In less than 40 years, 70% of the world’s population will reside in our cities. This rapid
migration will push both current and future urban centres to their seams and expand industrial
and residential infrastructures beyond their breaking points.
This eye-opening fact raises important questions that must be considered by cities around the
world. Can this growth be done in a sustainable way? Will cities be able to reduce their
environmental impact and carbon emissions? Will we be able to meet the sustainability
challenges brought on by regulation and the impact of this massive growth? And, will we
expand in ways which ensure communities are enjoyable places to live and promote social
equality?
We can answer affirmatively to these concerns, and re-design our cities with these thoughts
in mind. With the movement towards smart cities, the urban centres we live in can become
more efficient, livable, and sustainable in both the short and long term, thanks to involvement from city, citizens, and businesses.
Municipalities today are constantly challenged while trying to improve the level of service to their citizens. In this session we will introduce the concept of Smart Water and show how we can lead the charge in providing value to citizens.
Cities are striving to improve their competitiveness on the world stage. Those that succeed in attracting business, investment, and qualified human resource talent will win out. However, most cities face daunting obstacles in their quest to achieve the desired level of attractiveness. In some cases, rapid growth is driving increased pollution and congestion. In other cases, tight budgets are leading to resource constraints and progress is limited.
Can the blockchain help accelerate the energy transition in France and in Eur...Vincent Poizat
This memoir was written for my MSc in Digital Marketing. It describes how the blockchain could help our economies transition from fossil or nuke to renewable energies.
Current Situation & Development Framework of Sino-Foreign Eco-CitiesSmartEcoCity (SEC)
Due to the challenges of climate change, creating eco-cities has gradually become the paramount goal of global urban construction. As the primary region of urban construction in the world, China has a significant impact on sustainable development: 80% of prefecture-level cities have a minimum of one eco-city being considered for construction. Various versions of the eco-city model are being developed in China, all of which seek to impose change at a rapid pace and on a vast scale. An underlying bilateral partnership framework has led to the success of several Sino-Foreign eco-city projects. According to research, the three key components for developing a successful Sino-Foreign eco-city are: an inclusive political framework, a comprehensive organizational and financial structure and robust technical solutions.
Municipalities today are constantly challenged while trying to improve the level of service to their citizens. In this session we will introduce the concept of Smart Water and show how we can lead the charge in providing value to citizens.
Cities are striving to improve their competitiveness on the world stage. Those that succeed in attracting business, investment, and qualified human resource talent will win out. However, most cities face daunting obstacles in their quest to achieve the desired level of attractiveness. In some cases, rapid growth is driving increased pollution and congestion. In other cases, tight budgets are leading to resource constraints and progress is limited.
Can the blockchain help accelerate the energy transition in France and in Eur...Vincent Poizat
This memoir was written for my MSc in Digital Marketing. It describes how the blockchain could help our economies transition from fossil or nuke to renewable energies.
Current Situation & Development Framework of Sino-Foreign Eco-CitiesSmartEcoCity (SEC)
Due to the challenges of climate change, creating eco-cities has gradually become the paramount goal of global urban construction. As the primary region of urban construction in the world, China has a significant impact on sustainable development: 80% of prefecture-level cities have a minimum of one eco-city being considered for construction. Various versions of the eco-city model are being developed in China, all of which seek to impose change at a rapid pace and on a vast scale. An underlying bilateral partnership framework has led to the success of several Sino-Foreign eco-city projects. According to research, the three key components for developing a successful Sino-Foreign eco-city are: an inclusive political framework, a comprehensive organizational and financial structure and robust technical solutions.
Cities future outlook and digital cities by Marco Moretti - A2A Smart City Pr...EIT Climate-KIC
Cities future outlook and digital cities: the public utility contribution in the digital and green field presented by Marco Moretti - A2A Smart City President | CIO A2A Group at the Climate Innovation Summit in Milan, 2017.
Black & Veatch Strategic Directions: U.S. Electric Industry Black & Veatch
The 2014 Black & Veatch Strategic Directions: U.S. Electric Industry report examines the accelerated pace of change affecting the U.S. electric utility industry with a focus on the market, technology, and regulatory drivers of change. The report provides an analysis of key issues including reliability, emerging and consumer technologies, renewables integration and infrastructure development while offering a look ahead at industry prospects.
Investigations into the lifetime of gas meter batteries in the NetherlandsMachiel Joosse
At 2020 there will be about seven million smart gas meters installed in the Netherlands, using batteries that are supposed to last for about 20 years. The long lifetime of the batteries is crucial, because an operation to replace them would be on a large scale and therefore expensive. Distribution System Operators (DSO’s) have to be able to rely on a lengthy lifetime. The Dutch DSO’s Netherlands (within Netbeheer Nederland), joined forces to carry out a unique study of the predicted and actual battery lifetime. In this study, batteries were examined from gas meters that had already been operating for 4-5 years. The results were promising: after 4-5 years: the actual (practical) lifetime of the batteries examined turned out to be in line with the predicted (theoretical) values.
The concept of Intelligent Energy Network is an effective way to highlight the importance of renewable energy sources. And Insights Success, in its upcoming edition “The 10 Most Intelligent Energy Tech Companies to Watch in 2021”,
Hilton Worldwide - Leading Efforts in Sustainability and Energy ManagementSchneider Electric
As a global company with more than 3,900 hotels in 90 countries, sustainability is a critical resource issue and Hilton strives to lead the industry with products, programs and services that deliver great guest experiences while reducing their impact. As the first major multi-brand hospitality company to elevate sustainability to a brand standard, learn how and why Hilton made sustainability a critical performance measure of their business just like quality, service and revenue.
In rural Nigeria, many communities depend on diesel generators, and pay a high price for harmful, polluting, unreliable power. Hospitals are often forced to close when power fails, and when life-support systems shut down, lives are lost.
The Lagos State Electricity Board (LSEB) selected Schneider Electric to bring solar power and storage to 172 schools and 11 public health centers in rural Nigeria.
Il World Energy Focus, nuovo mensile online della WEC's community, una e-publication gratuita per essere sempre aggiornato sugli sviluppi del settore energetico. Il World Energy Focus contiene news, interviste esclusive e uno spazio dedicato agli eventi promossi dai singoli Comitati Nazionali.
Eliq Breakfast Briefing at European Utility Week 2019Håkan Ludvigson
Eliq hosted a breakfast briefing at European Utility Week in Paris on 13 November, with guest speakers Arthur Jouannic from Delta EE and Andrew Coleman from Bristol Energy.
The topic was "The value of digital customer engagement" and shared insights from recent user research of Eliq users, as well as a case study from a utility's point of view, along with the analysts' take on the market for digital customer engagement and user experience tools in the utilities industry.
This is the full slide pack from the event.
For more information and a summary from the event, visit Eliq's blog on:
https://eliq.io/news/the-changing-face-of-energy-use-from-consumption-to-collaboration
...and subscribe to Eliq's newsletter:
https://my.sendinblue.com/users/subscribe/js_id/2kcpf/id/1
"Smart" can be defined and exhibited in different ways. But a foundation that enables intelligence must be established first. Learn about the foundational technologies and approaches that Smart Cities use to manage their critical infrastructure with deeper intelligence.
