“In an increasingly urbanised world, creating intelligent cities is essential,” states the introduction to the Smart Cities conference to be held in Amsterdam, Washington DC and Kuala Lumpur in 2012. Specialist in energy management, Schneider Electric South Africa, echoes this vision and as such, is focusing its expertise on creating tomorrow’s smart cities.
Carl Kleynhans, country president southern Africa at Schneider Electric, explains why rapid urbanisation calls for smart city solutions. “The figures are well known but arresting. Cities today cover 2% of the earth’s surface, contain 50% of the world’s population, consume 75% of global energy and give off 80% of greenhouse gas emissions. And cities are growing – by 2050 they will be home to 70% of the people in the world. This means that over the next 40 years we need to provide new urban capacity equivalent to that of the past 4000 years.
“As the world wonders how to meet the challenge of the growing demand for energy and resources, while drastically reducing global carbon emissions, one thing is clear: this challenge will be won, or lost, in the cities.”
Today, cities all over the world are plagued with congestion, sprawl, power shortages, lack of water, unaffordable public services and many other urban ills. “Our ever developing urban areas are faced with a growing pressure on infrastructure, rising consumption, an increased demand for mobility, tighter economic pressure, more ambitious environmental goals and fiercer global competition,” says Kleynhans.
Cities, however, are a complex value chain, involving not just local governments and inhabitants, but local business, utilities, real estate developers and managers, as well as investors. Therefore, as cities embark on the journey to ‘smart’ – be it because they will play host to a major event, need to expand, want to relieve pain points or in general plan their future – they will need to bring in all stakeholders, including the private sector, from the start.
“Fortunately, the solutions to make cities smarter do exist,” explains Kleynhans. “What is key is having all stakeholders work together to bring in these solutions and combine them, collaborating across sectors, to ensure cost-effectiveness and compliance and funding over time.
“Solutions for SmartCity includes five areas of expertise: smart grid for managing demand in electricity while improving customer service; smart water for managing growing water demand; smart building and homes, optimising resource consumption and comfort through green buildings; smart mobility, facilitating resident mobility through better information and interoperability and; smart public services to manage public safety, healthcare and government administration.”
Schneider Electric has taken its collaborative approach in-house too, resulting in its international headquarters in Reuil-Malmaison, France, being the first ISO 50001 certified building in the world. “Locally, we also say it, mean it and live it,” adds Kleynhans. “Our head office in Midrand has saved 32% on its energy bill thanks to the implementation of the company’s own solutions to measure and analyse energy usage and control its lighting and air-conditioning.
“We know what it takes and can apply this expertise to help make our cities smarter.”
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