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With little knowledge about IoT technology and their functionality in public spaces, I delve into my iniital research with a clouded mind and no clear direction on how to approach this brief and what to design. However, seeing existing examples of smart public furniture and infrastructure broadened my perspective on the usefulness and relevance of IoT and smart technology. My research has also inspired ideas creating public spaces that are interactive and fun  yet functional, robust and socially inclusive.

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During this pivotal stage of the project, I received feedbacks on how I could further improve the functionality and use of materials in my concept (see research and reflection in pdf).

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Through further analysis of the Smarter Hobart design brief, I was able to build a moodboard that reflects key themes and issues the challenge seek to address. As concept continues to develop, I aim to reimagine the way we experience our urban landscape and transform the daily commute into a playful, immersive and personalised experience. From experimental forms inspired by nature to a more an arrangement of geometric shapes inspired by modern architecture, the design continued to evolve in each iteration. Whilst experimenting with different forms and structure I also researched into Iot sensors and smart technology that would be useful and robust to incorporate into the shelter. (see research notes below)

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Product Overview

Sometimes you might wish to add a little colour to switchable glass, whether to tie in with a corporate brand, an interior design theme, or a darker tint to provide more shade. Switchable Coloured Glass is the perfect solution, offering all the functionality of our standard switchable technology, but with a stylish edge.

Intelligent Glass has developed a number of manufacturing processes to add colour to switchable glass, including laminating with a colour resin or applying special transparent coloured tints, creating a coloured smart glass perfect for privacy, partitioning or projection.

Coloured finishes are available on all Intelligent Glass switchable smart glass products from toughened panels to double glazing.

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Sometimes you might wish to add a little colour to switchable glass, whether to tie in with a corporate brand, an interior design theme, or a darker tint to provide more shade. Switchable Coloured Glass is the perfect solution, offering all the functionality of our standard switchable technology, but with a stylish edge.

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Fredericton International Airport (YFC) has opened its new check-in hall and part of the departures lounge. The departure lounge features new Arconas Flyaway airport seating in bright colors with intermediate...

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Your Guide to Wireless Charging for Public Spaces | Arconas

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Fredericton International Airport (YFC) has opened its new check-in hall and part of the departures lounge. The departure lounge features new Arconas Flyaway airport seating in bright colors with intermediate...

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Motion detector lights have long been used as a first step to stopping intruders from approaching a home or business. Conventional security lights with motion detection sense objects and people crossing the path of the motion detector's sensor, triggering the lights to go on. But now there are more sophisticated sensors that actually detect body heat. Here's a look at the benefits of them and how they work.

Problems With Motion Detection

First, let's consider regular motion sensors. Yes, they detect motion and turn on lights. And you can adjust the sensitivity so little things don't set them off. The problem I see with them is that things like tree limbs, tall grasses, heavy snow or rain, and perhaps most commonly, cats and raccoons, keep setting them off in the middle of the night. Wouldn't it be great if the lights could distinguish between those kinds of "disturbances" and humans approaching?

How Body Heat Sensors Work

These newer style sensors actually check for body heat using infrared rays. When someone approaches, the sensors turn on the lights. So what about things like cats, raccoons, and other small animals that also have body heat. Well, they could set off the sensor if the sensitivity is set high enough. And who knows, maybe you want to know if a stray dog enters your yard. But for people, the sensitivity can be set to detect only larger bodies, thus ignoring small creatures of the night.

Setup Tips for Body Heat Sensors

Keep the following considerations in mind when choosing and setting up a body heat security light:

Check the wattage limit on the light fixture to make sure the combined wattage of the light bulbs doesn't exceed the limit. This should be no problem with energy-efficient LED bulbs, and LEDs aren't affected by low temperatures the way compact fluorescent bulbs are.

Adjust the sensor for a range of 30-60 feet to start. This gives you plenty of heads-up for approaching people while not being too broad-reaching. Experiment with different sensor settings to find what works best for your situation.

Mount the fixture between 6 and 12 feet from the ground. Anything higher and the ground coverage is diminished. The ideal height is around 10 feet because it's high enough so that the lights can't easily be tampered with.

Remember that this is a heat source detector, so keep it away from heat-producing objects like swimming pools, windows, reflective items, dryer vents, heater exhaust, etc.

Aiming the Sensor

You might think that facing the sensor straight toward the intended target, maybe along an entrance sidewalk, would be the logical direction to face the unit. However, there is a dead zone in the area coming straight towards the sensor, and someone could possibly walk right up to the house undetected. Instead, mount the sensor to the right or left of the area being monitored to establish a crossing area of coverage that someone would have to walk through, say, at a 10-degree angle. That way, people will walk through the lobes of detection, not between them.

Depending on how your lighting scheme is wired, you may light only the front door area, or there may be a combination of lights that are triggered when someone approaches. The idea is to give you and anyone approaching a warning. For you, it tells you someone is approaching your home's door. For the visitor, it sends a message that they have already been seen and that you are turning on the light to see who it is. If it is a burglar, you may just deter him or her from proceeding!

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Stopping Burglars with Their Own Body Heat

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Motion detector lights have long been used as a first step to stopping intruders from approaching a home or business. Conventional security lights with motion detection sense objects and people crossing the path of the motion detector's sensor, triggering the lights to go on. But now there are more sophisticated sensors that actually detect body heat.

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Cool rainy summers, mild winters. Mostly cloudy.

Daily average hours of sunshine 5.9 hr/day and 15.3 hr/day in summer.

Network of  Tasmania Metro buses is the only public transportation within the city.

Connected Hobart is one of the major strategic programs that  aims to combine human ingenuity with technological innovations to enhance quality of life for all.

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A SMART CITY OR A LANDSCAPE OF SMART JUNK?

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A SMART CITY OR A LANDSCAPE OF SMART JUNK?

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As cities become smart they need more and more — street lamps, public furniture, signboards — to integrate sensors, screens, batteries and processors. These and software systems are short-lived and require constant upgrade. Adding technology to products that didn’t have this in the past may shortens their life-span and makes servicing, warranties and support contracts more complex and unreliable.

In Barcelona, many of the gadgets that made it one of the world’s smartest cities no longer work properly. The smart streetlights on the Passatge de Mas de Roda, which were put in place in 2011 to improve energy efficiency by detecting human movement, noise and climatic conditions, later fell into disrepair.

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"Smart city" is one of those science fiction phrases seemingly designed to make you uneasy, like "neuromarketing" or "pre-crime". It's impossible to be alive in this decade and not find something unsettling in the idea of our cities becoming "smart".

It's not hard to see why: "smart" has become code for "terrible". A "smart speaker" is a speaker that eavesdrops on you and leaks all your conversations to distant subcontractors for giant tech companies. "Smart watches" spy on your movements and sell them to data-brokers for ad-targeting. "Smart TVs" watch you as you watch them and sell your viewing habits to brokers.

Smart cities are studded with sensors that monitor what's going on with people, vehicles, and infrastructure; and use actuators to change things based on the resultant data.

Put that way, it's hard to imagine a city that's not "smart". When you call 999, you are acting as a sensor. The fire brigade comes roaring to the rescue in a fire engine - that is, a giant, high-speed, actuating robot. Transit systems are all sensors ("Is there a train ahead of me still at the platform?") and actuators ("Hit the brakes!"), and they've been steadily exposing more and more of the data they generate to potential riders, so you can text a number or use an app or check a lighted signboard to find the wait time until the next vehicle.

Transit systems are made up of sensors and actuators - the data produced is apparent in features such as digital signboards, apps and text services that give riders wait times for services. Photograph: franckreporter/Getty Images

All this raises an interesting question: why isn't it creepy for you to know when the next bus is due, but it is creepy for the bus company to know that you're waiting for a bus?

It all comes down to whether you are a sensor - or a thing to be sensed. In the "internet of things," we're promised technology that will allow us to project our will on to our surroundings, changing our lighting or unlocking our doors or adjusting our thermostats from anywhere in the world. But anyone who's used these technologies for more than a few minutes quickly starts to suspect that they are also a thing, just another thing to be sensed and acted upon from a distance, generally by unaccountable algorithms seeking to corral us into altering our conduct to maximise returns to their manufacturers' shareholders.

As with cities, homes were sensing and actuating long before the "internet of things" emerged. Thermostats, light switches, humidifiers, combi boilers ... our homes are stuffed full of automated tools that no one thinks to call "smart," largely because they aren't terrible enough to earn the appellation.

Instead, these were oriented around serving us, rather than observing or controlling us (with rare exceptions, such as electricity and gas meters, which were designed on the assumption that they were going into hostile territory and that we couldn't be trusted not to tamper with them). In your home, you are not a thing, you are a person, and the things around you exist for your comfort and benefit, not the other way around.

Our homes are full of automated tools like thermostats that no one thinks to call 'smart'. Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA

Shouldn't it be that way in our cities?

There's nothing wrong - or new - in the idea that we should sense what's happening in our built environments and alter how our systems perform to respond to those sensors' observations. There's nothing objectionable about adding more trains when the system is busy, or recording accurate usage data to inform our urban planning debates. The problem is that the smart city, as presently conceived, is a largely privatised affair designed as a public-private partnership to extract as much value as possible from its residents while providing the instrumentation and infrastructure to control any civil unrest that such an arrangement might provoke. Far from treating residents as first-class users of smart infrastructure, they are treated as something between gut flora and pathogen, an inchoate mass of troublesome specks to be nudged into deterministic, convenient-to-manage patterns.

It needn't be this way. As is so often the case with technology, the most important consideration isn't what the technology does: it's who the technology does it to, and who it does it for. The sizzle reel for a smart city always involves a cut to the control room, where the wise, cool-headed technocrats get a god's-eye view over the city they've instrumented and kitted out with electronic ways of reaching into the world and rearranging its furniture.

It's a safe bet that the people who make those videos imagine themselves as one of the controllers watching the monitors - not as one of the plebs whose movements are being fed to the cameras that feed the monitors. It's a safe bet that most of us would like that kind of god's-eye view into our cities, and with a little tweaking, we could have it.

A god's-eye view of the city? A smart city control room in Seoul, Korea. Photograph: Photonews/Photonews via Getty Images

If we decide to treat people as sensors, and not as things to be sensed - if we observe Kant's injunction that humans should be "treated as an end in themselves and not as a means to something else" - then we can modify the smart city to gather information about the things and share that information with the people.

Imagine a human-centred smart city that knows everything it can about things. It knows how many seats are free on every bus, it knows how busy every road is, it knows where there are short-hire bikes available and where there are potholes. It knows how much footfall every metre of pavement receives, and which public loos are busiest.