The term Smart City applies to any community were infrastructure assets, information technology and data analytics are fused into an integrated network. Covered in this PowerPoint are ways that a network can be built and data analytics employed to promote community-wide efficiency, resource resilience and stakeholder satisfaction, and expand opportunities for economic development.
In the issue of “The 10 Best-In-Class SMART GRID Tech Solution Providers, 2018”, we have highlighted some of the most renowned organizations around the world which are working round the clock to provide best in class smart grid solutions. Our shortlist of companies includes, Kalkitech, a smart grid solutions provider that helps energy utilities across the globe to improve energy efficiency
Presentation outlining City of Holland Energy PlanKen Freestone
This presentation was given to the Holland City Council on June 9, 2010. The purpose of this was to present the work of the Holland Sustainability Committee and to provide a framework for a Community Energy Plan.
Resumen muy personal de algunas de las ponencias, comunicaciones y plenarias presentadas en el IX Congreso Estatal de Escuelas Oficiales de Idiomas, celebrado en Barcelona en abril de 2015
Presentación de Eugenio Torres, British Standars Institution Group México, durante el Seminario "Gestión de la Seguridad en TIC" de Mxtel en Meet In Polanco el jueves, 21 de noviembre de 2013
Cities future outlook and digital cities by Marco Moretti - A2A Smart City Pr...EIT Climate-KIC
Cities future outlook and digital cities: the public utility contribution in the digital and green field presented by Marco Moretti - A2A Smart City President | CIO A2A Group at the Climate Innovation Summit in Milan, 2017.
Black & Veatch Strategic Directions: U.S. Electric Industry Black & Veatch
The 2014 Black & Veatch Strategic Directions: U.S. Electric Industry report examines the accelerated pace of change affecting the U.S. electric utility industry with a focus on the market, technology, and regulatory drivers of change. The report provides an analysis of key issues including reliability, emerging and consumer technologies, renewables integration and infrastructure development while offering a look ahead at industry prospects.
Investigations into the lifetime of gas meter batteries in the NetherlandsMachiel Joosse
At 2020 there will be about seven million smart gas meters installed in the Netherlands, using batteries that are supposed to last for about 20 years. The long lifetime of the batteries is crucial, because an operation to replace them would be on a large scale and therefore expensive. Distribution System Operators (DSO’s) have to be able to rely on a lengthy lifetime. The Dutch DSO’s Netherlands (within Netbeheer Nederland), joined forces to carry out a unique study of the predicted and actual battery lifetime. In this study, batteries were examined from gas meters that had already been operating for 4-5 years. The results were promising: after 4-5 years: the actual (practical) lifetime of the batteries examined turned out to be in line with the predicted (theoretical) values.
The concept of Intelligent Energy Network is an effective way to highlight the importance of renewable energy sources. And Insights Success, in its upcoming edition “The 10 Most Intelligent Energy Tech Companies to Watch in 2021”,
Hilton Worldwide - Leading Efforts in Sustainability and Energy ManagementSchneider Electric
As a global company with more than 3,900 hotels in 90 countries, sustainability is a critical resource issue and Hilton strives to lead the industry with products, programs and services that deliver great guest experiences while reducing their impact. As the first major multi-brand hospitality company to elevate sustainability to a brand standard, learn how and why Hilton made sustainability a critical performance measure of their business just like quality, service and revenue.
In rural Nigeria, many communities depend on diesel generators, and pay a high price for harmful, polluting, unreliable power. Hospitals are often forced to close when power fails, and when life-support systems shut down, lives are lost.
The Lagos State Electricity Board (LSEB) selected Schneider Electric to bring solar power and storage to 172 schools and 11 public health centers in rural Nigeria.
Il World Energy Focus, nuovo mensile online della WEC's community, una e-publication gratuita per essere sempre aggiornato sugli sviluppi del settore energetico. Il World Energy Focus contiene news, interviste esclusive e uno spazio dedicato agli eventi promossi dai singoli Comitati Nazionali.
Eliq Breakfast Briefing at European Utility Week 2019Håkan Ludvigson
Eliq hosted a breakfast briefing at European Utility Week in Paris on 13 November, with guest speakers Arthur Jouannic from Delta EE and Andrew Coleman from Bristol Energy.
The topic was "The value of digital customer engagement" and shared insights from recent user research of Eliq users, as well as a case study from a utility's point of view, along with the analysts' take on the market for digital customer engagement and user experience tools in the utilities industry.
This is the full slide pack from the event.
For more information and a summary from the event, visit Eliq's blog on:
https://eliq.io/news/the-changing-face-of-energy-use-from-consumption-to-collaboration
...and subscribe to Eliq's newsletter:
https://my.sendinblue.com/users/subscribe/js_id/2kcpf/id/1
"Smart" can be defined and exhibited in different ways. But a foundation that enables intelligence must be established first. Learn about the foundational technologies and approaches that Smart Cities use to manage their critical infrastructure with deeper intelligence.
The term Smart City applies to any community were infrastructure assets, information technology and data analytics are fused into an integrated network. Covered in this PowerPoint are ways that a network can be built and data analytics employed to promote community-wide efficiency, resource resilience and stakeholder satisfaction, and expand opportunities for economic development.
In the issue of “The 10 Best-In-Class SMART GRID Tech Solution Providers, 2018”, we have highlighted some of the most renowned organizations around the world which are working round the clock to provide best in class smart grid solutions. Our shortlist of companies includes, Kalkitech, a smart grid solutions provider that helps energy utilities across the globe to improve energy efficiency
Presentation outlining City of Holland Energy PlanKen Freestone
This presentation was given to the Holland City Council on June 9, 2010. The purpose of this was to present the work of the Holland Sustainability Committee and to provide a framework for a Community Energy Plan.
Resumen muy personal de algunas de las ponencias, comunicaciones y plenarias presentadas en el IX Congreso Estatal de Escuelas Oficiales de Idiomas, celebrado en Barcelona en abril de 2015
Presentación de Eugenio Torres, British Standars Institution Group México, durante el Seminario "Gestión de la Seguridad en TIC" de Mxtel en Meet In Polanco el jueves, 21 de noviembre de 2013
For the love of the content editors – jam's Drupal Camp session by Pamela BaroneJeffrey McGuire
So, you're building a content management system - let's talk about the content managers!
Simply, it's in the best interest of the vendor to deliver a product that people don't hate to use. Especially if the client doesn't seem to care, it can be really easy to ignore the issue of usability. But even though they may not care during development, they will be made to care once it's delivered.
There are a lot of simple things you can do to make life easier for these users, and it doesn't require major customisation. In addition to increasing client satisfaction, it can also make training easier, and reduce support requests that come from not understanding the system.
