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hi!tech

The Innovation Magazine

ww.siemens.com/hitech

Record savings with new technical concepts

Wind power on the rise around the world

Hybrid Cars Get Smarter

Looking for Alternatives

Second WorldThe oceans contain sources of energy, food and commodities.

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2|11Editorial

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hi!tech – The Innovation Magazine by Siemens Austria Publisher and media proprietor Siemens AG Austria, Siemensstraße 90, A-1210 Vienna Responsible for publishing Gerald Oberlik Communications (CC) Chief editor Elisabeth Dokaupil CC Editing Sabine Nebenführ, Ursula Grablechner, Markus Honsig Advertisement Gabriele GroulikPhoto management, Distribution Kai Renner, Sieglinde Hofstätter Telephone 05 17 07-222 07 Fax 05 17 07-530 00 Graphical design Wolfgang Lackinger Lithography Repro Zwölf Printing Druckerei Berger, Horn. Member of the Association for Integrated Communication. hitech.at@siemens.comwww.hitech.atE-Book: LEAFER, www.leafersystem.com

According to the results of a recent study by the Intergovernmental Panel on Cli-mate Change, nearly 80 percent of the world’s energy needs could be met with renewable energy sources by 2050. Wind energy is expected to play an important role in this. Essential factors in the attractiveness of wind energy include the increased output and high efficiency of the new systems thanks to technical innovations. With the development of floating wind power plants and gearless turbines, Siemens has made a decisive contribution to the success of this alter-native form of energy.

Intelligent power grids are required in order to use renewable energy to its full potential. Austria’s extensive know-how about these smart grids is used by Sie-mens across the globe. The EU is funding model regions for the practical imple-mentation of smart grids. One such regi-on is Salzburg, where tests are being con-ducted into how energy demand and

supply can be intelligently coordinated in cooperation with consumers, who also act as suppliers of electricity.

In the smart cities of the future, smart grids will connect buildings that also supply energy and electric cars that can also serve as storage devices. Therefore, electric vehicles are being promoted on a worldwide basis as an important part of the conversion to an era of climate-friendly energy and a new form of mobi-lity. The topic of energy offers many opportunities to achieve success on the global markets with innovations.

Other articles in this issue deal with the resources that await in the world’s oceans, new technology for hybrid cars, trains that travel faster thanks to automation, challenges for cities and new treatments for children with cardiac defects.

Wolfgang HesounCEO of Siemens Austria and Cluster CEE

Dear Readers,

hi!techS t a r t

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Profit from new products, proces-ses, materials and more intelligent communication

Future technology: The most recent re-search results from Austria’s schools and universities

How to live better with technology – in every day life and sports & leisure

hi!tech – The Innovation Magazine by Siemens Austria

Cover story: Second World . . . . . . . . . . 04 The oceans can provide us with sustainable energy sources, food reserves and commodities that are becoming scarce on land – and they can also regu-late our climate as long as they are not being damaged irrepara-bly by excessive global warming and pollution. Unending Energy . . . . . . 06 Ocean current power plants have great potential in coastal regions with strong tidal cur-rents.

Green Shipping . . . . . . . . 09 Ships are major power consu-mers. In order to convert them into green ships, we can start with the drive, power supply and lighting.

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Content

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News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Adaptable Train . . . . . . . . 11The Desiro is reliable, comforta-ble and environmentally friendly.

Danube Region . . . . . . . . 12The EU is providing funds for the development.

The Power of Wind . . . . 14There is a high potential for the expansion of wind power all over the world – both off-shore, where large projects are planned in Europe and on land.

Efficiency is Mandatory 18Only highly efficient electric motors may be sold in the EU now.

Green Pays Off . . . . . . . . . 20Lots of energy can be saved in data processing and in data centers.

It’s Getting Tight . . . . . . 22Humans are consuming more natural resources than the Earth can provide.

News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Easy Parking . . . . . . . . . . . 25How to organize parking in

cities.

Next Generation Hybrids ....................... 26A new generation of hybrid cars

can travel longer distances elec-

trically and at a lower cost.

New Services . . . . . . . . . 30Growing amounts of data, lar-

gely collected by sensors and

systems, can form the basis for

new services.

Success You Can See . 32The monitoring of treatments

is the subject of the research

being conducted with the

7-tesla MRT at the Medical Uni-

versity of Vienna.

Automatically Faster . 34Automation is helping to get

more trains on the tracks more

safely and at faster speeds.

News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

A Heart for Children . . . 37Minimal interventions using ca-

theters can be lif-saving for child-

ren with cardiac defects.

Megacity Istanbul . . . 38Istanbul is investing in infrastruc-

ture to secure additional growth.

Young, Urban, Mobile 42Young urbanites are happy to

do without cars and instead rely

on bicycles combined with

public transportation.

Testing Smart Grids . . 44Salzburg is a pioneer in the con-

version to intelligent power grids.

Intelligent Helpers . . . . 46Modern hearing aids deliver a

hearing experience that is con-

stantly improving.

Ready for Check-in . . . 48Location-based services allow

us to exchange information

about the restaurants or shops

we’re currently located in.

How technology affects people, society and the environment

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Reserve Planet Under Water

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIElisabeth Dokaupil, Industry Journal Christina Lehner

oceans have still more to offer: sustaina-ble energy sources, new food reserves and commodities that are becoming scarce on land.

The motions of waves and currents are already being used as energy sour-ces. In contrast to wind energy, they offer

the advantage of being regular and pre-dictable. The resulting energy can there-fore be used as valuable base load. Ocean current power plants function in the same way as classic wind turbines – except that they are under water. The 16-meter long and 27-ton heavy rotors operate at very high efficiency. Due to the significantly higher energy density in water than in the air, considerably more electricity is generated at the same turbine speed. One of the pioneers and technology leaders in this area is the Bri-tish company Marine Current Turbines, in which Siemens holds a stake. The largest ocean current power plant today opera-tes in Northern Ireland and supplies

THE OCEANS OFFER food, sustainable energy sources, com-modities that are growing scarce on land and transport routes.

Roughly 70 percent of the Earth is covered with water. The large oce-ans that surround the conti-nents have been key sources of food and means of trans-port for millennia. But the

C o v e r S t o r y

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RENEWABLE ENERGIES from ocean current power plants (top), via osmosis (left) in river mouths or from wave motion captured by steel tubes (lower left).

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIElisabeth Dokaupil, Industry Journal Marine Current Turbines Ltd., Statkraft, Pelamis, Diamond Airborne Sensing

1,500 households with electricity. Various concepts exist for making use

of wave motions. The Scottish company Wavepower works with steel tubes con-nected by joints. These tubes capture the motion of the waves, which is then passed on via pressure cylinders and a hydraulic fluid to the turbines and gene-rators integrated into the tubes. The con-cept of the Wavegen project is to genera-te electricity at the point where the wave breaks against the coast. The technology is based on the principle of oscillating

water columns. Researchers also want to use osmosis for electricity generation at river mouths, where freshwater meets salt water.

And these are only the options that have already reached technical maturity. Another idea that has not yet been imple-mented is the use of methane hydrate, which offers massive potential according to Professor Peter M. Herzig of the Leib-

niz Institute of Marine Sciences. Methane hydrate, also called fire ice, consists of methane that is trapped within crystal-

Full of Unending EnergyOcean current power plants have

great potential, particularly in costal

regions with strong tidal currents.

With this form of electricity produc-

tion, the turbines are mounted to a

mast and sit directly in the current.

Two-blade rotors turn with the

movement of the tidal current and

shift their own axis by 180 degrees

to be optimally aligned with the

direction and speed of the current. A

significant advantage of this techno-

logy: the electricity production is

predictable based on the tidal cycles.

Marine Current Turbines has alrea-

dy successfully realized its first com-

mercial project “SeaGen” in the inlet

of Strangford in Northern Ireland.

Ocean current power plants are also

part of the planning for a super grid

in the North Sea.

The Scottish company Wavepo-

wer is working with steel tubes to

capture the wave motion where the

wave breaks against the coast. With

pressure cylinders and hydraulics,

the energy is passed to the turbines

and generators integrated into the

tubes.

lized water. Geologists believe that the world’s oceans contain twelve trillion tons of the substance, meaning over twice as much carbon as is stored in the total oil, natural gas and coal reserves. At the University of Kiel, researchers hope to use the carbon dioxide produced in combustion processes to harvest the methane. The carbon dioxide should be pumped into methane hydride fields to carry the methane hydrate to the sur-face.

Algae offer tremendous energy and food reserves. There are hundreds of thousands of different types of microal-gae found around the world. Many are as small as bacteria while others form long strands up to 50 meters in length. Not only are they simple to cultivate, they can also help in the elimination of waste-water and CO2 since algae prefer to grow in dirty water or salt water and make use of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. In the future, energy suppliers could feed the CO2 from their plants directly to algae. However, this would require gigantic facilities. Converting the CO2 output of a 100-megawatt coal power plant would require an area of roughly 7,000 soccer fields. A plant currently in

FLYING WITH BIOFUEL. Diamond Aircraft and EADS made the world’s first flights with an algae-derived biofuel.

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operation consumes only the quantity of CO2 produced by a power plant in fifteen minutes. Researchers are currently wor-king intensively on recycling algae nutri-ents such as phosphates and nitrous oxi-des and on opening up industrial wastewater as a nutrient source.

Harvesting the algae previously also posed difficulties because it required let-ting the water out of the tanks. With a new method developed by Siemens researchers, this is no longer necessary. The algae are mixed with magnetic par-ticles and collected using magnets. Once the challenges of cultivation and harves-ting have been solved, algae could be an optimal base material for biogas, biodie-sel and bioplastics without the need to use agricultural land needed for food. “Through photosynthesis, algae create new biomass from carbon atoms five to ten times more efficiently than land plants,” reported Manfred Baldauf, a chemist at Siemens.

The aviation industry is also interes-ted in sustainable biofuels from microal-gae. At the international aviation trade fair in Berlin, a small aircraft was started in 2010 that burned pure algae-based fuel in its engines. With algae fuel, air-craft could achieve a greater range than with typical jet fuel. Reason enough for Airbus to be extremely active in algae research. However, industrial algae pro-duction would have to be expanded in order for the airlines to convert to this fuel. Passenger aircrafts currently con-sume 200 million tons of jet fuel around the world per year. The annual produc-tion of algae diesel is currently at a mere 10,000 tons, and the production process is relatively expensive.

As food, however, algae are already successfully in use around the world. The dark-green nori leaves are rich in protein, carbohydrates, unsaturated fatty acids, proteins, vitamins and iodi-ne. Not only are they an important part

Algae the Jack-of-All-TradesMicroalgae convert sunlight into

energy via photosynthesis better

than any high-tech solar cell. Plus,

they use the climate-threatening gas

carbon dioxide to grow, meaning

they can be used for biological

exhaust gas treatment. In the

future, this could allow energy pro-

viders to simply feed the CO2 from

their power plants to algae rather

than releasing it into the atmosphe-

re and purchasing expensive emissi-

on rights to do so.

Airlines are hoping for biofuel made

from microalgae. Aircraft flying on

algae fuel could achieve a greater

range than with typical jet fuel.

Algae fuel also produces significant-

ly lower nitrous oxide and sulfur

oxide emissions than does fossil jet

fuel.

But the applications for algae are

even more diverse. They can also

contribute to relieving the Earth’s

food shortages. Dark-green nori

leaves are rich in protein, carbohyd-

rates, unsaturated fatty acids, prote-

ins, vitamins and iodine. The

pharmaceutical industry uses

them in Alzheimer’s medications.

Tests have also shown that microal-

gae help suppress inflammations

and widen blood vessels.

BIOREACTOR for generating hydrogen from algae; healthy nori leaves in Asian cuisine (bottom).

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of Asian cuisine, they are also mixed into animal food for fish and pigs. The phar-maceutical industry uses them to produ-ce Alzheimer's medications. Tests have also shown that microalgae help sup-press inflammations, relieve muscle spasms and widen blood vessels. They strengthen the immune system and con-tain antioxidants that protect against free radicals. Many research institutes are therefore working on new medica-tions based on this useful resident of our oceans. Not only is it a source of food and energy, but the ocean also serves huma-nity as the world’s largest drinking water reservoir. In many regions, the demand for water could not be met without ocean water desalination. Among other things, membrane filters are used in this pro-cess. In Perth, Australia, they are used for pre-cleaning. 360,000 cubic meters of water per day are pressed through the tubes of the pressure membrane filtrati-on system with low energy input.

The treatment and desalination of water make significant contributions to reducing the consumption of groundwa-ter – particularly in water-poor regions such as the Middle East. Energy efficien-cy is a key factor in the use of desalinati-

on plants. Siemens is currently working on technologies that reduce the energy consumption by up to 50 percent compa-red with existing solutions.

