{"id":9278,"date":"2016-11-03T20:40:35","date_gmt":"2016-11-04T00:40:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/who-pays-for-the-inefficient-use-of-resources-in-our-business-models-businesses-or-the-environment-actually-both-of-them-do\/"},"modified":"2016-11-04T16:26:01","modified_gmt":"2016-11-04T20:26:01","slug":"who-pays-for-the-inefficient-use-of-resources-in-our-business-models-businesses-or-the-environment-actually-both-of-them-do","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/who-pays-for-the-inefficient-use-of-resources-in-our-business-models-businesses-or-the-environment-actually-both-of-them-do\/","title":{"rendered":"Who pays for the inefficient use of resources in our business models: Businesses or the environment? Actually, both of them do."},"content":{"rendered":"

The sustainable development of societies depends on the availability of clean fresh water sources. We need water for human consumption and all productive activities such as agriculture, manufacturing, health care, energy production, amongst many others. The demand for freshwater supply has been intensified by the rapid growth of cities and industries. These uses create stresses on the freshwater supply, stresses that are amplified by the effects of climate change by widening the gap between the availability of surface water and groundwater resources and the demand for them[1]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Exhibit 1 \u2013 How Climate Change Affects Water Distribution<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"exhibit-1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In fact, according to the United Nations World Water Development Report, global water demand is projected to increase by 55% by 2050 and the global water deficit is projected to be 40% by 2030. Amongst the main factors contributing to freshwater shortages are urbanization and migration patterns, industrial growth rates and climate change[2]<\/a>. Additionally, the scarcity of freshwater supply increases the likelihood of violent conflicts due to intensifying competition for water amongst sectors and forced migrations[3]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Exhibit 2 \u2013 Water Demand Per Use in 2020 and 2050<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"exhibit-2-jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The increasing need for cities and businesses to adapt to these new pressures is creating a market for technologies that maximize operating efficiencies and General Electric (GE) is at the cutting edge of that trend. Actually, GE has already invested US$ 15 billion and projects an investment US$ 25 billion by 2020 in R&D for cleaner technology[4]<\/a>. In particular, GE\u2019s water division called Water & Process Technologies, is already providing products and services across eleven industries with clients ranging from municipalities to mining companies[5]<\/a>. However, the most revolutionary of those technologies is \u201cDigital Water Solutions\u201d.<\/p>\n

Digital Water Solutions is the application of technology to monitor and manage infrastructure water systems, thereby improving water availability and quality for municipal utilities and end users. The impact of optimizing our water utility systems can be enormous. In fact, there are over 240,000 water pipeline breaks per year in the U.S. and those breaks, plus general leakage in the systems, account for a loss of 2.1 trillion gallons of drinkable water every year[6]<\/a>. Usually, when we think of solutions for our ever more common water crisis we immediately think of building more reservoirs and drilling more wells but this only exacerbates the problem. Actually, the way to go is to optimize the existing systems and get more water by wasting less of it.<\/p>\n

Operating a water utility system can be extremely complex with several water and wastewater treatment plants, thousands of miles of pipelines and millions of user connections. Utility companies are realizing that they need to make their assets perform better and GE\u2019s integral digital solution intends to accomplish just that. GE has developed an integral solution comprised of hardware, software, data analytics and algorithms that allows the utility companies to regulate the entire system from a centralized location and actually predict when and where potential system failures could occur[7]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Despite the huge positive potential that Digital Water Solutions could have on reducing the loss of treated water and consequently the demand on freshwater supplies, it is still an expensive solution and it does not make economic sense for all utility companies. According to Ralph Exton, Chief Marketing Officer at GE Water, for large utility companies the breakeven on the investment can be achieved in 24 months but there is certainly a capacity threshold where it does not make sense to the utility company[8]<\/a>. If this technology is to have a worldwide impact, particularly in developing regions of the world which are the most vulnerable to the threats of climate change, GE has to find a way to make it economically viable for small scale utility companies with less resources.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, while technologies such as Digital Water Solutions continue to evolve, who is going to pay for the inefficient use of resources in our business models?<\/p>\n

(Word Count 787)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> \u201cClimate Impacts On Water Resources,\u201d US Environmental Protection Agency,<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/climate-impacts\/climate-impacts-water-resources#Overview , Accessed November 2016.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> \u201cWater For A Sustainable World\u201d, The United Nations World Water Development Report 2015,<\/p>\n

http:\/\/unesdoc.unesco.org\/images\/0023\/002318\/231823E.pdf , Accessed November 2016.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> \u201cClimate Change 2014: Synthesis Report,\u201d Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2014,<\/p>\n

http:\/\/ipcc.ch\/pdf\/assessment-report\/ar5\/syr\/AR5_SYR_FINAL_SPM.pdf , Accessed November 2016.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> \u201cGE Powering The Future \u2013 GE Ecomagination\u201d General Electric Sustainability,<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.ge.com\/sites\/default\/files\/GE_BR15_Ecomagination_Final.pdf , Accessed November 2016.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> General Electric Water & Process Technologies Official Site,<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.gewater.com\/emerging-trends\/digital-water , Accessed November 2016.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> \u201c2013 Report Card For America\u2019s Infrastructure,\u201d American Society Of Civil Engineers, 2013,<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.infrastructurereportcard.org\/water-infrastructure\/ , Accessed November 2016.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> \u201cGE Pushes The Envelope On Digital Water Solutions,\u201d Global Water Intelligence Magazine, August 8th, 2016<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> \u201cGE Pushes The Envelope On Digital Water Solutions,\u201d Global Water Intelligence Magazine, August 8th, 2016<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Climate Change is drastically reducing the availability of natural resources such as fresh water, threatening the survival of entire economic systems and increasing tensions between geopolitical powers. 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