Integration toward a Smarter World Innovative projects help improve society and the environment Gabriela EhrlichUnder the leadership of IEC Vice-President Hiromishi Fujisawa, the Open Session of the 78th IEC General Meeting provided an interesting overview of several different projects that all aim to integrate complex systems in order to achieve better outcomes for society and the environment.
Balancing quality of life and sustainability The session was opened by Mitsubishi Electric President and CEO Masaki Sakuyama who in his key-note address presented some of the challenges society faces to balance quality of life for citizens with the need to protect the environment and natural resources. This balancing act is made more difficult by an increasing occurrence of natural disasters such as typhoons, droughts and wildfires as well as growing urbanization, which complicates the reliable provision of energy, food and water. Massive concentration of populations also leads to increased pollution, traffic congestion, and concerns for public safety.
Better outcomes through technology Sakuyama pointed to three key technology fields that promise to contribute to a Smarter World: sustainable energy generation, optimized transportation systems and industrial automation.
In particular, he outlined an innovative approach to power generation from renewable energy combined with hydrogen-based energy generation and storage to build a hydrogen grid. As a result the use of fossil fuels is strongly reduced. Sakuyama also explained how broad scale energy management and regenerative energy technologies can increase transportation efficiencies by up to 10 times.
Mitsubishi actively contributes to standardization work in the IEC. Sakuyama emphasized how the IEC contributes to a Smarter World by enabling the interoperability of systems as well as assuring safety, reliability, performance and quality. Going forward Sakuyama said he expects the IEC to bring on board all stakeholders, including governments and regulators to develop all the Standards that are needed.
Overcoming pilot paralysis Peter Lacy, who is a Member of Accenture's Management Consulting leadership team and in charge of Accenture's Strategy Practice and Sustainability services business in Asia Pacific, presented approaches to bring transformative change to Smart Cities. He cited the example of the city of Amsterdam.
When retrofitting a city, a holistic approach is needed and standardization is key. Amsterdam took an open platform citizen-centric approach in adding smartness to the city. A decision support tool that was built with the help of Accenture gave city leaders a tool to ask strategic questions while involving citizens in the process and allowing for decisions to become more transparent. With it the city was able to overcome pilot paralysis , a syndrome that plagues many smart projects, which never make it to full-scale implementation. Amsterdam is one of the rare cities that can be called smart.
Decoupling growth from resources Lacy also pointed to the fact that the era of cheap and plentiful resources with stable or falling prices has come to an end. This is another reason why integration to a Smarter World and in particular how we produce, use and consume things has become more important than ever.
Since 2000 every 1% growth of GDP has led to a 1,9% increase in the price of commodities. In this context growth will need to be decoupled from resources in a circular economy model to enable continuous economic development. This model calls for resource recovery, life extension of products, the sharing of platforms such as for example housing (AirBnB) and an approach to products as services rather than physical elements, i.e. owning 500 washes rather than a washing machine. Circular economies were once the successful basis for early human existence. Now, with increasing resource constraints, they are again the way forward.
Waste: a thing of the past Today, the key to success will be a mix of new emerging and disruptive technologies, such as mobile, M2M (machine to machine), cloud, big data, 3D printing, modular design, advanced recycling technologies and new materials that are fully recyclable and renewable. Such technologies will disrupt how services are delivered to citizens and support new innovations. This approach will enable new ways in which to access and understand product use-phases and efficiency.
A hellishly dependent paradise Leon R. Roose, Principal and Chief Technologist at the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute of the University of Hawaii, spearheaded the formation of Grid Systems Technologies to increase the adoption of renewable energy in Hawaii. The islands are a paradise but at the same time one of the most remote places on this planet. Until recently 90% of Hawaii's energy needs were met by using fossil fuels. 100% of crude oil was imported and the totally uncontrollable volatility of cost tied to crude oil prices heavily impacted household and business budgets as well as the islands' overall economy.
Energy and economic security The opportunity for sustainability in Hawaii is abundant. The islands are blessed with unlimited sunshine, steady winds and are surrounded by ocean. In an effort to increase energy and economic security, the State of Hawaii and the US Department of Energy launched in January 2008 the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative. The initiative is part of a clean energy cooperation agreement which was signed in November 2009 between Japan and the US. With it the islands of Hawaii and Okinawa agreed to share expertise in an effort to achieve energy independence for the islands. Hawaii wants to become a clean energy model for the US and the world by reaching at least a 70% share of renewable energy by 2030. To foster renewable energy use and overcome intermitte