What it doesn't know is anything about individuals in the city. It knows about things, not people. All of that data is tremendously useful to the city's planners and administrators, of course, as a way of planning and optimising services, infrastructure and future building.

But it could also be useful to the people in the city.

While we're imagining a city that is instrumented to measure things but not people, try imagining a mobile device that gathers data about its user, but doesn't ever share that data with anyone, ever. Its backups are encrypted to a passphrase that only the user knows, and it jealously guards the data about its use from the vendors who supply its apps. This device knows everywhere you go, it knows what you buy, it knows whom you talk to and how long and maybe even what about. In other words, it is extremely similar to the device you're carrying around right now - with the vital difference that it keeps what it learns about you private.

Imagine if you could tune into a stream of city data to, for example, page a minibus that was run by the city, licensed, safe, paying a living wage and not mining your data. Photograph: Philipp Guelland/EPA

Now, equipped with your device, you are prepared to be a sensor, rather than a thing to be sensed. As you move around your smart city, the things around you stream data about their capabilities, limitations, prices, uses and nature. Want to find a loo? Your device not only knows which ones are free, but also what time you habitually pee, and whether or not you've been drinking a lot of water and might need one. Want a free seat on a bus? Likewise, the device will tell you where there is one free. When you stand at a bus-stop, your presence, but not your identity, is registered, so that the transit system can adjust the vehicles and routes.

All of this is simply broadcast to all the devices in the vicinity, and your device can "tune in" to a stream of data simply by plucking it out of the electromagnetic spectrum, without activating a connection to the server that would leave a record of what you took an interest in.

If you want to page a minibus - something like an Uber Pool, but run by the city, licensed, safe, paying a living wage and not mining your data - you can summon one, and yes, this exposes your identity so that the driver can find you.

This is an example of how a smart city could work: a place through which you move in relative anonymity, identified only when needed, and under conditions that allow for significant controls over what can be done with your data.

Such a city depends on a responsive, legitimate government, and on devices that are open and transparent, freely auditable and secured through widespread scrutiny of their inner workings. It is a city and a technology and a government oriented around its people, designed to treat people "as an end in themselves and not as a means to something else".

If it sounds utopian, it's only because of how far we have come from the idea of a city being designed to serve its demos, rather than its lordly masters. We must recover that idea. As a professional cyberpunk dystopian writer, I'm here to tell you that our ideas were intended as warnings, not suggestions.

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The case for ... cities that aren't dystopian surveillance states | Cory Doctorow

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"Smart city" is one of those science fiction phrases seemingly designed to make you uneasy, like "neuromarketing" or "pre-crime". It's impossible to be alive in this decade and not find something unsettling in the idea of our cities becoming "smart". It's not hard to see why: "smart" has become code for "terrible".

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The presentation on ChiilOut Hubs really inspired me to think more deeply about the experience of people in public spaces. In particular, how can we design a space that is interactive and can bring feelings of comfort and safety for people without compromising its functionality.  Hearing June's observations on her daughter's interaction with a space spurred ideas on a playful yet practical space for children. Keeping it relevant to the current context, I quickly sketched these hand washing stations/fountains to encourage better hygiene practices at children's playgrounds.

After receiving feedback on my proposed concepts, I was able to evaluate the practicality of each designs and select one to progress forward with. Although, I liked the  uniqueness of the public seating concept and its purpose in keep a dining space 'neat' the pivoting seats have a few safety and mechanical issues to be addressed.

Whilst the hand washing fountains looked interesting in form and would be practical in the current context it was suggested that I should seek to cater for the wider public to create more impact. However, this would take away the 'playful' and experimental forms of my initial concepts which aimed to incite a sense of wonder and curiosity in children. Thus, I decided to progress forward with my bus stop concepts and delve deeper into the Smarter Hobust Bus Shelter challenge. I was encouraged to further explore the innovative ideas behind these initial concepts, particularly, how to enhance the daily commute and turn it into a more informative and personalised experience.

Quick ideas post lecture...

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+ A fun and inclusive environment. Passengers are prompted to do an activity which can be shared and displayed on a digital screen. This provides a platform for the community to connect & personalise their local bus stop.

A game - QR Code takes user to a game app with puzzle tiles varying in colours. The app displays prompt statements eg. what colour do you associate today's weather with? These coloured tiles are then displayed on the screen as a communal art piece.

Or sharing a personal story eg. the Humans of NY??

+ Create an immersive and interactive experience using AR tech.

With the puzzle  game app,  passengers can drag tiles from their phone screen to the bus stop screen.

+ Weather responsive and weather proof eg. shelter transforms according to environmental changes.

Splash and wind guard/partition

Heating during Winter (additional function of sanitising surfaces?)

Temperature and Humidity Sensor (DHT22)

+ Smart, sustainable bus stop that transforms based on collected data. Also, responsive to passengers feedback; making it unique to each small community.

Uses current prepaid travel card to track number of passengers each bus can take and display this at the shelter.

Smart sensors collect data on travel patterns in the area
and change lighting intensity accordingly - only a specific section of the shelter lights up.

Environmental sensors track temperature and humidity levels - data displayed on screen and warns people to spread out.

E-ink enabled system map. E Ink displays enable schedules and service alerts that can be displayed clearly and efficiently with the readability of paper (less power consumption than screen)

Solar powered technology - design of roofing must maximise use of sun light.

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On the level of materials science research, BlingCrete™ represents a new genre of materials with its own logic of effect that cannot be described simply in terms of the usual categories of heavy and light or form, construction, and surface. The material, also known as light-reflecting concrete, combines the positive characteristics of concrete (fire safety, solidity, building methods) with those of retroreflection. Retroreflecting surfaces send incoming rays of light (sunlight or artificial light) back precisely in the direction of the source of light. This optical phenomenon is produced by embedding glass microspheres in the substrate material. BlingCrete™ creates immersive environments by lowtech analogue modes.
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+++ BlingCrete™: 2011 DesignPlus Award for very innovative materials by the German Design Council +++ Nominated for the German Design Award 2012 +++ 2012 winner of iF materials gold award +++ 2014 nominated for the Gaia Award +++ 2014 winner of the International Tunneling & Underground Spaces Award +++

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On the level of materials science research, BlingCrete™ represents a new genre of materials with its own logic of effect that cannot be described simply in terms of the usual categories of heavy and light or form, construction, and surface.

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Cladding system absorbs daytime solar energy and gradually discharge it at night over a period of several hours to provide heating.

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What is SAF?

SAF's core technology is comprised of:

1. The solid wood-absorber (heat buffer), which sits against a conventionally insulated wall

2. A back-vented solar glass façade applied over the wood absorber to protect the wood from the elements while amplifying the thermal buffering effect.

SAF can be installed on any structural wall system, whether it is a light frame stud wall, a heavy CMU wall or the wall of an existing building.

The wood-absorber can be colored or left natural. Through the protection of the glass the wood will not turn colors or fade like a wood siding exposed to the UV and rain.

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Solar Activated Facade High Performance Insulation System

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SAF's core technology is comprised of: The solid wood-absorber (heat buffer), which sits against a conventionally insulated wall A back-vented solar glass façade applied over the wood absorber to protect the wood from the elements while amplifying the thermal buffering effect.

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Insulated aluminium to minimise heat absorption

Anti-graffiti coating

Polycarbonate roofing shields 99% of damaging UV ray. Capable of resisting very high to minus temperatures

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Bus shelters are seldom designed with 'shelter' in mind.

Their location and construction is predicated on a model that focuses on the placement of advertising, safety and the operational needs of transport authorities - often overlooking the implications of increasing urban heat, and its impact on vulnerable communities.

The Climate Adapted People Shelters (CAPS) project has initiated collaborative, design-led approaches to reimagining the place and function of bus shelters, specifically in response to conditions of increasing urban heat and extreme weather events in Western Sydney.

From user engagement through an open innovation design completion to monitoring and evaluation in a real world environment of the constructed shelter. The following link to 360 imagery transports you to demonstrate the design features of CAPS versus a traditional bus shelter.
Explore Penrith in Virtual Reality
Why is designing for "shelter" important?

Over the past 100 years, heat waves have caused more deaths in Australia than any other natural hazard.

The Western Sydney area is projected to experience up to 7 additional days above 35°C per year by 2030, placing exposed communities at heightened risk - including Sydney's 600,000 daily bus users.

By 2031, Sydney's bus users will make in excess of 1.3 million journeys per day, with buses being the most accessible form of public transport for many of Sydney's most vulnerable community members.

As a consequence, the NSW State Transit Bus Infrastructure Guide advises that bus shelters should provide a comfortable, convenient, reliable, and safe service that is accessible to all, and further advises that bus shelter designers keep in mind the requirements of more vulnerable members of the community, such as the elderly; mobility, vision and hearing impaired; and people with young children, strollers and prams, whom are most heavily dependant on public transport services, and most adversely affected by the impacts of urban heat.

As such, the Climate Adapted People Shelters (CAPS) project, a collaboration between the Institute for Sustainable Futures, U.Lab and the Centre for Management and Organisation Studies, the NSW Climate Adaptation Research Hub and the Institute for Culture and Society at Western Sydney University (WSU) was developed, with the aim of co-creating and researching the implications for climate adapted and smart urban infrastructure designs, with a focus on re-imagining the old bus shelter.

To achieve this aim, CAPS was planned as an open innovation design competition, with strong use of methods of human centred design.

How CAPS works

The CAPS project consists of three stages.

Stage 1 of the project, beginning in February 2016, consisted of planning and completing the co-design of bus shelters in four NSW local government areas: Ashfield, Canterbury, Parramatta and Penrith.

Stage 2 of the project, beginning in late 2016, involved the construction of a prototype shelter in Penrith City Council. This stage utilised a prototype of the Modus Shelter, developed by MM Creative. This shelter utilises insulated aluminium to minimise the absorption of heat on the shelter's roof, a larger overhang to provide more shade at hot times of day, as well as a solar PV system to allow for LED lightning of the shelter, and anti-graffiti coating to maintain the improved aesthetic appearance of the shelter.

Stage 3 of the project, conducted in late 2017, involved a review of the thermal performance of the CAPS, in conjunction with a review of the current use and potential of smart infrastructure technologies within bus shelters, and a detailed account of the design process.

How successful have the CAPS shelters been in reducing urban heat impacts?

Read ISF's assessment of the success of the CAPS shelters here.
The success of the CAPS shelters was assessed using three criteria, assessed during heatwave conditions (maximum temperatures of 30-40C without rain):

the thermal performance of the new shelter, assessed through "button" data loggers installed in the existing and new shelters,

spot readings of ambient temperature, relative humidity and wind speed were recorded hourly (0900 - 5pm) as well as surface temperatures of the ground, seat, and roof of each shelter and

the social acceptance for users, and any difficulties observed for transport operators, assessed through the observation of user behaviour and surveys of bus stop users.

