Intel, the world’s biggest chip maker, is warning that companies taking advantage of government stimulus packages to build future infrastructure and transportation projects are relying on tools of the past that waste energy and cost more.
Speaking at the Cleantech Forum in San Francisco, Sean Maloney, Intel executive vice president, urged the adoption of 3D simulation software to improve design and implementation.
“Unless we move now, a lot of that [stimulus] money is going to get spent using techniques that were more appropriate to the 1980s and 1990s than now,” he said.
“[Government] money would be spent far more efficiently with the maximum use of simulation and a coincidental benefit is energy reduction.”
Mr Maloney, who also sits on the board of 3D computer-aided design software maker Autodesk, said 80 per cent of architects and engineers were not aware how computing performance had increased enough for them to trade in their 2D software packages for 3D ones that would work on cheaper, faster machines.
He gave a number of examples in traditional manufacturing, construction and transportation industries – 3D modelling replacing physical prototypes of vehicles, designing buildings in 3D that revealed greater energy savings and computing power being brought to bear on building and running a new high-speed train network in China.
On the energy theme, he urged the government to mandate instantaneous feedback on fuel consumption, citing the display in a Toyota Prius which shows fuel consumption and power sources being used. He also showed a software widget that could be brought up on a TV screen showing energy use within a home.
Mr Maloney joked Intel was demonstrating “enlightened self-interest” in lobbying for smart technologies – it would ultimately help it sell more of its microprocessors.
The US Congress has passed a $787bn stimulus package and other governments are also boosting spending on infrastructure to revive their economies. Technology companies like Intel are hoping some of the funds will trickle down to their businesses.