Commodities on the ocean floor are

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIElisabeth Dokaupil, Industry Journal Siemens, Science Party SO 174/IFM GEOMAR, Jens Greinert/IFM-GEOMAR

much more valuable but more complica-ted to harvest. Geologists speak of massi-ve reserves in the deep seas of already scarce metals such as copper, nickel and cobalt, zinc and even gold and silver. The world’s leading sea floor mining compa-ny, the Canadian firm Nautilus Minerals, has reported on 1,000 sulfur springs, where millions of tons of copper could be mined. Sulfur springs result from volcanic activity and flush rocks with high raw material concentrations up to the ocean floor. The deep sea deposits contain metals in higher concentrations than on land. Harvesting these deposits would therefore be less harmful to the environment. The technology for searching for diamonds in the ocean

floor is already quite advanced. The first drilling ships are already operating off the coast of Namibia.

The use of deep sea oil and gas reser-ves is also certain to remain important in the coming decades. In order to increase yields and reduce the risks, work should take place in the future directly at the bore hole at large depths. “The times of easy oil are past,” remarks Tom Blades, head of Siemens Oil & Gas. “The proces-sing of petroleum at large depths will not be simple. The equipment is subjected to 300 bars of pressure and must be absolu-tely leak-proof and saltwater-proof.” This also applies to the power supply, transformers, motors and compressors. Siemens intends to offer a small electri-city network for deep sea use by 2012. The individual elements will be snapped together in a plug-and-play fashion.

The roughly 100,000 ships that cur-rently travel the oceans of the world could make a key contribution to helping the global oil and gas reserves last as long as possible. Ships transport almost 90 percent of the world’s trade goods and produce immense quantities of pollu-tants, while fuel consumption and emis-sions from cars have already been signi-ficantly reduced. Every year, ship traffic

Drinking Water ReservesSiemens has developed a techno-

logy for ocean water desalination

that lowers the energy consumpti-

on by at least 50 percent. This pro-

cess makes use of electrodialysis,

a type of ion exchange desalinati-

on and a new type of continuous

electro-desalination process based

on ion exchange that removes the

salt at 1.5 kilowatt-hours per cubic

meter.

The system is based on separa-

ting the electrically charged sodi-

um and chloride ions in the salt.

The research efforts are focused

on a high-tech membrane that

makes the ion exchange possible.

CORAL REEFS are particularly endangered by climate change.

produces as much fine dust as 300 milli-on cars, according to a study by the US oceanographic agency NOAA. The num-bers for sulfur dioxide are even more alarming. The largest 15 ships are res-ponsible for as many sulfur dioxide emis-sions as all 800 million cars in the world.

We need green ships. Siemens is parti-cipating in the development of technolo-gies that should make ships more envi-ronmentally friendly. The hot exhaust gases of the diesel engines will be used to drive turbo generators that can gene-rate up to six megawatts of energy for the onboard power supply. This will reduce the fuel consumption and CO2 output of the ship by up to twelve per-cent and the energy costs by ten percent.

In the future, the motors in ships will have rotors that exhibit no electrical los-ses. This will be accomplished with superconductors that can also withstand current densities up to 100 times greater than copper coils. This allows for savings in weight and volume of up to 50 percent – meaning high cost reductions and less material use. This is an important aspect for ship operators because there are limits on the sizes of their drive systems. These advantages will benefit not only the owners of luxury liners but also of

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container ships. Previously, ships have generated the electricity they need using their diesel generators even while in port. Now they can be supplied with power from land via special sockets.

One problem for maritime ecosys-tems is ballast water that ships pump into their tanks for stabilization when running empty. This is then emptied in other regions, including all the foreign organisms contained within. In this way, jellyfish from the US East Coast were brought to the Baltic Sea, where they threatened fish stocks by feeding off the fisheries. A safe ballast water manage-ment system developed by Siemens should prevent bio-invasions.

It is very important for us humans that the ocean ecosystem remains intact because the oceans stabilize and regula-te our climate. The water surfaces of the world absorb 50 times more greenhouse gases than the atmosphere and roughly 30 percent of the carbon dioxide produ-ced by humans. The global rise in tempe-ratures is also warming the oceans and endangering these important processes. As the temperature increases, the oceans take up less CO2, thereby further accele-rating climate change in a vicious cycle.

“The effects of climate change on the

ocean could have massive economic con-sequences,” explained the Indian econo-mist and UN advisor Pavan Sukhdev in one study. “CO2 contributes to making the oceans more acidic, which threatens animals with calcite shells in particular, such as corals. The endangered coral reefs alone represent the source of income and livelihood for over 500 milli-on people.” A similar situation also applies to mangroves that also perform valuable roles by storing carbon dioxide and protecting coastlines.

In addition, the rise of ocean levels threatens many coastal cities. In other words, there are plenty of reasons to be more concerned about the oceans than we have been in the past. To ensure that humanity can survive for a long time, we must both protect them and take advan-tage of the opportunities they offer. ■

Green ShipsDiesel-electric drives and energy management help cruise ships travel more efficiently. Fuel con-sumption can be further redu-ced by operating climate control fans and pumps as well as lighting only when actually required. Energy can also be recovered from the hot exhaust gases from the diesel engines. Small ships can also profit from the advantages of hybrid drives, which are diesel engines with electrical drive components.

More information■ www.siemens.com/marine■ www.marineturbines.com■ siemens.com/oil-gas■ ifm-geomar.de■ www.nautilusminerals.com■ www.aida.de■ www.eia.gov■ siemens.com/industryjournal

DIGITAL LETTERSFull mailbox, expensive deli-very? Electronic mail solves a lot of problems. An automation

solution from Siemens creates images of envelopes while the let-ters are being sorted. Customers can then access their mail online.siemens.com/innovation

SILVER CAKEThree filter presses from Siemens will dewater tailings in the San Bartolomé silver mine in Bolivia. The stacking of the dry cake saves space, which makes it easier to reclaim the land in the future.siemens.com/mining

TURBINE WORLD RECORDThe SGT5-8000H gas turbine set a world record at the German Irsching 4 power plant: In a test run, the turbine reached 60.75 per-cent efficiency with a capacity of 578 MW, clearly exceeding the tar-geted top efficiency. The new gas turbine is designed for up to 600 MW in combined cycle operation.siemens.com/energy

SAFE AND EFFICIENT Steel mills will be operated longer in the future – possibly for over 50 years. In many cases, this requires modernizati-on in terms of energy efficiency, safety and environmental pro-tection. Siemens is setting its sights on this. siemens-vai.com

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CHARGING ELECTRIC CARS WITHOUT A CABLEDeveloped by Siemens in cooperation with BMW, this non-contact technology works even if drivers only make a short stop to recharge. The charging stations can be incorporated into practically any setting and are virtually invisible, which helps to protect them.siemens.com/innovation

Ursula Grablechner Siemens Christina Lehner

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hi!bizN e w s

Reliable, comfortable, economically effici-ent, environmentally friendly: Railway opera-tors have a long wish list when it comes to investing in new trains. In times of risingcost pressure, trains should run smooth-ly from the outset. The Desiro has 99 per-cent availability and offers passengers a great deal of comfort. Its forward-looking design, extensive lighting and timeless color scheme create a friendly, open atmosphere. Another important element is the possibility to get on and off the train without having to step up or down as well as barrier-free access to all special areas such as multi-purpose compart-ments and toilets. The width of the doors and passageways is also of great impor-tance, especially in local trains, where passengers have to be able to get on and off quickly. Passengers with handicaps

Feel-Good Train

DESIRO ML. Comfort, barrier-free access and safety for passengers.

can move around the Desiro ML without any problems. The end car offers barrier-free level entrances as well as a handicap-ped accessible toilet and several large spaces for wheelchairs. To feel good, passengers also need to feel safe. Open passageways and the ability to

see through the entire train increase the feeling of safety and security. Additional video surveillance of the passenger area makes it possible to increase security even further. Although trains are a very safe mode of transport, passengers and staff have extra protection thanks to energy-absorbing crash elements. Modern, well lit, spacious trains are where passengers feel their best. The spacious interior gives passengers a clear view of the entire train. This is thanks in great part to the fact that nearly all of the larger technical vehicle components were placed on the roof of the train. Modern information management such as electronic train destination displays and loudspeaker announcements also make passengers feel more comfortable. And facilities for people with limited mobility are part of the standard equip-ment. The Desiro ML can carry large volumes of passengers. The train can adapt quickly and easily to the current number of pas-sengers since it is conceived as a single car with an adjustable middle car, and it is simple to change the train’s configura-tion. Middle cars can be added or remo-ved as necessary at the depot.

With few components overall, most of which are installed on the roof of the train, the single car saves time and money on maintenance and repairs. Even at maximum capacity and with much lon-ger single cars, its axle load remains below 17 metric tons. Combined with a very short bogie axle base, this means less wear in comparison to articulated trains. ■

More information■ siemens.com/mobility

Erhard Busek, who works for many institutions as a specialist in Central and

South Eastern Europe, and Georg Pammer, Siemens One Manager CEE, discuss the prospects and challenges of the EU Danube region strategy.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIElisabeth Dokaupil, Ursula Grablechner Albert Klebel, Siemens

How much money is being provided by

the EU for development of the Danube

region, and what prerequisites have been

defined for the subsidies?

Busek: Mobility, energy, environmental protection, innovation, employment and safety are all topics addressed by the EU

Danube region strategy. Additional money is not planned since the existing funds have only been partially used. The available money should now be used within the framework of the cross-bor-der projects of the Danube nations. A very high sum of 95 billion euros is available. However, the deadline for using by 2013 it is very short.

What projects can even be realized within

the next two-and-a-half years?

Busek: Broad-reaching regional planning and associated projects are certainly no longer possible. We must focus on the low hanging fruit, the most important things. The best tactic is to take already existing projects and to tender them so that com-panies can submit offers. Then the pro-jects also have direct positive effects on economic growth and jobs. Pammer: In addition to rapid decisions on concrete projects, fast and correct imple-mentation are also required. The adminis-trative capacity for planning, approvals and invitations to tender is often lacking.

What specific topics are particularly

important and should definitely be

addressed?

Pammer: Improvements in the infra-structure are required in many areas.

Quick Decisions Required

Many projects combine economic advan-tages with positive environmental effects. Water, energy and mobility are areas where Siemens can offer compre-hensive solutions. With regard to ener-gy, the goals are to improve the efficien-cy of production and promote the use of renewable energy sources.

Can you list some specific examples of

infrastructure projects from these catego-

ries?

Busek: The Danube leaves Austria with water quality 2; at its mouth in the Black Sea, the value is 4 to 5. This is due to agri-cultural fertilizers, old industrial plants – which are increasingly being closed however – as well as a lack of municipal

“Cities require a whole set of infra-structure measures that must be well coordinated with each other.”

GEORG PAMMER

Mobile network ope-rators are under pres-sure. Customers expect convenience, simple opera-tion, higher data volumes and new services – while

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paying less and less. This is accompanied by a hard fight for the end customers. Mobile phone and smart phone manu-facturers, Internet and media compa-nies, operators – everyone is attempting to win over customers with innovative offers. “Business models intertwine. Eve-ryone wants to be the first to reach the customer,” explained CMT head Daniel-Rui Felicio. Guaranteed network availa-bility, security, speed and bandwidth are expected of network operators. “While the operators previously had closed sys-

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The Fight for Customers

tems, they now feel forced to enter into partnerships,” stated Felicio.

Key aspects of the CMT offering are the development and integration of application software and system solu-tions as well as system integration of typical market solutions in the customer’s IT landscape. Thanks to com-petent specialists with extensive know-ledge and experience in the telecom industry, CMT directly supports mobile network providers in developing innova-tive offerings and sales-promoting mea-sures. Solutions from CMT impress cus-tomers with high returns on investment and high scalability.

Thanks to the Nexus solution from CMT, for example, mobile network provi-ders can quickly implement marketing measures for the prepaid customers as well, thereby effectively increasing the average revenue per user (ARPU). With another solution, CMT makes it possible for its customers to use encrypted com-munication such as required of Professi-onal Mobile Radio even over normal mobile networks. This avoids a very expensive build-out of special networks and permits effective cooperation bet-ween special network operators (typi-cally security forces such as the police, fire departments, etc.) with the public provider.

Another software solution enables the modeling and predictive optimizing of network quality, which is affected by fac-tors such as location, capacity utilization and user devices, in order to deliver the quality expected by end users. ■

More information■ siemens.at/cmt

More information■ www.icpdr.org ■ www.interact-eu.net■ ec.europa.eu

sewage treatment plants. This could also be made a priority within the scope of the Danube region strategy of the EU. Additional support would be available from the ICPDR, which is specialized in environmental protection and located in Vienna, as well as Arge Donauländer. Pammer: I think in particular of cities, which generally need a whole set of inf-rastructure improvements that must be well coordinated with each other – from the energy chain of modern thermal power plants to increasing the energy efficiency of public buildings. Here, it is possible to lower costs while decreasing CO2 emissions at the same time. Similar benefits can be obtained in the area of transportation through traffic manage-ment and public transport.

Can funds from other EU programs also

be used for such projects?

Busek: The interaction between different EU programs is a problem. “Interact” has taken up the task of improving this situ-ation. Pammer: The proper structures for obtai-ning EU funds are often lacking in the administrations. One possibility for obtaining the necessary know-how can be found in twinning projects: officials from the old EU countries work along-side the administrations of the new ones.

What is the critical factor for the decision

to implement a project?

