Taking in consideration what had happened in Paris and London last summer, and in Barcelona and Madrid the first week of 2015, in terms of high level of air pollution, it is necessary to introduce the main topics which are responsible for pollution in the cities.
Figure 1_Example of a street in Paris, The Champs Elysees, where is able to see the high level of traffic and in consequence, the high level of emissions, reason for what this summer, Paris was in the alarm levels of Air Pollution_Source: Javier Sanchez Rios
Knowing that Humans started living in communities with the discovery of agriculture, being no necessary moving to find food.
The first communities established, as it is known the actual concept of city, it was located in Western Asia. Nowadays, the 50% of people lives in cities, and it is going to be increasing in the next years, being a necessity a properly management of the cities.
In this blog it is going to be considered an introduction of the situation for two most important topics related to the management of the city, in circunstance of high level of Air Pollution: Energy, including Mobility and Waste Mangement.
Of course, it is possible to find webs with a different and deeper information regardig the concept of Smart City, e.g.: by City Protocol Organization, Smart City Business Institute, Smart Cities Council, C40, Ecocity Builders, or from different locations; European Union, Japan, Brazil, etc.
For having in consideration Energy, it is necessary to understand what is the mix generation of energy which the city is supplied, of course being the challenge to have a 100% renewable energy supplied city. Analyzing the 100% of the resources, it is possible to know what is really the greenhouse emissions just in the energy supplying.
In this blog, is going to be taken the example of Barcelona, being the first Smart City in Spain, 4th in Europe and number 10th in the world.
If it is taken energy, it is necessary to understand that Barcelona receives electricity from different sources; nuclear plant in southern Catalonia, thermal power plants located in the same city, co-generation plants, some hydraulic and wind energy which are located in south and north Catalonia, being far from the city, and having the necessity to transport this electricty. In terms of fuel and gas, the port of Barcelona is the hub for this supplying.
For getting more details about energy supply in Barcelona, please go to Barcelona Energy Agency.
Figure 2_Map of Electric Transmission and Distribution Systems and the Power Stations for producing electricity to Barcelona Metropolitan Area. Being the main supplying station Vandellos - nuclear power plant - in southern Catalonia_source:
Mapas de la Red Ree by the Spanish Transmission System Operation (TSO) - Click on the picture to enlarge.
Of course, when is proposed the idea of Smart City, the main topic is, the reduction of pollution. Knowing this pollution mainly is created by waste management, and energy consumption, including mobility by fossil fuels, it is necessary to take a view about this situation.
Figure 1_Example of a street in Paris, The Champs Elysees, where is able to see the high level of traffic and in consequence, the high level of emissions, reason for what this summer, Paris was in the alarm levels of Air Pollution_Source: Javier Sanchez Rios
Knowing that Humans started living in communities with the discovery of agriculture, being no necessary moving to find food.
The first communities established, as it is known the actual concept of city, it was located in Western Asia. Nowadays, the 50% of people lives in cities, and it is going to be increasing in the next years, being a necessity a properly management of the cities.
In this blog it is going to be considered an introduction of the situation for two most important topics related to the management of the city, in circunstance of high level of Air Pollution: Energy, including Mobility and Waste Mangement.
Of course, it is possible to find webs with a different and deeper information regardig the concept of Smart City, e.g.: by City Protocol Organization, Smart City Business Institute, Smart Cities Council, C40, Ecocity Builders, or from different locations; European Union, Japan, Brazil, etc.
For having in consideration Energy, it is necessary to understand what is the mix generation of energy which the city is supplied, of course being the challenge to have a 100% renewable energy supplied city. Analyzing the 100% of the resources, it is possible to know what is really the greenhouse emissions just in the energy supplying.
In this blog, is going to be taken the example of Barcelona, being the first Smart City in Spain, 4th in Europe and number 10th in the world.
If it is taken energy, it is necessary to understand that Barcelona receives electricity from different sources; nuclear plant in southern Catalonia, thermal power plants located in the same city, co-generation plants, some hydraulic and wind energy which are located in south and north Catalonia, being far from the city, and having the necessity to transport this electricty. In terms of fuel and gas, the port of Barcelona is the hub for this supplying.
For getting more details about energy supply in Barcelona, please go to Barcelona Energy Agency.
Figure 2_Map of Electric Transmission and Distribution Systems and the Power Stations for producing electricity to Barcelona Metropolitan Area. Being the main supplying station Vandellos - nuclear power plant - in southern Catalonia_source:
Mapas de la Red Ree by the Spanish Transmission System Operation (TSO) - Click on the picture to enlarge.
Of course, when is proposed the idea of Smart City, the main topic is, the reduction of pollution. Knowing this pollution mainly is created by waste management, and energy consumption, including mobility by fossil fuels, it is necessary to take a view about this situation.