The data loggers showed that while ground temperatures were similar among the existing bus shelter and the newly installed CAPS shelters, the roof surface temperature was up to 15C lower in the CAPS shelter during peak temperature events in the middle of the day.

It also showed that while the CAPS seats, made of the same metal fabrication material as existing bus shelter seats, warmed faster than existing seats, they also cooled significantly faster in periods of heat.

The public response to the CAPS prototype was overwhelmingly positive. Users mentioned the improved thermal comfort, the modern aesthetic design and the additional protection from direct sun exposure lead to an improved user experience.

The seating design resulted in mixed responses, due to differences in the hardness and shape of these seats. Importantly, users within disadvantaged groups noted that the CAPS seats eased the transition between sitting and standing through the use of chair handles integrated into the seating design.

In conclusion, the findings from implementing the CAPS prototype shelter show:

passive design elements of an open structure can be used to influence radiation, temperature and user thermal comfort,

users visibly adapt their behaviour to optimise their thermal comfort, and

the elements of design most important to modification of temperature and user behaviour were the provision of shade and seating with respect to the movement of shade throughout the day.

The project is supported through the Building Resilience to Climate Change grants scheme, funded by the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage and the NSW Environmental Trust and administered by Local Government NSW.

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Their location and construction is predicated on a model that focuses on the placement of advertising, safety and the operational needs of transport authorities - often overlooking the implications of increasing urban heat, and its impact on vulnerable communities.

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The IoT is a network of physical connected devices, like vehicles or home appliances, that enable these ‘things’ to connect and exchange data.

“Smartness” is not just about installing digital interfaces or streamlining city operations. It is also about using technology and data purposefully to make better decisions and deliver a better quality of life.

Connectivity and Integrity is crucial - relies on a robust network system.

Public health and safety - using smart sensors/tech to detect and prevent spread of diseases.

Security and Confidentiality for the public - needs users' confidence and sense of security when using the product.

Sustainability - materials, life cycle of product and services/commercial models (circular economy)

Subscription-based models

Public-sharing model

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Top 6 IoT trends for 2020

The Internet of Things is shaping the entire market. The wave of innovation is affecting both the industrial sectors and the world of consumers. The areas of application of IoT are as innumerable as the opportunities that it if adopted, implies.

To keep up with its increasingly accelerated growth, let's find out what the top 6 IoT trends will be for 2020!

1. Increase in the number of connected devices

Recent forecasts estimate there will be up to $21 billion connected devices across the world in 2020. This number means that IoT increased dramatically in the last 5 years. In fact, compared to 2015 the number of connected devices raised by $7 billion.

2. Cities will continue to become smart

A city defines itself smart when it uses technology to improve the social, environmental and financial aspects of urban life, making the life of its citizens more sustainable and of higher quality. In 2020, cities will become smarter! Investments in technology spending are expected to be around $80 billion by 2050 worldwide. The smart revolution will not be limited to cities only, but will also invest offices and companies with equal impetus.

3. Networks fragmentation

The increasingly rapid spread and development of IoT technology will lead to a fragmentation of its ecosystem, due to the birth of new IoT networks. This means there will be more ways to get data from IoT devices. However, if on the on hand this will create greater flexibility, making IoT practically possible in any part of the planet, on the other it will make things more complicated, causing compatibility problems between the different IoT networks.

4. Rise of IoT spending

According to IDC, the global IoT spending will reach $1.29 trillion in 2020. In particular, Discrete Manufacturing (such as automobiles, furniture, toys, smartphones, and airplanes), Transportation & Logistics, and Utilities Industries are projected to spend $40 billion each on IoT platforms, systems, and services. The consumer market (which includes smart home and connected cars, wearables, etc,.) will be the second-largest source of IoT spending this year with $25 billion. Healthcare and Process Industries project to invest $15 billion each in IoT.

5. Growth of IoT in the healthcare sector

The healthcare sector is a growing market for IoT technology, such as monitoring systems that can track patients, staff and equipment. Using IoT technologies the healthcare industry will take advantage. In particular, the main benefits will be:

The adoption of IoT will also increase investment in related markets, such as physical therapy and nursing home. The result will be a major integration between all the segments of the healthcare industry.

6. More focus on IoT security

The use of the IoT offers innumerable advantages, but at the same time, the amount of data deriving from the connected devices makes this technology vulnerable from the point of view of security. So for 2020, regularization is necessary that allows strengthening data protection security. About this regard, companies are developing better solutions to ensure that data remains safe and there are no potential flaws in IoT ecosystems, which can cause cyber attacks. Governments are also working in the same way as they are working to develop regulations that guarantee security compliance in all IoT projects that deal with citizens' data.

Download infographic about Top 6 IoT trends in 2020

Download Now

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IoT Lab - TERTIUM Cloud Blog - IoT - Top 6 IoT trends for 2020

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Top 6 IoT trends for 2020 The Internet of Things is shaping the entire market. The wave of innovation is affecting both the industrial sectors and the world of consumers. The areas of application of IoT are as innumerable as the opportunities that it if adopted, implies.

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How the Internet of Things can save our Planet

Our planet is facing its biggest challenge ever climate change.

We are now all aware that, if we don't change the way in which we live, the impact on the environment will be catastrophic. In only a few decades, we will be faced with cities suffocated by pollution, lack of clean drinking water, seas full of waste, scarce energy sources, and extinct animal species. These are just some of the consequences of the irresponsible use of resources we see today.

Fortunately, technology can help in efforts to combat climate change. In particular, the Internet of Things (IoT).

IoT consists of sets of intelligent devices connected to a network that collects data and continuously processes information to know, in real time, the status and condition of what is being monitored at any given point in time.

At this point, you may be wondering what the connection between the Internet of Things and the environment is. The answer is that IoT allows us to optimize processes and production cycles.

We can optimize energy and water consumption to efficiently manage and safeguard natural resources. There are many ways IoT can be applied for these purposes and some have already been put into practice.

Stop deforestation

80% of the planet's biodiversity is found in forests and over 250 species disappear each day due to deforestation caused by humans.

Fortunately, some countries are taking action to counteract deforestation. For example, Brazil has adopted a high-tech -monitoring system to protect the Amazon Forest, one of Earth's most precious resources. The solution uses solar energy to activate sensors that monitor the rainforest and send messages in real time if illegal activity is detected.

The sensors are located high up in the sky, with built-in solar panels that eliminate the need for battery change or maintenance.

Counteract hydrogeological instability

Due to climate change caused (at least partly) by human actions, atmospheric phenomena are becoming increasingly violent. Floods, storm surges, landslides are more and more frequent with devastating consequences for the planet and all who inhabit it.

Fortunately, the Internet of Things can offer solutions to mitigate or even prevent some of the adverse consequences of these changes. For example, in the Czech Republic, intelligent sensors have been installed to monitor some unstable rock masses. The system is composed of displacement and temperature sensors, which record the data on an hourly basis without the need for inspections. The information acquired is then available on a portal which can be consulted remotely at any time. This system is also used to monitor landslides. In the video below, Simplecon uses IoT crackmeter to monitor unstable rocks.

Trace endangered species

The rhino is one of the most threatened species in the world. In just over 100 years its population has dropped dramatically from 1 million in 1800 to less than 30,000 animals today. Despite conservation efforts, around 1,000 rhinos are killed each year by poachers for their horns, which can command prices from $ 30,000 to $ 100,000 per kilogram on the black market.

In recent years, some studies have shown that zebras, prey animals, react differently depending on the type of threat they encounter. These results fueled the idea of ​​exploiting IoT and predictive analytics technologies to combat rhino poaching. It was therefore decided to equip the prey animals with collars equipped with IoT sensors, which record their position, movements, speed and direction. From these data, behavioral patterns are then processed based on the response of the animals to the perceived threats. As a result, animals like the zebra become the rhinoceros sentinels. Their response models activate alarm systems that allow proactive intervention as soon as a rhino is in danger. In the video below, IBM helps to protect endagered african rhinos with IoT sensors.

Efficient resource management

More and more often we hear of smart cities. Traffic and pollution reduction, energy saving, greater efficiency in managing services to citizens are the goals of a connected city.

Worldwide, many cities are investing in smart public lighting. The adoption of smart lighting brings up to a 50% reduction in energy consumption and a substantial saving for the public purse. The city of New York, for example, has estimated a saving of 6 million dollars per year on its energy bill by replacing its 250,000 street lamps with additional maintenance savings of around 8 million dollars.

Moving from the city to the countryside, you can find more interesting IoT applications.

In the agriculture, the Internet of Things can be applied to irrigation, allowing farmers to calculate the precise water requirement of a given crop, thus reducing waste and costs. Through these smart water resource management systems, it is possible to save 30% to 50% of water.

Every age has its challenges and technology is one of the tools at our disposal to help us meet the challenges of the 21 st century. Now is the time to introduce sustainability in our processes and the Internet of Things is one of the innovations that can help us successfully carry out this transformation.

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How the Internet of Things can save our Planet - IoT Lab - TERTIUM Cloud Blog

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How the Internet of Things can save our Planet Our planet is facing its biggest challenge ever climate change. We are now all aware that, if we don't change the way in which we live, the impact on the environment will be catastrophic.

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Occurs when people plug in to "juice" up their phones and hackers use malware in the charging station or USB cable to "jack" their information eg. phone numbers and passwords

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"Low phone battery."

It's a notification that can inspire a sense of dread for anyone on the go without an outlet in sight.

And while free public charging stations have provided some relief in those situations, experts warn that powering up could give hackers a way into your personal information.

"Depending on the vulnerability they exploit, they would have access to everything you would have access to on your phone," said cybersecurity expert Jim Stickley.

The practice, known as "juice jacking," occurs when people plug in to "juice" up their phones and hackers use malware in the charging station or USB cable to "jack" their information, such as phone numbers and passwords.

The scam has prompted local authorities, including the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, to alert the public to think twice about plugging in at places like airports or malls.

Byers Market Newsletter

"You might have seen a public USB charging station at an airport or shopping center. But be warned, a free charge could end up draining your bank account," Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Luke Sisak said in a video warning in November.

To find out just how easy it can be for a hacker to gain access to a charging phone, Stickley gave NBC News access to a simulation he set up along the Port of San Diego in Southern California. Through special hardware installed in a homemade charging station, Stickley was able to watch and record everything being shown on the screen of a connected phone.

NBC News correspondent Vicky Nguyen posed as the first victim.

"Now we get to the best part. She's actually entering in her credit card number," Stickley said as he watched Nguyen shop on Home Depot online.

