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SMART CITIES
Sustainable urban spaces
By Graeme Ross, UK & EMEA
Sales Director, Resource Data
Management
www.resourcedm.com
Decreasing the environmental impact of cities while
improving the quality of life for residents
using smart technologies
The effects of climate change are seen on an ever-larger
scale and governments are increasingly putting policies
in place and setting emission targets in an effort to stop
temperatures rising. As highlighted by edie, 70% of the global
energy demand is currently used by cities and it’s predicted
that an additional 2.5 billion people will be living in cities by
2050. Looking at these statistics, solutions to decrease the
environmental impact of cities while improving the quality of
life for residents are increasingly in demand. Implementing
smart technology aims to achieve this and as a result, smart
cities are developing worldwide.
Buildings represent an important part of a city’s
infrastructure and are a major contributor to its
environmental footprint. According to a UN report, they
accounted for 40% of energy-related CO2 emissions in 2017.
Smart technology again offers solutions to curb pollution.
One of its main features is streamlining HVAC and BMS assets
to optimise a building’s performance, thereby reducing the
energy consumption and environmental impact.
All of these features contribute to making cities more
sustainable and enjoyable to live in. While at the early
stages the implementation of smart technology was mostly
carried out by European cities, the trend has been picked up
worldwide with Singapore and New York being listed in the
top three of many polls. This is reflected in the global spend
on smart city technology which is forecasted to grow from
$80 billion in 2016 to $135 billion in 2021, as stated in a
report from the International Data Corporation.
Energy efficiency and saving costs
Buildings are a major source of CO2 emissions and they
represent large overhead costs for businesses. Turning
buildings into smart versions of themselves will help to
make these structures more environmentally friendly. As an
additional bonus, they can be transformed into strategic
assets for businesses.
Being arguably one of the most important parts of a
city’s infrastructure, buildings also accounted for 36% of the
global energy use and for nearly 40% of energy-related CO2
Reducing the environmental footprint
Even though there’s no common definition, a smart city
can be described as a city in which the Internet of Things
(IoT) and smart technology are used to connect a network
of devices, enabling those devices to share information
and to make decisions based on the data they receive. This
automated decision-making process streamlines operational
functions as well as offering services to citizens.
Considering the operational functions that are currently
controlled by smart technology, the options seem endless.
Street lights can be switched on based on light levels, water
and waste management can be monitored and thereby
improved, and the heating of public buildings can be
optimised to save energy, to name just a few examples.
New smart services for residents are also introduced
frequently. Mobile apps offer information on parking
availability to save valuable time or
enable car sharing and as a
result reduce traffic and CO2
emissions. Traffic lights
respond to the walking speed
of pedestrians to time light
cycles, increasing road safety
and eliminating unnecessarily
long waiting times for
cars etc.
www.networkseuropemagazine.com