Population growth, the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence, and growing push for increased sustainability are just some of the challenges facing the energy and utilities sectors. Not surprisingly, many professionals in these fields are incorporating lidar and related systems to address these issues and improve the monitoring and maintenance of critical systems and structures.
During the June 17 Geo Week News webinar, “How Lidar is Transforming Energy & Utility Management,” industry experts explored the ways lidar and reality capture systems can help companies and agencies in the energy & utilities field improve their processes—and save time and money. Hosted by Carla Lauter, Senior Content Manager for Geo Week News, the event featured insights from Aaron Mason, WSP member and Reality Capture/Intelligent Design/Digital Twin SME at POWER Engineers, and Chevron Technology Advisor Seth Taylor.
The two experts drew on their experience in incorporating new technologies in their work to illustrate the vast potential that can be unlocked by adopting advanced systems. For example, Mason highlighted the many cost saving and efficiency advantages of using lidar in energy & utilities operations. If the goal of using new technology is to make work “faster, cheaper, and better,” he said, “in most instances when we’ve applied reality capture, we did all three.” He explained that the introduction of these systems has produced “cost reductions of as much as 60%, with higher quality data and reduced timelines by half.”
Mason cautioned that integrating new technology is not easy, and educating clients and co-workers about the systems is a key to success. “It does take some work to know what kind of capture applies to your situation,” he stated, “but, in my mind, there’s a reality capture solution for every kind of design problem, and that can be photogrammetry or infrared or something else.”
Taylor built on Mason’s remarks to stress the importance of education to ensure operational success. Based on his experience, he said that one of the biggest challenges with using lidar and related systems is getting people to understand it in order to adopt and embrace it. “As excited as we can get about technology, we have to remember that, at the end of the day, it’s people using it,” Taylor stated. “The hardest part of implementation is getting the right buy-in.”
During the event, Mason and Taylor also touched on subjects such as data set management, the importance of interoperability, government regulations, and the advance of artificial intelligence and machine learning.