In this session, I'll talk about:
Who content editors are, and why they are worth your time
Specific modules and configuration options that can make life easier
Some general guidlelines and processes you can apply (right now!) to improve usability
¿Qué puedo hacer para despertar el interés de mi gente a cargo...?
La eterna disyuntiva acerca de cuánto podemos hacer ... por el interés y la satisfacción de nuestros empleados en el trabajo!!!
DENTA - Dentistry and dental technologies international exhibitionMihaela Marcu
Romexpo will organize between the 20th and the 22nd of November 2014 the most important Romanian trade fair in the industry of dentistry - DENTA.
During this event, companies from Romania and abroad exhibit equipment, accessories, materials, oral hygiene products and dentistry chemical-pharmaceutical products.
SUPERB ITALIAN RESORT IN THE NORTHERN PART OF THE TORINO PROVINCE, WHERE IT MERGES INTO THE AOSTA VALLEY.
OUTSTANDING FOOD AND WINES, IN A CLASSY LOCATION THAT BRINGS YOU RELAX, AND ALLOWS YOU TO VISIT THE GREEN CANAVESE AREA WITH ITS CASTLES AND VINEYARDS, THE NATIONAL PARK OF GRAN PARADISO AS WELL THE HIGHEST PEAKS OF EUROPE IN THE AOSTA VALLEY. JUST SEND A MESSAGE TO ME OR EMAIL AT REVELLO@REVELLOASSOCIATI FOR A SPECIAL WELCOME PACK FOR USERS OF SLIDESHARE AND LINKEDIN
Good governance demands elected public official be honest and transparent. Elected public officials represent the people and to provide for the people.
We have been patient and tolerant. We have been tested.
We are Idle No More!
Abstract:
In 2050, the number of people living in cities will be almost as large as the world’s entire population today. That’s why we need completely new approaches to be taken in order to make our cities to be Smart City. Smart Cities gained importance as a means of making ICT enabled services and applications available to the citizens, and authorities that are part of a city’s system. It aims at increasing citizens’ quality of life, and improving the efficiency and quality of the services provided by governing entities and businesses. Smart City is a type of city that uses new technologies to make them more livable, functional, competitive and modern through the use of new technologies, the promotion of innovation and knowledge management. Cities today are facing significant challenges including increasing populations, infrastructures, and declining budgets.
1. Letter to all state governments to shortlist potential Smart Cities based on Stage-I criteria according to a number of Smart Cities distributed across states /UTs by the MoUD. This is the first stage of the Intra-State competition.
2. On the basis of response from States/UTs, the list of potential 100 Smart Cities is announced. The second stage of the All India competition begins.
3. Each potential Smart City prepares its proposal assisted by a consultant (from a panel prepared by MoUD) and a hand-holding External Agency (various offers received such as World Bank, ADB, GEF, USTDA, JICA, DFID, AFD, KfW, UN-Habitat)
4. By stipulated date, Stage 2 proposals submitted. Evaluation by a panel of experts.
5. Selected cities declared – Round 1 Smart Cities
6. Selected cities set up SPV and start the implementation of their SCP. Preparation of DPRs, tenders, etc. and Other cities prepare to improve their proposal for the next round of the Challenge
The Contribution of Technologies in the Development of Smart Cities.Techugo
Technologies are driving the development of smart cities by enabling efficient infrastructure, data-driven decision-making, IoT connectivity, renewable energy solutions, and improved services for citizens, fostering sustainability and quality of life.
Smart cities - Comparison among EU modelsMirko Podda
The general objective of the work is to compare cities in different european countries. Our research is focused on giving a general overview of smart cities situated in Germany, Poland and Sardinia.
Starting from two European programs named: “The Smart Cities and Communities EIP” and “The Covenant of Majors”, we show how the cities object of our study have used these ones in order to be “Smarter”.
A city can be defined ‘smart’ when invests in human & social capital, traditional and modern communication infrastructures, sustainable economic development and a high quality of life, with a wise management of natural resources, through participatory action and engagement. A City can be considered "smart" when achieves evaluable performances considering 6 characteristics, built on the ‘smart’ combination of activities of self-decisive, independent and aware citizens.
The development of smart city leading to a progressive abandonment of rural areas towards greater cities and metropolis, which can offer many opportunities in terms of work, education, social life and so on. It can solve traffic congestion, school overcrowding, air pollution, loss of open space and skyrocketing public facilities cost.
Intelligent World, Smart Cities, Intelligent Communities, Next Industrial Revolution, Future City Developments,
Definition, Barriers, Funding, Stakeholders, Smart City Internet
Digital Twin Cities are advanced urban areas where physical and digital realms are integrated, allowing for data-driven management, intelligent services, and interactive systems. READ MORE
Smart City - French- Dutch Young Talents 2014 - 2015 Ahmad AFANEH
FNI Conference
20-21 November 2014
CNIT, La Défense, Paris
Le Réseau franco-néerlandais
Coopération universitaire franco-néerlandaise au service de l’intégration européenne
The future digital city as well as the digital government must be ‘human-centric’ to serve its 3 kinds of stakeholders: its citizens, its businesses actors and its visitors. A city is not smart because it hosts new technologies. A city is smart when most of the citizen are really enjoying the use of top of mind services and systems provided by the municipality. Thus, leaders of future cities must demonstrate a real mindset and leadership in designing their cities with systems and services that their digital citizens will seize. It means a new governance must be established in order to link the needs of the citizens with the smart solutions to be implemented to fulfil those needs, in order to bridge the functionalities and data that are currently segregated by silos in the city (Transportation, Electricity and water distribution, Buildings, Mobility, Waste management, Retail, Public safety, Health, Education, Culture…) and at the end of the day in order the city to become a collaborative environment. The city has to be thought and designed as a complex system of systems and not as a simple juxtaposition of administrative services and data to be provided to its stakeholders.
These urban areas are now known as intelligent city, knowledge city, ubiquitous city, sustainable city, green city, digital city, etc. and very recent smart city. Some of the cities around the world have been branded a smart city. The recent introduction of some on line store for different shopping solution, UBER, Pathao etc in trans port sector, online ticket purchase platform and Bkash/ Rocket for money transaction has given us a test of digital city.
Similar to The Smart City Cornerstone: Urban Efficiency by Charbel Aoun (20)
Enforcing vehicle speed limits is vital in lowering
road accident rates and improving road safety.
LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) cinemometer
technology has shown to be more accurate than
radar-based Doppler systems because it can
measure at farther distances, resulting in more
readings possible with the vehicle in the beam
detection area longer. This paper summarizes
LIDAR cinemometer methodology and describes
the primary advantages of these systems
compared to those applying conventional Doppler
Effect-based technologies.
In today’s commercial buildings, installing an effective
WAGES (water, air, gas, electricity, steam) metering
system can be a source of substantial energy and cost
savings. This white paper examines WAGES metering
as the essential first step toward a comprehensive
energy management strategy. Best practices for
selecting meters, and identifying metering points are
described. In addition, metrics for measuring gains in
energy efficiency are explained.