For achievement this self-sufficient
cities, energy and waste treatment it has to be
considered such as most important issues. It is possible to give examples in
small scale, in terms of Zero-energy Buildings, which the energy demand is
covered by renewable energies and energy efficiency, e.g.: Honda House, and at the same time,
policies which follow the rule of three R: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, in terms of recycling policy, considering the great amount of waste generated by the population.
For reducing the air pollution in
the cities, new Mobility will play an important role. First action is reducing
vehicles in the center of the cities, like it was implemented in London, with the payment to enter in Central London, but
being supported by alternatives, mostly in public transport,
car sharing, bycicle etc., and giving preference to vehicles of zero-emissions and the charging infrastructure in its different technologies, e.g.: EV and FCV.
The put in motion the European law, it is necessary to create incentives for buying zero-emissions vehicles and proposals for EV charging systems supplied by renewable energies, for closing the complete life-cycle of zero-emissions. Similarly, the implementation of Fuel Cells systems for supplying Fuel Cell Vehicles (FCV), by electrolysis systems or by natural gas, taking the actual Natural Gas (NG) grid.
This web showns examples taken in Germany with the "Schaufenster elektromobilität projekt", which englobes electromobility project around different "Landes".
At the same time, other great possibility for implementing the EV, is reducing the electric tariff during nights for leveling the demand during off-peaks, from 1 to 5 night, in times of recharging EV.
The put in motion the European law, it is necessary to create incentives for buying zero-emissions vehicles and proposals for EV charging systems supplied by renewable energies, for closing the complete life-cycle of zero-emissions. Similarly, the implementation of Fuel Cells systems for supplying Fuel Cell Vehicles (FCV), by electrolysis systems or by natural gas, taking the actual Natural Gas (NG) grid.
This web showns examples taken in Germany with the "Schaufenster elektromobilität projekt", which englobes electromobility project around different "Landes".
At the same time, other great possibility for implementing the EV, is reducing the electric tariff during nights for leveling the demand during off-peaks, from 1 to 5 night, in times of recharging EV.
Similarly, the zero-emissions
buildings supplied by Photovoltaic (PV) energy and other systems - see Figure 5 - letter B as example of small wind energy- in areas with no great sun irradiation,
small wind energy or geothermal energy, will be a great solution, of course, considering energy efficiency. For
supplying the energy which is not able to cover the energy demand in
buildings, it is necessary to support by renewable energies, if is possible in the cities, or if not, out of the cities. For
being able to do that, storage systems will be the most important solution,
even with batteries, in a lot of cases coming from EV and the hydrogen coming
from electrolysis, mostly in wind farms, because Wind and PV Power has
issues of intermittency.
Figure 3_Example, ride side, of parkings in Barcelona City, where is possible to see the high number of motorcycles. Just as information, Barcelona is after Rome, the second city with more number of motorcycles in Europe. This is able to give an idea of the reduction in the emissions if this motorcycles are zero-emissions motorcycles. On the left of the picture, it is possible to see one scooter waiting for having the complete load in a Charging station in Mode 1 in Center of Barcelona._Source: Javier Sanchez Rios
Figure 4_Example of Electric Motorcycle made by the students by UPC, and connected to the program MotoStudent. Also it is enclose some proposals of Electric Vehicles exposition in Barcelona, and motorcycles in the market: Bultaco, Yamaha, Zero-Motorcycles, BMW.
Figure 5_In the top, an example of Electric bicycle, saw during the 2014 Smart City Expo in Barcelona. In the bottom, example of parking full of bicycles of the program of bicycle mobility in Barcelona. It must to be considered, this program has implemented the Electric bicycle due to the geografic situation of Barcelona, being a city which is closed by mountains and sea, for users is very usefull the program to go down from the top of the city to the places close to the center, and close to the sea, but the problem is, when users want to come back, in this case, are using public transport, e.g.: underground, bus, etc., and the management of the system must to carry the bicycles from the center of the city to the places closer to the mountains, being a system not profitable. For that reason, the system is implementing the electric bicycle, for reducing this impact and being more useful to come back to all locations in the city.
Figure 6_Examples of sustainability in the Smart Cities.
A: example of Photovoltaic system in a parking of the town train station in the Metropolitan Area. B: example in the same town of a small wind energy. C: example of post for indicating the time arrival of buses with a small photovoltaic panel on the top in Barcelona City, in concrete in Avinguda Diagonal.
D: example of train which communicates Barcelona city with other close cities, in this case Girona or Figueres, in northern Catalonia, and operated by the National Rail Company, see Renfe. E: example of train which communicates the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona. F: example of bin with TV screen, the system is supplied by photovoltaic panel on the top, system exposed on 2014 Smart City Expo, this micro-grid system opens the possibility to have a communication system for indicating when the bin is full in off-grid system, of course with storage system included.
