By Dr. Harpreet Seth, Head of Architecture at Heriot-Watt University Dubai

 

 

To many, the metaverse is a new word, a concept born of the internet age, a distant and scary place to contemplate visiting.

In reality, however, the first recorded use of the word was in Neal Stephenson’s 1992 novel, Snow Crash. In the novel, the protagonist, Hiro, moves in and out of a place called the metaverse, a computer-generated urban landscape where users can have real life like experiences.

Now, the metaverse is becoming a place for collaboration and innovation, visited by the next generation of engineers, designers and fashionistas through multi-sensory connected devices such as augmented reality (AR) glasses and virtual reality (VR) headsets.

Of course, 3D visualisation has been commonplace in construction for some time but is the industry ready to take the next step and enter the metaverse?

 

What is the metaverse?

 

The metaverse is a virtual-reality space where users can interact with a computer-generated environment and other users.  It is a 3D evolution of the internet, representing a virtual universe that can be experienced like the real world.

As one of the fastest-growing industries, the construction sector stands to gain from the metaverse in the future and not just the core industry, but other players involved, such as designers, architects, and project managers. Metaverse in the construction industry will help designers and architects create spaces in an increasingly efficient manner.

 

How can it be used in construction?

 

It is imperative to understand the importance of metaverse at all three stages of construction: design, development, and build. In these stages, the concept provides a near-real feel of the end product through AR and VR.

While architects, designers, and project managers will undoubtedly benefit from the metaverse, these professions will also help build it. Architects and designers are extremely important to create any space in the virtual environment, from designing indoor to outdoor spaces, which they also handle in the physical world. The potential of the experiential quality of the metaverse for its users is key to a holistic experience.

For construction project managers, it will allow them to live in the space as it is being developed, to literally walk through the rooms as they build around them. While they cannot be present at every meeting or site visit, they can keep an eye on everything happening at the build stage with the help of these virtual representations.

On the engineering side, the metaverse can help ensure all of a building’s operational systems, from ventilation and heating to lighting and security, are fully integrated. These are called ‘smart buildings’ and are essential in the drive towards achieving net zero.

Energy companies and government bodies around the world are busy retrofitting existing buildings with intelligent monitoring and management systems which ensure energy is used only when and where it is needed but imagine a scenario where issues likely to affect a building’s green footprint can be flagged in advance of construction. For example, the ability to exist in a space before it is built might provide useful insight into how human traffic or natural sunlight are likely to impact on the temperature of a particular room at any given time.

By creating a building’s digital twin, estate managers can run simulations using real-life scenarios before committing funds to a project. In short, it eliminates much of the guesswork, saving both money and the environment.

 

Are there potential downsides to the metaverse?

 

There is a danger that users will confuse the real with the virtual. A project imagined and viewed in a virtual world may look quite different to what is finally delivered in the real world. It will not be long before all things in the physical world will be given a virtual representation, blurring the boundaries of the physical and digital even further.

There are also the inevitable data privacy issues and questions over ownership. Who owns a virtual asset, for example? Does a company which owns a building in the real world also own its representation in the virtual world? Do they enjoy the same level of property protection and legal coverage? These are questions lawyers and ethicists are debating right now and it’s a complex area.

Accessibility and awareness are further challenges that can be a deterrent to the metaverse concept reaching its full potential.

 

Next generation 

 

At Heriot-Watt University we offer our students the opportunity to learn using the very latest technology, including AR and VR, and encourage an environment where academia and industry can come together to find solutions to all sorts of problems.

Featuring the ‘Imagineering Suite’, our GRID facility in Edinburgh operates as an incubator space for start-ups and entrepreneurs to co-locate and encourage their creative ideas to flourish. Users also have the capability to connect with global industry partners and our other university campuses around the world.

As part of our ‘Shaping Tomorrow Together’ strategy, we have appointed Professor Gabriella Medero, herself the founder of a Heriot-Watt spin out construction company, Kenoteq, as Associate Principal for Enterprise. Her role is to build a strong pipeline of academic entrepreneurs and develop new and innovative entrepreneurial initiatives.

Students leaving our university will be skilled in using the tools of the metaverse, ready to take their fresh ideas and energy into industries keen to support their ambitions.