In four hours, dozens of people stopped at the makeshift charging station to power up their phones. Some expressed shock when they were told it was a setup.

A woman who identified herself as Ruth gave NBC News permission to access her phone through the charging station and demonstrate the type of information being retrieved from her device. In a matter of seconds, her personal Facebook messages popped up on a separate monitor.

"It's dangerous," Ruth said.

Stickley said the response from people like Ruth is hardly uncommon.

"Most people assume their computers can be hacked," he said. "Most people assume their phones can't."
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Stickley said that among the most critical pieces of information a hacker could gather from one's phone is a personal email, which can later be used to reset passwords.

"Having access to your email has become very valuable, because, if you think about it, every account you have requires access to your email," he said. "Everybody's login is your email, and that's the problem."

In its warning to consumers, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said it recommends using power outlets instead of USB power stations and buying portable chargers that can be used on the go.

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Juice jacking: Why you should avoid public phone charging stations

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"Low phone battery." It's a notification that can inspire a sense of dread for anyone on the go without an outlet in sight. And while free public charging stations have provided some relief in those situations, experts warn that powering up could give hackers a way into your personal information.

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Use warm LEDs with low glare.

Use a cover or reflector  to illuminate specific areas.

Ambient Light Sensor (TSL2561)

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Acoustic Lighting Green Building Physics Integrated Engineering Consultant

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We are familiar with the term of air, water, and land pollution, however do we know that light can also become a pollutant?

Light pollution or photopollution, is an anthropogenic light at night. This is happens as a result of excessive light emission and incorrect lighting directivity and placement. Without realizing, the light pollution can affect human's health, disrupt the ecosystem and disturb the night view. Following are light pollution components:

* Glare - excessive brightness that causes visual discomfort

* Skyglow - illuminates the night sky above the occupied area

* Light trespass - light illuminates unintended places or needed

* Clutter - grouping of over bright, confusing, and excessive light sources

Image above illustrates various components of light pollution and what kind of lighting design is "good". (Image by Anezka Gocova, in "The Night Issue", Alternative Journal 39: 5 (2013).

Light pollution is a result of increasingly rapid industrial development. Sources of light pollution include the construction of exterior and interior lighting, advertising, commercial property, offices, factories, up to street lights or parks.

In fact, a lot of outdoor lighting used at night is inefficient, too bright, not directed properly, is not properly covered and emits excessive light. So it is not only light pollution matter but also it is a waste of energy.

What are the negative effects caused by light pollution?

Before light bulb was invented, life on Earth made use of natural light such as sun, moon, stars as well as fire. Now with various types of artificial lights, darkness is no longer a problem at night, but the excessive light emission produced by artificial lights has a negative impact including:

Increasing energy consumption

Disturbing ecosystems and wildlife

Harming human health

Affecting crime and security

Disturbing the night sky view

Without realizing light pollution affects the behavior and lives of all people, fortunately awareness of the negative effects caused by light pollution is increasing. There are many community groups such as scientists, environmentalists, architects, building owners and governments who strive to minimize light pollution.

How to reduce light pollution?

What we can do is to " reduce light pollution ", mentioned in Building Physics as:

1. Using cover or reflector so that it is effective in illuminating the desired area.

2. Design lights positioning so that the beam is directed downward not toward the sky

3. Minimizing the use of spotlights to the sky

4. Reducing light reflections using plants

5. Reducing the use of yellow sodium lamps

By using lamps efficiently, at least in our own neighborhood, will not only help to reduce light pollution, but also help the earth and the sky to goes on as how they intended to be. There is no too small contribution to make a better sky. "Use your power to make change a reality"

Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_pollution http://www.darksky.org/light-pollution/

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Understanding Outdoor Lighting Design To Be Light Pollution Free for Healthy Building Designs

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We are familiar with the term of air, water, and land pollution, however do we know that light can also become a pollutant? Light pollution or photopollution, is an anthropogenic light at night. This is happens as a result of excessive light emission and incorrect lighting directivity and placement.

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Public health monitoring and collection of health data.

Public toilets with sensors to help municipal authorities with maintenance/management.

Solar-powered infrastructure and outdoor furniture.

Public space BioTech air filter

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Our Innovation Analysts recently looked into emerging technologies and up-and-coming startups working on solutions for Smart Cities. As there is a large number of startups working on a wide variety of solutions, we decided to share our insights with you. This time, we are taking a look at 5 promising Smart Public Furniture Solutions.

Heat Map: 5 Top Smart Public Furniture Solutions

For our 5 top picks, we used a data-driven startup scouting approach to identify the most relevant solutions globally. The Global Startup Heat Map below highlights 5 interesting examples out of 171 relevant solutions. Depending on your specific needs, your top picks might look entirely different.

Strawberrye - Public Space Smart Benches

A lot of public spaces are not equipped with furniture that is capable to support digitally-driven lifestyles and social interactions. Solar-powered benches with environmental sensors are building a Smart City public space environment that everybody can engage with. Via phone application, Smart City residents can easily find the nearest bench to charge their phone or to find out about environmental quality in the area where the bench is located. Serbian startup Strawberrye builds a solar-powered bench called Smart Bench 2 that monitors environmental factors such as temperature, humidity, air pressure, ambient noise, and gas as well as particles. Another feature of the bench is that it also keeps count of the people using it. Through a mobile application, citizens have access to real-time environmental data and can suggest new locations for Smart Benches.

Green City Solutions - Public Space BioTech Air Filter

Rising pollution and lack of access to fresh air in public spaces have created an opportunity for technologies like BioTech-based air filtering to supply cleaner air. The core technology uses natural moss, which stores large quantities of moisture, and by increasing the surface area of the Bio-Filter creates an immense cooling eﬀect in parks and city squares. Further, the air filters can be mounted on park benches. Germany-based Green City Solutions are rolling out their BioTech air filter called CleanAir+, which uses different types of moss to bind environmental toxins, such as particulate matter and nitrogen oxides while producing oxygen at the same time. Integrated Internet of Things (IoT) delivers comprehensive information on performance and status as well as environmental data on the CleanAir+ surroundings.

SolGreen - Urban Canopied Solar Table

Solar-powered outdoor furniture and infrastructure provide an opportunity for cities to generate, store and use energy from the sun for a multitude of reasons. People can use it for charging their devices or browsing the internet in public spaces by mounting the solar-powered devices on playgrounds, in city parks, and other resting areas. Emergency response systems can also be integrated. American startup SolGreen develops the Evodia Solar Table, which is a maintenance-free, solar-powered charging station, canopied seating table, and renewable power source equipped with energy storage. Some more features include GFE & USB device charging, LED lighting, Wi-Fi and emergency response systems.

IPToilet - Smart Public Toilets

Smart public toilets are designed as a clean and unattended public convenience facility. A control system installed inside the toilets transmits data on its usage and maintenance. Sensors send the data to a remote computer over the cloud. This data can be used by supervisors or municipal authorities to ensure proper operations and effective managing of public toilets. Toilets can be turned remotely controlled to prevent unwarranted usage. Indian startup IPToilet creates a smart public toilet that has electronic sensors to keep it hygienic despite improper use by occupants. The toilet floor will be cleaned automatically after four to ten visits. The toilets come equipped with power and water backup in case of unexpected power loss or water scarcity.

Pulse - Public Health Monitoring Station

The cost of healthcare is rising. By collecting vast amounts of healthcare data, the various causes of diseases are becoming easier to identify, predict and treat with the help of Public Health Monitoring Stations. They generate health reports and risk indicators for common diseases based on monitored body parameters. Pulse, an Indian startup, creates a solution called Pulse Active Station, which generates a health report with over 21 body parameters and risk indicators for 12 lifestyle diseases. The station is placed in a public area with high footfall, such as malls and hospitals, and records information including physical dimensions such as height, weight and BMI, cardiovascular factors like blood pressure, SPO2 and rate of pulse, body composition analysis for body fat percentage, mineral content, muscle strength, bone strength and body water content.

What About The Other 166 Solutions?

While we believe data is key to creating insights it can be easy to be overwhelmed by it. Our ambition is to create a comprehensive overview and provide actionable innovation intelligence for your Proof of Concept (PoC), partnership, or investment targets. The 5 startups showcased above are promising examples out of 171 we analyzed for this article. To identify the most relevant solutions based on your specific criteria and collaboration strategy, get in touch.

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5 Top Smart Public Furniture Solutions Impacting Smart Cities

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Our Innovation Analysts recently looked into emerging technologies and up-and-coming startups working on solutions for Smart Cities. As there is a large number of startups working on a wide variety of solutions, we decided to share our insights with you. This time, we are taking a look at 5 promising Smart Public Furniture Solutions.

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At a time when public trust in government is wavering, a group of tech-minded city leaders are hopeful they can use data to regain community confidence and improve civic engagement.

The Knight Foundation has invested $1 million in seven projects across the country that will use data to create more informed and engaged communities. The projects are designed to build new models of public trust that hold governments accountable while also creating data that is accessible, applicable and easy-to-understand.

"These projects meet residents where they are - on platforms they recognize and in the cities they know - to show that we can engage residents with data and create more responsive communities," Lilian Coral, Knight's director for national strategy and technology innovation, said in a statement.

"Utilized well, open data could help local governments effectively tackle major community issues, such as the health effects of lead and pollution, or growing gentrification in communities."

The seven projects include:

1. Charlotte, NC to engage young people with visual data: Residents, particularly young people "who have been especially disengaged," can interact with the City of Charlotte's Comprehensive Plan via an immersive platform that enables 3D visualizations of neighborhoods and community data.

2. Philadelphia to offer a new take on permit processes: A local resident and startup-led effort plans to use the city's open data portal to inform neighbors about construction permits, potentially helping residents identify any unsafe construction practices to prevent lead exposure and building collapses.

3. Wichita, KS taps audio to expand civic data access: Audio company Sonify and the Wichita Community Foundation, Envision and a local newsroom plan to use data-driven storytelling for users who are visually impaired or blind.

4. Long Beach, CA pilots a real-time asthma alert for children: The pilot will use a real-time alert system to pinpoint when and where residents are likely to experience an asthma attack based on air pollution concentrations.

5. San Jose, CA creates urban periscope: In a project led by design and architecture firm Gensler, augmented reality is used to create data visualizations that can inform pedestrians and residents about different locations to encourage civic participation.

6. Philadelphia residents to remotely "co-create" public realm: The "Edit the City!" initiative is an effort to create public-sourced open data suggestions for the city's South Street Headhouse district planning process. Residents can share their input for alterations to the street via remote and digital engagement.