Pammer: These are political decisions. Perhaps they can be simplified here and there through contracting or complete packages with erection and financing. This is also something that Siemens can offer. ■

DANIEL-RUI FELICIO, CMT: “Support in developing innovative offers.”

the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate

Change (IPCC). Wind power alone can contribute as much as 20 percent to a future renewable energy mix. Viewed globally, wind power currently makes up only 0.2 percent of energy production and covers about two percent of the elec-tricity demand, but this number will be rising quickly. The economic crisis was not able to stop the trend towards wind power over the long term. At the end of 2010, the total installed output of wind power plants was roughly 195 gigawatts, 35 gigawatts more than one year before. For 2011, the Global Wind Energy Council expects ano-

ther 40 gigawatts to be added. Wind energy is developing most quickly in China, where the installed wind power output has doubled every year since 2005. With a total capacity of 42 giga-watts, China has now surpassed the USA at 40 gigawatts and added 16.5 gigawatts just last year alone. The next places are held by Germany at 27, Spain at 20 and India at 13 gigawatts.

With wind power plants that are a generation newer than those found in Germany, for example, Spain has shown that it is not only the size of the plants that matter. Despite a lower total output installed, favorable wind conditions allo-wed Spain to produce considerably more electricity than Germany in 2010 (43,000 gigawatt-hours) to meet 16.4 percent of the country’s entire electricity demand. Germany produced 36,500 gigawatt-hours, or 6.2 percent of the national elec-tricity consumption. With respect to the size of the country, Denmark holds a clear lead. Nowhere else is more wind

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The Power of WindThe switch is possible. Nearly 80 percent of the world’s energy needs could be produced from re-newable energy sources by 2050 according to a study by

energy produced per person. South Eastern Europe offers great

potential for further expansion of wind power. Particularly those countries whose energy demand will increase hea-vily in the coming years due to rising economic production have good reason to make use of renewable energy. At the end of 2010, only 89 megawatts of wind power were installed in Croatia, 295 in Hungary and just 3 megawatts in Slova-kia. Countries like Bulgaria and Romania have made some more headway in recent years, and Turkey has also recently begun heavy expansion. “The forecasts see a market for regenerative energy in 2015 of something over seven billion euros for the South Eastern European region,” said Heinrich Haumer, head of the area of renewable energy for the CEE region at Siemens. “Wind energy will make up the largest share of this.”

The pace of wind power is increasing because it is the most technically mature of the new, clean energy sources and also

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burden on the technology increases with the distance away from the coast, the depth of the ocean floor and the rough-ness of the environment. They also represent a massive undertaking – from transport, erection and connecting to the grid all the way to service and main-tenance.

For these reasons, work is underway to advance the technology in all areas, from the increasing industrialization of the installation of offshore plants to intelligent sensor systems for monito-ring them. Currently one of the most exciting research projects is floating

wind power plants, which are being deve-loped by Siemens together with the Nor-wegian energy company Statoil and which could open up even more new ter-ritories for wind energy. An initial proto-type is already in operation off the Nor-wegian coast. The core of this system is a 120-meter long floating structure of steel, concrete and ballast tanks that ext-ends deep enough to bring the center of

OFFSHORE WIND PARK UNDER CONSTRUC-TION. The potential of wind energy on the open seas in Europe is estimated at 100 GW. Only two percent of this has been utilized so far, and numerous large projects are in the pipeline.

the most competitive. Catastrophes like that one at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, continuously rising petroleum prices, the global obligation to drasti-cally reduce CO2 emissions and the EU goal of using renewable energy sources for one-fifth of energy production by 2020 will only accelerate this develop-ment further. “With existing orders tota-ling over ten billion euros and the rapid expansion of our international manufac-turing network, we are ideally positioned to become one of the world’s three lea-ding providers of wind power plants by 2012,” stated Wolfgang Dehen, global head of Siemens Energy.

Coastal regions are particularly attractive for the construction of wind power plants, and the advantages of off-

shore wind power plants are clear. Stron-ger and more regular wind currents are found over the ocean than inland. Howe-ver, both the installation and operation of these massive wind turbines on the high seas pose special challenges. The

gravity far enough below the surface of the water. This should avoid fluctuations in operation even during high swells. To prevent the platform from floating away, flexible steel cables anchor it to the ocean bottom. Researchers hope that this will make it possible to securely ins-tall windmills at depths of up to 700 meters.

Massive plants are being built in the seas around Europe, particularly in Great Britain and the Scandinavian coun-tries. Offshore wind parks are also seeing increased interest in Germany. In total, the potential of wind energy on the open seas in Europe is estimated at 100 giga-watts, of which only two percent has been used so far. The European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) expects that up to 40 gigawatts of installed offshore power can be realized by 2020. Naturally, tremendous potential remains to be tap-ped on the coasts of the USA and China.

In other words, there is no end in sight to the boom in offshore wind power. Multiple major projects are in the pipeline. Siemens, market leader in the

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Blade BakeryThe dimensions are enormous. 52-meter long rotor blades for gigan-tic windmills, each weighing 16 tons, are produced by Siemens in Den-mark. Every blade must achieve the performance required by the custo-mer without subsequent realignment over its 20-year lifetime.

Several years ago, a process was developed by which the blades can be produced as a single, closed piece. With the IntegralBlade tech-nology, no adhesives are required in the manufacturing. The blade has no seams, the manufacturing hall remains clean and the employees are not subject to any fumes.

The blades are baked in shells filled with fiberglass, a fiber-plastic composite. The rotor blades do not contain any problematic PVC, meaning they pose no waste dispo-sal problems after their 20-year life-time is up. They consist of 90 percent fiberglass, which is a recyclable material. Overall, up to twelve tons of fiberglass go into the long blades. An inner layer of wood is also placed between the plastic strips for rein-forcement. The interior space is filled with air pockets. These prepare a path for several tons of liquid epoxy resin to move between the pockets and fiberglass, evenly bonding both sides of the blade together. Then everything is baked at 70 °C for eight hours.

With this technology, it takes only 48 hours from shell assembly to baking rather than several days. The blade is then adjusted and painted white; just a few weeks later, it will be spinning in a wind park.

offshore business, recently received the order for the offshore wind park Borkum Riffgrund. Here, 55 kilometers off the German North Sea coast, 89 wind turbi-nes with 120-meter diameter rotors will be installed in water depths of 30 meters. With an output of 320 megawatts, the wind park will supply clean electricity for up to 330,000 households as of 2014.

Although the fascination of energy production on the high seas via wind power with its gigantic potential and technical dimensions, is undeniable the perspectives for wind energy on land are no less impressive. In Germany, roughly 65 percent of the electricity demand could be met with onshore wind energy, according to a study by the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology published in April this year. This will not even require fil-ling the entire country with windmills. Two percent of the area of Germany would suffice if 3-MW plants were ins-talled with an average hub height of 100 meters.

In Austria there are enough regions

ROTOR BLADE PRODUCTION. The ingredients of fiberglass, wood and epoxy resin are baked at 70 degrees Celsius for about 48 hours.

More information■ siemens.com/powergeneration■ www.statoil.com■ www.ewea.org■ www.thewindpower.net■ www.ipcc.ch

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with nearly perfect climatic conditions for the erection of wind power plants, such as in the Weinviertel or in Northern Burgenland. At the start of 2011, there were 625 windmills throughout the country with a total output of 1,011 megawatt connected to the grid, produ-cing roughly 2,100 gigawatt-hours of electricity per year, corresponding to the demand of about 600,000 households. The Austrian company IG Windkraft has calculated that a doubling of the current-ly installed output is required to replace the amount of electricity imported in the year 2010 (and thereby also nuclear power). New wind power plants with an output totaling 120 megawatts are expected to be built this year. “However, we would have to return to the installati-on pace of earlier years of about 200 megawatts per year,” said Stefan Moidl, general manager of IG Windkraft.

The progress in recent years has affected the costs of these large wind-mills. Since 1990, the prices for wind energy plants have fallen by over 30 per-cent – alongside significant increases in efficiency. The first wind power plants of the 1980s achieved a nominal output of 55 kilowatts and a yield of 35,000 kilo-watt hours per year. Today, large plants deliver 6,000 kW and more, supplying roughly 20 million kWh of electricity. Not only do they operate much more efficiently, they are also quieter and cal-mer and can be integrated better into the power grid.

The gearless wind turbines from Sie-mens are among the most recent techni-

cal innovations on the market. Normally, a gearbox converts the low rotation speed of the wind rotor into a high rota-tion speed for electricity production. In the gearless plant, a synchronous motor stimulated with permanent magnets converts the rotor motion directly into electrical energy, which significantly increases the efficiency of the system. In other words: more power with lower weight, half the number of components and less maintenance expense due to the smaller number of rotating parts, which in turn improves profitability. In Den-mark and Norway, gearless wind turbi-nes with an output of three megawatts and a rotor diameter of 101 meters are already in use, and the Bison wind power plant in the USA has ordered fifty of these new turbines.

In the meantime, a second model of this new generation of wind turbines has been presented: a 2.3-MW machine with a rotor diameter of 113 meters, opti-mized for use even at lower wind speeds. A 6-MW turbine of the same design

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should follow shortly. The new 2.3-MW turbine also makes use of a new 55-meter long rotor blade, the B55-Quantum-Bla-de, which increases the wind yield at the blade while also further lowering the noise level.

Technological advances have brought attention to another interesting aspect for the expansion of wind energy: repow-

ering – the replacement of older wind power plants with new, more powerful and more efficient ones. Double the out-put and triple the electricity yield with half the number of plants on the same area is the current formula. This also means that we do not necessarily need more windmills than today to produce more clean energy. Efficiency improve-ments alone have much to offer. ■

WIND TURBINE ASSEMBLY. The rotor transfers the rotations to a drive shaft and gears, which translate the rotary force to the generator.

GEARLESS WINDMILL. The rotor motion is directly conver-ted into electrical energy. The efficiency of the system is incre-ased while also reducing the maintenance expense.

The largest energy con-sumers in industrial plants are being put on a diet by the EU. Only highly efficient asynchro-nous motors may be sold in the future according to an EU regulation. Such motors are found in fans, pumps, compressors and mills in almost every industry – from the chemicals industry to tool and

machine manufacturers, printers, conveyor technology and the ship industry. The global market volu-me for low-voltage motors lies at around six billion euros. Millions of motors are sold every year in Europe alone. The EU wants to reduce the energy consumption of industrial electric motors with the new regulation

(640/2009) to contribute to redu-ced resource use and achievement

of the climate protection goals. “From an environmental perspec-

tive, the motors of the International

Efficiency 2 (IE2) standard offer only advantages. Electric drives are the basis for practically all industrial production. This makes it an enormous lever for lowering CO2 emissions,” explained Jörg Hassmann, Siemens. But the economic advantages are also considerable. Due to their lower energy consumption, the operating costs of the IE2 motors are sig-nificantly below those of their predeces-sors, which is an important argument since the energy consumption of a drive can amount to up to 95 percent of the lifecycle costs.

The background for the EU regulation

Efficiency is Mandatory

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is an EU framework directive from the year 2005 that defined the requirements for the environmentally sound design (eco-design) of energy-driven products that have large trade volumes and there-fore offer considerable potential for environmental impact at relatively low cost levels. “Electrical drive systems were practically predestined for eco-

design requirements,” emphasized Ismo Grönroos-Saikkala, who as Policy Officer for the EU Commission is largely respon-sible for the regulation. “At industrial plants that use motors in the production processes, electric motors are responsib-le for the majority of electricity con-sumption.” In the Member States, such motors account for roughly 70 percent of the energy consumption of industry, according to Grönroos-Saikkala. The energy efficiency of these drive systems can be improved by 20 to 30 percent at low expense. One of the most important factors is the use of energy-efficient motors.

“In 2005 alone, the power consumpti-on of electric motors was 1,067 terawatt-hours. This corresponds to the emission of 427 million tons of CO2,” stated Grön-roos-Saikkala. “Without specific measu-res to limit consumption, the value would increase to 1,252 terawatt-hours by 2020. With the new regulation, we are increasing the market penetration of technologies for significantly reducing the environmental impact of electric motors over their lifespan.” The goal is to save roughly 135 TWh of electricity and 63 million tons of CO2 by the year 2020. Thomas Holzmann, Vice President of the Federal Environment Agency, explains the effects of the measures for energy-efficient motors in Germany: “In Germa-ny alone, approx. 27 billion kWh of elec-tricity could be saved by 2020, preven-

ting the emission of roughly 16 million tons of CO2.” This corresponds to the electricity production of eight large power plants with an electrical output of 700 megawatts each.

When companies make investment decisions, efficiency issues are more important than environmental ones. But the motor manufacturers have nothing to fear in this regard. “The IE2 motors have an efficiency that is two to seven percentage points higher than IE1 motors. Thanks to the lower energy con-sumption, such motors pay for themsel-ves very quickly despite somewhat high-er purchase costs,” said Jörg Hassmann. “If such a motor is operated in two shifts, the saved energy costs can pay for the expense in just one to two years.”

