Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
the opposite: the more cans of coke or mobile phones you can sell, the better (The
Wealth Report
2012
).
Being able to take part to these networks will be a key factor to lead the global
economy and it will be founded on the existence of infrastructures for commu-
nication and control of urban uses and functions.
It is clear thus how this challenge can have a strong impact on any aspect of
urban life quality, starting from the economy and ending up with cultural and
social aspects, and of course environmental issues.
2.1.1
Northern Europe Cities
A strongly oriented and long lasting political will in designing sustainable mea-
sures for urban development is a basic element to carry out these long processes.
Whatever is the political colour of the administrations, it is important to follow
some general guidelines and support the projects going in the direction of sus-
tainable urban development. In this way, such as in other virtuous examples, the
city of Amsterdam,
2
the capital of The Netherlands, since 2009 has launched the
Amsterdam Smart city project composed of sixteen pilot projects, in cooperation
with IBM and CISCO. The project aims at testing energy-saving smart enabling
technologies for sustainable choices. As a result of the starting pilot phase, the city
is implementing the most effective initiatives on a large scale. At present, there are
nearly 500 public charging points, and that number will grow rapidly to 1000,
begin 2014.
This charging network makes Amsterdam a world leader in promoting electric
mobility, while the widespread of private initiatives would allow producing and
placing on the market small wind turbines and solar panels. Besides, as a result of
the first phase, in Amsterdam, thousand of households are already interconnected
thanks to IBM, that monitors in real time the energy consumption of private
buildings connected to a smart electric grid. The aim is that to reduce the emis-
sions as compared to the level registered in 1990, the CO
2
emissions of 40 % by
2025 and succeed, by that date, in generating 30 % of the energy required by the
city from RES. To implement the entire project, articulated in technical imple-
mentations as well as in communication campaigns and symbolic actions, some
local private companies also support the municipality. The Amsterdam Smart City
model is indeed quite simple: at the base there are the three partners funding the
initiative (Amsterdam municipality, Alliander and KPN), all showing long term
economic interests (use of infrastructures) and a concurrent ambition to solve the
problems of the society. Through the Amsterdam Smart City program they
cooperate with other entities: Strategic partners in some specialized fields (such as
Philips, Cisco, IBM, Accenture) and with small and medium enterprises.
2