A high performance green building is designed for economic and environmental performance over its entire life cycle, considering unique local climate and cultural needs and providing for the health, safety and productivity of its occupants. With continuous care over its life cycle, it minimises energy use, CO2 emissions, and total environmental impacts, and provides ongoing measurable value to building owners, occupants and society.
The Schneider Electric ‘Innovate Something Wonderful” contest helps you innovate something new by solving jigsaw puzzles.
You just have to solve 6 puzzles over a period of 20 days and make sure you solve them smartly and quickly.
Participate in the Wall contests.
Participate in contests on other Social Media channels of Schneider Electric.
What do you win?
Schneider Electric Pen Drives
A pair of Bose Headphones
A Samsung Galaxy Tab
Contest Duration – March 12th to Mar 31st, 2013
https://www.facebook.com/SchneiderElectricIndia
Global demand for energy is rising, and so are energy prices. Limited availability of resources is forcing governments to introduce strict environmental regulations and making companies look for energy efficiency solutions and optimization services. These global trends have a real impact on your enterprise and will continue to influence your business strategy.
Make an impact on your environmental balance sheet:
1. Adopt a clear plan that is simple to measure and communicate to stakeholders.
2. Reduce your carbon footprint and environmental impact.
3. Improve public, market and leadership efficacy perceptions of your company.
4. Instill pride in employees, who know that their company is taking real steps forward to conserve energy.
Electricity usage costs have become an increasing fraction of the total cost of ownership (TCO) for data centers. It is possible to dramatically reduce the electrical consumption of typical data centers through appropriate design of the data center physical infrastructure and through the design of the IT architecture. This paper explains how to quantify the electricity savings and provides examples of methods that can greatly reduce electrical power consumption.
Many newer UPS systems have an energy-saving operating mode known as “eco-mode” or by some other descriptor. Nevertheless, surveys show that virtually no data centers actually use this mode, because of the known or anticipated side-effects. Unfortunately, the marketing materials for these operating modes do not adequately explain the cost / benefit tradeoffs. This paper shows that eco-mode provides a reduction of approximately 2% in data center energy consumption and explains the various limitations and concerns that arise from eco-mode use. Situations where these operating modes are recommended and contraindicated are also described.
Data center power and cooling infrastructure worldwide wastes more than 60,000,000 megawatt-hours per year of electricity that does no useful work powering IT equipment. This represents an enormous financial burden on industry, and is a significant public policy environmental issue. This paper describes the principles of a new, commercially available data center
architecture that can be implemented today to dramatically improve the electrical efficiency of data centers.
Data centers today lack a formal system for classifying infrastructure management tools. As a result, confusion exists regarding which management systems are necessary and which are optional for secure and
efficient data center operation. This paper divides the realm of data center management tools into four distinct subsets and compares the primary and secondary functions of key subsystems within these subsets. With a classification system in place, data center professionals can begin to determine which physical infrastructure management tools they need – and don’t need – to operate their data centers.
LF Energy Webinar: Electrical Grid Modelling and Simulation Through PowSyBl -...DanBrown980551
Do you want to learn how to model and simulate an electrical network from scratch in under an hour?
Then welcome to this PowSyBl workshop, hosted by Rte, the French Transmission System Operator (TSO)!
During the webinar, you will discover the PowSyBl ecosystem as well as handle and study an electrical network through an interactive Python notebook.
PowSyBl is an open source project hosted by LF Energy, which offers a comprehensive set of features for electrical grid modelling and simulation. Among other advanced features, PowSyBl provides:
- A fully editable and extendable library for grid component modelling;
- Visualization tools to display your network;
- Grid simulation tools, such as power flows, security analyses (with or without remedial actions) and sensitivity analyses;
The framework is mostly written in Java, with a Python binding so that Python developers can access PowSyBl functionalities as well.
What you will learn during the webinar:
- For beginners: discover PowSyBl's functionalities through a quick general presentation and the notebook, without needing any expert coding skills;
- For advanced developers: master the skills to efficiently apply PowSyBl functionalities to your real-world scenarios.
Connector Corner: Automate dynamic content and events by pushing a buttonDianaGray10
Here is something new! In our next Connector Corner webinar, we will demonstrate how you can use a single workflow to:
Create a campaign using Mailchimp with merge tags/fields
Send an interactive Slack channel message (using buttons)
Have the message received by managers and peers along with a test email for review
But there’s more:
In a second workflow supporting the same use case, you’ll see:
Your campaign sent to target colleagues for approval
If the “Approve” button is clicked, a Jira/Zendesk ticket is created for the marketing design team
But—if the “Reject” button is pushed, colleagues will be alerted via Slack message
Join us to learn more about this new, human-in-the-loop capability, brought to you by Integration Service connectors.
And...
Speakers:
Akshay Agnihotri, Product Manager
Charlie Greenberg, Host
Neuro-symbolic is not enough, we need neuro-*semantic*Frank van Harmelen
Neuro-symbolic (NeSy) AI is on the rise. However, simply machine learning on just any symbolic structure is not sufficient to really harvest the gains of NeSy. These will only be gained when the symbolic structures have an actual semantics. I give an operational definition of semantics as “predictable inference”.
All of this illustrated with link prediction over knowledge graphs, but the argument is general.
Generating a custom Ruby SDK for your web service or Rails API using Smithyg2nightmarescribd
Have you ever wanted a Ruby client API to communicate with your web service? Smithy is a protocol-agnostic language for defining services and SDKs. Smithy Ruby is an implementation of Smithy that generates a Ruby SDK using a Smithy model. In this talk, we will explore Smithy and Smithy Ruby to learn how to generate custom feature-rich SDKs that can communicate with any web service, such as a Rails JSON API.
GraphRAG is All You need? LLM & Knowledge GraphGuy Korland
Guy Korland, CEO and Co-founder of FalkorDB, will review two articles on the integration of language models with knowledge graphs.
1. Unifying Large Language Models and Knowledge Graphs: A Roadmap.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.08302
2. Microsoft Research's GraphRAG paper and a review paper on various uses of knowledge graphs:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/blog/graphrag-unlocking-llm-discovery-on-narrative-private-data/
Builder.ai Founder Sachin Dev Duggal's Strategic Approach to Create an Innova...Ramesh Iyer
In today's fast-changing business world, Companies that adapt and embrace new ideas often need help to keep up with the competition. However, fostering a culture of innovation takes much work. It takes vision, leadership and willingness to take risks in the right proportion. Sachin Dev Duggal, co-founder of Builder.ai, has perfected the art of this balance, creating a company culture where creativity and growth are nurtured at each stage.
Encryption in Microsoft 365 - ExpertsLive Netherlands 2024Albert Hoitingh
In this session I delve into the encryption technology used in Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Purview. Including the concepts of Customer Key and Double Key Encryption.
Key Trends Shaping the Future of Infrastructure.pdfCheryl Hung
Keynote at DIGIT West Expo, Glasgow on 29 May 2024.
Cheryl Hung, ochery.com
Sr Director, Infrastructure Ecosystem, Arm.
