Between the Poles

Practical knowledge transfer: Capturing and enabling access to senior employees' knowledge

At GeoAlberta 2015 Susan Ancel of EPCOR, a diversified water and electric power utility headquartered in Edmonton, Alberta described a unique solution to the problem of knowledge transfer from older, experienced to new, younger employees.  EPCOR builds, owns and operates electrical transmission and distribution networks, water and wastewater treatment facilities and infrastructure in Canada and the United States.

I have blogged extensively about some of the workforce challenges that utilities in the developed economies are facing.  These are often related to the aging workforce and in some countries to a shrinking workforce.

I have blogged about the shrinking workforce in countries around the world like Japan and Germany, where there have been declining populations.   The shrinking workforce is acting as a brake on the German economy.  Recently Germany liberalized its immigration laws and for the first time in a decade the population of Germany is actually increasing.

In the U.S. because of its policy of encouraging immigration, the shrinking workforce is not the result of population decline, but the result of a decreasing participation rate.   One explanation for the decline is the aging workforce. Boomers are retiring at a rapid rate.  This has created a serious problem for many utilities where it has been estimated that over half the work force will be eligible to retire in the next few years.  But there is another trend that tends to mitigate this, the percentage of older workers who remain on the job post-retirement is trending upwards.  For the age group 65 to 74 the proportion of workers still working is nearly twice what it was in the 1990s.  In the long term the problem remains, finding young workers to replace the older workers when they retire.

A recent report from PricewaterhouseCooper's (PwC) Human Resource Services practice based on data from 29 utilities representing nearly a quarter of a million employees identifies some very interesting  workforce trends, some new, in the power utility industry.

PwC research indicates that utilities are losing workers at an accelerating rate. The voluntary turnover rate increased by a full percentage point between 2010 and 2012, and for high performers and early tenured employees the rate of separation was especially high. 

Critical knowledge loss

Older utilities workers tend to communicate information orally rather than documenting it in a database.  When these workers leave, critical knowledge leaves with them. This impacts productivity and creates risk for the utility, especially when they leave before replacements can be effectively on-boarded.

Younger workers tend to be much more tech savvy.  This is critical for the electric power industry as it moves toward the smart grid.  But younger workers lack the electric power that only experience can provide.  They desperately need to have access to information that is stored in the brains of older workers.

Knowledge transfer

PwC recommend that utilities organizations need to adapt rapidly to these technology, resource and demographic trends.  In particular, they need to evolve an efficient and effective approach to succession planning and knowledge transfer. PwC points out that an aging workforce, deeply knowledgeable but prone to resist change, need to be fully integrated participants in the change effort. 

At EPCOR succession planning resulted in Project Knowhow that put handheld devices into the hands of older workers with a cloud-based application that enabled them to rapidly take field notes.  For example, they could take a picture and record the location of a transformer that was moved from its design location to avoid soggy, frequently inundated land.  The could add notes like "I had to replace this transformer twice because of water damage, so we decided to move it 100 meters to the northwest."  Susan credits the power utility in Sendai, Japan with the idea behind Project Knowhow.  In Japan in a similar project handhelds had been put in the hands of experienced workers several years before  the Fukushima disaster.  The information gathered from older workers was instrumental in quickly dealing with the after effects of the tsunami.

Operational effectiveness is critical for utilities, but with a static or even decreasing workforce, productivity has to improve and continue to improve. Driven by goals of improving productivity and improving the quality of their decision making through data-driven analytics, utilities are recognizing the importance of understanding their core business processes and implementing standardized, streamlined IT systems for these processes.  PwC recommends that as a first step these processes need to be documented (before the knowledge about them walks out the door) by projects such as EPCOR's Project Knowhow to safeguard core institutional knowledge as part of change management practices.

China and Germany lead the world in building energy efficiency

According to the 2014 scorecard released by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) Germany is #1 out of the 16 nations studied in the World for energy efficiency.  In Germany buildings currently account for 40 percent of power consumption and a third of CO₂ emissions. 

Energy efficiency of buildings

In September 2010 the German Government released a 40 year masterplan for revolutionizing the German energy supply that includes an aggressive plan for energy conservation focusing on reducing the energy demand from buildings.  According to the plan new insulation standards are to be introduced the government wants all buildings in Germany to be refurbished in line with new standards by 2050. It also wants to cut the national heating requirement by 20 percent by 2020 and by 80 percent by 2050.  Germany is part of the EU which is very aggressive in improving the energy efficiency of buildings.  The EU Energy Saving Ordinance mandates a 25 percent reduction in energy use for all new residential and non-residential buildings built from January 1, 2016. And as of 2021, the EU’s nearly zero energy standard will apply to all new buildings.

According to the ACEEE scorecard Germany is ahead of most countries in implementing energy conservation policies and measures for buildings.  (The IEA provides a listing of German energy conservation policies and measures.) But Germany came in second to China in the ACEEE assessment of its progress in improving the energy efficiency of buildings.  The ACEEE assessement focussed on several criteria for building efficiency including energy intensity in residential buildings, energy intensity in commercial buildings, residential building codes, commercial buildings codes, building labeling, appliance and equipment labeling, and building retrofit policy.

