ABB – ABB invests in strategic partnership with US start-up Molg to transform drive design and accelerate its contribution to the circular economy

EMR Analysis

More information on ABB: See full profile on EMR Executive Services

More information on Morten Wierod (Chief Executive Officer and Member of the Group Executive Committee, ABB Ltd): See full profile on EMR Executive Services

More information on Timo Ihamuotila (Chief Financial Officer and Member of the Executive Committee, ABB): See full profile on EMR Executive Services

More information on Motion Business Area by ABB: See the full profile on EMR Executive Services

More information on Brandon Spencer (President, Motion Business Area and Member of the Executive Committee, ABB): See full profile on EMR Executive Services

More information on Tuomo Hoysniemi (President, Global Drive Products Division, Motion Business Area, ABB): See full profile on EMR Executive Services

More information on ABB Motion Ventures by ABB: https://global.abb/group/en/technology/ventures/motion-ventures + ABB Ventures, formerly ABB Technology Ventures (ATV), is the venture capital investment framework of the ABB Group. ABB invests and partners with breakthrough technology companies aligned with ABB’s goal to write the future of industrial digitalization. Since 2009, ABB through ATV has invested more than $500 million into start-ups spanning a range of sectors including robotics, drones, industrial IoT, AI/machine learning, cybersecurity, smart buildings, electric mobility and distributed energy.

More information on Olga Peters (Head of ABB Motion Ventures, ABB): See full profile on EMR Executive Services

 

 

More information on Molg: https://www.molg.ai/ + We are designers, engineers, programmers, robots, and manufacturers coming together to change the way we make things. 

Molg was founded with a mission to solve the growing e-waste problem through circular manufacturing. After years of working in the consumer electronics sector, we saw firsthand how poor design and wasteful processes contributed to this challenge. Using advanced robotics and design, our microfactories autonomously disassemble electronics, recovering valuable components for reuse, remanufacturing, or recycling. Our goal is to create a circular economy for manufacturing, ensuring one product’s end is another’s new beginning.

More information on Rob Lawson-Shanks (Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Molg): https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-lawson-shanks/ 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EMR Additional Notes:

• Motors, Generators and Drives:
  • A motor is the mechanical or electrical device that generates the rotational or linear force used to power a machine.
  • NEMA motors are commonly made with rolled steel or cast iron frames while IEC motors are commonly made with cast aluminum or cast iron frames.
  • An electric motor converts electricity into mechanical energy, providing a power source for machinery.
  • A generator does the opposite of this, converting mechanical energy into electricity.
  • A servo motor is a self-contained electrical device, that rotate parts of a machine with high efficiency and with great precision. The output shaft of this motor can be moved to a particular angle, position and velocity that a regular motor does not have. It consists of a suitable motor coupled to a sensor for position feedback. It also requires a relatively sophisticated controller.
  • A drive (also often referred to as an electric controller) is the electronic device that harnesses and controls the electrical energy sent to the motor.
  • By positioning a drive between the electrical supply and the motor, power is fed into the drive, and the drive then controls and regulates the power that is fed into the motor. This allows control of speed, direction, acceleration, deceleration, torque and, in some applications, position of the motor shaft.

 

 

• Circular Economy: 
  • A circular economy is a systemic approach to economic development designed to benefit businesses, society, and the environment. In contrast to the ‘take-make-waste’ linear model, a circular economy is regenerative by design and aims to gradually decouple growth from the consumption of finite resources.
  • In such an economy, all forms of waste, such as clothes, scrap metal and obsolete electronics, are returned to the economy or used more efficiently.
  • The aim of a circular economy is hence to create a closed-loop system where waste and pollution are minimized and resources are conserved, reducing the environmental impact of production and consumption.
• Sustainability Vs. Circular Economy:
  • Circularity focuses on resource cycles, while sustainability is more broadly related to people, the planet and the economy. Circularity and sustainability stand in a long tradition of related visions, models and theories.
  • A sustainable circular economy involves designing and promoting products that last and that can be reused, repaired and remanufactured. This retains the functional value of products, rather than just recovering the energy or materials they contain and continuously making products anew.

