UNPLUG ??

Dear readers and friends,

Imagine life without electricity?. Would you be able to get to work?, cook?, or heat??your house? If you live in an urban area the answer is most likely no?.

Digitalization??is changing the way we live, with more automated and internet-connected devices than ever before, making the effects of power failure??far greater. European cities are poorly prepared for power outages.

Power outages pose serious problems??in terms of safety, domestic life, transportation, work, heating, nutrition, leisure, and healthcare. European cities are dependent on electricity to function.??How can we become less vulnerable to power failures and mitigate their effects on urban areas?

1.?ELECTRICITY?: HOW LONG COULD WE SURVIVE WITHOUT IT?

Most urban citizens rely heavily on electricity in daily life. The pumps bringing water??to apartments and houses are dependent on electricity?.?There are important functions in our society that cannot function without?ELECTRICITY.

2.?HOW WOULD YOUR CITY?COPE WITHOUT ELECTRICITY?

The beauty of the electricity grid is that it’s a way to ‘pipe’ energy from where it is generated to a large number of homes and businesses. When we plug our smartphone in to charge?, we’re effectively opening the gate to a?SUPPLY?of high-voltage electricity delivered to us, via a series of cables, from our local power plant.

3.?LIFE WITH NO ELECTRICITY?

Taking away electricity means rethinking??your entire day and planning how you can function without the means of simply plugging something in. No electricity results in a complete loss of normality?.

We are exploring alternative?ENERGY?sources, living off the grid, and how life with no electricity impacts us, to make you think, could you live without electricity?

4.?WHERE A BILLION PEOPLE??STILL LIVE WITHOUT ELECTRICITY

Sustainability often means a better light bulb?, or a new lithium-ion battery??in an electric car?, or a smarter way of powering all the appliances we’ve long since grown dependent on.?In the coming decades, we have to figure out how to rein in?ENERGY?use as a planet??– while ramping up alternative sources of it – even as we deliver electricity for the first time to 17 percent of the world’s population.

5.?1.3 BILLION ARE LIVING IN THE DARK?

Around the world, 1.3 billion people lack access to electricity.?Providing electric?POWER?to these unserved populations will cause a significant jump??in demand in the coming decades. As electricity-generating capacity inevitably grows ever larger, countries will not be able to avoid the increased use of fossil fuels as well – and especially coal.

6.?BEYOND SMART CITIES: POWERING??NEW GRIDS

The next generation of super-cities promises to be??“smart by design”. New technology??allows optimization efficiency at all levels, without any hangovers of outdated technology.?Take a look at the super-cities under construction that will redefine urban?POWER.

7.?WHAT IS A FUTURE??WITHOUT ELECTRICITY?

If we take a look at the big picture,?ELECTRICITY??has not been a part of our human experience for such a long time. Invented??in 1879 and spread out across the world in the 20th century, it is hard to imagine a life without it, at least for a ‘’modern’’ human. But, can you imagine a future without electricity?

Stay creative and see you all next week!?

Daniela