The EIA has just released information on building energy efficiency programs in China.  Unlike many other countries, the Chinese government has focused a lot of regulatory attention on existing buildings. The overall objective of the Chinese government is to raise the level of existing buildings to satisfy regulations governing new construction. In 2011, the government implemented regulations that mandated a 10% reduction in energy consumption per square meter for commercial buildings by the end of 2015.  It also mandated a 15% reduction for commercial buildings with more than 20,000 square meters of floor area.

The Green Building Action Plan of 2013 mandates that more than 400 million square feet in residential homes in the northern heating zone must be refurbished to meet new construction standards by the end of 2015. (According to the World Bank 46% of residential floor area is in “severe cold” or “cold” regions.) In addition all commercial buildings in the same zone must be renovated to meet the standards by 2020.

Energy labeling

In 2006 China started a green building labeling initiative called Three-Star Rating Building System.  This system required buildings to be assigned a rating of one to three stars using several criteria.  These include land usage, energy and water consumption, material efficiency, indoor environmental quality, and operational management. The Three-Star Rating Building System departs from the LEED standard in assigning categories based not only on a building's design but also on the building's performance over one year of operation.

Appliance and equipment labeling

China began an energy efficiency labeling program in 1998 with a voluntary energy efficiency labeling program. Then in 2005, a mandatory energy information label was introduced that assigned appliances to categories based on their energy efficiency.  This program is similar to the European Union categorical energy label. 

Green building codes

In 1986 China issued the first building energy code in 1986 for residential buildings in the northern heating zone. These regulations mandated a 30% reduction in space heating energy consumption compared with 1980 reference buildings. For each of China's four climate zones (severe cold or cold climate, hot summer/cold winter, and hot summer/warm winter), there are three energy codes for residential buildings.   There is one code for commercial buildings. Regulations are mandatory except in rural area where residential energy codes are voluntary.

Even with these regulations, from 1998 to 2012 energy consumption of buildings in China grew by about 7.7% per year.  This is ascribed to rapid economic development and the rapid rise in personal incomes in China during this period allowing people to acquire and use more appliances.  In addition China's buildings are inefficient compared to developed countries.  It is estimated that buildings in China use 2-3x more energy per square meter for heating than buildings in comparable temperature zones in Europe or the US.  Furthermore thermal comfort is significantly lower in China.

Imaging objects in 3D through walls

A major challenge for infrastructure companies is mapping infrastructure which is obscured by walls, soil or other materials. For example, detecting underground infrastructure is a remote-sensing challenge that is seeing rapid technological progress.  Researchers at MIT have developed a prototype low cost, high resolution camera that can see through materials such as walls and plywood that visible and other types of camera can't see through.  It can also image objects in 3D. This is very early in the development sequence, but the principle behind the camera is very general and promises to have applications in a number of areas including the infrastructure sector.

The prototype camera uses time of flight to create a 3D image of an object.  It operates much the same way that radar and consumer devices such as the XBox Kinect work. The camera sends out bursts of microwaves and then tracks how long it takes for the microwaves to be reflected by something and return to the sensor.  From the time of flight of the microwaves and the known speed of the microwave burst, it is possible to calculate the location of the bit of an object that reflected the microwave pulse.  The prototype camera has a time resolution of 200 picoseconds (a picosecond is one trillionth of a second).  This allows the camera to resolve distances with an accuracy of 6 cm, which is more than adequate for many infrastructure applications.

The camera is also capable of multispectral imaging. This means that it does not take a picture only at one wavelength, but at several.  Every 10 milliseconds MIT camera's microwave emitter sweeps through the frequency range of 7.835 GHz to 12.817 GHz. Different material reflect the microwaves differently depending on frequency.  The result is an image with different colours that makes it possible to distinguish between different materials.

To test the prototype camera MIT placed a mannequin covered in aluminum foil behind a drywall wall and a sheet of plywood.  The aluminum is detectable at the wavelengths used at MIT. The mannequin was placed approximately 2.1 meters in front of the imaging system and the partition approximately 15–30 cm in front of the mannequin.

The camera is comprised of a microwave emitter and a reflector.  The reflector is over a meter wide.  Acquiring an image takes on the order of an hour. The approach is general enough that the MIT researchers believe that the camera could be made significantly smaller by using shorter wavelengths, millimeter waves instead of microwaves.  However, for many infrastructure applications the size of the camera may not be a problem.

Greening the Delhi Metro System

The Delhi Metrorail Corporation (DMRC) has signed an agreement with the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI) that will make it possible to incorporate the unique needs of metro installations and mass rapid transit systems for new metro stations and depots within the LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) green building rating system. India is one of the USGBC's top five countries for LEED.

