Through software, AI and Big Data, cities are transforming the way they generate electricity, deliver drinking water and build the clean transportation systems of the future.
In Montgomery, AL, a network of road sensors infused with artificial intelligence (AI) is saving time, money and exhaust emissions by reducing the need for municipal repair crews to drive around inspecting streets and highways.
In Philadelphia, the local transit authority rolled out 25 all-electric buses, powered by a digitally controlled charging system, to become the biggest zero-emissions bus fleet on the East Coast.
At San Diego’s main airport, a powerful battery storage system will begin capturing energy from solar panels to provide power when the sun’s not shining, with software orchestrating the interplay of electricity between the panels, the batteries and local utility grid.
In cities like Raleigh, NC; Cleveland, OH and San Jose, CA, some commercial buildings and factories are incorporating safe, smart and sustainable electrification technologies — intelligent climate, light and security management, communication systems and electric vehicle fast chargers — to increase efficiencies and reduce impact to the grid.
All around the country the long-promised benefits of these digital technologies are taking hold, as local governments, businesses and utility companies collaborate to counter the climate change they know is having major impacts at the local level. And those of us in the technology industry have a crucial role to play.
Through software, AI and Big Data, cities are transforming the way they generate and use electricity, treat wastewater and deliver drinking water, and build the clean-energy transportation systems of the future. Such investments are key to combating climate change, but they can also save money while making cities more livable.
Cities have a crucial role in curbing climate change. That’s because cities consume more than two-thirds of the nation’s energy and account for up to 70% of U.S. global greenhouse gas emissions. In the U.S. and around the world, urbanization will only increase in coming decades.
If we can make our cities greener this will go a long way toward our national response to this global challenge. And as it turns out, many of the improvements can be achieved by something our country is already very good at: technological innovation. Tomorrowland is today
Too often, the "smart cities" concept has been discussed as a Tomorrowland abstraction. Or it’s even derided as technology in search of a problem — as detailed in a 2019 op-ed by a civil engineering professor, who seemed to assume that smart city ideas amount to little more than metered garbage cans texting the Sanitation Department when they need emptying.
But the smartest thinking on smart cities tends to look at the bigger challenges, like climate change, where digital technologies can make a meaningful, sustainable difference.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Maryrose Sylvester
Quelle/Source: Smart Cities Dive, 15.01.2020
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