However, this rapid amortization does not automatically lead to the purchase of new motors. On one hand, this is due to the need for additional financing. On the other hand, factors such as total cost of ownership and life-

cycle costs are frequently not the focus of a company’s considerations. This is an attitude often encountered by Hans-Die-ter Pönisch, who works in the motor divi-sion of Erich Schäfer KG in Siegen, Ger-many. “Although the somewhat higher purchase price for the energy-efficient motors is justified, we have a major com-munication issue to overcome.” Because the legislature has not contributed much to the communication aspects, the res-ponsibility lies with manufacturers and distributors. Anyone looking to switch over need not fear long delivery times if only standard motors are needed. For special developments, however, a certain amount of lead time will is required in view of the expected demand. ■

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D r i v e T e c h n o l o g y

More information■ siemens.com/drives■ siemens.com/automation■ siemens.com/industryjournal■ eur-lex.europa.eu■ ecomachinetools.eu

PRODUCTION OF YARN ROLLS. The new energy-efficient motors will find their way into all industries and offer high efficiency gains.

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D a t a C e n t e r

Green Pays OffWhat does a click cost in the global data net-work? And how envi-ronmentally friendly and energy-efficient is our information society that now no longer stores its data in file folders and on the hard

for their electricity – every month. Rajiv Sivaraman, Siemens Building Technolo-

gies, knows the enormous sums that are squandered every month by inefficient data centers. “1.5 percent of the global energy consumption lies in this area, and this figure is rising.”

And this is completely unnecessary since most data centers operate with a server utilization of less then six per-cent, the building utilization sometimes lies at a bare 50 percent. This means that 60 million kilowatt-hours of energy are entirely wasted. This situation can be improved through measures that increa-

drives of home PCs but rather distribut-ed throughout the cloud? The opinion that the decentralized network has a

positive environmental balance sheet has now been overturned. Greenpeace estimates that if growth rates remain unchanged, the Internet alone with its servers and data centers will have an energy consumption of almost two billi-on kilowatt-hours by the year 2020 – that is more than the electricity consumption of Germany, France, Canada and Brazil put together.

Everyone now agrees: information technology must go green. And not just for environmental reasons but for eco-nomic ones as well. Companies like Google and Ebay pay millions of dollars

se what is termed the energy utilization

efficiency, a value for rating the energy efficiency and environmental-friendli-ness of data centers. To accomplish this, experts address a number of points at the same time: IT consolidation, virtuali-zation and IT automation are all used to improve IT capacity utilization. The main focus for increasing energy efficiency lies on cooling, which is optimized through better air circulation to the out-side or the use of a water pre-heater. The building architecture should be desig-ned to offer the optimal conditions for energy-efficient operation. Sustainabili-ty and the use of low-impact materials are clearly required. In addition, prima-rily renewable or locally produced elec-tricity should be used.

“Previously, our systems could no longer compete with the new technical developments after a few years. Their energy-efficiency was too low, the costs for climate control were massive,” repor-ted Max Alias, program manager of CyberCenter Services at KPN-Getronics – a subsidiary of the telecom giant KPN, who Siemens assisted in the construc-tion of more efficient data centers. “We looked for a solution that could keep pace with the needs of our customers.” Today, KPN builds its data centers modu-larly. Instead of air-conditioning, they rely on environmentally friendly, low-energy and low-cost air exchange sys-tems (Kyoto-Cooling). The building ser-vices are also trimmed to save energy.

Berlin-based internet service provider

Strato also has experience with green solutions. In Strato’s data centers, the servers stand across from each other in rows. With doors at the ends and a roof

over the top, they form a cold aisle into which precisely the required amount of cool air is blown. The air is drawn in by the servers and carries their heat into the hot aisle, where the backs of the ser-vers are. “With this measure alone, we achieve energy savings of over 30 per-cent compared to typical data centers,” said Strato CEO Damian Schmidt. In addition, the company has purchased its electricity exclusively from hydropower since 2008.

“Green in IT” is one path. The other is called “Green through IT,” in other words, considering how many resources can be saved through the use of intelligent IT systems, such as in industrial produc-tion. “When a company installs control software that regulates operations accor-ding to demand, for example, this saves a tremendous amount of electricity,” sta-ted Martin Streibel of the German Ener-gy Institute in Berlin.

Both concepts are now well received in the industry. This is confirmed by the study “Green IT. More than a Trend” by Deutsche Bank Research and the green IT consulting office of the industry associa-tion BITKOM. 54 percent are familiar with the concepts. However, only about a quarter of the companies feel obligated to implement green IT projects. 43 per-cent are put off by the investment risk. “Best practice examples can help to make the complexity of the conceived projects transparent,” concluded the authors of the study. ■

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More information■ siemens.com/buildings■ siemens.com/it-solutions

INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER STRATO. The climate

control of the server rooms is analyzed with

mobile thermal ima-ging cameras.

Energy-Efficient Data CenterIn addition to a multi-stage security concept, maximum fire protection and optimal energy supply, the new Sie-mens data center in Wien-Floridsdorf is as green as possible. While a 21-degree room temperature was pre-viously the norm, it is now 27 degrees. Every degree higher offers energy savings of roughly three percent. Added to this is strict compliance with the cold/hot aisle principle, various ins-tallation variants for IT equipment as well as an energy-efficient chilling plant on the roof. All-in-all, one of the most modern data centers in Europe.

functions such as climate regulation by taking up CO2 or the protective function of forests to prevent erosion and floods are increasingly being lost. Ever more species of animals and plants are going extinct. The “Living Planet Report 2010” of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) illust-rates these developments with three indicators: the environmental footprint of humanity, the water footprint of pro-duction and the Living Planet Index (LPI).

The environmental footprint of huma-nity currently exceeds the natural raw materials production of the planet by 50 percent. In other words, humanity is constantly consuming 1.5 times as many commodities as the Earth can produce. It is therefore urgent to protect the planet’s regenerative ability – and even increase it. Unfortunately, we are faced with the opposite case. Particularly responsible for this situation is the CO2 footprint of humanity, which accounts for roughly half the calculation of the environmental footprint. This is measured against the

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Humans are consu-ming more commodi-ties and natural resour-ces than the Earth can provide over the long term.

The regenerative abilities of

the planet are suffering from

this. Natural environmental

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systems of the plant are used in very dif-ferent ways by different countries. For example, if every person used as many resources as an average citizen of the USA or the United Arab Emirates, the world population would need four Earths to meet their resource needs. In 2007, the 31 relatively wealthy OECD countries accounted for almost 40 percent of the environmental footprint. In contrast to this, the countries of Southeast Asia together with those of Africa made up only a twelve percent share of the global footprint.

The water footprint encompasses the total amount of drinking water required by the population of a country for the production of goods and services. 45 countries are already unable to cover

WATER BODIES AND FORESTS ARE IN DANGER. The environmental foot-

print of humanity currently exceeds the natural raw materials production of the

planet by 50 percent and rising.

amount of forests that would be theoreti-cally required to take up the amount of CO2 being emitted. The theoretically required forest area has increased by ele-ven times since 1961 and by roughly a third since 1998. But instead of massi-vely restoring forests, humanity is conti-nuously removing more forest land from the Earth for construction materials, as living space, for agriculture, transporta-tion and energy production: 13 million hectares of forest were lost between 2000 and 2010.

Almost 90 percent of all land species live in forests. But the loss of forest area has dramatic consequences that extend even beyond these species. In particular, it negatively impacts more than a billion people living in poverty who are directly dependent on the forests in their envi-ronment to provide them with fuel and building materials or to drive tourism, according to a study by the World Bank. The authors of the study therefore recommend increasing the reforestation zones for forests and plantations.

Humanity is also having significant impacts on fish habitat in the oceans. The globally rising demand for fish and fish products is leading to massive over-

fishing. This is due to the use of fishing methods that also catch large quantities of unwanted fish, which are tossed away as well as state subsidies for harvesting endangered fish stocks. Roughly 80 per-cent of the commercially used fish spe-cies are now considered threatened.

Added to this is the fact that the eco-

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their freshwater consumption with their own reserves. These include India, China, Israel and Morocco. Another 71 countries will soon reach the same limit. The result: an increasing, worldwide drinking water shortage.

Another problem is the increasing water pollution. Every day, 2.5 million tons of sewage and wastewater flows unfiltered into rivers and lakes. The situ-ation is particularly dramatic in develo-ping countries, where roughly 70 per-cent of the untreated industrial waste flowed into bodies of water in 2009 according to a UN study.

If the situation continues unchanged, we will need the resource production of two earths by 2030 in order to maintain the same standard of living as today. An increasing number of people would then have to get along with decreasing amount of natural resources.

According to the report, the greatest challenge for humanity lies in reducing our CO2 emissions. The WWF expects

More information■ siemens.com/sustainability■ siemens.com/water■ siemens.com/industryjournal

that it is possible and necessary to sup-ply all humanity with clean, renewable energy. In addition, more investments are required in energy-efficient buil-dings and energy-saving transportation systems. The use of biofuels in place of fossil fuels like coal and oil will be essen-tial. However, roughly 200 million addi-tional hectares of current forest land will be required, according to the WWF, just to completely meet the additional energy demands of humanity via biofuels – this corresponds to an area the size of Green-land. ■

QUICK CHARGEElectric cars can be char-ged twice as fast as befo-re with a new charging pillar from Siemens. Char-ge CP700A can provide power to electric cars with different levels of output. The charging pro-cedure is controlled con-

veniently by means of a screen.siemens.com/energy

KINETIC ENERGYA mass-spring system that is just a few centimeters in size uses piezo-electric materials to generate elec-tricity. The Energy Harvester trans- forms movement into electricity with several milliwatts of output. siemens.com/innovation

LED BEAMERBrilliant images with high contrast and saturation – LED beamers use less electricity and have a service life of 30,000 hours, seven times as long as conventio-nal lamps.

www.osram.com

URBAN FLOODThe EU has launched the UrbanFlood project to pro-mote Internet-based moni-toring of dikes and dams. A consortium with Siemens is working on a global moni-toring system.siemens.com/innovation

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SUPERCONDUCTORS BRING GREATER EFFICIENCYHigh-temperature superconductors can reduce losses in motors and generators by half. Now, this efficiency advantage is to be tapped for power plant generators. Siemens is collaborating with the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology to this end. The goal is a 0.5 percent increase in efficiency to 99.5 percent.siemens.com/innovation; siemens.com/energy

Ursula Grablechner Siemens, Osram

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Room to park in cities is extremely scarce, which means that par-king is increasingly be-coming an adventure. Cur-rent studies show that even on normal days, up to 40 per-cent of traffic in city centers is a result of people searching for parking spaces – and on days before public holidays, it is much more. However, it is possible to reduce these streams of traffic considerably: If visitors are informed at strategic points along highways about the availability of parking garages, the best routes and pos-sibilities for switching directly to public transportation, they will follow the advice.

Hungary’s capital, Budapest, relies on a parking control system from Siemens. It collects information about the availability of parking spaces and parking garages and transfers this information to road signs and to additional control systems. Thanks to open interface architecture, traffic systems for the city center and the suburbs can be linked up seamlessly. This makes things even more convenient for car drivers, because linking up the data from various traffic systems and com-bining it with Internet technology allows for completely new applications. As a result, more and more cities are offering current traffic information online. People who use these sites with a smartphone or navigation device can select the shortest route to an available parking space. If the parking garage has a system to monitor individual parking spaces, it is even pos-sible to reserve a particular parking space online – giving drivers a direct way to find a parking spot.

The Short Way to a Parking Spot

WELL GUI-DED. Directly to a parking garage (in Budapest); to a parking space inside the parking garage wit-hout having to look around (at the Munich Airport).

ELECTRIC CAR. Parking, charging batte-ries and getting information in one spot.

Parking management is not just a reli-able source of income when times get tough, but is also a tool for regulating traffic; in other words, an effective means of preventing streets from getting blo-cked up by parked cars. Modern parking meters also accept electronic pay cards and print a parking coupon as a receipt. In over 20 countries around the world, from Canada to Oman, there are more than 20,000 multi-space parking meters from Siemens in operation. When multi-space parking meters can generate elec-tricity themselves via solar panels, the city saves on the costs of energy and lay-ing cables.

However, there are also other manage-ment concepts available. For example, it is possible for drivers to pay the parking fee for a fixed space, as is often the case in Switzerland and North America. For elec-tric cars, it will be possible to park, charge and get information all in one place in the future. However, in parking garages and locked parking lots, the systems need to be able to do even more than that. They need to have entrance and exit control devices and pay machines installed.