The key trends across hardware, cloud and open-source; exploring how these areas are likely to mature and develop over the short and long-term, and then considering how organisations can position themselves to adapt and thrive.
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 4DianaGray10
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 4. In this session, we will cover Test Manager overview along with SAP heatmap.
The UiPath Test Manager overview with SAP heatmap webinar offers a concise yet comprehensive exploration of the role of a Test Manager within SAP environments, coupled with the utilization of heatmaps for effective testing strategies.
Participants will gain insights into the responsibilities, challenges, and best practices associated with test management in SAP projects. Additionally, the webinar delves into the significance of heatmaps as a visual aid for identifying testing priorities, areas of risk, and resource allocation within SAP landscapes. Through this session, attendees can expect to enhance their understanding of test management principles while learning practical approaches to optimize testing processes in SAP environments using heatmap visualization techniques
What will you get from this session?
1. Insights into SAP testing best practices
2. Heatmap utilization for testing
3. Optimization of testing processes
4. Demo
Topics covered:
Execution from the test manager
Orchestrator execution result
Defect reporting
SAP heatmap example with demo
Speaker:
Deepak Rai, Automation Practice Lead, Boundaryless Group and UiPath MVP
Dev Dives: Train smarter, not harder – active learning and UiPath LLMs for do...UiPathCommunity
💥 Speed, accuracy, and scaling – discover the superpowers of GenAI in action with UiPath Document Understanding and Communications Mining™:
See how to accelerate model training and optimize model performance with active learning
Learn about the latest enhancements to out-of-the-box document processing – with little to no training required
Get an exclusive demo of the new family of UiPath LLMs – GenAI models specialized for processing different types of documents and messages
This is a hands-on session specifically designed for automation developers and AI enthusiasts seeking to enhance their knowledge in leveraging the latest intelligent document processing capabilities offered by UiPath.
Speakers:
👨🏫 Andras Palfi, Senior Product Manager, UiPath
👩🏫 Lenka Dulovicova, Product Program Manager, UiPath
Accelerate your Kubernetes clusters with Varnish CachingThijs Feryn
A presentation about the usage and availability of Varnish on Kubernetes. This talk explores the capabilities of Varnish caching and shows how to use the Varnish Helm chart to deploy it to Kubernetes.
This presentation was delivered at K8SUG Singapore. See https://feryn.eu/presentations/accelerate-your-kubernetes-clusters-with-varnish-caching-k8sug-singapore-28-2024 for more details.
Software Delivery At the Speed of AI: Inflectra Invests In AI-Powered QualityInflectra
In this insightful webinar, Inflectra explores how artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming software development and testing. Discover how AI-powered tools are revolutionizing every stage of the software development lifecycle (SDLC), from design and prototyping to testing, deployment, and monitoring.
Learn about:
• The Future of Testing: How AI is shifting testing towards verification, analysis, and higher-level skills, while reducing repetitive tasks.
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The Smart City Cornerstone: Urban Efficiency by Charbel Aoun
1. The Smart City Cornerstone:
Urban Efficiency
by Charbel Aoun
2. The Smart City Cornerstone:
Urban Efficiency
Executive summary
Every city can become smarter. Smart cities start with
smart systems that work for the benefit of both
residents and the environment. The cities that succeed
in making the transition to ‘smart’ will be those that
improve their critical systems by combining a bottom-
up, systems-centric approach with a top-down, data-
centric one. This paper presents a 5-step approach for
converting our urban centres into more efficient and
sustainable places to live.
by Charbel Aoun
3. The Smart City Cornerstone: Urban Efficiency
Schneider Electric White Paper Revision 0 Page 2
In less than 40 years, 70% of the world’s population will reside in our cities. This rapid
migration will push both current and future urban centres to their seams and expand industrial
and residential infrastructures beyond their breaking points.
This eye-opening fact raises important questions that must be considered by cities around the
world. Can this growth be done in a sustainable way? Will cities be able to reduce their
environmental impact and carbon emissions? Will we be able to meet the sustainability
challenges brought on by regulation and the impact of this massive growth? And, will we
expand in ways which ensure communities are enjoyable places to live and promote social
equality?
We can answer affirmatively to these concerns, and re-design our cities with these thoughts
in mind. With the movement towards smart cities, the urban centres we live in can become
more efficient, livable, and sustainable in both the short and long term, thanks to involvement
from city, citizens, and businesses.
Every city can become smarter. Smart cities start with smart systems, working for the benefit
of both residents and the environment. Electric grids, gas distribution systems, water
distribution systems, public and private transportation systems, commercial buildings,
hospitals, homes — these form the backbone of a city’s efficiency, livability, and
sustainability. It is the improvement and integration of these critical city systems — done in a
step-by-step manner — that become the cornerstones to making a smart city a reality (see
Figure 1). The cities successfully making the transition to ‘smart’ will be those who improve
their critical systems by combining a bottom-up, systems-centric approach with a top-down,
data-centric one.
This paper presents an approach for transitioning to a smart city which involves the following
5 steps:
1. Setting the vision
2. Bringing in the technology
Introduction
Figure 1
Cities like Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil exchange information
between systems and
agencies. This enables
coordination of traffic
management and quick
response to traffic incidents.
4. The Smart City Cornerstone: Urban Efficiency
Schneider Electric White Paper Revision 0 Page 3
3. Working on the integration
4. Adding innovation
5. Driving collaboration
With this approach to each critical domain of a city, obstacles to a more intelligent
infrastructure can be solved, and smart cities can move from a distant dream to an accessible
reality.
Cities are our fundamental building blocks. Throughout history, they have served as centres
of innovation, advancement, civilization, and as facilitators of the social interaction necessary
for the progress of humankind. It is only fitting that the next evolution of how we live, work,
play, and interact is emerging within our cities.
Although they make up just 2% of our world’s surface, cities hold half of the global population,
consume 75% of our energy resources, and emit 80% of the carbon that is harming our
environment. Countries are recognizing that blind resource consumption is no longer a viable
option for economic and societal growth. Emissions from buildings and activities of cities
have placed them at the top of the priority list for nations aiming to keep their geographies
clean, healthy, and livable for generations to come. As an example, the European Union —
through the European Smart Cities and Communities Initiative — has targeted emissions
reductions in cities as critical to its goal of reducing overall energy use by 20% by 2020, and
to the development of a low carbon economy by 2050.
But the challenges to meeting those goals will only grow. By 2050, cities will house an
astounding 70% of our population, necessitating expansion and infrastructure (see Figure 2).
To accommodate this boom, in the next 40 years we must build out the same amount of
urban capacity our ancestors took 4,000 years to create.
Some
background
Figure 2
By 2050, cities will be home
to an astounding 70% of
our population, necessitating
more urban infrastructure.
Source: World-Population-
1800-2100.svg -
Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia
5. The Smart City Cornerstone: Urban Efficiency
Schneider Electric White Paper Revision 0 Page 4
Urban infrastructures will need to better meet the challenges of city environments: energy
and water scarcity; pollution and emissions; traffic congestion; crime; waste disposal; and
safety risks from ageing infrastructures. The increased mobility of our societies has created
intense competition between cities: for investment, for talent, and for jobs. To attract the most
promising residents, companies, and organizations, as well as promote a thriving culture,
cities must achieve three critical traits: become more efficient, more livable, and more
sustainable.
