Articles and Research Notes

• Embedded Software Development: Getting it Right the First Time


• Advancing Solar's Environmental Benefits: A Life-Cycle Analysis

Engineered Products and Embedded Software:
Getting it Right the First Time

By Max Davis and Jon Guice, GreenMountain Engineering, LLC

Engineered products are all around us—and they increasingly run on software. From mobile phones and cars to robots and other industrial equipment, complex machines are increasingly relying on software to support their operation.

In a recent article in McKinsey Quarterly[1] the authors argued that while embedded software accounts for an increasingly large portion of product value, companies today are failing to keep the quality of embedded software at levels similar to hardware or application software. One reason this happens, they suggest, is that older companies, which generally have a much longer history of mechanical engineering, tend to under-invest in software development.

Some of their key recommendations include “adopting a more mature software architecture,” recognizing the long-term economic trade-offs of substituting complex software for quality hardware and breaking out of the mindset of hardware development.

At GreenMountain Engineering, our view on the industry is that most companies manage projects well, use standard frameworks and produce high-quality, "clean" software. Others have problems that run the gamut from inadequate budgeting and management to poor development platforms and lack of technical expertise.

Managing embedded software development requires specific skills and experience, including familiarity with both hardware engineering and software development. However, managing embedded software projects is not that different from managing other types of engineering. It involves planning, well-developed requirements and specifications, a good testing plan and a good work environment in which people take pride in high-quality work.

Managing embedded software development does not have to be inherently problematic.  At a fundamental level managers should be able to successfully apply the same proven methods to managing software development as they have to managing other engineering projects.

[1]   Huhn, W. and M. Schaper. “Getting Better Software into Manufactured Products.” The McKinsey Quarterly.  March, 2006.

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Advancing Solar's Environmental Benefits: A Life-Cycle Analysis

GreenMountain Engineering Research Note, October 2005

Tyler Williams and Jon Guice

GreenMountain Engineering, LLC

Sarah Boyd and Tonio Buonassisi

University of California, Berkeley

In order to identify opportunities for minimizing the environmental impact of solar electric power, we examined a variety of common materials and designs. We used an economy-wide lifecycle approach to capture full supply-chain effects, from feedstock to disposal or re-use. Results indicate that when better technology choices are made, ecological burdens can be reduced while increasing economic value. Specifically, this study confirms and quantifies the environmental benefits of photovoltaics. At the same time, the study indicates that certain easily-implemented design and material choices are environmentally preferable to others.

Compared to conventional power generation (as defined by the current U.S. energy mix), a standard (non-environmentally-optimized) photovoltaic system provides significant environmental and social benefits:

• It reduces global-warming gas emissions (grams CO2 equivalent) by a factor of six (6);
• It reduces the environmental and social costs passed on to society by a factor of ten (10);
• It promotes three to five (3-5) times more new jobs per watt installed capacity.

However, solar energy industry participants at each step of the supply chain can provide even greater environmental benefits by selecting certain economically-competitive and widely-available materials and designs. In particular, we recommend that the industry whenever feasible:

• For raw material, use solar-grade feedstock to reduce embodied energy content;
• During cell production, choose rapid thermal processing to reduce energy use;
• When making modules, use advanced encapsulants to extend panels’ useful life;
• When designing systems, connect to the grid to avoid batteries;
• When siting systems, integrate them into architecture to reduce balance-of-system hardware;
• Finally, make installation part of new construction to make implementation more efficient.

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This research note refers to the paper entitled Technology Choices for the PV Industry: A Comparative Life-Cycle Environmental Perspective.

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