This summer two of Delhi Metro's new stations were awarded the platinum (highest) rating for adherence to green building norms of the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC).  IGBC's Green Mass Rapid Transit System rating is the world's first exclusive rating system to address sustainability in new municipal rail systems.  The IGBC rating system enables new rail based municipal rapid transit systems (MRTS) to apply green concepts during design and construction to reduce environmental impact.  The rating system ranks stations and depots and on a scale of platinum, gold, and silver depending on their adherence to IGBC specifications.  All 90 new metro stations which will be completed by 2016 as part of Delhi Metro's Phase 3 are green buildings.  In addition five new solar power facilities have been installed by Delhi Metro at different stations, depots and residential enclaves.

The Delhi Metro is a remarkable achievement in other respects in addition to green.  The Government of India and the Government of Delhi jointly set up the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) in 1995.  The DMRC is a special purpose organization with great autonomy and powers. The DMRC has full powers to hire people, decide on tenders and control funds.  The initial phase of the $2.3 billion project wrapped up in December, 2005, on budget and nearly three years ahead of schedule.  According to Business Week "A well-run subway is a marvel even in a first-world city. In India, where public works are often models of dysfunction, it's nothing short of a miracle."  One reason was that DMRC relied on private funding from the Japan Bank of International Cooperation and other international organizations.

Climate justice: India commits to reducing emissions intensity by a third by 2030

India has just released its commitments (INDC) to reducing emissions prior to the Paris COP meeting.  India houses 30% of the world's poor (363 million people) and 24% of the global population without access to electricity (304 million).  The challenge for India is tackling climate change while at the same time improving the standard of living of its third of a billion poor.

On a per capita basis India is barely on the same chart as the U.S. and Canada.  Depending on what is included in the calculation, India is the world's third or sixth largest emitter.  On a per capita basis India is 137th.  Per capita emissions in the US in 2011 were 4.5 tonnes of carbon, while India's were 0.45 tonnes, 1/10 of U.S per capita emissions. 

On a per capita basis electric power usage is also extremely low in India.  Indian per capita electricity consumption reached 1010 kilowatt-hour (kWh) in 2014-15.  In comparison, China has a per capita consumption of 4,000 kWh and developed nations average about 15,000 kWh per capita.

India is taking climate change seriously.  A year or two ago India announced a voluntary goal of reducing the emissions intensity of its GDP by 20–25% by 2020 compared to 2005 levels.  Despite having no obligations per the Convention (UN Framework Convention on Climate Change), a number of policy measures were initiated to achieve this goal. India's emission intensity per unit of GDP has decreased by 12% between 2005 and 2010. The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) in its Emission Gap Report 2014 recognized India as one of the countries on course to achieving its voluntary goal.  The energy intensity of the economy has decreased from 18.16 goe (grams of oil equivalent) per Rupee of GDP in 2005 to 15.02 goe per Rupee GDP in 2012, a decline of 2.5% per annum.

In its just released Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) for the period 2021 to 2030, India has committed to reducing the emissions intensity of its GDP by 33 to 35 percent by 2030 from 2005 levels.  Even more impressively, it has committed to achieving 40 % cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel based energy resources (renewables and nuclear) by 2030.  It also committed to creating an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.

A detailed estimate of the cost of India's climate change program has not yet been finalized, but it is recognized that significant international resources will be required to achieve its goals. The amount will depend on the gap between the actual cost of the implementation of India's commitment in the INDC and what can be allocated from India's domestic sources. A preliminary estimate suggests that at least US$ 2.5 trillion (at 2014-15 prices) will be required for meeting India's climate change actions between now and 2030.

One of the things India is doing to help achieve both emissions reduction and improving the standard of living of its poorest citizens is developing 100 smart cities (under the Smart Cities Mission).  These next generation cities will provide core infrastructure and a decent quality of life to its citizens by building a clean and sustainable environment. Smart solutions like recycling and reuse of waste, use of renewables, protection of sensitive natural environment will be incorporated to make these cities climate resilient.

The Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) is a new urban renewal mission launched by the Government of India for 500 cities with the objective of ensuring basic infrastructure services such as water supply, sewerage, storm water drains, transport and development of green spaces and parks by adopting climate resilient and energy efficient policies and regulations.

The Indian Government has recently launched the Clean India Mission with the objective of making the country clean and litter free by applying modern solid waste management in about 4041 towns covering a population of 306 million. It includes constructing 10.4 million household toilets and half a million community and public toilets.

Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFCs) are being introduced across India. The first two corridors are the 1520 km long Mumbai-Delhi (Western Dedicated Freight Corridor) and the 1856 km long Ludhiana-Dankuni (Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor). The projects are expected to reduce emissions by about 457 million ton CO2 over a 30 year period.

Delhi Metro is India’s first municipal rail project to earn carbon credits. Delhi Metro has already installed 9 solar power generation facilities and plans to increase their number.

India has recently formulated a Green Highways (Plantation & Maintenance) Policy to develop 140,000 km long “tree-line” with plantation along both sides of national highways.

In India forest and tree cover has increased in recent years as a result of national policies for the conservation and sustainable management of forests.  Forests and tree cover has increased from 23.4% in 2005 to 24% of India's geographical area in 2013.  The Indian Government's long term goal is to bring 33% of its geographical area under forest cover.  India has improved the carbon stock in its forest by about 5%, from 6,621.5 million tonnes in 2005 to 6,941 million tonnes in 2013.