7. Philadelphia residents to play "SimCity-type game": Drexel University's Entrepreneurial Game Studio is using a Sims-like game with municipal data to help residents to engage in conversations about gentrification, exploring the political, economic and sociological forces that form a city neighborhood.

The City of San Jose, CA, for example, captures a variety of data, including information on traffic patterns, waste creation and clean energy usage. And despite the city's ample development and construction plans, San Jose still struggles to have a sufficient affordable housing supply, according to Gensler Studio Director Jen Tank.

"The citizens of San Jose, CA are interested in being a part of the discussion," she said on a webinar.

Tank's "urban periscope" project uses the city's affordable housing data to help spark a broader conversation. The application allows residents to point their phones at a development site - or an augmented reality illustration of what will be built - to see how many affordable housing units will be included in the development.

"Bringing that data off the page and into the real world, making it 3-dimensional, and making it in the scale of a real world execution, could really change the conversation," she said.

Cities and their partners aren't the only ones working to restore public trust in data. Following the recent demonstrations after the killing of George Floyd, tech giants have adjusted their own data-use policies. IBM, for example, has ended their facial recognition software services, and Amazon has banned the technology from being used by police for one year.

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7 public data projects enhancing civic engagement

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At a time when public trust in government is wavering, a group of tech-minded city leaders are hopeful they can use data to regain community confidence and improve civic engagement. The Knight Foundation has invested $1 million in seven projects across the country that will use data to create more informed and engaged communities.

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NEW AND READY FOR DELIVERY StandUP is the "new door man" and gatekeeper for any entrance of a building to stop the spread and save lives. The StandUP pedestal has several unique features such as accessibility for the visually impaired and wheelchair confined, and a secured and locked solution for the sanitizer. Be safe, Stop the spread and save lives.

"WE CREATE BETTER SPACES WITH SMART INTEGRATED SOLUTIONS AND PRODUCTS"

Sustainable and innovative furniture solutions for public spaces and Smart Cities.

Newton Brown Urban Design has unique Street & Site furnishings for public spaces. We are able to supply customize items for your project. We turn your opportunity into reality. We jump higher for better views and run the extra mile to make your project happen.

We deliver Security Bollards, Benches, UHPC Seating elements, UHPC Architectural elements, Litter bins, Trash cans, Tree grates, Planters. Bike racks, Canopies, Urban Shelter, Streetlights, Solar lights, SmartFlower Solar, Post & Rail, Lounge & Lobby furniture.

We provide high standards in materials, products, technology, custom made solutions, service and logistics.

We think global, We act local.

Our Projects

Our groundbreaking projects can be found in New York, NY - Brooklyn, NY - Staten Island, NY, - Boston, MA, - Brookline, MA, - Miami, FL - Fort Lauderdale, FL - Aventura, FL - Hyattsville, MD - Houston, TX - Denver, CO. We will be present innovative solutions during the DesignWeek Philadelphia 2019 at Cherry Street Pier.

We take our design ideas from nature herself. The highest compliment we can receive is having our products, whether in urban communities or corporate indoor/outdoor spaces, be in harmony with their surroundings.

This is what moves us

We provide results and guarantee effective and comprehensive representation of your business.

We are a Smart City "Resultant" with an integrated approach.

We use our innovative resources and translate your ideas into valuable concepts and solutions.

Our firm is leading the way in the global Smart Urban & Community Design business.

Newton Brown Urban Design is MBE certified company in the State of New York.

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Street- & Site Furnishings for Public spaces

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NEW AND READY FOR DELIVERY StandUP is the "new door man" and gatekeeper for any entrance of a building to stop the spread and save lives. The StandUP pedestal has several unique features such as accessibility for the visually impaired and wheelchair confined, and a secured and locked solution for the sanitizer.

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Smart city Singapore. Larry Teo/Unsplash., FAL

Cities are fast becoming "smart", and the impact on people's lives can be immense. Singapore's smart traffic cameras restrict traffic depending on volume, and ease the commute of thousands of passengers every day. In Kaunas, Lithuania, the cost of parking is automatically deducted from the bank accounts of drivers when they park their cars. In many cities, the timing of public buses is announced at each stop with almost perfect accuracy. And free WiFi is now accessible across entire cities, including Buenos Aires, Argentina and Ramallah, Palestine.

Today, improving urban services through digital transformation is a huge industry, dominated by the likes of Cisco and IBM. But the idea of a "smart city" encompasses more than the clever application of technology in urban areas. That technology must also contribute to making cities more sustainable, and improving the quality of life for the people who live there.

That's why a team of researchers from IMD in Switzerland and SUTD in Singapore - including myself - put together the Smart City Index. For the first time, we attempted to assess people's perceptions of technology - as opposed to the quality of the technology itself - as a way to characterise the "smartness" of a city. We did this by conducting a massive survey among citizens of 102 cities, to assess how favourably they viewed the technology made available to them.

Problems with perceptions

Take Paris, for instance - a city which has embarked on an ambitious project to redesign its urban landscape. The initiative - called Reinventer Paris - started by receiving suggestions from citizens about how to use and renovate obsolete and disused buildings. At the same time, the velib public bike-sharing program introduced about 14,000 bicycles into regular use throughout the city, with the aim of alleviating congestion and reducing pollution.

Read more: Paris is leading the world in progressive urbanism - here's how

But five years after its introduction, citizens are still not feeling the benefits. Our smart city index ranks Paris 51st out of 102 cities in the world, in terms of the ability of the city's technology to improve lives. Our participants from Paris gave their city a low score of 22 out of 100 - where zero indicates total disagreement and 100 signifies complete agreement - in response to the statement that "air pollution is not a problem". By contrast, citizens of Zurich gave their city a score of 60 in response the same statement.

Mr Ced/Shutterstock.

And although Reinventer Paris was specifically designed to be a bottom-up, participatory process, Parisians give a score of 36 out of 100 to the statement that "residents provide feedback on local government projects". By comparison, the city of Auckland received a score of 71 from its residents, putting it in sixth place in the overall ranking.

The global picture

Only to the extent that digital technologies make a meaningful difference to people's lives, can cities efficiently become smart. Our ranking puts Singapore, Zurich, Oslo, Geneva and Copenhagen in the top five, followed by Auckland, Taipei, Helsinki, Bilbao and Dusseldorf. Cities at the bottom of the ranking are all in developing economies or emerging markets, including Bogota, Cairo, Nairobi, Rabat and Lagos.

We were surprised to find that cities well known globally for their adoption of new technology did not make it to the top of the ranking. This was the case for several cities in China - which have received intensive investment from the Chinese government to increase their access to technology - including Nanjin (ranked 55), Guangzhou (57) and Shanghai (59). Likewise, Tokyo shows up in 62nd position, New York City in 38th and Tel Aviv in 46th place.

Smaller, smarter

Smart cities only make sense when technology meets citizens' needs. A bike-sharing scheme will only seem useful if the city's infrastructure facilitates cycling - and believe me, only the brave would dare cross Place Charles de Gaulle in Paris at noon on a bike.

At the same time, people recognise when technology solves a problem, because their lives get better. In an extensive study of 16 cities - published in our new book Sixteen Shades of Smart - we found that Medellin has become a very successful smart city because technology targets citizens' main problem - safety. Similarly, without massive investment, public WiFi in Ramallah has done more for its people by providing them with access to the outside world in a walled city, than any air pollution monitoring system.

We have also found that large cities and megacities find it difficult to become smart. Most of the cities on the top of our ranking are mid-size cities. It is easy to extend the benefits of technology to people in San Francisco (ranked number 12 with a population of 884,000) and Bilbao (ninth, with a population of 350,000); but it is much more difficult to do the same in Los Angeles (35th, population of 4m) and Barcelona (48th, population of 5.5m).

There are 29 cities in the world with a population of more than 10m (including their metropolitan area), and that's expected to grow to 43 by 2030. The differences between cities - even those in the same country - will continue to grow, as leaders seek out digital solutions to urban problems. But the real test will be whether citizens feel the benefits.

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Smart cities: world's best don't just adopt new technology, they make it work for people

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Cities are fast becoming "smart", and the impact on people's lives can be immense. Singapore's smart traffic cameras restrict traffic depending on volume, and ease the commute of thousands of passengers every day. In Kaunas, Lithuania, the cost of parking is automatically deducted from the bank accounts of drivers when they park their cars.

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Why do we need smart cities?

Urbanization is a non-ending phenomenon.

Today, 54% of people worldwide live in cities, a proportion that's expected to reach 66% by 2050.

With population growth, urbanization will add another 2.5 billion people to cities over the next three decades.

Environmental, social, and economic sustainability is a must to keep pace with this rapid expansion taxing our cities' resources.

One hundred ninety-three countries agreed upon the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda in September 2015 at the United Nations.

But we all know how centralized decisions and actions can take time, and the clock is ticking.

The good news?

Citizens and local authorities are more agile in launching swift initiatives, and smart city technology is paramount to achieving these goals.

​ ​

How is IoT technology making cities smarter and better?

Secure wireless connectivity and IoT technology are transforming traditional elements of city life - like streetlights - into next-generation intelligent lighting platforms with expanded capabilities.

The scope includes integrating solar power and connecting to a cloud-based central control system with other ecosystem assets.

These solutions shine far beyond simple lighting needs.

High-power-embedded LEDs alert commuters about traffic issues, provide severe weather warnings, and provide a heads-up when fires arise.

Streetlights can also detect free parking spaces and E.V. charging docks and alert drivers where to find an open spot via a mobile app. Charging might even be possible from the lamppost itself in some locations!

Exciting stuff!

But how does it all fit together?

What makes smart cities successful

In addition to people, dwellings, commerce, and traditional urban infrastructure, there are four essential elements necessary for thriving smart cities:

Let's break it down.

What's the best wireless technology for smart cities?

The first building block of any smart city application is reliable, pervasive wireless connectivity.

While there's no one-size-fits-all, evolving Low Power Wide Area Network ( LPWAN) technologies are well suited to most smart city applications for their cost efficiency and ubiquity.

These technologies include LTE Cat M, NB-IoT, LoRa, Bluetooth, and others that all contribute to the fabric of connected cities.

The advent of 5G technology is expected to be a watershed event that propels smart city technology into the mainstream and accelerates new deployments.

But only with a few more elements...

Opening the data vault

Historically, governments, enterprises, and individuals have held their data close to their pockets, sharing as little as possible with others.

Today, open data is redefining the digital city.

Privacy concerns and fear of security breaches have far outweighed the perceived value of sharing information (see Portland and privacy).

However, a key enabler of sustainable smart cities is that all participants in the complex ecosystem share information and combine it with contextual data analyzed in real time.

This is how informed decisions are made in real time.