The Munich Airport has the world’s largest parking garage control system, with over 15,000 parking spaces. Visitors are directed quickly and directly to the closest available parking space, and it is also possible to allocate defined parking areas to certain customer groups, for example a mother-and-child zone or a frequent flyer area. At the Domodedovo Airport in Moscow, cars’ license plates are automatically recorded as they enter and are allocated a parking coupon. This makes auto theft virtually impossible. ■

More information■ siemens.com/mobility

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plus typical ranges. The current hybrid cars are in principle a small solution. Neither the Prius from Toyota, the classic among hybrid cars with a nickel-metal hydride battery, nor the new Q5 hybrid from Audi with a lithium ion battery that

will hit the streets at the end of the year can travel more than two or three kilo-meters in pure electric mode. And even that only at reduced speed. This is due not only to the storage capacities of the batteries but also the fact that the electri-city for driving is obtained from driving itself, primarily through Rekuperation

the recovery of braking energy. Driving electrically is not the actual

purpose of these full hybrids any more than of the lesser hybrids that are not capable of driving entirely electrically at all. The additional electric motor is inten-ded primarily to reduce the car’s fuel con-sumption. This goal is better achieved in larger and heavier cars. The added weight of the battery and electric motor increa-

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Next Generation HybridsA new generation of hybrid cars is coming onto the market. Plug-in hybrids and range extenders seek to fill the gap between pure electric ve-hicles by offering the lowest possible fuel consumption

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ses the already considerable total weight by a relatively smaller amount, allowing the improved fuel consumption to make a greater difference. For this reason, such hybrid systems are used in large SUVs and sedans in particular. The latest example is the recently presented Porsche

Panamera S Hybrid, which consumes an average of just 7.1 liters of fuel. For a polished sports car with a 333 HP six-cylinder gasoline engine plus 47 HP elec-tric motor, that is already a very nice value, even if one must normally add one or two liters in actual use. Whether Prius or Porsche, the progress in comparison to a modern diesel engine remains modest, naturally depending on the intended use. In the city, a conventional hybrid car gets

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better use out of its electrical drive sys-tem than it does in the country or on the highway. In the future, the electrical sys-tems will be of even greater use. The com-bustion engine will play only a side role (even if an indispensible one) to ensure a solution for the range problems of pure electric cars.

Two new technical concepts of this kind will soon be arriving on the market, approaching the hybrid topic from diffe-rent directions: The plug-in hybrid with a socket for external charging of the bat-teries comes from the conventional full hybrid, while the range extender comes from an electric car. The interactions bet-ween the combustion engine and elec-tric motor differ accordingly.

For two years, Toyota has been opera-ting test fleets of the Prius plug-in in select major cities. This car differs from the normal Prius primarily in the ability to connect it to a power socket in order to charge the batteries, which are lithium ion instead of NiMH, about twice as pow-erful and can be charged within ninety minutes. This increases the electric range to 20 kilometers, which is fourteen times the current distance and will often suffice in every day use to get by on elec-tricity alone. This was demonstrated by the test operation of 70 Prius plug-ins in the French city of Strasbourg, where the first interim analysis was completed in May after one year. The result: The ave-rage trip length was 13.9 kilometers,

reports Toyota, meaning that the electric range was in many cases more than suf-ficient. According to this preliminary analysis, the cars were able to reduce fuel consumption by 40 percent compa-red with diesel vehicles of the same per-formance class.

At 2.6 l / 100 km or, to put it another way, 59 g of CO2 emissions / km, the Prius plug-in, which should arrive on the market in mid-2012, will use a good one-third less fuel than the current Prius, which is already one of the most efficient models in its class at 4 l / 100 km and 89 g CO2 / km. The principle: The car drives electrically for as long as possible, dri-ven by an 82-HP electric motor. If it is driven faster than 100 km/h or if the bat-

OPEL AMPERA. A 150-HP electric motor drives the wheels, while the supple-mental combustion engine acts as a range extender by driving a generator to produce more electricity.

MOSTLY ELECTRIC. In the Opel Ampera, a combustion engine (above) produces electricity for the electric motor. Below is the T-shaped lithium ion battery with a capacity of 16 kWh.

tery reaches its critical charge level, the 99-HP four-cylinder engine switches on, taking the car into the typical hybrid mode in which the battery is also rechar-ged. However, the car must be plugged in before it can return to the pure electrici-ty mode.

Plug-in hybrid concepts are on the development agenda of almost all auto manufacturers. VW, for instance, demon-strated a radical variant in the XL1 study that gets by with a very streamlined dou-ble system thanks to its extremely aero-dynamic and light design. A 0.8-l two-cylinder TDI with 48 HP and a 27-HP electric motor achieved a world record consumption of only 0.9 l / 100 km.

BMW announced at the end of last year the no less radical development of a sports car based on the spectacular study Vision EfficientDynamic. This is also a plug-in hybrid with a three-cylinder TDI and has one electric motor in each of the front and rear axles, an output of 328 HP, lithium-polymer batteries and an ave-rage consumption of 3.76 l / 100 km.

Arriving earlier on the market at the end of this year, the Opel Ampera has a completely different hybrid architecture. The Opel Ampera should be considered a pure electric car because the wheels are always – or almost always – driven elec-trically by a 150-HP electric motor. A 16-kWh lithium ion battery supplies the power and should enable ranges of up to 60 kilometers.

So far, so electric. If the electricity starts to run out, a range extender is ena-bled, which is an 86-HP, 1.4-l four-cylin-der engine. However, this gasoline engi-ne does not drive the wheels but rather runs a 72-HP generator that charges the battery. Only if the charge level is low and power requirements are high the combustion engine supplies direct drive power.

The range extender concept has cer-tain advantages over the plug-in

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMarkus Honsig Audi, Toyota, MAN, Siemens

approach. The electric range is clearly higher due to the larger battery, which is fully charged in four hours. At roughly 50 kilometers, a majority of the average daily trips can be completed electrically. On longer stretches, however, the vehic-le is no longer emission-free. There are also downsides. Generating electricity to drive the electric motor with a combusti-on engine is an arrangement that costs efficiency, even if the combustion engine can always operate as a range extender within its optimal operating zone. With a consumption of 1.6 l / 100 km, the Opel

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Ampera and the identical Chevrolet Volt are nevertheless very green vehicles. With an announced price of 42,900 euros, the Ampera offers a reasonable price-performance ratio compared with most purely electric cars.

With the A1 e-tron, Audi has presen-ted a particularly interesting variant on this principle. The range extender in this prototype is a Wankel rotary engine, which is more than just a historical throwback. In a way, Audi is producing a successor to the NSU brand, which brought the legendary Ro 80 with a Wan-

AUDI A1 E-TRON. A Wankel rotary engine serves as range extender, an area in which its compact design and smooth operation are strong advantages.

PRIUS PLUG-IN. A test operation yielded 40 percent fuel savings compared to die-sels of the same class. The electric range was sufficient in many cases.

More information■ www.toyota.at■ www.vw.com■ www.audi.com■ www.porsche.com■ www.opel-ampera.com■ www.hybridcars.com

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kel engine onto the market in 1967. With its compact design and absence of vibra-tions, the Wankel engine may certainly be able to play to its strengths as a range extender.

The idea of the range extender, which generates electricity on-board for dri-ving electrically, is similar to another technology that has fallen somewhat to the wayside in the current electric car hype: the hydrogen-powered fuel cell car, in principle no different from an electric car with a special electricity supply. The strengths of the fuel cell lie in its unbea-tably high efficiency, while its challenges lie in its fuel, in other words the produc-tion and storage of hydrogen. Neverthe-less, manufacturers like Mercedes conti-nue to pursue and develop this techno- logy, having recently completed a first trip around the world with three fuel cell vehicles, the B-class F-Cell, in order to demonstrate their technical maturity and suitability for everyday use.

For now, however, the fuel cell car still remains a longer-term vision. Until then, the question is plug-in or range exten-der? The only answer can be: both. In the end, it is a matter of weighting. A car like the Prius plug-in from Toyota remains a classic car with gasoline engine that also offers a reasonable electric range. The Ampera from Opel, on the other hand, is almost a true electric vehicle that relie-ves its owner of the fear of getting stran-ded somewhere without power. It can be assumed that the market has sufficient room for both concepts. ■

As the metropolises of the world become increasingly populated, the desire for quiet and clean vehicles will increase. Many cities now only allow extremely efficient vehicles or vehicles with electric drives to travel in the city center. However, this hurdle is difficult to clear for one popular form of public transport: the bus. Daily travel distances of 200 to 300 kilometers cannot be achieved with a purely electric vehicle. For this reason, Siemens makes use of hybrid drives that are even more effecti-ve in a bus than a car. This is because a bus is not only underway all day long, it also spends between 25 and 40 percent of its operating time standing still – at bus stops or red lights. In other words, it is constantly stopping and starting. When starting, the bus uses the stored breaking energy, allowing it to accelera-te quietly and without releasing exhaust.

The Münchner Verkehrsgesellschaft (MVG) is currently operating two hybrid busses on its routes, one of which is the City Hybrid from MAN, which uses drive technology from Siemens. “We want to test different hybrid buses and thereby support manufacturers in the further development of this new vehicle tech-nology,” said Herbert König, head of MVG. The new hybrid buses have been well received. When starting, they do not produce the noises of combustion engine, and they offer a smooth gliding sensation instead of jerks and jolts.

The advantage of the Siemens ELFA

technology is the serial hybrid solution in which the drive shaft is only driven by an electric motor, which preferably draws its energy from a storage system. In the typical variant, the parallel hybrid, a combustion engine and an electric motor drive the vehicle at the same time. The storage system in the serial solution is a high-performance capaci-tor, known as an ultracapacitor, that is installed on the roof of the bus. Its advantage over a typical battery lies in its high power density and high efficien-cy. siemens.com/mobilitywww.man.desiemens.com/driveswww.mvg-mobil.de

CITY-HYBRID FROM MAN. The drive technology comes from Siemens.

Gliding on the BusModern hybrid buses offer efficient, quiet and smooth rides in the city.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIPictures of the Future, Elisabeth Dokaupil Siemens

Limitless KnowledgeOur digital knowledge is growing second by second. By 2020, the volume of this data is expected to be 44 times grea-ter than in 2009. We already passed one billion terabytes,

every day, you can develop a virtually endless world of services. Of course, you have to turn the data into usable know-ledge for this.

One example of how this is already being put into practice is fossil-fuel-fired power plants. Siemens has installed around 9,000 gas turbines for its custo-mers around the world. Some 2,500 parameters can be measured, recorded and analyzed for every one of them. This allows not only the most important ope-rating parameters of turbines to be monitored, but also their entire lifecycle. Data are available from manufacture and are collected during operation and main-tenance. This makes it possible to iden-tify events more quickly and more pre-cisely, or even to predict them in advan-ce, and to react to them.

The Irsching power plant in Bavaria was fitted with the new 375 megawatt

manufacture and transport of goods in healthcare, transport and building management systems, in energy sys-tems and in databases in the financial world. “All of these systems are beco-ming faster and more data-intensive,” explained Mathaeus Dejori from Sie-mens. “In five years, machines will gene-rate more data than human users.”

Hardware will become interchangea-ble. The real added value will come from the software – either as a separate sys-tem or embedded as it is in many pro-ducts from building management sys-tems to medical scanners. The extensive understanding of complex applications that is now available, from the functio-ning of a power plant or steel mill to the processes in a clinic, is driving the deve-lopment of this software. If you can find ways to intelligently analyze the data generated in all of these special areas

a zettabyte, in 2010. Much of this digital information is visible in the form of web sites, social networks and e-mail messa-ges. The explosion of data being genera-ted by machines, for example the measu-rements taken by a countless number of sensors and the data exchanged by chips that are becoming smaller and more powerful every day, is invisible but also enormous. Many of these bits and bytes are generated in factories during the

INTERACTION. Systems and machines in logistics, building management and power gene-ration collect valuable data.

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gas turbine and has a world-record effici-

ency of over 60 percent. This was made possible in part by sophisticated algo-rithms that not only take thousands of parameters and their interaction into account every second, but also calculate models for the processes in between the individual measurements. The Siemens algorithms simulate dynamic behavior and control every aspect of the plant. The system learns what solution approaches are most promising and then develops an optimized control strategy. It decides independently how the control of the plant can be optimized. Because the sys-tem learns continuously, it is even possi-ble that the efficiency of the turbine will increase. The results of this process can then be used for other Siemens turbines.

Every important system from Sie-mens – from manufacturing systems and medical devices to trains and turbi-nes – is now connected with a sector-spe-cific segment of a common remote main-

tenance platform that guarantees highly secure data exchange. The remote main-

tenance platform connects more than 135,000 systems with a data volume of more than four terabytes per month. Special techniques are used to manage the enormous volume of data that is exchanged between suppliers and manu-facturers in the automobile industry, for example. The goal is to have software agents acting on virtual markets to trade and collaborate and to optimize the enti-re planning, administration and delivery processes. This would make it possible to have more individualized vehicle types manufactured more quickly for specific customer needs.

Collective intelligence can also make it possible to use the staggering volumes of data collected in the healthcare sys-tem. The MedCentral Health System clini-cal network in Ohio uses the Siemens

Soarian software to filter important information out of the electronic patient files – laboratory tests, diagnoses and even dictated reports are saved in it. The software analyzes the quality of treat-ment by comparing the treatment steps

with the latest clinical guidelines. The software already made it possible to reduce the time needed for data analysis from several months to two weeks, and the program will soon work in almost real time, thereby facilitating faster deci-sions and better immediate help.

In addition to analyzing directly collec-ted information, systems also search for additional information on the Internet to compare and generate new knowledge. As part of the EU’s Large Knowledge Colli-

der project, researchers at Siemens deve-loped a search technology to find referen-ces to genes in documents. Then, a kind of visual cloud of genes and their relati-onship with illnesses can be recorded.

