As children we’re taught water is our most precious resource. We learn that it covers over 70% of Earth’s surface and our bodies are about 60% water. That it sustains life, agriculture and industry. The harder lessons, we’re still learning: how to protect and preserve this vital natural resource that is ubiquitous yet finite; that the lifeblood of our planet is threatened by modern living.
Less than 1% of the world’s 326 million cubic miles of water is readily available for human use. With the Earth’s population projected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050, irresponsible consumption at the individual and industrial levels is a problem. A single cup of coffee takes 37 gallons of water to produce, while manufacturing a car requires more like 39,000. Here’s another staggering projection for 2050: without serious changes, the amount of plastic in the ocean could outweigh all the fish in the sea. Plastic gets dumped into the oceans at a rate of millions of tons per year, presenting dangers to marine life and accelerating the effects of global warming on rising sea levels.
How can we protect our most vital natural resource? Individuals, organizations and governments are stepping up to the challenge by using virtual technology.
Monday, March 22 is designated as World Water Day. On this day, we both celebrate water and raise awareness of the global water crisis. An online event this year, World Water Day 2021’s theme is valuing water properly as a way to support the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6: water and sanitation for all by 2030. SDG 6 seeks to transform the way the world delivers water and sanitation services for billions of people who don’t have clean water to drink or safely managed sanitation.
Here at Dassault Systèmes, we’re also committed to increasing awareness of the global water crisis. Launched late last year, “Water for Life” is the second act in our multi-year The Only Progress is Human campaign. Through “Water for Life” Dassault Systèmes aims to help our customers address the challenge of water protection from three angles: measure and optimize, innovate and create, and educate.
On World Water Day, let’s run through a few examples of the “Water for Life” act in action.
Last December, “Water for Life” kicked off with a virtual event featuring 3DS Chairman and CEO Bernard Charlès and adventurer Mike Horn. You can watch the full video below.
Recently, the New York Times website featured a post highlighting virtual twins developed by Dassault Systèmes as a way to smartly practice water conservation and protection. 3DS Chief Sustainability Officer Alice Steenland is quoted, saying: “We are working to offer our customers – industrials, universities, everyone who uses our software solutions – the ability to understand at every step of their innovation process, from designing a new product to modeling its manufacturing and dismantling, what their impact is on water. We hope this powerful tool will enable them to accelerate the global sustainability transformation.”
Working with 3DEXPERIENCE Edu, the Dassault Systèmes education department, French engineering students from the Green Turtle project used fluid simulation and design-modeling to develop a trash-tracking, turtle-like robot to clean harbors.
Another educational initiative is Mission Océan, a program for middle and high school students designed by La Fondation Dassault Systèmes and others, which leverages 3D and virtual experiences to teach students about ocean sciences.
EEL Energy is a French startup working with the 3DEXPERIENCE Lab since 2017 to develop an undulating membrane – inspired by the motion of a fish swimming – to generate energy from marine and river currents.
Also related to 3DEXPERIENCE Lab is OceanHub Africa, an Africa-based ecosystem enabler and startup accelerator with a mission of inspiring and supporting scalable ocean-minded businesses. OHA partnered with the 3DEXPERIENCE Lab to grant members access to the 3DEXPERIENCE platform on the cloud and provide technical mentorship.
These focused projects join an already impressive array of companies using 3DS technologies to develop products that clean the ocean, traverse the seas, generate energy and more.
The Dassault Systèmes commitment to being part of the solution goes well beyond World Water Day. Underpinning the “Water for Life” and The Only Progress is Human campaigns is a deep-rooted belief that virtual twins are a part of the solution to find more sustainable ways of managing products and services throughout their lifecycle. Learn more about the role of virtual twins in accelerating sustainability.