Multiple sectors must cooperate to achieve sustainable outcomes by analyzing real-time contextual information shared among sector-specific information and operational technology (O.T.) systems.

The conclusion?

Data management (and access to this information) represents the backbone of the digital city.

Stay with us. Here is what we mean.

Examples of smart cities

New York City
Below are helpful links to some of New York City's significant initiatives mentioned in the video above.

The New York City Department of Transportation's Midtown in Motion is a congestion management system that has improved travel times on Midtown's avenues by 10%.

The NYCx Challenges initiative from the NYC Mayor's Office of the Chief Technology Officer invites entrepreneurs, technologists, and tech professionals to participate in open competitions and propose bold ideas that solve real urban needs such as pollution, income inequality, and transport (site closed).

LinkNYC provides free super-fast free Wi-Fi, phone calls, device charging, and a tablet to access city services, maps, and directions. It's a unique communications network replacing payphones across the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island.

is the city's strategic investment to dominate cybersecurity. It aims to grow New York City's cybersecurity workforce , help companies drive innovation and build networks and community spaces .

MyNYCHA mobile app and web portal allow public housing residents to manage services online. It addresses over 300 public developments across New York City. Launched in 2015, MyNYCHA is a free service that puts the repair process in residents' hands. Residents can submit, schedule, and manage work tickets online. They can also subscribe to alerts for outages in their developments, view inspection appointments, and pay their rent.

Biking in New York City: read the July 2019 plan for cycling in the city.

Automated water meters in NYC: Automated Meter Reading systems consist of small devices connected to individual water meters. They send daily readings to a computerized billing system.

The My DEP Account lets New Yorkers track consumption from home. The system eliminates the need for a water meter reader to visit the premises. It allows the Department of Environmental Protection to monitor citywide consumption more closely and manage the city's water supply system more effectively.

New York's data report - Open Data for All- provides free public data published by various local agencies. This tool opens data for people to make a difference in their communities-including educators, students, artists, builders, small business owners, advocates, reporters, and community board members. It also means open data for the 300,000 workers who make New York City safer, cleaner, and more equitable.

More on the New York City Internet of Things strategy and IoT progress report (December 20 2021.)

Amsterdam Smart City

Amsterdam is a shining example of a well-connected smart city reaping the rewards of opening the data vault. The Smart City initiative began in 2009 and included over 170 projects.

It also shares traffic and transportation data with interested parties, such as developers, who then create mapping apps connected to the city's transport systems.

Now, navigating the city is a snap for all.

There's more.

The city built autonomous delivery boats called ' roboats' to keep things moving in a timely fashion.

It also supported a floating village of houses, solving the city's overcrowding problem with a sustainable, energy-efficient alternative. Power is generated within communities, and homes receive water straight from the river and filter it within their tanks.

None of this is possible without shared data.

City data is available online for all.

More:

Here is another example.

Antwerp and the city of things

Antwerp is a partner in the E.U.'s CITADEL project. It explores the role of technology in a collaborative government.

The city is also about to create Europe's largest smart zone.

Copenhagen Smart City

Copenhagen is known as one of the smartest cities in the world and mobilizes expertise worldwide.

The city is leveraging open data to collaborate with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to develop an innovative intelligent bike system.

Embedded with sensors that provide real-time information to riders and administrators, data is shared to monitor and manage air quality and traffic congestion.

More:

While data sharing is essential, opening the vault also expands the cyber-attack surface area.

So, how do we keep data private from the masses while sharing it among stakeholders?

Can smart cities be secured and trusted?

In digital cities, connected cameras, intelligent road systems, and public safety monitoring systems can provide an added layer of protection and emergency support to aid citizens when needed.

But what about protecting smart cities themselves from vulnerabilities?

How can we defend against hacking, cyber-attacks, and data theft?

In cities where multiple participants share information, how do we trust that participants are who they say they are?

And how do we know the data they report is true and accurate?

The answers lie in physical data vaults, strong authentication, and I.D. management solutions.

Smart cities can only work if we can trust them.

Four core security objectives for smart city solutions

All ecosystem partners - governments, enterprises, software providers, device manufacturers, energy providers, and network service providers - must do their part and integrate solutions that abide by four core security objectives:

1. Availability: Without actionable, real-time, and reliable data access, the smart city can't thrive. How information is collected, distilled, and shared is critical, and security solutions must avoid adverse effects on availability.

2. Integrity: Smart cities depend on reliable and accurate data. Measures must be taken to ensure that data is accurate and free from manipulation.

3. Confidentiality: Some of the collected, stored, and analyzed data will include sensitive details about consumers. Steps must be taken to prevent unauthorized disclosure of sensitive information.

4. Accountability: Users of a system must be responsible for their actions. Their interactions with sensitive systems should be logged and associated with a specific user. These logs should be difficult to forge and have reliable integrity protection.

Strong authentication and I.D. management solutions must be integrated into the ecosystem to ensure data is shared only with authorized parties to achieve these core security objectives.

The solutions also protect backend systems from intrusion and hacking.

Thankfully, legislation is being introduced to address threats and potential market failure due to growing digital security concerns.

Like the IoT Cybersecurity Improvement Act in the U.S., signed on December 4 2020, or the U.K. IoT security law (not passed yet in June 2021), legislation will help establish minimum security requirements for connected devices.

Show me the Money: how do we monetize smart cities?

Data is the new oil in the age of IoT and smart cities.

For smart cities to thrive, we must establish sustainable commerce models that facilitate the success of all ecosystem players.

The software must be woven into the fabric of IoT solutions to benefit all ecosystem contributors; this includes OEMs, developers, integrators, governments, etc.

Each member's intellectual property needs to be valued and rewarded.

Subscription software capabilities enable new business models that allow each contributor to extract value from their contribution to the ecosystem.

Subscription-based models offer a way to monetize hardware and software to build smart infrastructures and spread out expenses, moving away from substantial one-time CAPEX spending.

For example, expensive medical equipment like MRI scanners can be sold on a cost-per-scan basis rather than as a one-time upfront expense for hospitals. This creates a win-win situation for hospitals and suppliers alike.

And one day soon, cities will offer affordable subscriptions to fleets of vehicles shared between owners who may choose from an array of custom options. This move could radically reduce traffic and optimize traffic patterns and ride-sharing.

As urban areas continue to expand and grow, smart city technology is developing, enhancing sustainability and better serving humanity.

By leveraging pervasive connectivity, open data, end-to-end security, and software monetization solutions, we can align evolving smart city needs for a much-improved experience for all ecosystem partners.

More resources on smart cities

Top 50 Smart City Governments in 2021 (Eden Strategy Institute - March 31 2021)

Top 10 smart cities in the world: London, New York, Paris, Tokyo, Reykjavik, Copenhagen, Berlin, Amsterdam, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Forbes July 8 2020

Top 10 smart cities in the United States: New York, Chicago, Washington, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Dallas, San Diego, Miami, and Houston. IESE business school. Cities in motion 2020.

The top 3 smart cities in Canada (Cities in motion - October 2020) are Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa.

India's Smart Cities Mission: The Indian Government's program for smart city development

Smart cities in India: India's smart cities challenge nominees

Is Singapore the world's smartest city? by Thales

The European innovation partnership on smart cities and communities (the European Commission)

Six essential technologies make smart cities: smart energy, transportation, data, infrastructure, mobility, and devices. TechRepublic August 2016

Impact of the Internet of things on smart cities KPMG May 2019

Intelligent infrastructure pilot launched in Texas (March 11 2021)

Seven ways cities are getting smarter by Thales

The pandemic accelerates the rise of digital cities (April 1 2021)

Sidewalk Labs in Toronto: what's next? (May 2020)

Smart ports: Examples around the world

What does "smart grid" mean?

IoT regulations (July 2021)

Now it's your turn

Indeed, we can't claim to list all the critical concepts and issues related to smart cities and the IoT and those that will emerge in the years to come.

Can you fill in some of the gaps?

If you've something to say on smart cities, share best practices, have a question to ask, or have found this article useful, please leave a comment in the box below.

We'd also welcome suggestions on improving it or proposals for future papers.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Contact a local representative for more information on building trusted, smart city solutions.

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​Secure, sustainable smart cities and the IoT

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Smart cities aren't just a dream of the future. Thanks to wildly innovative Internet of Things (IoT) solutions, many are already active and expanding rapidly.

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Until recently, city leaders thought of smart technologies primarily as tools for becoming more efficient behind the scenes. Now technology is being injected more directly into the lives of residents. Smartphones have become the keys to the city, putting instant information about transit, traffic, health services, safety alerts, and community news into millions of hands.

After a decade of trial and error, municipal leaders are realizing that smart-city strategies start with people, not technology. " Smartness" is not just about installing digital interfaces in traditional infrastructure or streamlining city operations. It is also about using technology and data purposefully to make better decisions and deliver a better quality of life.

Quality of life has many dimensions, from the air residents breathe to how safe they feel walking the streets. The latest report from the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), Smart cities: Digital solutions for a more livable future (PDF-6MB), analyzes how dozens of digital applications address these kinds of practical and very human concerns. It finds that cities can use smart technologies to improve some key quality-of-life indicators by 10 to 30 percent-numbers that translate into lives saved, fewer crime incidents, shorter commutes, a reduced health burden, and carbon emissions averted.

1. What makes a city smart?

2. Smart-city technologies have substantial unrealized potential to improve the urban quality of life

3. A look at current deployment in 50 cities around the world shows that even the most advanced still have a long way to go

4. Smart cities change the economics of infrastructure and create room for partnerships and private-sector participation

What makes a city smart?

Smart cities put data and digital technology to work to make better decisions and improve the quality of life. More comprehensive, real-time data gives agencies the ability to watch events as they unfold, understand how demand patterns are changing, and respond with faster and lower-cost solutions.

Three layers work together to make a smart city hum (Exhibit 1). First is the technology base, which includes a critical mass of smartphones and sensors connected by high-speed communication networks. The second layer consists of specific applications. Translating raw data into alerts, insight, and action requires the right tools, and this is where technology providers and app developers come in. The third layer is usage by cities, companies, and the public. Many applications succeed only if they are widely adopted and manage to change behavior. They encourage people to use transit during off-hours, to change routes, to use less energy and water and to do so at different times of day, and to reduce strains on the healthcare system through preventive self-care.

Smart-city technologies have substantial unrealized potential to improve the urban quality of life

MGI assessed how smart-city applications could affect various quality-of-life dimensions: safety, time and convenience, health, environmental quality, social connectedness and civic participation, jobs, and the cost of living (see interactive). The wide range of outcomes reflects the fact that applications perform differently from city to city, depending on factors such as legacy infrastructure systems and on baseline starting points.

