FEATURE SMART BUILDINGS & IOT
Harnessing the power of data to turn urban challenges into smart opportunities
Ram Ramachander, co-head of Hitachi's Social
Innovation Business in Europe, discusses how smart technology within ‘smart cities’ will bring real
benefits to their citizens W
e are facing unprecedented global population growth and mass urbanisation.
In fact, it is estimated that 70 per cent of the world’s population will be living in cities by 2020. Most cities are not equipped to deal with this influx of people and the subsequent strain on resources and infrastructure. To solve these issues, cities must become smart. In a smart city, data is collected from Internet of Things (IoT) devices and fed back autonomously to a control centre, which allows decisions to be made in real time about the best way to deal with an issue. This ability to monitor and react to situations in real-time will lead to huge efficiency savings across a number of industries as infrastructure becomes increasingly connected and streamlined. Two aspects of city life that will greatly benefit from this technology are transport and energy.
ON THE ROAD TO SMART With nine million deaths from air pollution worldwide, many impacted by congested cities, there is an urgent need to overhaul our urban transport systems. The first steps to improve air quality have already begun – 2017 was the first year to see over one million electric cars sold globally and it is predicted that the demand for electric vehicles will grow by 20 million units per year until 2025. According to a new whitepaper on urban transport by Hitachi, this will be aided by the expected drop in the price of electric vehicles by 15-20 per cent. The growth in electric vehicle use will go some way towards reducing air pollution levels in urban areas, which will also make smart cities healthier places to live. At a policy level, governments have already
started to push urban air quality improvement to the top of the agenda. Certain cities have announced initiatives to penalise the most polluting vehicles, with London’s Ultra-Low Emissions Zone planning to charge high- polluting cars, motorbikes and vans between £12.50 - £100 to drive through the city centre from 2019, in a bid to improve the air quality in the UK capital. However, the game changer for tackling congestion will come from smart technology. With over 50 billion connected
26 APRIL 2018 | ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
devices expected by 2025, ‘vehicle to everything’ systems will link our vehicles to related infrastructure, such as traffic lights and public transport timetables. By having everything connected, authorities will have the ability to control traffic much more effectively. It is predicted that this technology has the potential to reduce emissions by 10 per cent and thus improve road safety, congestion levels and air quality in our cities.
GOING FOR GREEN It is not, however, just transport that needs to be revolutionised as we look towards a sustainable future. Cities are the heaviest consumers of energy, responsible for 50-60 per cent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. If we are to successfully tackle climate change and meet the goals set by COP21, cities must find a way of meeting this rising energy demand without harming the environment. This challenge offers huge opportunities for both governments and businesses to develop and invest in smart, clean technology to make the generation, distribution, consumption and management of energy more sustainable. However, existing infrastructure and ageing
power grids are not equipped to integrate new renewable energy. The creation of smart energy infrastructure, with in-built digital intelligence, is one way of transforming how energy is generated, distributed, managed and stored. Smart grids and smart meters, examples of this type of technology, are powered by demand response models allowing intelligent monitoring and control over the distribution and direction of energy. In its latest whitepaper on the future of digital energy, Hitachi has predicted that there will be over 100 million
smart meters globally by 2025, which will simultaneously make our consumption of energy more efficient whilst helping to tackle climate change. To help urban energy systems become more
efficient, governments and businesses have already begun to integrate smart technology into infrastructure. As part of the Smart Energy Islands project, Hitachi has partnered with the EU and the main stakeholders on the Isles of Scilly – including the Council, local businesses, the Duchy of Cornwall and Tresco Island – to create a smart energy system using the IoT. The programme is investigating whether renewable technology, such as solar panels and batteries, can be used more efficiently by connecting to smart energy systems via an IoT platform. Hitachi is involved in the development and management of the supply, storage and demand of electricity in this partnership and its work aims to help reduce the price of energy on the Isles of Scilly by 40 per cent. This Smart Islands Partnership has begun testing its research on a smaller energy capacity, in the hope that it can be scaled up and impact larger areas, such as cities.
WELCOME TO A SMART CITY Smart cities are not just a concept; they will make a tangible contribution to society whilst mitigating the challenges we are currently facing. To make ‘smart cities’ a reality, governments, businesses and individuals must collaborate to deliver real change. Although technology does have answers for challenges today, the potential for it to bring benefits to society and positively impact people’s lives in the future is vast.
www.hitachi.eu/en-gb
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