After a training phase, the system’s algorithms (which can also recognize contexts) analyzed 40,000 documents and discovered roughly 4,800 relation-ships between genes and illnesses. This included a link between a gene and Alzheimer’s disease.

Collective intelligence can also offer tremendous advantages for major cities, for example better management to in-crease safety and reduce fuel use in transport. In the future, cars will be able to exchange data with traffic light con-trol systems in just a few microseconds. In Houston, Texas, such a pilot project may soon lead to a fully integrated traffic management system.

Some 17,000 of the 30,000 resear-chers and engineers at Siemens are involved in software development. And the importance of IT will steadily increa-se. Companies that manage to generate knowledge from their data and to make optimal use of this knowledge will have considerable advantages on the markets of tomorrow. ■

More information■ siemens.com/innovation■ siemens.com/pofTHE INCREASING VOLUMES of data will make entirely new services possible.

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What is research at the Center of Excel-

lence for High-Field MRI at the Medical

University of Vienna focusing on?

One of our focuses is sodium imaging, for which we currently need a 7-tesla magnetic resonance tomography scan-ner (MRT) because the signal strength of the sodium nuclei is roughly 5,000 times weaker than that of the nuclei of the hyd-rogen atoms normally used in magnetic resonance imaging. For sodium imaging, the MRI scanner has to be multi-nucleus capable, and we need special sodium coils. Optimal results can only be obtai-ned when the examination protocols are optimized for sodium signals. A number of parameters in the pulse design and the order of pulses in the respective sequence play an important role. We are working on optimizing this sodium sequence to image specific factors so that we can use them on patients. We are currently the only research institution in the world that is using sodium imaging for patient studies.

What illnesses can this method be used

for, and how does the information help

the patient?

The signal intensity of the sodium nuclei allows the proteoglycan content of carti-

lage to be determined exactly, and this content determines the biomechanical characteristics of the cartilage. A high proteoglycan content means that the quality of the cartilage is good. Proteo-glycans also play an important role in spinal disks and tendons. Problems with cartilage, spinal disks and tendons are very common. People affected by such problems have pain in their backs or in their joints.

What treatments are available today?

One option is to use cartilage implants to grow new cartilage. These cartilage cells can be applied to different membranes. Defects can also be treated by drilling into the bone beneath the damaged car-tilage; the resulting bleeding into the damaged cartilage causes the formation of a fibrous tissue that repairs the defect. And there are many medication-based therapies. It is only possible to monitor the effect of these therapies to a limited extent.

How can the success of a treatment be

verified now?

The only way to determine whether or not the cartilage has regained its full functionality is to determine its proteo-

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIElisabeth Dokaupil Siemens

According to Professor Siegfried Trattnig, a key focus of research at the Center of Excellence for High-Field MRI is the monitoring of treatments for illnesses resulting from cartilage and spinal disk damage.

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Monitoring Success

WAS THE TREATMENT SUC-CESSFUL OR NOT? The only way to determine whether or

not the cartilage has regained its full functionality is to deter-mine its proteoglycan content

through sodium imaging.

Global Reference CenterThe Vienna Center of Excellence for High-Field MRI is striving to become the global reference institute for the clinical application of 7-tesla MRI. These efforts are being funded in part by the city of Vienna through its Vienna Spots of Excel-lence program. Research is being con-ducted in three areas in this connection: Neurological, oncological and musculos-keletal imaging with a focus on functio-nal, biomechanical and metabolic information. These focuses are being pursued jointly by Siemens Vienna and Siemens in Erlangen. The advantage of this site is its proximity to Vienna General Hospital, one of the largest hospitals in Europe. The center of excellence has the greatest number of clinical 7-tesla ultra-high-field imaging studies in the world. Extensive work is also underway on methodological deve-lopments for 7-tesla imaging. The employees have already filed two patents. One example is the develop-ment of corrective algorithms to elimina-te distortions from inhomogeneities in 7-tesla ultra-high-field MRI.

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glycan content. This cannot be seen with the standard imaging methods, inclu-ding a high-field 3-tesla MRI. With sodi-um imaging, we can determine the quantity of proteoglycans and therefore the quality of the cartilage. If the levels are still too low after the treatment, the patient must avoid excess stress on the joint, for example by abstaining from certain kinds of sports. Right now, we are the only institute that can complete such examinations.

What are the focuses for damaged spinal

disks?

Spinal disks consist of a fibrous external ring and a gell-like core, which primarily contains proteoglycans. Sodium ima-ging shows the individual components of the spinal disks and also provides information about their condition by showing the proteoglycan levels. Now, we want to find out what happens at early stages of spinal disk deterioration. For example if there are biomarkers that can show whether or not a spinal disk is at risk before an injury occurs. Conventi-onal imaging methods do not show any differences in the biomechanical charac-teristics of spinal disks, and therefore their load-bearing capacity, before and after treatment. Another new application for sodium imaging is the examination of tendons. In the case of problems with the Achilles tendon, sodium imaging makes it possi-ble to measure the course of the infec-tion from beginning to end for the first time. We can analyze what happens

during therapy. It would be very impor-tant to find out why Achilles tendons tear at certain spots during a chronic infec-tion, and at what levels the risk of a tear becomes acute.

Do you only use 7-tesla scanners?

The 7-tesla MRI scanner is our flagship, of course, but we do a lot of studies com-paring 7-tesla and 3-tesla imaging, and a lot of studies are still being conducted on the 3-tesla MRI, for example the spectro-scopic metabolism examinations for breasts and the prostate, which are coll-ecting new information on how to diffe-rentiate between benign and malignant tumors. Localizing prostate cancer bet-ter with 3-tesla scanners could eliminate the need for some biopsies, which are unpleasant for the patient and expensive for the healthcare system. ■

More information■ siemens.com/healthcare■ meduniwien.ac.at/hochfeld-mr

gers in cities. The most effective way to get more trains on the tracks is automa-tion. Automatic train control systems are being used more and more often to con-trol, monitor and coordinate rail opera-tions. Some partially automated systems show the operator current jobs at the operating console and continuously monitor the permitted speed. Others are driverless systems and operate the trains

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIcomo, Elisabeth Dokaupil Siemens

Trains and metros are among the highest-ca-pacity means of trans-port – but they still often

have trouble coping with the

growing numbers of passen-

METRO LINE 10, BEIJING. The driver is assisted by an

automated system.

without human intervention. The pro-ven principle of automatic block control even means that passengers can travel in greater safety than with a driver. When multiple trains are driving in the same direction on the same track, they must always maintain a safe minimum dis-tance. Computers are being used more and more to control metros, even when the

Automatically Faster

METRO LINE 9, BARCELONA.The first fully automated metro in Spain.

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operators do not want to do entirely wit-hout human drivers. But experience has shown that computer-generated proces-ses rarely run optimally when the trains are then operated by people. For this rea-son, Siemens developed the Automatic

Train Operation driver-assistance system, which can be integrated directly into the Trainguard train control system. In this case, the driver gives the signal for the

train to depart the station and can inter-vene in cases of danger. The computer drives the train between stations and also stops the train precisely next to the platform. Using the stored route profile, the system calculates how it needs to accelerate the train and brake before curves and switches to arrive at the next station punctually while using as little energy as possible. Practical tests have shown that ATO reduces energy con-sumption by an average of 20 to 30 per-cent compared to a human driver when covering the same distance over the same time – in part because human dri-vers brake more than they need to and have to accelerate more to compensate. ATO systems have been used successful-ly in metros in major Chinese cities like Guangzhou and Beijing for years. Driverless train systems have also become common. They allow system operators to react very flexibly to unex-pected increases in passenger volumes and put additional units on the tracks in record time. This is why the metro opera-tor ViaQuatro installed the first driver-less subway system in Latin America in in São Paulo. In comparison, the system behind the driverless Val system is rather unusual: The electrically powered trains run on their own track, but on rubber tires. This has a number of advantages. Val trains are especially good at climbing grades, and are considerably quieter in curves than rail vehicles. Rubber tires also allow the vehicles to be stopped with extreme precision at the stations. This is espe-cially important because the platforms are separated from the tracks by safety doors in the stations, as is usual for other driverless train systems, and do not open until the train has come to a stop.

Siemens is currently installing a Val system in the Korean city of Uijeongbu. And the opening of the second metro

line in Rennes is planned for the end of 2018. Each of the two-car Cityval trains can carry up to one hundred passengers. During rush hour, the trains can run in 150-second intervals, or at even shorter intervals if needed. The system is desig-ned to carry 4,000 passengers per hour and direction, and can be increased to as many as 15,000 passengers.

Automation is also becoming increa-singly important for trains, but primari-ly for safety reasons. Because the faster a train travels, the less time the driver has to react in the event of danger. In a high speed train, the time needed for the dri-ver to overcome his or her surprise can dramatically increase the train’s braking distance. And modern high-speed trains have braking distances that automobile drivers cannot even begin to imagine. An ICE3 multiple-unit train traveling at 300 km/h needs about 2.8 km to come to a stop even during emergency braking with all available braking systems.

The ETCS safety system that Siemens helped to define will ensure safer rail operation throughout Europe. The prin-ciple behind the system is similar to that used in metro systems. ETCS knows eve-rything about the route, including all grades and permitted maximum speeds. It constantly verifies that the train is tra-veling in the proper direction and at the permitted speed, and monitors compli-ance with lower speed limits at construc-tion sites and in train stations. But as the trans-European rail network has a total length of nearly 100,000 kilometers, it will take some time to install the system everywhere. ■

Mehr Infos■ siemens.com/mobility

Dynamic NetworkingAn expansive operating panel with a multi-touch screen and a display with a diagonal of 1.27 meters is one of the main elements of the Siemens Operations Control Inter-action Lab. It can be used by multi-ple persons at the same time and offers entirely new ways of interac-ting. Such systems are touch-sensi-tive input devices that recognize and process multiple contact points at the same time. Train assign-ments can be planned and mana-ged, trip times and the infra-structure monitored, possible bot-tlenecks prevented, unscheduled trips added and detours organized, all with the operator’s fingertips. And every operator can at least see out of corner of his or her eyes what the other colleagues are wor-king on. This shortens reaction times and makes coordination easier.

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ABOVE THE ROOFTOPS OF SALZBURGThis is where you will find the new funicular line to

Hohensalzburg Castle. After being modernized, the rail-way line now has a modern drive and automation system

from Siemens and can also transport more passengers. siemens.com/infrastructureprojects

Ursula Grablechner Siemens

GREEN EMOTION

The EU initiative

for promoting

electromobility,

Green eMotion,

which Siemens is also involved in,

is intended to ensure uniform pro-

cesses, standards and IT solutions.

Among other things, the initiative

aims to create cross-border access

to charging infrastructure.www.greenemotion-project.eu

LEED IN GOLD

The Siemens City in Vienna was

the first building of its kind to

receive the gold certificate from

the U.S. Green

Building Coun-

cil. To achieve

this, the buil-

ding had to

concentrate on

climate protection during const-

ruction and operations.

siemens.com/buildings

SECURITY WITH BIOMETRICS

Identification in buildings using

palm vein recognition offers the

highest level of

precision and

security. The

pattern of veins

is recorded and

saved using an

infrared camera.

siemens.com/buildings

PRODUCTION UNDER CONTROLCar manufacturers such as Aston Martin need to be able to master the growing complexity of all car systems on the market. Siemens PLM software helps them do just that. siemens.com/plm

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What are the age groups of the children

you treat?

We treat children ranging from new-borns to adulthood. We can even offer treatments to premature babies. Many newborns who come to us have critical cardiac defects. In these cases, a cardiac catheterization procedure is a life-saving treatment.

What illnesses are you confronted with,

and what procedures do you perform?

Examples of cardiac catheterization proce-dures include the closure of a defect (or hole) between the small and large cham-bers of the heart using implants (umbrella

technique), the enlargement of cardiac valves or constricted blood vessels using balloon dilation and the implantation of stents. Even cardiac valves can be implan-

ted using the catheterization technique – after the procedure, the only thing you see is a small cut measuring a few millimeters in the groin area. In the past, many cardiac defects were incurable. Nowadays we can say that blue babies will live to be adults. Which means that many of our patients reach adulthood with a good quality of life.

What are the special challenges of wor-

king with children?

Interventional pediatric cardiology developed from experiences with adults. However, children have additional spe-cial needs. These mainly include intensi-ve-care medical monitoring and exami-nations during deep sleep without mechanical ventilation, also known as minimal handling. The cardiac catheteri-zation device also has to take into account

the rapid heart rate of children. It is especially important to us to have room to move around so we can perform exa-minations via arteries in the head and neck, and to have software for analyzing and reporting congenital cardiac defects. Rotational angiography is particularly helpful for evaluating complex deformi-ties. It shows the heart in several levels with one single injection of a contrast medium. The Siemens system has met nearly all of our requirements.

What about radiation exposure – some-

thing children are especially sensitive to?