The changes needed to make this happen in our cities can only take place at their core: a
city’s systems. Spending on these changes should total $108 billion by 2020, according to
Pike Research, and will continue to trend upwards, putting massive pressure on city budgets.
Just as a house will not stand with a weak foundation, the backbone formed by the traffic,
energy, building, and water systems of a metropolis are vital to its longevity and success.
Technologies are available today
Smart cities need not be thought of as cities of the future. They can be the cities of the
present. By the end of the current decade, many technologies critical to a smart city,
including monitoring and sensor technologies, intelligent traffic systems, and energy
management systems for buildings, will be deployed on every continent. And while no single
solution defines a smart city, the technologies being put in place today are pieces of the
smart city puzzle.
While the challenges are many, the benefits are significant. Going beyond the obvious
environmental benefits, the improvement of systems can contribute to social equality through
universal access to a city’s public services. They save lives by allowing for more immediate
access to emergency services. They make cities more resilient in times of crisis, allow cities
to prepare for hazards, and help to restore city services from disruption in the wake of one.
They create new economic zones that drive growth and prosperity.
Such improvements are not exclusive to modern and wealthy communities. Via realistic,
measurable timetables and financial vehicles, almost any city can achieve a more intelligent
infrastructure. By honing in on solutions that focus on their most acute pain points and taking
a step-by-step, system-based approach, cities can implement strategies that deliver the
immediate, visible, and measurable results they need and that their constituents deserve.
The most effective definition of a smart city is a community that is efficient, liveable, and
sustainable— and these three elements go hand-in-hand.
Traditionally, the water, gas, electricity, transportation, emergency response, buildings,
hospitals, and public services systems of a city are separate and operate in silos independent
of each other. A truly efficient city requires not only that the performance of each system is
optimized, but also that these systems are managed in an integrated way to better prioritize
investment and maximize value.
An efficient city also starts a community on the path to become competitive for talent,
investment, and jobs by becoming more liveable. A city must work to become a pleasant
place to live, work, and play. It must appeal to residents, commuters, and visitors alike. It
must be socially inclusive, creating opportunities for all of its residents. It must provide
innovative, meaningful services to its constituents. Liveability plays a critical role in building
the talent pool, the housing market, and providing cultural events which can bring memorable
experiences, international attention, and investment to the community.
A sustainable community is one which reduces the environmental consequences of urban life
and is often an output of efforts to make the city more efficient and liveable. Cities are the
“Via realistic, measurable
timetables and financial
vehicles, almost any city
can achieve a more
intelligent infrastructure.”
What is a smart
city?
6. The Smart City Cornerstone: Urban Efficiency
Schneider Electric White Paper Revision 0 Page 5
largest contributors of carbon emissions; the highways, public spaces, and buildings we rely
on to live, work, and play emit the bulk of each city’s emissions (see Figure 3). Implementing
efficient, cleaner, and sustainable operations in all of these areas are critical to minimizing a
city’s environmental footprint. Cities must also look at other methods of achieving
sustainability, including resource efficiency, regenerating aging districts, ensuring robustness
of systems, and incorporating design and planning in harmony with its natural ecosystem, as
opposed to simply living in it.
The need for smart cities is evident in emerging and established economies, with each
bringing unique challenges and opportunities.
Emerging economies, such as China and Brazil, have immediate needs to develop smarter
cities, as their exponentially growing populations have the most pressing short term needs,
including flood preparedness, prevention of blackouts, traffic congestion, crowding, and
logistical difficulties which accompany fast-paced urbanization — while competing for global
attention. In some cases, new cities or districts are literally being built from the ground up,
allowing smart city infrastructure to be developed into the first iteration.
Mature economies in Western Europe, the United States, and Japan see similar
opportunities, but in many cases different challenges. These regions boast highly engaged
citizens, sophisticated and multi-layered government, and deep access to investment and
technology innovation. Yet their decades-old systems are aging and deteriorating, rarely
sharing information, and often operating under the responsibility of different departments or
public jurisdictions. In the face of rapidly industrializing new economies, these older and
established bellwethers are finding the need to compete fiercely on the world stage for talent
and investments.
While there are clear opportunities in both emerging and established markets, there are also
clear challenges. Many communities, especially in today’s global financial crisis, find
themselves cash-strapped, with little budget for proactive improvements. This makes
financing any project a challenge — yet smart city solutions actually reduce costs by
eliminating or reducing the need to invest in new infrastructure capacity.
If financing and budgets are approved, project leads often find themselves left with the
daunting task of managing a complex value chain, comprised of several departments, as well
Challenges &
opportunities
Figure 3
Highways, public spaces,
and buildings emit the bulk of
each city’s emissions.
7. The Smart City Cornerstone: Urban Efficiency
Schneider Electric White Paper Revision 0 Page 6
as global and local players who have differing sets of understanding and expertise.
Navigating this chain effectively For example, a city struggling with traffic congestion might
see a need for a massive highway project. But to build public support the city could choose
an interim step of deploying traffic management technologies to its existing vehicle
infrastructure.
The traditionally traffic-choked city of Mumbai, India is one example. Mumbai deployed real-
time, adaptive traffic control systems from Schneider Electric to optimize traffic at 253
crossings. A central traffic management control centre supervises and reacts to traffic
disruptions.
The result has been a 12% reduction in average traffic time in the city, along with an
85% reduction in energy usage from the city’s traffic lights. Cost savings combined with
quality of life improvements made this smart city programme a success for the citizens of
Mumbai.
There are several triggers that can set cities on the path to becoming smart. A city may
become host to a demonstration project, in which one or a few companies test their most
innovative solutions. Examples of this include digital innovation projects being tested in New
Songdo City, South Korea; as well as the implementation of smart grid-ready district in Issy-
les-Moulineaux, France (see Figure 4).
Or, a city could host a major international event, such as the Olympics or the World Cup.
When a city is selected as the host for such an event, it often does so with the intent to use
the event as a trigger for investment in new infrastructure, to regenerate some of its aging
and/or underserved districts, as well as improve its aesthetic appeal and bring the eyes of the
world — all at the same time.
The most available path to a smart city, however, is when a community takes it upon itself to
define its sustainability vision and then lays out the roadmap needed to get there. Making
sure this vision and path are well thought-out is one of the most critical tasks in the process,
and most cities need support to develop their roadmap to becoming smart. Cities have
How does a
smart city
“happen”?
Figure 4
Issy-les-Moulineaux, France
is an example of a smart
grid-ready district
8. The Smart City Cornerstone: Urban Efficiency
Schneider Electric White Paper Revision 0 Page 7
dramatically varying geographies, populations, natural resources, and individually unique
pain points. So a smart city vision must be tailored to the unique needs, challenges,
opportunities and resources of each city.
