- The ancient French city of Lyon is receiving €50 million (£41 million) of investment from Japanese energy company Nedo as part of its smart city project. The investment will be used to showcase emerging and experimental energy technologies across the city. The demonstration includes projects to develop buildings which produce more clean energy than they consume, a fleet of electric vehicles available from different locations in Lyon, a tablet app to let citizens monitor home energy consumption and a centralized data analysis system for the area.
- New measures will require developers applying for planning permission for the majority of onshore wind developments to consult the community before submitting an application. This new requirement for pre-application consultation would cover all projects involving more than two turbines and any proposal for a turbine more than 15 metres high. The measures are due to be laid before Parliament shortly and will come into force before the end of the year.
- Amsterdam, Barcelona and San Francisco have agreed a multi-city platform for sharing mobile device data. Mobile dashboard apps will let city officials streamline operations and share best practice from partnered cities. Meanwhile, citizens will also be able to use apps to improve public places. The deal will be delivered in partnership with technology developed by start-up Cityzenith, which hopes to tap data that is currently unused and uncollected.
- It makes sense that Europe would try to take a lead in developing smarter, more sustainable cities for the 21st century. While it’s far from the most populous continent, it is one of the most urbanized, with more than two-thirds of its people living in cities. Greenbang’s Shirley Siluk investigates the advantages and disadvantages facing Europe on the sustainability front.
- Silver Spring Networks has introduced a Network-as-a-Service offering to emerging smart cities. At the Barcelona Smart City Expo, the company claimed the service will let cities roll out smart city networks quickly and avoid upfront infrastructure and deployment costs. The network could be developed over time to introduce a wide range of smart functions such as lighting, congestion relief, electric vehicle charging networks and rich data analysis.
- The Smart City Council has published its Smart Cities Council Readiness Guide. The guide is a “collaborative and comprehensive framework for a smart city, against which cities can assess their readiness to innovate – identifying a path, taking next steps and measuring progress”. The guide outlines best practice and principles around subjects such as energy, transportation, water and public safety to help city leaders make informed decisions about the roadmap to a smarter city. The guide is available from the Smart City Council website (registration required).
- Phillips is to install LED lights at 25 parking garages at Washington Metro stations. The project will reduce electricity use by 68 per cent. BusinessGreen reports that what’s significant about the deal is that Phillips is financing the installation, which will require no capital investment upfront for the municipal authority. Instead, Phillips will take a return of around of $2 million based on annual energy savings. The report advises that financial innovation is the best way for clean tech companies to drive adoption of new products to city councils with restricted budgets.
- Failing to create a global framework for carbon pricing will hurt investments from clean energy and low-carbon projects, according to a report from the World Energy Council (WEC). The report — ‘World Energy Trilemma: Time to get real – the agent for change’ — offers a 10-point action plan for addressing sustainability, energy equity and energy security.
- The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and consultancy Arup have issued a call for greater use of data in the UK building industry. Greater use of data during the planning and design process will make it easier for councils and planners to build smarter cities. The report makes three recommendations: 1. Better coordination between government departments to realize a smart future. 2. Facilitate the digitization of the planning process. 3. The UK Government should work with professionals to incorporate and develop smart design data specific to the built environment. The report is available from the RIBA website.
The post Smart-city news in review: Nov. 22, 2013 appeared first on Greenbang.