Applications can help cities fight crime and improve other aspects of public safety

Deploying a range of applications to their maximum effect could potentially reduce fatalities (from homicide, road traffic, and fires) by 8 to 10 percent. In a high-crime city with a population of five million, this could mean saving up to 300 lives each year. Incidents of assault, robbery, burglary, and auto theft could be lowered by 30 to 40 percent. On top of these metrics are the incalculable benefits of giving residents freedom of movement and peace of mind.

Tech and the city: Can smart city technologies improve quality of life?

Watch an on-demand overview of our new smart city research.

Technology is not a quick fix for crime, but agencies can use data to deploy scarce resources and personnel more effectively. Real-time crime mapping, for instance, utilizes statistical analysis to highlight patterns, while predictive policing goes a step further, anticipating crime to head off incidents before they occur. When incidents do occur, applications such as gunshot detection, smart surveillance, and home security systems can accelerate law-enforcement response. But data-driven policing has to be deployed in a way that protects civil liberties and avoids criminalizing specific neighborhoods or demographic groups.

Seconds count when lives are at stake, making speed critical for first responders in getting to the scene of emergencies. Smart systems can optimize call centers and field operations, while traffic-signal preemption gives emergency vehicles a clear driving path. These types of applications could cut emergency response times by 20 to 35 percent. A city with an already low response time of eight minutes could shave off almost two minutes. A city starting with an average response time of 50 minutes might be able to trim that by more than 17 minutes.

Smart-city technologies can make daily commutes faster and less frustrating

Tens of millions of people in cities worldwide begin and end every workday fuming in traffic or piling into overcrowded buses and trains. Improving the daily commute is critical to quality of life.

By 2025, cities that deploy smart-mobility applications have the potential to cut commuting times by 15 to 20 percent on average, with some people enjoying even larger reductions. The potential associated with each application is highly variable, depending on each city's density, existing transit infrastructure, and commuting patterns. In a dense city with extensive transit, smart technologies could save the average commuter almost 15 minutes a day. In a developing city with more grueling commutes, the improvement might be 20 to 30 minutes every day.

In general, cities with extensive, well-used transit systems benefit from applications that streamline the experience for riders. Using digital signage or mobile apps to deliver real-time information about delays enables riders to adjust their routes on the fly. Installing IoT sensors on existing physical infrastructure can help crews fix problems before they turn into breakdowns and delays.

Applications that ease road congestion are more effective in cities where driving is prevalent or where buses are the primary mode of transit. Intelligent syncing of traffic signals has the potential to reduce average commutes by more than 5 percent in developing cities where most people travel by bus. Real-time navigation alerts drivers to delays and helps them choose the fastest route. Smart-parking apps point them directly to available spots, eliminating time spent fruitlessly circling city blocks.

Cities can be catalysts for better health

The sheer density of cities makes them critical although currently underutilized platforms for addressing health. Recognizing that the role of technology in healthcare is broad and evolving by the day, we analyze only digital applications that offer cities room to play a role. We quantify their potential impact on disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), the primary metric used by the World Health Organization to convey the global disease burden, reflecting not only years of life lost to early death but also productive and healthy life lost to disability or incapacity. If cities deploy the applications included in our analyses to their fullest effect, we see the potential to reduce DALYs by 8 to 15 percent.

Applications that help prevent, treat, and monitor chronic conditions, such as diabetes or cardiovascular disease, could make the biggest difference in the developed world. Remote-patient-monitoring systems have the potential to reduce the health burden in high-income cities by more than 4 percent. These systems use digital devices to take vital readings, then transmit them securely to doctors in another location for assessment. This data can alert both patient and doctor when early intervention is needed, heading off complications and hospitalizations.

Cities can use data and analytics to identify demographic groups with elevated risk profiles and target interventions more precisely. So-called mHealth interventions can send out lifesaving messages about vaccinations, sanitation, safe sex, and adherence to antiretroviral therapy regimens. In low-income cities with high infant-mortality rates, data-based interventions focused on maternal and child health alone could reduce DALYs by more than 5 percent. Another 5 percent reduction is possible if developing cities use infectious-disease surveillance systems to stay a step ahead of fast-moving epidemics. Telemedicine, which provides clinical consultations by videoconference, can also be lifesaving in low-income cities with doctor shortages.

Smart cities can deliver a cleaner and more sustainable environment

As urbanization, industrialization, and consumption grow, environmental pressures multiply. Applications such as building-automation systems, dynamic electricity pricing, and some mobility applications could combine to cut emissions by 10 to 15 percent.

Water-consumption tracking, which pairs advanced metering with digital feedback messages, can nudge people toward conservation and reduce consumption by 15 percent in cities where residential water usage is high. In many parts of the developing world, the biggest source of water waste is leakage from pipes. Deploying sensors and analytics can cut those losses by up to 25 percent. Applications such as pay-as-you-throw digital tracking can reduce the volume of solid waste per capita by 10 to 20 percent. Overall, cities can save 25 to 80 liters of water per person each day and reduce unrecycled solid waste by 30 to 130 kilograms per person annually.

Air-quality sensors do not automatically address the causes of pollution, but they can identify the sources and provide the basis for further action. Beijing reduced deadly airborne pollutants by roughly 20 percent in less than a year by closely tracking the sources of pollution and regulating traffic and construction accordingly. Sharing real-time air-quality information with the public via smartphone apps enables individuals to take protective measures. This can reduce negative health effects by 3 to 15 percent, depending on current pollution levels.

Smart cities can create a new type of digital urban commons and enhance social connectedness

Community is hard to quantify, but MGI surveyed urban residents to determine if digital channels for communicating with local officials as well as digital platforms that facilitate real-world interactions (such as Meetup and Nextdoor) can have an impact. Our analysis suggests that using these types of applications could nearly double the share of residents who feel connected to the local community, and nearly triple the share who feel connected to local government.

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Establishing channels for two-way communication between the public and local agencies could make city governments more responsive. Many city agencies maintain an active presence on social networks, and others have developed their own interactive citizen apps. In addition to disseminating information, these channels create vehicles for residents to report concerns, collect data, or weigh in on planning issues. Paris has implemented a participatory budget, inviting anyone to post project ideas and then holding online votes to decide which ones merit funding.

Becoming a smart city is not a strategy for job creation, but smart solutions can make local labor markets more efficient and slightly lower the cost of living

Many local officials want to know if becoming a smart city will lead to an infusion of high-paying tech jobs or accelerate a wave of automation. Our analysis finds a slightly positive net impact on formal employment. Smart technologies will directly eliminate some jobs (such as administrative and field jobs in city government) while creating others (such as maintenance, driving roles, and temporary installation jobs). E-career centers can have a modest positive impact by creating more efficient mechanisms for hiring and drawing more unemployed and inactive people into the workforce. Data-driven formal education and online retraining programs can enhance a city's pool of skills. Digitizing government functions such as business licensing, permitting, and tax filing can free local enterprises from red tape, contributing to a more entrepreneurial business climate.

Many of the world's most dynamic and desirable cities have serious housing shortages, driving up rents and home prices. Expanding the supply of housing can bring down those costs. In many places, bureaucracy bogs down land acquisition, environmental studies, design approvals, and permitting. Digitizing these processes can remove risks and delays, encouraging more construction. In addition, most cities have a surprising amount of land sitting idle that could be suitable for infill housing. Creating open-source cadastral databases can help to identify land parcels for development.

Smart applications produce savings in other areas, such as encouraging more efficient usage of utilities and the healthcare system. Products such as home-security systems, personal-alert devices, and lifestyle wearables involve consumer purchases, but they offer value that many are willing to pay for. Mobility applications offer new value as well, although e-hailing may encourage people to take more rides than they once did. However, e-hailing and other sharing applications make it possible for some people to forgo private vehicle ownership. MGI estimates that the average person could save as much as 3 percent on current annual expenditures.

A look at current deployment in 50 cities around the world shows that even the most advanced still have a long way to go

MGI took a snapshot of deployment in 50 cities around the world, not to crown the world's smartest city but to show the full sweep of activity under way around the globe. This includes assessment of each city's technology base, its current application rollout, and public adoption.

Our view of each city's technology base looked at the extent of sensors and devices, the quality of communication networks, and the presence of open data portals. Among the most advanced are Amsterdam, New York, Seoul, Singapore, and Stockholm-but even these front-runners are only about two-thirds of the way toward what constitutes a fully comprehensive technology base today. In general, cities across China, East Asia, Europe, and North America have relatively strong tech bases, as do select cities in the Middle East. But those in Africa, India, and Latin America lag behind, particularly in installing the sensor layer, the most capital-intensive element.

We gauged each city's progress in implementation using a checklist of current smart applications. Mobility has been a top priority for most cities, but those places with the highest number of applications implemented overall-London, Los Angeles, New York, Seoul, Shenzhen, and Singapore-have branched out into multiple domains. Some cities have not yet implemented the applications with the greatest potential to address some of their priority issues.

MGI conducted online surveys in all of the cities analyzed to gauge how residents feel about the technologies already at work in their environment. We found that Asian cities are the strongest performers in awareness, usage, and satisfaction, while European cities lag. Positive adoption and awareness appear correlated with having a young population that not only accepts a more digital way of doing things but also expects it.

Smart cities change the economics of infrastructure and create room for partnerships and private-sector participation

Smart cities: Digital solutions for a more livable future

Smart-city technologies help cities get more out of their assets, whether they have extensive legacy systems or are building from scratch. There is no getting around the need to invest in physical assets and maintenance, but smart technologies can add new capabilities as core components are upgraded.

Infrastructure investment once locked cities into capital-intensive and extremely long-term plans. Now, using the right combination of traditional construction and smart solutions, they can respond more dynamically to how demand is changing. If population growth surges in a far-flung neighborhood, adding a new subway or bus line with the accompanying fleet expansion may take years. By contrast, a privately operated on-demand minibus service could be up and running much faster.

City government does not have to be the sole funder and operator of every type of service and infrastructure system. While implementing most of the applications that we examined would fall to the public sector, the majority of the initial investment could come from private actors (Exhibit 2). Public financing may be reserved for only those public goods that must be provided by the government. Furthermore, more than half of the initial investment that needs to be made by the public sector would generate a positive financial return, which opens the door to partnerships.

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Adding more actors to the mix is a positive, since it increases adoption and applies more creativity to the available data. When private-sector innovations spring up organically, the role of government may involve regulating, convening key actors, offering subsidies, or changing purchasing decisions. Rather than taking a master-planning approach, some cities position themselves as ecosystems, creating consortia and even physical collaboration spaces.