With a vision in place, city officials should start by improving existing operating systems, such
as electricity, water, transportation, and gas. A combination of connected hardware, software,
and metering facilitates integration and collaboration between systems and networks. This
allows a city’s infrastructure to create a critical mass of data that allows for continuous
improvement of the systems themselves.
Achieving this integration does more than just improve operations. Improving and connecting
systems delivers a tremendous volume of information which can be analyzed by intelligent
software systems. This data analysis will allow cities to develop actionable information that
can be used to deliver better, more effective, and efficient public services.
Finally, all communities must involve each of their most important stakeholders, including
government officials, citizens, and the private sector, in the process — or face tremendously
difficult obstacles in making its vision a reality. No single company or organization can build a
smart city alone. Each city deserves the best in class players on both a local and global level
— from the technologies installed, to the planning and maintenance.
Schneider Electric has implemented more than 200 smart city projects around the globe. We
have helped cities move toward their long-term sustainability goals by improving their existing
infrastructure and driving efficiency throughout a city’s operations.
Cities can benefit from up to 30%
energy savings and up to a 20%
reduction in water losses. Up to
30% reduction in street crime from
CCTV security cameras can be
delivered. Travel time and traffic
delays can be reduced by up to
20%. Other major nonenvironmental
benefits include improved safety
and higher quality of life, which in
turn drives job creation and
increases the talent pool, leading to
higher tax revenue.
But the benefits go beyond
statistics. A recent study in the UK
showed that ambulance response
times to heart attack victims played
a critical role in survival. Reducing
the response time from the current
standard of 14 minutes to five
minutes doubled the chances of
survival for the heart attack victim.
In most urban environments today,
congestion prevents five minute
response imes. But smart cities
have the potential to make it
possible, saving tens of thousands
of lives every year.
A practical
approach
to smart cities
9. The Smart City Cornerstone: Urban Efficiency
Schneider Electric White Paper Revision 0 Page 8
The drive for a smart city begins with setting the vision
This vision should highlight the goals of the city for the long-term: where the city wants to be
in 5 – 10 years in terms of efficiency, sustainability, and competitiveness.
The next step in building a smart city is to create a pragmatic, step-by-step plan to create
value over the long-term. The plan should address the most immediate pain points and
opportunities first, building momentum and civic confidence in the overall vision. The plan
should implement a series of initiatives over several years, with each initiative building on the
others.
In the past, cities typically implemented initiatives in a siloed fashion. Each agency would
pursue its own plans, not tapping potential for integration, or holistic management of
initiatives. As a result, most deployments have served to improve individual city systems but
missed opportunities to create value through more comprehensive, integrated improvements
to city infrastructure.
One of the most important elements of setting an effective, achievable plan for a smart city is
to make that an inclusive, collaborative process. A smart city can’t be created by decree. It
requires participation, input, and ideas from a wide range of stakeholders in the city. Public
governance is naturally critical, but participation from the private sector and the citizens of the
community are equally important. Incorporating the ideas and thinking of citizens helps to
identify potential problems while also helping to ensure support and participation in the
efficiency initiatives. Where appropriate, involving the local university community brings
energy, ideas, and support. And naturally, the city will need partners to help set the vision
and ensure that it meets the objectives of efficiency, liveability, and sustainability.
Once a long-term plan is put in place, the city can begin to implement the roadmap step-
bystep, leveraging innovative solutions deployed in partnership with business to optimize city
infrastructure and become more efficient.
One city with a highly ambitious vision is Masdar City, an intelligent community project in Abu
Dhabi within the United Arab Emirates. The city’s goal is to create a commercially viable,
sustainable community providing the highest quality of life, with the lowest environmental
footprint. Its development relies heavily on the ability of the public sector and private
companies to work together, ultimately aiming to rely entirely on solar and renewable energy,
with a zero-carbon, zero-waste ecology. Upon its completion, timed to fall between 2025 and
2030, Masdar City will serve as home to an international community of 70,000 people.
Schneider Electric, using its systems-oriented approach, has played a significant role in
helping Masdar City realize its vision via the improvement of its networks. As a key designer
of the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, the first tenant in the city’s clean tech
hub, Schneider Electric implemented a fully integrated smart buildings and power anagement
systems, which links over 100 sub-systems throughout the facility’s six multiuse buildings,
spanning 70,000 square metres.
The success of the system led to the expanded role of Schneider Electric in the greater smart
city vision of Abu Dhabi. As the key manager of the Demand Side Energy Management
project, Schneider Electric is leading the charge to reduce energy and water consumption in
a 71 multi-use building district within Abu Dhabi by 30%. In addition to these benefits, the
project dovetails into long-term goals by improving residential quality of life, driving
behavioural change to promote, take advantage of, and appreciate a more intelligent
infrastructure in the long term.
Step 1: Vision
and roadmap
10. The Smart City Cornerstone: Urban Efficiency
Schneider Electric White Paper Revision 0 Page 9
When developing a smart city roadmap, the sheer number of technologies and solutions
available today can be overwhelming. This makes honing in on the most acute pain points
vital, and cities will often find that solving one pain point opens up opportunities for
improvements in other areas of the city’s infrastructure.
If a city faces water availability or disruption issues, implementing Supervisory Control And
Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems to manage water flow can bring 30% savings on the
energy used to manage the water systems, 20% reduction in water loss, and 20% reduction
in water outage. A recent project to bring energy effi ciency to four water treatment plants in
Beijing, China delivered a remarkable 52% reduction in energy usage, allowing the project to
pay for itself in less than 18 months, and create long-term cost savings that can be applied to
other smart city initiatives. Another programme at Europe’s largest water treatment plant in
Budapest, Hungary allowed for the effective treatment of 95% of wastewater — up from 54%
before the project. The results of these smart city initiatives save money, but just as
important, they help to ensure the availability of water for years to come.
Another example comes in traffic management— one of the largest obstacles for most cities.
Congestion is an issue in almost every major metropolitan area. Solutions exist today to
improve and optimize flow, manage traffic to cut down on clogged and bottle-necked
highways, and boost usage of electric vehicles to reduce pollution. These solutions, working
in cities like Mumbai and Rio de Janeiro, exchange information between systems and
agencies to coordinate traffic management and quickly respond to incidents.
Whether for water, traffic, or other domains —because these solutions also include a suite of
analytics, business intelligence, and decision support capabilities — cities are able to capture
actionable intelligence that identifies potential issues before they occur and make more
informed decisions.
The ability to identify these pain points within cities, deploy integrated and scalable solutions
with immediate results, and then leverage those results into other smart city initiatives,
requires strong technical and process expertise. This acumen, which relies on a deep
understanding of each system and experience in its underlying processes, is necessary to
design solutions effective in both short-term goals and in long-term vision (see Figure 5).
Step 2: Bringing
in the right
technology
Figure 5
Smart City services and
solutions cover a broad
range and can be deployed
in a modular fashion
11. The Smart City Cornerstone: Urban Efficiency
Schneider Electric White Paper Revision 0 Page 10
The use of information integration to create a smart city follows an evolutionary process as a
city becomes more advanced in using technology to manage infrastructure.
