Encouraging sustainability in R&D

The research and development (R&D) process requires many individual decisions – from idea conception through to commissioning - and these decisions can have implications for the environment. When developing new technologies and products, ABB pursues a life cycle approach to assess impacts throughout the phases of a product’s life.

While energy efficiency is close to ABB’s heart, it is equally important to consider other environmental areas that we can influence during design stages, such as resource efficiency (oil, copper, water), noise pollution, emissions, waste generation and improved end-of-life scenarios for our products.

The Green Project of the Year award, established in 2013 by ABB’s Corporate Research Center (CRC) in Sweden, seeks to raise awareness of these design aspects within the ABB research community and to recognize achievements in developing technologies that bring both environmental and business benefits.

Criteria for the award are: environmental improvement, innovation and value for ABB. To acknowledge individual achievement and business contributions, the CSC also presents awards for “Inventor of the year” and “Business support project of the year.”

The inaugural Green Project competition attracted entries covering a wide range of products and technologies, including transformer design and insulation, converter topology, motor technology and a process for remote collaboration.

The winning project - judged by a team of technical and environmental specialists – provided a novel approach to control and optimization of mine ventilation. The automation technology project team of Jan Nyqvist, Michael Lund, Mats Molander and Per Johansson also received a small cash prize in acknowledgment of their achievement.

Mine ventilation consumes a significant amount of energy, typically 100 GW per year, and can account for as much as 50 percent of the total energy consumption for underground activities. Very often, there is no ventilation control at all: Ventilation is demand-driven based on estimation, legal regulations and the presence of vehicles, rather than measurements.

The ABB solution offers a unique method for mine-wide coordinated control of fans and air regulators to achieve an energy-optimized and reliable outcome, providing an improved working environment and reductions in energy consumption of 30-50 percent. The solution was released as a product by our Industry Solutions Business Unit in November 2013.