Our system can reduce radiation exposu-re by up to 90 percent. The integrated algorithms include the automatic adjust-ment of the filter strength. A pulsed expo-sure and the constant availability of infor-mation about the dose on the display also help to reduce radiation exposure.

What do you think the future holds for

your work?

As a leading interventional pediatric car-diologist, I believe that cardangiography will also hold a fixed spot in the future, although the possibilities using magnetic resonance are improving and at some point catheterization without radiation exposure will be possible on a routine basis. I hope for further developments in biodegradable implants that can meet the needs of a child’s growing body. And I hope that the industry will maintain its interest in children with cardiac condi-tions, will allow them to be a part of pro-gress and will support us with special ins-truments as well as large-scale devices. ■

It is now possible to treat cardiac defects in children with minimally invasive procedures, via blood vessels reports

Dr. Ina Michel-Behnke, head of pediatric cardiology at

the Medical University of Vienna. The new cardiac catheter laboratory offers the best conditions for this.

Mehr Infos■ www.meduniwien.ac.at■ www.siemens.com/healthcare

A Heart for Children

The sun rises in Istan-bul. It is reflected in the Bosporus and bathes the water in the strait between the Sea of Mar-

mara and the Black Sea in gol-

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den yellow light. Numerous taxi drivers are waiting for passengers at the taxi stand. You can get in whatever car suits your fancy. There is no order. A driver asks in perfect German: “Where do you come from?” He lived and worked in Austria, but wanted to return to his home. The taxis skillfully thread their way through the often congested streets of Istanbul. At the end of the bridge to Asia stands a sign:

A Bridge between Europe“Avrupa – hos geldiniz. Welcome to Euro-pe.” The largest city in Turkey connects Europe with Asia. While it was once the capital of two empires, mayor Kadir Topbaş today sees his city in competition with global centers like Paris, London and Tokyo. Major social and infrastructural challenges must be mastered to succeed under these conditions.

One key challenge is transport. With

THE SKYLINE OF ISTANBUL shows how well tradition and modernity have been combined here.

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and Asiaaround 500 bus lines, IETT is one of the largest public transportation operators in Turkey. The green buses can be seen throughout Istanbul except in old neigh-borhoods without enough space for public transportation. If you ride on Istanbul’s only tram line, you will be surrounded by a press of other passengers. The train is overfilled especially during rush hour because it connects residential areas with

transport hubs and ferry stations. Istanbul’s tram and metro lines are still relatively short at only 79 kilometers in total. But the Istanbul metro is one of the most modern in Europe. It is equipped with control systems from Siemens.A large portion of the public transportati-on in Istanbul runs on the water. The world’s largest ferry company IDO (Istan-bul Deniz Otobüsleri) carries over 250,000

people every day, or roughly 100 million passengers a year. The latest generation of these ferries uses diesel-electric drive sys-

tems from Siemens. In this case, the diesel engines run generators to provide power to the electric drive motor and the electric consumers on board. This saves fuel and is better for the environment.

The Dolmus drivers are an important backbone of public transportation. The

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIElisabeth Meixner, Siemens Welt, Industry Journal Glowimages/Getty Images, Sepp Spiegl/vario images/picturedesk.com

famous minibuses are always filled with considerably more people than is allowed. The solution is to scooch closer together. That is normal anyway in a city with an official population of 13 million (and an unofficial population of between 18 and 22 million) on an area of roughly 1,800 square kilometers. And Istanbul wants to keep gro-wing. “I want that, too, but with more of a green touch,” stressed Hüseyin Gelis, CEO of Siemens Turkey, who feels that sustaina-ble development is one of the most impor-tant topics for Turkey. And Istanbul is ready to invest in its future. Over 600 kilometers of track are to be in use in the city by 2023, the 100th anniversary of the republic. Roughly USD 11.7 billion have already been invested in the expansion of the transport and traffic system in recent years. “Today, we have to solve problems that were caused in the past by unplanned city development,” said Mayor Kadir Topbaş. And looking to the future: “The transformation of Istanbul into a clearly structured global center with a healthy balance between living and envi-ronmental conditions is in full swing.”

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PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION in Istanbul is dominated by buses and ferries. A tram line connects residential areas with transport hubs. The public transportation system will be expanded in the coming years.

The sprawling city combines fascina-ting historic districts with modern areas reminiscent of Singapore and less develo-ped areas like seen in developing coun-tries. The Trump Towers, two 158-meter high-rises with offices, apartments and a 70,000-square-meter shopping center, sit on top of one of the city’s hills. Siemens technology secures the power and water supply to the complex. This is important because these services that are a basic standard in modern major cities are not always secure everywhere in Istanbul. Available alternative energy sources are not yet being used. “Two of the largest underwater currents run right past the city and could be used to generate ener-gy,” said Gelis.

One of the old districts is Tarlabaşı. Influenced by Greek immigrants, the buil-dings are colorful, the majority of resi-dents are still migrants, and the rents are low. Many of the buildings here are in need of repair, and not all residents have electricity and running water. Tarlabaşı was long dominated by social problems

and high crime. But politicians and local businesspeople are now working to impro-ve the quality of life. In a few years, it might be cool to live here. Gentrification, made in Istanbul?

İstiklal Caddesi, independence street, is one of the most attractive shopping streets in Istanbul and is only a ten-minute walk from Tarlabaşı. This is where Istanbul’s many young people like to meet.

Brand-name European and American outlets are lined up next to each other, like in all major cities around the world. Artists have moved in around İstiklal, and galle-

BAZAAR. Traditional Middle Eastern life.

Living Space with a FutureIn 2050, two thirds of the world’s population will live in cities. This will be over six billion people.

“The challenge of a sustainable city con-

cept is offering the inhabitants infrastruc-

ture for a CO2-neutral lifestyle while at the

same time establishing an industry that

manufactures competitive green-tech

solutions for the world market,” stressed

Gregor Harter, partner at the international

business consultant Booz & Company.

Many of the necessary technologies alrea-

dy exist. The study Sustainable Urban Inf-

rastructure – London, which Siemens

prepared with McKinsey, shows for

example that London could save 20 mega-

tons of CO2 by 2025 using currently

available technologies. Seventy percent of

these savings potential could be realized

using technologies that finance themsel-

ves through the energy savings. The

experts identified a total of 200 technical

possibilities for London.

The work completed by Wu Zhiqiang in

cooperation with Siemens could set miles-

tones in the development of megacities.

The vice president of Tongji University in

Shanghai and the head of the Tongji Col-

lege of Architecture and Urban Planning is

one of China’s most respected city plan-

ners. Together with Siemens, he is setting

out to develop eco-city models that would

enable new cities to be as autonomous as

possible and ecologically friendly from the

start and to offer a high quality of life. The

new eco-city models are also to be cost

efficient and applicable to different cities.

A sustainable city for more than

700,000 people is already being built near

the mouth of the Yangtze river – with

plenty of water and numerous leisure

areas, comparable with many European

cities. In Doha, the capital of the Emirate

of Qatar, the nearly 8.5 kilometer long

Barwa Commercial Avenue is being built.

In the summer of 2012, some 600 luxury

stores and offices and 800 high-quality

apartments are to be ready for use with a

total area of some 940,000 square meters.

Strict sustainability standards guarantee

high energy efficiency and quality of life.

In Rhineland’s capital Cologne, an entirely

new neighborhood for 3,000 people is

being built in Widdersdorf-Süd. The buil-

ders here also focused on ecology, wise

resource use and forward-looking infra-

structure from the very start.

Siemens sees the world’s growing cities

as one of its most important target

groups. The company has a uniquely

broad range of solutions to meet the chal-

lenges of the cities of the future. To offer

its urban customers even better service, a

new sector with the name of Infrastruc-

ture & Cities was set up.

siemens.com/urbanization

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More information■ greatistanbul.com■ siemens.com/mobility■ siemens.com/marine

ries are sprouting up everywhere. Young Turks spend their nights dancing in clubs above the roofs of the city. Traditional Tur-kish music is played in the small side streets. The Turkish joy of life can be felt especially intensively here.

Life in Bebek, a neighborhood on the Bosporus, is just as modern, but much quieter and more luxurious. People here live in villas on the water and drive big cars. Men and women wear fashionable and expensive clothing. Everyone in the exclusive cafés and restaurants is busy with smartphones and laptops. You can find a lot of industrious managers and young entrepreneurs here who turned an idea into success. There are few signs here that you are in an Islamic country. But the traditional Middle Eastern world is just as present here, for example at the bazaar.

Bazaars have a long tradition in this world. They can usually be found in resi-dential areas, away from the flocks of tou-rists. A visit to a Turkish market with fruit and vegetable dealers is a joy for all sen-ses. The aroma of spices wafts about the stands, and samples can be tasted every-where. Almost all of the sellers here are men. Women come to shop in traditional Muslim dress. Here, religious values and traditional roles are practiced every day.

Open, economically successful, liberal, young and full of life or nationalistic, reli-gious, traditional and Middle Eastern? What is Istanbul? Galata Tower provides a view of the city, of the Istanbul skyline, dotted with construction cranes, numerous modern office and apartment buildings, and the ever-present minarets of the many mosques. From here, it seems that Istanbul has already successfully combined tradition and modernity. ■

THE NEW ECO-CITIES are to be as autonomous as pos-sible from the start.

Jens Kalaene/dpa/picturedesk.com, Siemens

road for a one-year internship. He recently returned to Vienna and started a new job. Being mobile is extremely important to him, but he does not need his own car to do so. Hardly anyone in his circle of friends owns their own car, even though they all have a driver’s license. Instead, they all have a bicycle, even if some of them occasionally borrow one from a Citybike terminal. “Don’t you want a car?” is a question he often hears from older colleagues. There’s a good reason for his standard “No”: “Why do I need a car in the city? Public transportation and my bicycle get me everywhere I need to go, and there aren’t enough parking spaces anyway.”

Information about timetables: There’s a cell phone app for that. Tickets: They can be booked on your cell phone, too. If necessary, cars can be rented at the train stations. At work, you can borrow electric cars for appointments. This allows you to be completely mobile without your own car and at the same time contribute to cli-mate protection and save money.

This trend is backed up by extensive studies: For young urban people, cars are no longer an essential mode of trans-portation and are certainly not a status symbol anymore. Young Tokyoites were already convinced of this back in the 1990s. Since then, young people in the country which until recently had the highest number of cars rolling off of its production lines have subscribed to the philosophy of “kuruma banare,” or demotorization. In the meantime, this has developed into a worldwide trend which has led to considerable changes even in Germany, the “homeland” of the automobile. And even in the horsepow-er-crazy USA, the younger generation is

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISabine Nebenführ, ITS magazine Petra Meisel

Young, Urban, Mobile

Want to be mobile? Of course, and at all times. Want your own car? No, thanks! Andreas is 29, and

he finished his studies two

years ago and then went ab-

more concerned about computer chat-ting than Ford, Jeep and General Motors according to the market researchers at J.D. Powers. Young people’s opinion of the automobile is apparently being shaped less and less by emotional factors and more and more by rational ones.Is the decade-long love affair turning into a calculated marriage of conveni-ence that must be measured according to realities such as notoriously conges-ted city centers, skyrocketing gas prices, a lack of parking spaces and high main-tenance costs? Evidence in support of this hypothesis was found in the study Jugend und Automobil 2010 (Young Peo-ple and the Automobile in 2010), for which Professor Bratzel and his team surveyed over 1,100 young people bet-ween the ages of 18 and 25 about their attitudes and behavioral patterns.

According to the study, 20 to 30 per-cent of the respondents are primarily focused on the pure functionality of the automobile, while the emotional added value is increasingly being pushed to the

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observed among people over the age of 60. The answers to the questions regarding

the daily use of individual means of trans-portation presented an even clearer pic-ture. The percentage of 18- to 24-year-olds who use a car every day dropped to just 31 percent. At the same time, the proportion of young people who use public transpor-tation on a daily basis increased by 5 per-centage points to 56 percent. There were also considerable differences in the deve-lopment of the proportion of people with driver’s licenses: Among 18- to 24-year-olds, the number of people with driver’s licenses fell by 3 percentage points to 74 percent – among people over the age of 65, it rose by 9 percentage points.

Public transportation operators are taking note of these developments and expanding their capacities. A 43 percent increase in passenger-kilometers is expec-ted in the EU between now and 2020. ■

bile as “an expression of individuality.” In contrast, roughly 45 percent of the res-pondents are “put off by people who drive big cars,” and nearly 40 percent feel that “cars are not particularly ‘in’ these days.” Such clear changes in attitude naturally have an influence on people’s individual behavior, as is demonstrated by the results of the second Mobilität in Deutsch-

land (Mobility in Germany, MiD) study. With regard to the modal split, this study showed that the good old bicycle is the mode of transportation with the highest growth rate. Apart from that, the break-down of the results by age was particularly interesting. In the target group of 18- to 24-year-olds, for instance, there was a sig-nificant decline in the share of motorized individual transportation from 65 to 57 percent. Among 25- to 44-year-olds, the decline was still 6 percentage points, from 71 to 65 percent. The use of public trans-portation among the younger age groups up to age 44 increased by up to 4 percenta-ge points, and a downward trend was only

background. Nearly a third of the res-pondents would not be willing to forgo vacations or owning their own apart-ment for a new car. For this group, the automobile no longer plays a role as a status symbol. “The younger the respon-dents were, the more pragmatic their attitude towards the automobile was,” reported Prof. Bratzl. The results were similar for the 16th Timescout youth trend study, for which the market and opinion research institute T-Factory sur-veyed 1,200 teenagers and young adults in six major German cities. According to the study, 80 percent of the respondents are of the opinion that you do not need a car in the city thanks to public transpor-tation. Consequently, roughly 45 percent of the respondents with driver’s licenses rarely drive a car. The automobile is losing its position as a status symbol among more educated young people in particular. Only 20 percent of the respon-dents are of the opinion that you “make a better impression on friends with a cool car,” and only 40 percent see the automo-

More information■ siemens.com/mobility■ siemens.com/traffic■ mobilitaet-in-deutschland.de

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What is the goal of the Smart Grids Model

Region Salzburg (SGMS)?