The key first step in the process is deployment of sensors throughout city infrastructure to
collect raw data, which is then transmitted through communications networks, either wireline
or wireless. Once the data is collected and available, real-time systems can use the data to
automate management of city infrastructure, resulting in significant performance and cost
advantages.
Integration of isolated systems and sharing of data yields further performance benefits
through coordinated actions and holistic management of the city as a system-of-systems (see
Figure 6). Once all of these factors are in place, cities can further leverage them to create
value by applying advanced analytics tools to support optimization, as well as provide data
back to city residents through public services which improve their daily lives in the city.
By measuring performance of city infrastructure systems, the government can identify
problem areas and track the effectiveness of solutions in achieving the city’s long-term goals.
Recent advances in technology have greatly improved the ability to gather tremendous
amounts of data about city infrastructure:
• Pervasive sensors enable cities to collect measurement data about energy, water,
transportation, and buildings systems in real-time.
• Low-cost communications and new communications protocols greatly simplify and
reduce the cost of gathering data collected by sensors. Protocols such as Zigbee® and
Bluetooth®, growth in Machine-to-Machine (M2M) networks, as well as continued
improvement in wireless and wire line communications technologies, enable cities to
affordably collect data from widely distributed networks of sensors.
• Real-time management systems automate the control of infrastructure systems,
improving the efficiency of infrastructure by optimizing performance.
• Advanced analytics make use of the large amount of raw data collected and translate it
into actionable intelligence, which a city can use to improve the performance of
infrastructure.
The city of Rio de Janeiro is a classic case study in the impact of data and system integration
to push toward a smart city vision. Eleven different control centres manage the city’s critical
Step 3:
Integration
Figure 6
An Integrated City
Management (ICM) platform
integrates multi-modal
transportation systems,
shares information between
agencies, and facilitates
management decision
support.
12. The Smart City Cornerstone: Urban Efficiency
Schneider Electric White Paper Revision 0 Page 11
infrastructure: electricity, water, oil, gas, public transportation, and urban traffic, air quality,
and airports.
Focusing on pain points within these functions, the city implemented a SCADA system to
improve the efficiency of its water distribution; a management system to better optimize its
electric grid; a CCTV surveillance system to improve community safety; and a traffic
management system. Alone, these deployments delivered significant benefits to each of their
respective systems. But Rio de Janeiro’s longer-term vision was to realize the benefits of
system integration. The city’s Intelligent Operations Centre (IOC) forms an advanced level of
intelligence, allowing a holistic view of all city systems and the opportunity for continuous
improvement based on data analysis. Today, over 50% of the IOC’s total city data is provided
by Schneider Electric systems.
In the wake of collapsing financial markets and uncertain revenue streams, it is no surprise
that many cities today find themselves short of cash. The revenue they do have must first be
allocated to essential operations and staff, and there is often little left over for upgrades,
retrofits, and other improvement measures.
But a large up-front investment is not a requisite for a smarter city. The most progressive
smart city players are tapping innovative financial and business models to make efficient
infrastructure a reality despite limited capital.
One of the most effective strategies is the use of energy saving performance contracts
(ESPCs), which in many countries make possible the funding of smart city projects from the
cost savings those projects generate.
ESPCs tap into the financial flexibility of the private sector to pay for energy, saving capital
upgrades in government and private commercial buildings with the energy savings realized
after project implementation. The initial capital investment is provided by the financial
community and the actual services are delivered by companies such as Schneider Electric, or
Step 4: Tapping
innovation
Figure 7
Weather Intelligence
Services cam provide data
that helps improve the
efficiency of a city’s
electricity distribution,
transportation, and
public safety.
13. The Smart City Cornerstone: Urban Efficiency
Schneider Electric White Paper Revision 0 Page 12
Energy Services Companies (ESCOs). The financier is paid back out of the accrued energy
savings, with the ESCO guaranteeing a certain level of savings or performance. If the
performance standards are not met, the ESCO is responsible for paying back the loan — not
the taxpayer. Most importantly, the city and its residents receive the benefits of having
highly efficient, modern systems that fulfil elements of a smart cities vision.
This simple and effective strategy has been successful in many regions, such as in the City
of Houston. There, Schneider Electric leveraged an ESPC to perform energy efficiency
retrofits on 40 municipal buildings — infrastructure upgrades that not only decreased the
city’s emissions and boosted its sustainability rating, but also saved the city $3 million
annually in energy and water costs.
At the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas, Schneider Electric leveraged this financial
model again to spur the creation of smart, sustainable buildings on the school’s campus,
saving the university over $14.6 million and reducing its energy consumption by 14%.
Smart city solution providers can also help cities to develop and implement other innovative
business models to generate needed improvement capital. This could include creating
additional streams of revenue realized as a fringe benefit of improving and collaborating
disparate public systems.
Advances in data analysis have enabled the mountains of data emerging from connecting city
systems to be turned into actionable information — and ultimately, revenue for cash strapped
cities. For example, a smart city would implement traffic management and monitoring
systems that provide real-time traffic data — for automotive, public transportation, and even
pedestrian traffic. The data these systems capture could then be sold to private businesses
who seek to understand traffic patterns to make decisions around new business
development, appropriate staffing levels for their businesses, and a host of other uses. The
smart city puts its data to work, for the benefit of the city, private businesses, and the local
economy as a whole.
Just as a city is the sum of its parts, the effective development and execution of a smart city
roadmap requires collaboration from all stakeholders. Each unique smart city plan and
roadmap requires collaboration with companies like Schneider Electric, global technology
providers, and local organizations best suited for the specific system improvements needed.
The smart cities emerging strongest will be those whose solution partners cast aside industry
competitiveness and political differences to bring the most comprehensive and best solutions
together.
This means sharing information across city departments, to break down silos; and involving
global leaders, with world-class capabilities, as well as local providers and stakeholders, who
know their cities the best. Success will come from combining public governance, people
ownership and business collaboration, driving communication between these groups by
giving each of them a true stake in the smart city built out of their community.
Multi-sector, multi-company business collaboration can bring innovative ideas to smart city
projects. The participation of Schneider Electric with other major global players in the World
Business Council for Sustainable Development’s Urban Infrastructure Initiative is one such
example. Bringing together 15 global industry leaders from all sectors*, this program offers
their combined expertise to cities around the world, including: Turku, Finland; Tilburg,
Netherlands; three cities in Gujarat, India; Guadalajara, Mexico; Kobe, Japan; and Yixing,
China.
The continuing digitization of our world, and its consequential need for a large and energy
intensive IT infrastructure, has brought the convergence of the energy and technology
Step 5: Driving
collaboration
15. Schneider Electric India Pvt. Ltd.
Corporate office
9th Floor, DLF Building No.10, Tower C, DLF Cyber
City, Phase II, Gurgaon - 122002, Haryana
Tel: 0124 3940400, Fax: 0124 4222036
www.schneider-electric.co.in
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