Join the dots: How smart urban communities can better harness renewables, empower communities, and decarbonize cities

Smart urban communities making efficient use of building space, energy and mobility could help urban centers to curb carbon emissions and drive energy transition. Siemens Smart Infrastructure’s Matthias Rebellius and IRENA’s Gauri Singh discuss the need for innovation and collaboration at a localized level in order to deliver urban decarbonization.

Cities account for more than two-thirds of global energy consumption and create up to three-quarters of energy-related CO? emissions. According to the UN, 2007 marked a tipping point, when the global urban population overtook those living in rural areas. Mass urbanization continues apace: By 2050, the global proportion of city dwellers is forecast to stand at more than two-thirds (68%) – some seven billion people.

Therefore, as we seek to reduce carbon emissions and engender energy transition, considerations around how we design, power, and navigate our cities will play a fundamental role in dictating our success.

“As engines of the economy, cities are key actors in energy transition and the importance of their role will only strengthen,” says Gauri Singh , deputy director-general of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). “Cities can be target-setters, planners and regulators, facilitators, and financiers of renewable energy projects. They can also be important awareness builders, given their access to large populations.”

There are clear targets at which urban #decarbonization strategies can aim, not least buildings and transport networks. There are opportunities to set standards and municipal building codes, to promote rooftop solar systems for heating and cooling, and to leverage renewables to power homes, offices, industry, and public transport. The question, however, is how all this can be achieved at scale without disrupting economic activity and negatively impacting citizenry.?

“Our world is increasingly urban,” says Matthias Rebellius , CEO of Siemens Infrastructure . “Ensuring that those who live and work in urban areas are healthy and happy requires buildings that are intelligently controlled, safe and responsive; power supplies that are efficient, reliable and flexible; and smart solutions for eMobility. It means leveraging the opportunities brought by digitalization to create future-ready sustainable communities.”?

Decarbonizing the urban community

By their very nature, cities are complex and multifaceted. They have usually slowly evolved over time rather than being planned as integrated entities.?

“It is far too complex to address the city as a whole,” remarks Rebellius. “If we simplify the complexity, however, and break it down to smaller parts, we will have urban areas that are much more manageable in size, but complex enough to map the challenges and possibilities of a city.”?

Each urban community – an environment where the buildings, land, and facilities are contained in a clearly defined area – are perfect starting points for urban transformation. They are big enough to address issues such as the design of public space, energy-efficient buildings, and sustainable #mobility, but offer a manageable scale upon which to innovate.?

“Each specific city faces its own reality in terms of how centralized its governance structures may or may not be, meaning what works in one place may not be appropriate in another,” says Singh. “Solutions need to be tailored to local circumstances, needs, and priorities. The more that a particular district or neighborhood is consulted and given a voice, the more its population and its businesses may support the policy approaches taken.”?

Breaking down cities into districts, using the concept of the smart urban community, provides clarity in targeting energy transition and decarbonization while adding social and economic value.?

Such smart urban communities already exist. One example is the Aspern Lakeside in Vienna , which serves as an environment to test and develop sustainable and innovative energy, environment, building, and smart grid technologies.?

“It is Europe’s most innovative and sustainable energy efficiency project – an ideal place for research into the energy future of cities,” Rebellius explains. “It comprises smart buildings, for example, that are supplied with 100% renewable energy and provide flexibility via a virtual power plant. Another field of research is smart charging solutions, where just recently an innovative digital twin has been tested. These projects show once more that grid-edge technologies are of prime importance when it comes to leveraging the potential of smart cities.?

“The expansion of decentralized, renewable energy production is leading to a fundamental transformation of the energy system,” Rebellius adds. “The electricity, heat, and mobility sectors will increasingly converge – what is called ‘sector coupling’ – and it will lead to a restructuring of urban infrastructures .”?

Green innovation

Underpinning these trends is #digitalization, which enables smart buildings, grids, and infrastructure. Digitalization supports the growing accessibility of cheaper renewable energy generation to enable consumers to become prosumers. IRENA reports that since 2009, the average cost of solar PV has fallen by 80%.?

“Solar solutions tend to be the most applicable to the urban context because they can be deployed at varying scales and on building rooftops,” says Singh. “Direct use of geothermal heat is another underutilized option for cities. There is also biomass, such as biomethane from landfills. Wastewater sludge from municipal wastewater treatment plants can be a cost-effective way to produce low-cost transport fuels.”?

The development of digital models, already used for individual buildings and networks, could also be extended to city districts and larger urban areas.?

“The potential of such digital twins for smart infrastructure is enormous,” says Rebellius. “They will form the basis for the interactions of all participants in the smart city ecosystem. The individual urban community – be it a city district, an airport, a hospital, or an industrial plant – will be part of this ecosystem.”?

“#BigData already plays a role today, but much more will be needed moving forward,” believes Singh. “Big data analytics will be integral to the management and optimization of increasingly complex and integrated urban energy systems. Such a system will need to be more agile and interoperable to ensure that system operation is reliable, stable, and safe. Without long-term policy signals, however, investors, developers, and consumers may lose confidence. All stakeholders should be involved in the policymaking process to ensure a transition that is tailored for local communities.”?

The technology is increasingly in place to enable urban decarbonization, and the urban community-based approach can leverage that technology to maximum effect. As long as there is a clear and coherent policy framework, the city of the future will be smarter, greener, and more flexible than ever before.?

Find more information about our SiemensXcelerator grid software, which enables Lakeside Vienna to increase grid capacity, in this press release . This article originally appeared on Energymonitor.ai

?

?