Still nascent, the metaverse’s capabilities are yet to be fully seen and explored. However, the construction industry must be a leader in exploring its potential. In short, we need to be metaverse pioneers.

 

Yanmar, a global leader in the design and manufacture of construction equipment, has been on its zero greenhouse gas emissions path for over a decade. The scale of the challenge is huge – and success will be driven by economic considerations more than concern for the climate, believes Chief Strategy Officer Shiori Nagata.

Japan is an island with limited natural resources. We hate waste and have learnt the merits of circulating everything. Making better use of resources goes right back to 1912, when our founder Magokichi Yamaoka set up Yanmar with the aim of making more efficient use of fuel in engines. Then the ‘fuel’ was just oil, but today the options are so much wider – bringing hope for a cleaner future – but complexity at the same time.

At the Yanmar Group our corporate mission since 2012 has been ‘A sustainable future’. This is not just to please our ESG investors, it is truly our passion, our purpose – and our dream.

…but no one said it was going to be easy

Even now that we are a decade into our ‘Green Challenge’ we still forecast that it will take a further 28 years to achieve our zero environmental impact goal. By 2050 we will be totally free of greenhouse gas emissions in our business activities, circulate all resources and support our customers so that they can achieve the same greenhouse goals as us.

Of course, we would like to achieve our climate/societal goals faster, but we must be realistic as to the scale of the challenge. In 2019 we calculated that we caused 0.2 million tons of CO₂ to enter the atmosphere from what we define as our scope 1 & 2, while a further two million tons came from our supply chain – and a staggering 80 million tons of CO₂ was released from customers using our machines.

Changing this is going to take time. Our machines are made from steel, plastics, rubber etc. – and many of these components currently have no (or limited) green options. But we are committed to using them as they become available. In the meantime, we will source green energy and create our own, using solar panels on factory roofs. It will be a step-by-step approach, and different countries and customers will move at different speeds. This is much more than a Yanmar challenge – going green is as much a societal challenge as a technical one.

Electric machines make business sense

Electrifying our machines will be vital in achieving our zero carbon ambitions. And it is going to happen. But this is not as simple as in the car business, and many hurdles to adoption remain. The charging infrastructure needs to develop, and battery machines need to be proven in the harsh work environments of construction. People won’t buy electric machines to save the planet – they will buy them because they make economic sense. Fortunately, as costs fall, the total cost of benefit of using electric machines will make them the compelling option. As with the new range of electric machines we launch at bauma, they are simpler, more comfortable, with low vibrations and noise, and lower running costs.

We are starting on the energy transition with battery electric powered smaller machines, but by the end of the decade we will introduce hydrogen power in our larger equipment. All the major components of electrification are on a sharp development curve that will continually make them better. It’s a step-by-step approach to the green future we seek.

Multi-fuel future

Even electric machines have their own environmental challenges – if the electricity that powers them comes from a lignite coal power station, is it really that cleaner? Perhaps controversially, the much-maligned internal combustion engine (ICE) has a part to play in the green future. It must – if we all went electric today there isn’t nearly sufficient electricity generation to power them. But the ICE can be made clean, by burning non-CO2 fuels such as hydrogen and other much cleaner biofuels. Even here there are difficult choice to make – biofuels compete with food production, and in a world of growing hunger, what takes priority – the climate tomorrow or survival today? That too is society’s challenge to answer. What is clear is that we will go from a single fuel type – diesel – to diversified fuel types in the future. If it’s a choice between extra complexity to make the environment better, then it’s a challenge we are happy to accept!

At Yanmar we take global food scarcity seriously. We are applying our ‘no waste’ philosophy to supporting farmers with precision agricultural solutions. We have developed a recycling machine that takes waste food, dries and processes it by microbe, and results in a nutrient rich fertilizer. The perfect example of resource circulation.

Meeting society’s challenges

So, meeting the goals of our Green Challenge will take until 2050 to achieve. There is no short cut. We are optimistic about a carbon free future – but also realistic about what is possible – and how fast it can become a reality.

These ideas come from a heartfelt passion to build something good for society and the environment. Our purpose is to meet society’s challenges with intelligent solutions. We’re committed to green being the new color of business.

 

 

 

 

Shiori Nagata, CSO (Chief Strategy Officer) and member of the Board at the Yanmar Group

 

www.yanmar.com