 

 

• Carbon Dioxide (CO2):
  • Primary greenhouse gas emitted through human activities. Carbon dioxide enters the atmosphere through burning fossil fuels (coal, natural gas, and oil), solid waste, trees and other biological materials, and also as a result of certain chemical reactions (e.g., manufacture of cement). Carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere (or “sequestered”) when it is absorbed by plants as part of the biological carbon cycle.
• Biogenic Carbon Dioxide (CO2):
  • Biogenic Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and Carbon Dioxide (CO2) are the same. Scientists differentiate between biogenic carbon (that which is absorbed, stored and emitted by organic matter like soil, trees, plants and grasses) and non-biogenic carbon (that found in all other sources, most notably in fossil fuels like oil, coal and gas).
• Decarbonization:
  • Reduction of carbon dioxide emissions through the use of low carbon power sources, achieving a lower output of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere.
• Carbon Footprint:
  • There is no universally agreed definition of what a carbon footprint is.
  • A carbon footprint is generally understood to be the total amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that are directly or indirectly caused by an individual, organization, product, or service. These emissions are typically measured in tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e).
  • In 2009, the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol) published a standard for calculating and reporting corporate carbon footprints. This standard is widely accepted by businesses and other organizations around the world. The GHG Protocol defines a carbon footprint as “the total set of greenhouse gas emissions caused by an organization, directly and indirectly, through its own operations and the value chain.”
• CO2e (Carbon Dioxide Equivalent):
  • CO2e means “carbon dioxide equivalent”. In layman’s terms, CO2e is a measurement of the total greenhouse gases emitted, expressed in terms of the equivalent measurement of carbon dioxide. On the other hand, CO2 only measures carbon emissions and does not account for any other greenhouse gases.
  • A carbon dioxide equivalent or CO2 equivalent, abbreviated as CO2-eq is a metric measure used to compare the emissions from various greenhouse gases on the basis of their global-warming potential (GWP), by converting amounts of other gases to the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide with the same global warming potential.
    • Carbon dioxide equivalents are commonly expressed as million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents, abbreviated as MMTCDE.
    • The carbon dioxide equivalent for a gas is derived by multiplying the tonnes of the gas by the associated GWP: MMTCDE = (million metric tonnes of a gas) * (GWP of the gas).
    • For example, the GWP for methane is 25 and for nitrous oxide 298. This means that emissions of 1 million metric tonnes of methane and nitrous oxide respectively is equivalent to emissions of 25 and 298 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide.
• Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) – Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS):
  • CCS involves the capture of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from industrial processes. This carbon is then transported from where it was produced, via ship or in a pipeline, and stored deep underground in geological formations.
  • CCS projects typically target 90 percent efficiency, meaning that 90 percent of the carbon dioxide from the power plant will be captured and stored.
• Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR): 
  • Carbon Dioxide Removal encompasses approaches and methods for removing CO2 from the atmosphere and then storing it permanently in underground geological formations, in biomass, oceanic reservoirs or long-lived products in order to achieve negative emissions.
• Direct Air Capture (DAC): 
  • Technologies extracting CO2 directly from the atmosphere at any location, unlike carbon capture which is generally carried out at the point of emissions, such as a steel plant.
  • Constraints like costs and energy requirements as well as the potential for pollution make DAC a less desirable option for CO2 reduction. Its larger land footprint when compared to other mitigation strategies like carbon capture and storage systems (CCS) also put it at a disadvantage.
• Carbon Credits or Carbon Offsets:
  • Permits that allow the owner to emit a certain amount of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases. One credit permits the emission of one ton of carbon dioxide or the equivalent in other greenhouse gases.
  • The carbon credit is half of a so-called cap-and-trade program. Companies that pollute are awarded credits that allow them to continue to pollute up to a certain limit, which is reduced periodically. Meanwhile, the company may sell any unneeded credits to another company that needs them. Private companies are thus doubly incentivized to reduce greenhouse emissions. First, they must spend money on extra credits if their emissions exceed the cap. Second, they can make money by reducing their emissions and selling their excess allowances.

 

 

• Supply Chain: 
  • Network of all the individuals, organizations, resources, activities and technology involved in the creation and sale of a product. A supply chain encompasses everything from the delivery of source materials from the supplier to the manufacturer through to its eventual delivery to the end user.
  • At the most fundamental level, supply chain management (SCM) is management of the flow of goods, data, and finances related to a product or service, from the procurement of raw materials to the delivery of the product at its final destination.