Strebl: Smart grids are intelligent power networks that allow data to be exchanged and energy to be transported in both directions between producers and con-sumers. This makes it possible to opti-mally use alternative energy generated by power consumers using photovoltaic and small cogeneration plants. No new poles or lines need to be installed for the intelligent network of the future. The existing grid infrastructure is being equipped with modern information and communication systems – the power grid is being turned into a network. The Smart Grids Model Region Salzburg pro-ject is seeking to create the conditions

needed for this through research and practical tests in a number of different areas.Vogel: A consortium of seven partners has been formed to research and test net-work issues, IT synergy potential, the integration of electromobility, the needs of consumers and the role of buildings in the energy supply of the future. The com-bination of different activities with the goal of facilitating a new energy supply structure is one of the reasons that this project is being given financing by the Climate and Energy Fund. Because of this interdisciplinary approach that allows interfaces to be used sensibly, the SGMS project has received a great deal of inter-national attention, especially in Europe.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIElisabeth Dokaupil Salzburg AG, Siemens

The future of power supply is decentralized systems. Salzburg is playing a pioneering role in the switch to the intelligent electricity networks

needed for this, report Theresia Vogel, director of the Climate and

Energy Fund, and Michael Strebl, managing director of Salzburg Netz GmbH and head of the smart grids project.

How does the EU see the role of smart

grids in the power supply of the future?

Vogel: Smart grids play a central role in the EU’s energy policy. They are intended to help reach the long-term CO2 reduc-tion targets and to increase supply secu-rity. Intelligent networks allow different local systems and suppliers to interact. This leads to the more efficient use of energy and eliminates the need for some infrastructure expansions. Because of the high and very relevant level of inno-vation in the associated research, the Salzburg model is also interesting for other countries.

Are the research results already being

tested in practice?

Total Conversion of the Power System

SMART GRIDS make it possible for

households to not only consume ener-gy, but also to sup-

ply and store it.

Strebl: We want more than just Power-Point slides. We are already working on applying the results in practice. In this, we are not only concentrating on indivi-dual facets, as it happens frequently in this industry, but are always focusing on the complete model. Supply and demand must always be balanced in the electrici-ty network. This is difficult when there is not only a fluctuating supply in the grid, but also a fluctuating supply from con-sumers as will be the case in the future. One way to balance this load is to use additional storage such as electric vehic-les, water tanks and thermal mass in buildings. Two demonstration projects (the DG DemoNet project chain) are being completed to find out through field tests how as many decentralized suppliers as possible can be connected to the grid without upgrading the power lines.

Vogel: Another aspect that is being tested in practice is the connection of alternati-ve power sources to form a virtual power

plant. Salzburg AG is testing the model with its own combined heat and power plants around Salzburg, which can be controlled and operated individually or as a complete group as needed. Georg Eisl and his Grünauerhof restaurant and hotel is part of this virtual power plant. The consumers must also play a part in the power system of tomorrow. This will take the form of apartments and houses with low energy consumption, invest-ments in storage facilities, and the wil-lingness to consume energy in a way that prevents peak loads.

How can consumers be integrated into

the decentralized power supply systems

of the future?

Strebl: Consumers will have to learn to deal with energy not being available at any time, but without their comfort and quality of life being impaired. This does not mean that the washing machine or dishwasher will be remote controlled. But the heat pump or the circulating pump for the swimming pool will be. There is tolerance. In a well insulated house, the room temperature only falls by one degree over twenty hours at an outside temperature of minus three degrees Celsius. We will now test how long the heat can be turned off, thus pre-venting peak loads, without negatively affecting room comfort in ten different houses with different levels of insulati-on. It is also important that consumers use energy consciously and efficiently. In July, the customer-to-grid field test will start to assess different power feed-back methods. The goal is to find out how customers can be given information about their current energy consumption and how they can be motivated to use

44 ■ 45hi!tech 02|11

S m a r t G r i d s

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GEORG EISL, GRÜNAUERHOF. This hotel and restaurant generates and stores energy and is part of a virtual power plant.

energy consciously. Consumption infor-mation is to be provided by e-mail, Inter-net and text message. Vogel: Modern building automation sys-tems also create the conditions that make it possible for office buildings to be well functioning parts of smart grids. They can generate and store power, use geothermal heating and cooling, and control their lighting and heating sys-tems as needed. They are important ele-ments in the energy-related optimizati-on of cities. Load balancing is easier here than in residential areas because busi-nesses have their consumption peaks at different times.

When will entire cities or regions become

“smart” in energy terms?

Strebl: Salzburg is in a good position for this and is sure to participate in the cur-rent smart cities competition. This is about the long-term optimization of the energy systems in the entire city. A road-map is being drawn up to show how we can become a low-emission city by 2050, and preparations are being made for the first steps. Now, the focus is on the cons-truction of a new, forward-looking uni-versity building. We hope to set new standards here. Vogel: I think that it is possible to reduce the energy consumption of Austria’s cities to one third of current levels. Key factors in this are optimized buildings and consumer behavior. Salzburg will be a pioneer. The Smart Grids Model Region Salzburg project is playing a key part in this. ■

More information■ siemens.com/buildings■ gruenauerhof.com

hardly noticeable anymore thanks to modern hearing aid technology. Hearing aids are now nearly invisible and are so sophisticated that what the person hears is nearly identical to what a person with healthy ears hears.

Above all, a hearing aid must offer good speech comprehension, including in noisy environments. This is why hea-ring aids use directional microphone

technology. Conventional systems work on the assumption that speech comes from the front. Frontal speech signals are amplified, and noise coming from the side or the back is reduced. This is sufficient when the person talking is standing in front of the user. But when he is next to the user or even behind him in a car, most devices no longer function very effectively.

A new feature of Siemens hearing aids, Speech Focus, helps by analyzing sounds coming from all directions to identify patterns typical of speech. One pattern is a modulation frequency of four Hertz, because the volume of typical speech fluctuates four times per second. If speech is recognized from the rear, the

device focuses automatically to the rear and suppresses noise from the front and side.

A general standard for hearing aids is the prevention of feedback. Everyone knows what happens when the speaker and microphone are too close together, for example at a concert. The sound from the speakers is picked up by the micro-phone and is fed back into the speakers, resulting in an endless loop that sounds like a loud screech. Everyone who has used an older hearing aid also knows it. Manual adjustment doesn’t always help. For this reason, modern devices compa-re the signals between the speaker and microphone. If feedback is detected, an inversely phased signal is generated that eliminates the screech.

But this method also has weaknesses. A high-pitched flute sounds similar to feedback. At a concert, there is a risk of flute sounds being deleted, and the ove-rall sound experience no longer being balanced. The new Feedback Stopper from Siemens applies an inaudible but technically identifiable phase modulati-on, a kind of fingerprint. If this finger-print is detected in the input micropho-ne, a slight frequency shift is applied for an extremely short time to prevent the feedback loop. Modern hearing aids adjust their volume automatically, but they still have to be adjusted individually in a time-consuming procedure. Sie-mens makes this process much easier with its SoundLearning technology. The company was the first to introduce this technology in 2004. The user can make settings himself, and the device learns

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIPictures of the Future, Elisabeth Dokaupil Siemens

Roughly one in four people over the age of 65 suffers from im-paired hearing, and every second person over the age of 75. This loss in hearing usually cannot be reversed. But the effects are

Intelligent Helpers

H e a r i n g A i d s

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TINNITUS RELIEF. In addi-tion to its basic function, this Siemens hearing aid can also mask tinnitus noises with spe-cial therapy sounds.

REMOTE CONTROL. The miniTEK can transmit audio signals from televisions, telephones and MP3 players directly to the in-ear units so that they can be heard better. Ambient noises are not amplified.

from these settings. Siemens hearing aids also have situation recognition functions that differentiate between dif-ferent audio settings such as language, noise interference and music. If the user increases the treble in the device using the remote control and the device recog-nizes the situation “music,” the device will automatically increase the treble when the user listens to music. The more frequently the user adjusts the setting manually, the more accurately the hea-ring aid will find the right level by itself.

The idea behind SoundLearning comes from the National Acoustic Labo-ratories in Sydney, one of the world’s most highly respected research institu-tions for hearing and hearing aids. “In the past, it was difficult for the technici-an to calibrate the device because the patient is often unable to describe what his perception was in a specific situati-on,” explained research director Harvey Dillon, who came up with the idea of a self-teaching hearing aid.

Wearers of Siemens hearing aids can

use a small remote control to transfer audio signals from televisions, telepho-nes and MP3 players directly to their hearing aids. They hear the sounds much more clearly because the volume is set using the remote control and the ambient noise is not amplified. The latest version, the miniTEK, is barely larger than a matchbox, only weighs 55 grams and can also be worn on the lapel.

The device receives audio signals via Bluetooth or a cable and transmits them to the hearing aids. Directional micropho-nes in the hearing aids continue to provi-de the user with signals from the environ-ment, so he can have a conversation while watching television, for example. There are special wireless adapters for telepho-nes and televisions without Bluetooth functionality. The remote control signals incoming calls directly in the hearing aid. As soon as the user accepts the call, sound transmission from other devices is stop-ped. The user speaks into the microphone in the remote control to talk on the phone.

Especially when talking on the phone,

46 ■ 47hi!tech 02|11

SOUND CHECK. Speakers simulate noise scenarios for

high-end hearing aids.

users can understand their conversation partners better when they hear them in both ears. Special radio technologies were developed for audio transmission so that even the smallest in-ear units that only have space for miniature recei-vers provide good sound quality. The miniTEK also connects hearing aids to sound systems for the hearing impaired. Schools, for example, have FM systems in which microphones capture the voices of teachers and students and transmit them to receivers for hearing aids. Many movie theaters and event rooms have seats with induction coils installed beneath them. A special receiver, or now the universal remote control, detects its signals.

Hearing aids can also improve the quality of life of tinnitus patients. They mask the unpleasant tinnitus noise with a special therapy noise. ■

Mehr Infos■ hearing.siemens.com■ siemens.com/pof

meal. If a user is getting a haircut at the salon around the corner, that person can report on his or her new hair color and how much it cost immediately online. And if that user then goes shopping, his or her friends know right away about any sales.

In order to get the review boom going, Foursquare offers its users rewards every time they check in. The model has the potential to revolutionize customer

incentive programs. In the US, loyalty cards used to be all the rage, but their popularity has been fading for quite some time now. The only way to find out how loyal customers are is to look in the virtual world now.

And competitors have now joined this new trend. In particular, the social media top dog Facebook, with 600 million users worldwide, is fighting back. Facebook

Places is the name of its service, which is already available in Austria. Users can check in at certain places and tell their friends where they are. Facebook also wants to inspire companies to register (to “claim”) so that they can offer special deals to customers who are checked in. The start-up Groupon has enjoyed suc-cess with this model for a while now. Tupalo, an app that was developed in Vienna, also allows users to check in and

bandwagon, and Foursquare is currently the hottest platform in the US.

The service was launched two years ago in the US and already has 7 million members there (as of March 2011). Last year, it received the prestigious title of Technology Pioneer 2011 from the World Economic Forum. The German version has now gone online – and the run on the portal has already begun. Foursquare members can not only meet up with their friends here; they can also find out what their friends are doing and how much fun they are having. The service is based on the GPS satellite navigation system, which automatically locates where a user is. If a user is sitting in a restaurant, for example, he or she can “check in” via a smartphone and give a review of the

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISabine Nebenführ Christina Lehner

Following the boom in social networks, a new kind of service is making headlines: location-based services. Lots of companies have already climbed on the

Ready for Check-in

More information■ tupalo.com■ www.facebook.com/places■ gowalla.com■ foursquare.com

rate all kinds of businesses in the most important cities in Austria, Germany, the US and Eastern Europe. A mobile version for smartphones recently became availa-ble. Gowalla has an even more playful take on the whole thing: Users can coll-ect and trade items and pins, but they remain virtual goodies – there are no rewards in the real world. Gowalla cur-rently has around 700,000 users, mainly in the US.

It is difficult to say which platform will prevail. In Austria, Facebook has a bit of a head start, with over 2 million users. ■

hi!tech 02|11 48

L o c a t i o n - B a s e d S e r v i c e s

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