Systems engineering has a long history with myriads of successful accomplishments. Systems thinking and engineering methodologies are reviewed in this chapter and are reorganized for service systems engineering. The effectiveness and significance of the reorganized methodology is demonstrated in an exemplary problem on service system conceptualization that is widely required to attain a sustainable society. The reorganized systems engineering methodology leads to a new systems science that is emerging (i.e., transdisciplinary science and technology).
TopExemplified Service System: Regional Energy Aggregation Service
In 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) produced the 4th Assessment Report (IPCC, 2007): it confirmed that climate change is occurring now, mostly as a result of human activities; it illustrated the impacts of global warming already under way and to be expected in the future, and it described the potential for society to adapt to reduce its vulnerability to climate change; and finally it presented an analysis of costs, policies, and technologies intended to limit the extent of future disruptions to the climate system.
Even though there has been no consolidated agreement by countries throughout the world to reduce the emissions of Green House Gases (GHGs) that are the cause of global warming pointed out by IPCC, a variety of action plans to reduce emissions have been developed and undertaken by respective countries.
The President of the United States, Barack Obama, announced a $3.4 billion investment toward a smart energy grid in October 2009. Germany started the DESERTEC project in 2008 to open the market for renewable energy and interconnection of electricity grids by Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. The governments of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of Singapore signed an agreement in 2007 on developing an eco-city in Tianjin of the PRC and a sustainable urban environment is presently being steadily developed there. In 2010, the Ministry of Economics, Trade and Industry (METI) of Japan released a tentative roadmap on energy life to 2030 renewing a former cabinet’s plan. Even though reduced GHG emissions are being discussed, smarter energy use is one of the top priority issues in Japan after the 3.11 Disaster.