Researchers revolutionise opportunities for the European water industry
A team of international researchers has revolutionised the opportunities for water industry software developers. They have developed a new toolkit that, for the first time, provides a common standard for linking essential computer programmes that help balance our water supplies against the demand from domestic, leisure and industrial users.
The Open Modelling Interface (OpenMI) will not only make life easier for thousands of water and environmental managers across Europe, it will open up the business market for small companies and universities who are developing computer models.
This new common standard approach is considered so important the European Commission is hosting the OpenMI launch at an international meeting in Brussels on 15 February.
Under the EU’s Water Framework Directive water managers must consider all of the likely social, economic and environmental impacts of their policies before they implement them. The OpenMI will help them to do this and also save them money.
Roger Moore, the Open MI project leader from the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, explains.
“Water and environmental managers use computer models to help them find solutions to problems and predict how their decisions and actions will affect a whole chain of different elements. For example, a few years ago they might only have considered the benefits to a region’s economy by allowing power-boating on lakes. They now have to balance that decision against what effect the noise and possible pollution of this activity will have on the water, the plants and fish, and the local fishing industry.”
“Until now, when these managers have wanted to link models together and explore how different processes interact they have had to buy complete modelling systems covering, for example, ecology, chemistry, hydrology and economy. These might not always have contained the ideal set of models. In future they will be able to buy the best mix from a variety of suppliers and join them up themselves.”
He added, “The unique thing about the Open MI is that it provides a standard that links the computer models and allows them to talk to each other while they are actually running.”
To support the Open MI and its users into the future, the project team is also launching a membership association at the Brussels meeting. Any organisations with an interest in decision support or modelling relating to the environment or water industries are encouraged to join. Instructions on how to join will shortly be available on the website at http://www.OpenMI.org
-
From lemons to lemonade: Reaction uses carbon dioxide to make carbon-based semiconductor,
33 comments
-
Thioridazine kills cancer stem cells in human while avoiding toxic side-effects of conventional cancer treatments,
3 comments
-
SpaceX private rocket blasts off for space station (Update),
42 comments
-
Landmark calculation clears the way to answering how matter is formed,
55 comments
-
Research team claims to have found evidence Lake Cheko is impact crater for Tunguska Event,
18 comments
More news stories
Yale study concludes public apathy over climate change unrelated to science literacy
Are members of the public divided about climate change because they don't understand the science behind it? If Americans knew more basic science and were more proficient in technical reasoning, would public consensus match ...
12 hours ago |
4.8 / 5 (6) |
29
|
Land and sea species differ in climate change response: study
(Phys.org) -- Marine and terrestrial species will likely differ in their responses to climate warming, new research by Simon Fraser University and Australia’s University of Tasmania has found.
10 hours ago |
4 / 5 (5) |
6
|
10 million years needed to recover from mass extinction
It took some 10 million years for Earth to recover from the greatest mass extinction of all time, latest research has revealed.
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
12 hours ago |
4.2 / 5 (5) |
3
|
Sophisticated simulations predict future warming
The chances of our planet being hit by a global warming of 3 degrees Celsius by 2050 is as likely as it being hit by an increase of 1.4 degrees, new research shows. Presented in the journal Nature Geoscience, the British study ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
May 22, 2012 |
3.8 / 5 (11) |
51
Kyoto Protocol architect 'frustrated' by climate dialogue
UN climate talks are going nowhere, as politicians dither or bicker while the pace of warming dangerously speeds up, one of the architects of the Kyoto Protocol told AFP.
May 23, 2012 |
3.4 / 5 (8) |
43
Stunning image of smallest possible five-ringed structure
Scientists have created and imaged the smallest possible five-ringed structure about 100,000 times thinner than a human hair and you'll probably recognise its shape.
'Unzipped' carbon nanotubes could help energize fuel cells, batteries
Multi-walled carbon nanotubes riddled with defects and impurities on the outside could replace some of the expensive platinum catalysts used in fuel cells and metal-air batteries, according to scientists at ...
Change in developmental timing was crucial in the evolutionary shift from dinosaurs to birds: study
At first glance, it's hard to see how a common house sparrow and a Tyrannosaurus Rex might have anything in common. After all, one is a bird that weighs less than an ounce, and the other is a dinosaur that ...
Computer model used to pinpoint prime materials for efficient carbon capture
When power plants begin capturing their carbon emissions to reduce greenhouse gases and to most in the electric power industry, it's a question of when, not if it will be an expensive undertaking.
T cells 'hunt' parasites like animal predators seek prey, study shows
By pairing an intimate knowledge of immune-system function with a deep understanding of statistical physics, a cross-disciplinary team at the University of Pennsylvania has arrived at a surprising finding: T cells use a movement ...
Browser wars flare in mobile space
The browser wars are heating up again, but this time the fight is for dominance of the mobile Internet.