that we are not yet doing.”

Worryingly, there is some evidence to suggest that certain bodies in the United States, already a laggard when it comes to action on emissions reduction, do indeed view geo-engineering as a potential get-out clause. In a House

The worst scenario would be a climate “emergency where a geo-engineering scheme is needed, but without it having been researched.

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Professor John Shepherd

including mitigation of emissions and adaptation to climate change. “We have put forward a very clear road map that shows geo-engineering running in parallel with mitigation and adaptation, and then [the schemes] being decommissioned in the longer term,” says Fox. Caldeira says: “If we just relied on geo-engineering schemes and continued making emissions, that is a very high-risk strategy.”

There is considerable concern that the debate on climate change could become polarised, with geo-engineering on one side, and emissions reduction on the other. Dr Doug Parr of Greenpeace points out that countries might see geo-

Select Committee hearing on climate change in the US last year, Lee Lane, a fellow of the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research think-tank, warned against “hasty, unilateral cuts” in carbon emissions that could “impose significant burdens on the American economy”. “It would… be prudent for the government to explore the various novel technologies that many scientists believe might produce significant global cooling even in a highgreenhouse-gas world.”

It seems, then, that when it comes to geo-engineering, there are as many questions as answers. Capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is likely to

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www.dynamixx-e2d.com be more environmentally benign, but could take a very long period of time to sequester billions of tonnes of carbon.

Solar radiation management techniques would work more quickly, but do not solve the underlying problem. There are also question marks over the speed at which the technology for geoengineering schemes could be developed.

“Geo-engineering is technically possible but the technology is barely formed,” says Shepherd. The IMechE report features two techniques for carbon sequestration, algae-coated buildings and mechanical trees, that Fox believes would be, relatively-speaking, practical.

“These can be bolted together with more or less conventional technology, just deployed in a different way,” he says.

In terms of solar radiation management, the study also outlines a scheme to make buildings more reflective, although this would only play a very small part in combating climate change; the Royal Society dismisses such “surface albedo” approaches – like white roofs, reflective crops and desert reflectors – as “ineffective, expensive and… likely to have serious impacts on local and regional weather patterns.” As solar radiation management does not reduce CO2 emissions to “natural” levels, it would be prudent for it to be used in parallel with carbon sequestration, and then gradually phased out once carbon dioxide levels had declined. “If solar radiation management were to be used on its own, emissions would continue to rise and we would inherit the legacy of CO2, causing global warming if radiation management was ever stopped,” says Shepherd.

While no one is certain whether geoengineering could or should be used in the battle against climate change, the science and engineering communities say it is critical that the schemes are thoroughly examined now, and resources devoted to developing them. “As engineers we understand the lead time that’s involved in bringing these kinds of technology from the lab to the field,” says Fox, “and we really need to invest in research on geo-engineering now to ensure we are in a position to make any decision about deployment in a timely fashion.”

Professor John Shepherd concludes: “The worst scenario would be a climate emergency where a geo-engineering scheme is needed, but without it having been researched.” *Ben Hargreaves is assistant editor at Professional Engineering magazine.

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November 2009

Appendix 1: Klaus Lackner of Columbia University has been working on his concept for mechanical trees to sequester carbon since 1999. In the subsequent decade his designs have been refined from using sodium hydroxide as the absorbing material – an energy-intensive “sledgehammer”, according to Lackner – to employing a plastic ion-exchange resin that can be washed in water vapour to remove the CO2. The rate of flow of air through the “tree” determines the amount of carbon dioxide that is recovered, but even with no breeze some is removed.

The mechanical trees are not an infinite solution; the carbon dioxide captured must be stored somewhere, and space for that is limited. But they could play a part in reducing atmospheric carbon as attempts to mitigate emissions increase. The IMechE estimates that, at a capture rate for one tree of 10 tonnes of CO2 a day, some 100,000 units would be sufficient to capture the UK’s emissions.

The development and mass production of the trees, says Tim Fox, could draw on Britain’s engineering heritage to provide some of the “green collar” jobs touted by government.

Lackner, who believes the cost of his technology could potentially be reduced to around $30 a tonne of carbon dioxide, says he doesn’t consider himself to be a geo-engineer. “Geo-engineering means to me that we modify the world in such a way that it does something it wouldn’t normally do – we change the albedo and get a lower temperature, right? Or we change the ecology of an ocean and get a higher CO2 outtake. What we are saying is that we want to collect back the CO2 we have already emitted – we are not changing any natural cycles.

“On the contrary, we are resetting a natural cycle to where it was.”

2: Professor Stephen Salter first attracted the disapproval of meteorologists with schemes to increase the amount of rain in drought-hit parts of the Middle East, and has since been faced with “venomous” attacks from environmental groups because of his involvement in geo-engineering. His concept would see fleets of “spray vessels” sailing back and forth, perpendicular to the prevailing wind, releasing tiny drops of seawater into the boundary layer beneath marine stratocumulus clouds.

The combination of the wind and the vessel movements would “treat” a large area of sky, providing new cloud condensation nuclei. This, Salter argues, would increase the albedo of the clouds and send solar energy back out to space.

A global albedo increase of 1.1% would be sufficient to offset the effects of global warming. It should be stressed that Salter’s scheme is not a method for making new clouds, but rather making existing clouds whiter.

“I’ve been working on renewable energy since the 1970s,” Salter says.

“But I fear we may just be too late.” He is currently attempting to secure fresh funding for his geo-engineering scheme.

“To put it in perspective, its full development would cost less than a footballer - and much less than sending large groups of politicians to Kyoto, Bali or whichever exotic location to talk about climate change.”

At the other end of the geoengineering scale, Roger Angel’s space sunshade is estimated to be a project that would cost $5 trillion to implement.

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