G: example of hybrid bus in Barcelona city from the Metropolitan transport company, logo shown in letter I. See also examples of 100% battery Electric Coach Bus. H: example of tram which operates in Barcelona.
I: logo of TMB, in catalan: "Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona". J: example of hybrid taxi. K: example of electric vehicle. F: example of generator which uses biodiesel fuel.
It must to be considered that the EV implementation is able to be a solution worldwide, not just for air pollution reductions, at the same time, in some countries, like in case of Spain and Australia, cases which the crisis made the demand of electricity decreased, leaving a great number of electric generation systems out of the pool, for being non competitive in terms of cost-of-energy. With the implementation of EV, the demand will be higher, and this electric generation systems which right now are out of the Electric Market pool, it will be again in the pool.
Regarding waste treatment, it is necessary to consider Germany as example, in terms of reusing; glass, plastic bottles and aluminum cans, with a program which is paying for bottles, cans, etc., in the supermarkets, and then, having no necessity for recycling at 100% of waste, for reusing, with the energy consumption and pollution it represents. This solution is reducing the plastic bags, metal and glass bottles in the environment, which in other systems get great consequence in the wildlife.
In the recycling process, it is necessary to get technological systems with less level of environmental impact - reducing or eliminating greenhouse gas emissions - or creating biodegradable or organic materials.
Of course, also is important that the rubbish collection is made by zero-emission vehicles, because is well known the high level of distance which is covered by this vehicles.
Figure 7_Example of different kind of containers in Barcelona Metropolitan area. On the top, in brown colour, containers for organic material, in yellow for packaging, green for glass and blue for paper, the grey are used for all with exception of organic, of course, it needs to be separated in the waste treatment plant, increasing the cost. In the bottom, the rectangular green is for clothes, normally for use those clothes such as second hand clothes or used like trags to use in the industry.
Regarding waste management, is important to give training to the population for reducing the level of waste, in terms of buying product which reduce the volume of packagings, buying in bulk, like our fathers did, even using the packaging for a high number of times. In Europe, it is well known, that is wasted a great amount of food, knowing in countries like Spain, some part of the population has serius problems for having a properly feeding.
Figure 8_Example of Electric Vehicles for waste collection_source: Javier Sanchez Rios
On the other hand, it is necessary to think about the systems which will control all the processes in this Smart City.
For getting the complete control of all the infrastructure of the city, not just energy, sustainable mobility and waste treatement, IT solutions, will communicate all the processes, operating in all kind of communication system - optical, wired, wireless, Power Line Communication (PLC), etc., will play a role in this Smart City.
Figure 9_Picture of the telecomunication tower in the olimpic village in Barcelona_source: Javier Sanchez Rios
Similarly, other important question is what systems will operate all the topics of the city, which software and big data systems, including IoT - which is spected to have a great economic growth - not only for managing the exposed in this blog, all systems which is able to be in a city, which will be increasing and changing day by day, e.g.: Wonderware of Schneider Electric, SAP, Cisco, Abertis, Telefonica, Oracle, GDF Suez, Thales.
Connecting to this last point, one project which is necessary to consider, and is able to expose what is really this Smart City is and will be, is a project which is involving a lot of different partners and public institutions, in this case companies - Schneider Electric and Cisco Systems - and Barcelona City Council, the project is called Ca l'Alier.
Figure 10_Domestic Data Streamers in the Smart City Expo in Barcelona in novembre 2014_source: Javier Sanchez Rios
PS: It must to be considered, the Smart City envolves a great number of topics which is impossible to describe in detail in one blog. The intention of this blog is just getting the introduction to the main points which must to manage the policy makers and the city population in general, for mitigating pollution, and the great possibilities which offers Smart Cities, and considering which will be a particulary case of study in every city, for different particularities.
Javier Sanchez Rios
javiersanchezrios@gmail.com
Figure 3_Example, ride side, of parkings in Barcelona City, where is possible to see the high number of motorcycles. Just as information, Barcelona is after Rome, the second city with more number of motorcycles in Europe. This is able to give an idea of the reduction in the emissions if this motorcycles are zero-emissions motorcycles. On the left of the picture, it is possible to see one scooter waiting for having the complete load in a Charging station in Mode 1 in Center of Barcelona._Source: Javier Sanchez Rios
Figure 4_Example of Electric Motorcycle made by the students by UPC, and connected to the program MotoStudent. Also it is enclose some proposals of Electric Vehicles exposition in Barcelona, and motorcycles in the market: Bultaco, Yamaha, Zero-Motorcycles, BMW.
Figure 5_In the top, an example of Electric bicycle, saw during the 2014 Smart City Expo in Barcelona. In the bottom, example of parking full of bicycles of the program of bicycle mobility in Barcelona. It must to be considered, this program has implemented the Electric bicycle due to the geografic situation of Barcelona, being a city which is closed by mountains and sea, for users is very usefull the program to go down from the top of the city to the places close to the center, and close to the sea, but the problem is, when users want to come back, in this case, are using public transport, e.g.: underground, bus, etc., and the management of the system must to carry the bicycles from the center of the city to the places closer to the mountains, being a system not profitable. For that reason, the system is implementing the electric bicycle, for reducing this impact and being more useful to come back to all locations in the city.
A: example of Photovoltaic system in a parking of the town train station in the Metropolitan Area. B: example in the same town of a small wind energy. C: example of post for indicating the time arrival of buses with a small photovoltaic panel on the top in Barcelona City, in concrete in Avinguda Diagonal.
D: example of train which communicates Barcelona city with other close cities, in this case Girona or Figueres, in northern Catalonia, and operated by the National Rail Company, see Renfe. E: example of train which communicates the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona. F: example of bin with TV screen, the system is supplied by photovoltaic panel on the top, system exposed on 2014 Smart City Expo, this micro-grid system opens the possibility to have a communication system for indicating when the bin is full in off-grid system, of course with storage system included.
G: example of hybrid bus in Barcelona city from the Metropolitan transport company, logo shown in letter I. See also examples of 100% battery Electric Coach Bus. H: example of tram which operates in Barcelona.
I: logo of TMB, in catalan: "Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona". J: example of hybrid taxi. K: example of electric vehicle. F: example of generator which uses biodiesel fuel.
It must to be considered that the EV implementation is able to be a solution worldwide, not just for air pollution reductions, at the same time, in some countries, like in case of Spain and Australia, cases which the crisis made the demand of electricity decreased, leaving a great number of electric generation systems out of the pool, for being non competitive in terms of cost-of-energy. With the implementation of EV, the demand will be higher, and this electric generation systems which right now are out of the Electric Market pool, it will be again in the pool.
Regarding waste treatment, it is necessary to consider Germany as example, in terms of reusing; glass, plastic bottles and aluminum cans, with a program which is paying for bottles, cans, etc., in the supermarkets, and then, having no necessity for recycling at 100% of waste, for reusing, with the energy consumption and pollution it represents. This solution is reducing the plastic bags, metal and glass bottles in the environment, which in other systems get great consequence in the wildlife.
In the recycling process, it is necessary to get technological systems with less level of environmental impact - reducing or eliminating greenhouse gas emissions - or creating biodegradable or organic materials.
Of course, also is important that the rubbish collection is made by zero-emission vehicles, because is well known the high level of distance which is covered by this vehicles.
Figure 7_Example of different kind of containers in Barcelona Metropolitan area. On the top, in brown colour, containers for organic material, in yellow for packaging, green for glass and blue for paper, the grey are used for all with exception of organic, of course, it needs to be separated in the waste treatment plant, increasing the cost. In the bottom, the rectangular green is for clothes, normally for use those clothes such as second hand clothes or used like trags to use in the industry.
Regarding waste management, is important to give training to the population for reducing the level of waste, in terms of buying product which reduce the volume of packagings, buying in bulk, like our fathers did, even using the packaging for a high number of times. In Europe, it is well known, that is wasted a great amount of food, knowing in countries like Spain, some part of the population has serius problems for having a properly feeding.
Figure 8_Example of Electric Vehicles for waste collection_source: Javier Sanchez Rios
On the other hand, it is necessary to think about the systems which will control all the processes in this Smart City.
For getting the complete control of all the infrastructure of the city, not just energy, sustainable mobility and waste treatement, IT solutions, will communicate all the processes, operating in all kind of communication system - optical, wired, wireless, Power Line Communication (PLC), etc., will play a role in this Smart City.
Similarly, other important question is what systems will operate all the topics of the city, which software and big data systems, including IoT - which is spected to have a great economic growth - not only for managing the exposed in this blog, all systems which is able to be in a city, which will be increasing and changing day by day, e.g.: Wonderware of Schneider Electric, SAP, Cisco, Abertis, Telefonica, Oracle, GDF Suez, Thales.
Connecting to this last point, one project which is necessary to consider, and is able to expose what is really this Smart City is and will be, is a project which is involving a lot of different partners and public institutions, in this case companies - Schneider Electric and Cisco Systems - and Barcelona City Council, the project is called Ca l'Alier.
PS: It must to be considered, the Smart City envolves a great number of topics which is impossible to describe in detail in one blog. The intention of this blog is just getting the introduction to the main points which must to manage the policy makers and the city population in general, for mitigating pollution, and the great possibilities which offers Smart Cities, and considering which will be a particulary case of study in every city, for different particularities.
Javier Sanchez Rios
javiersanchezrios@gmail.com
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