Some cities are starting their transformations with inherent advantages such as wealth, density, and existing high-tech industries. But even places that lack these ingredients can set themselves apart with vision, good management, a willingness to break with conventional ways of doing things, and a relentless commitment to meeting the needs of residents. There are many blank canvases for the private sector, not for profits, and technologists to fill-and above all, individuals should be empowered to shape the future of the cities they call home.

About the author(s)

Jonathan Woetzel is a senior partner in McKinsey's Shanghai office and a director of the McKinsey Global Institute; Jaana Remes is a partner in the San Francisco office; Brodie Boland is an associate partner the Washington, DC, office, where is a partner; Katrina Lv is a partner in the Shenzhen office; Suveer Sinha is a partner in the Mumbai office; Gernot Strube is a senior partner in the Munich office; Jonathan Law is a partner in the New York office; Andrés Cadena is a partner in the Bogotá office; and Valerie von der Tann is a consultant in the Berlin office.

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Smart cities: Digital solutions for a more livable future

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Until recently, city leaders thought of smart technologies primarily as tools for becoming more efficient behind the scenes. Now technology is being injected more directly into the lives of residents. Smartphones have become the keys to the city, putting instant information about transit, traffic, health services, safety alerts, and community news into millions of hands.

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As part of Information Age's Smart City Month, this article looks at the Internet of Things, which represents 'the' smart city technology

The umbrella term of a smart city, is a city that uses data and technologies to improve the lives of the citizens and businesses that inhabit it. So, what are these technologies?

It really boils down to one: The Internet of Things (IoT). The smart city technology.

The key technology behind the success of smart city initiatives, whether that's improving pollution levels or traffic conditions, is the IoT. The IoT is a network of physical connected devices, like vehicles or home appliances, that enable these 'things' to connect and exchange data. This in turn, is creating never-before-seen opportunities to converge the physical and the digital - via data analytics - to improve efficiency (both in public and private sectors), drive economic benefits and improve livelihoods.
>Read more on Why businesses and society need smart cities
In an interview with Information Age, Stephen Brobst - CTO of Teradata - confirmed that the IoT is the most fundamental technology behind smart cities: "The bottom line is that sensor technology in the IoT context is key. When I say IoT context I mean that we get a view of the whole city across these different domains of the life of the city as it's captured in the sensor data."

Unlocking the value of IoT value will allow those cities who are committed to smart, to gather, aggregate and normalise information from siloed city applications; pave the way for a future of smart cities affecting everything from lighting, parking, traffic and waste management, citizen engagement, safety and security. And develop a new and comprehensive ecosystem to empower city managers, who are expected to invest $80 billion in smart cities this year, in order to make better, data-driven decisions.

Connectivity is key

The biggest factor that could potentially damage the smart city dream is the problem of connectivity. Without a strong connection between the thousands, if not millions of devices across a city, the IoT devices are rendered obsolete. The smart city technology would be dead.
>Read more on Connectivity being the key for the smart cities of the future
Paul Carter, CEO of independent network benchmarking firm, Global Wireless Solutions explains that "Integral to widespread, robust 4G and later 5G networks throughout London will be a much heavier reliance on 'small cells', to boost connectivity in those hard to reach not-spots."

"This means that local authorities will need to work closely (and the sooner the better) with network operators to allow the installation of these units on lampposts and buildings, to provide connectivity wherever it may be needed. The government can also assist operators by allowing them, where practical, to deploy hardware such as phone masts on government-owned buildings and facilities. This will again help enhance coverage, but with minimal interference to the interests of private property."

Smart cities need high-quality digital infrastructure, agrees Tim Stone - venture partner director at IoT investor, Breed Reply - "but one of the most significant challenges is for businesses to get access to the data," which has been generated from the IoT.

"In many cases, this data will be sensitive, especially in areas like health and transport. The public needs confidence that information is secure before it can be opened up to new technology that can make a difference. Concerns over security can make cities tend towards either not implementing new technology at all or only working with bigger companies. These companies often have competing corporate priorities or set products and like any market that is dominated by a few big players, what is needed is a vibrant, innovative market that challenges their wisdom."

Global smart city drive

A number of cities around the world are making the commitment to smart cities and to the IoT. For example, in the US, 66% of the cities are investing in smart city technologies , like smart meters, intelligent traffic signals and RFID sensors in paved areas.

"It's not just cities getting in on the smart city game," according to Carter. "Many vendors such as Amazon and Google are trying to be part of this exciting trend. From drones to delivery bots to the success of the on-demand economy, cities and businesses are becoming increasingly smarter, connected spaces."

"It is little wonder governments are focusing on smart cities. Smart city technology can improve the quality of life in cities, help councils and city governments provide improved and sustainable services, and safeguard their infrastructure. This will help states and local governments deliver both critical and non-critical services to citizens."

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Smart city technology: It's all about the Internet of Things

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As part of Information Age's Smart City Month, this article looks at the Internet of Things, which represents 'the' smart city technology The umbrella term of a smart city, is a city that uses data and technologies to improve the lives of the citizens and businesses that inhabit it.

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Often people venture outside to get away from their communications devices and get some fresh air, but local governments are keen to ensure people are always connected, no matter what.

That's what Sydney's Campbelltown City Council is doing, by trialling a smart bench product in the centre of its central business district, Mawson Park.

The trial is part of the city's commitment to transform the local government area into a 'smart, connected city', and aims to test the feasibility of the new technology, which has proven popular across Europe, and will help set the scope for any possible future installations in public spaces across the city.

During the six-week trial, visitors to Mawson Park will have access to a Steora Smart Bench - a Croatian innovation which is distributed in Australia by Cleanair Energy - providing phone charging and internet connection from a sleek park bench, powered by green solar energy.

Mayor of Campbelltown George Brticevic said the smart bench would allow people to use their devices without running down data and battery life.

"We often hear of the detrimental effect the extensive use of modern devices can have on our health, often keeping kids indoors and adults from spending quality time with their family - this sort of technology could provide the best of both worlds by getting people outside and keeping them connected at the same time," Mr Brticevic said.

He said the idea behind consideration of the benches was to look at ways to enhance public spaces by providing free Wi-Fi access, complemented by mobile device charging ports, as well as a place to sit and socialise.

The smart bench being trialled is equipped with a wireless charger which enables cable-less charging of newer, wireless charging capable smartphones.

For users of other devices, the bench features two smart USB connectors, enabling quick mobile phone charging. The Wi-Fi hotspot enables wireless connection for up to five devices at any one time.

The temporary installation of the bench will help assess the feasibility and suitability of implementing this type of technology within Campbelltown City, and a report back to Council will consider a range of factors, including usage, cost, durability, functionality and availability of similar products, when recommending any future adoption of smart bench technology.

The smart bench trial ends on 28 July.

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Smart benches rollout in Western Sydney parkland

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Often people venture outside to get away from their communications devices and get some fresh air, but local governments are keen to ensure people are always connected, no matter what. That's what Sydney's Campbelltown City Council is doing, by trialling a smart bench product in the centre of its central business district, Mawson Park.

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The 'Sedi' smart bench has been designed by Adelaide, Australia-based engineering company Specialised Solutions as a sustainable furniture piece for urban areas that will enhance connectivity for citizens. Crafted using sustainable timber and steel, the bench features solar panels on the top portion to ensure it has an uninterrupted supple of power that isn't reliant on the grid.

The benches are outfitted with a number of built-in charging points, offer WiFi and feature a digital screen on the side that will provide information pertaining to public transportation, news and more. The 'Sedi' smart bench is set to retail for $10,000 each and are presently being trialled in various locations in Australia including Flinders University where installation coincided with opening day in August.

Image Credit: Sedi

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The 'Sedi' smart bench has been designed by Adelaide, Australia-based engineering company Specialised Solutions as a sustainable furniture piece for urban areas that will enhance connectivity for citizens. Crafted using sustainable timber and steel, the bench features solar panels on the top portion to ensure it has an uninterrupted supple of power that isn't reliant on the grid.

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Made of copper , glass and painted black aluminum. Stop name is highlighted , and blended into the copper frame. Extension to the road helps the bus driver notice where exactly he should stop. It also illuminates the way to make it visible even at night .

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Made of copper , glass and painted black aluminum. Stop name is highlighted , and blended into the copper frame. Extension to the road helps the bus driver notice where exactly he should stop. It also illuminates the way to make it visible even at night .

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Design of a modern bus station.Adding a techno map to one of the bus station walls, the transportation experience through the city is easier, it replaces the traditional publicity turning the bus station nicer and helpful.

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Cities around the world are becoming smarter. They are implementing initiatives to promote greener and safer urban environments, with cleaner air and water, better mobility and efficient public services. These initiatives are supported by smart technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) that provide the technical framework to implement smart city projects.

1. Big data and IoT in smart cities
IoT is an essential technology without which smart city initiatives cannot exist. The "things" of the IoT━devices, sensors, applications━collect the data that enables the technology solutions to be effective. For example, smart water meters reporting water quality and usage, alerting the water company of leaks, or potential contamination.

That said, smart city initiatives need big data analytics to function. The IoT generates huge datasets that must be analyzed and processed to implement smart city services. Big data platforms, part of the city ICT infrastructure, have to sort, analyze and process the data gathered from the IoT.

City governance integrates ICT solutions to interconnect public services, at the same time engaging communities in local governance, thus promoting cooperation. One example of this is the Greater London Authority initiative, where city hall is using an open, common platform to share data with local communities.

Examples of application of IoT in smart cities include:

City lighting━cities such as London and Quebec are installing smart street lighting. The intelligent street lights function as wifi hotspots, come equipped with a surveillance camera, charging outlets for electric cars and phones, and even measure the air quality. This multitasking street light works as a sensor and an actuator, providing services that better the quality of life of the residents while collecting important data about the environment.

Waste management━cities are applying technologic solutions to achieve a cleaner environment and reduce waste. For example, Songdo district in South Korea is reducing noise pollution eliminating garbage trucks altogether. Buildings have a smart garbage collection station where residents dispose of the trash bags, separated by organic and combustible. The station is equipped with sensors that detect when is full. The trash is automatically sent through high- pressure pipes straight to the recycling center.

Connected public transport-sensors in public transportation send traffic data to the city transportation management software. They tell you in real-time how long you have to wait for the bus or train, alerting the system traffic congestion or delays.

2. Sensors
Sensors are at the core of every device in the IoT system. From connected cars to traffic lights and smart homes, almost every device today has sensors that gather and send data to the cloud. This interconnectivity is what makes possible the Internet of Things system.

For example, proximity sensors make possible the development of automated vehicle systems. Smart cities use sensors to measure a myriad of values from traffic congestion to pollution levels, water quality, and energy usage.

3. 5G Connectivity
Smart city technologies require connectivity to work. 5G cells provide urban areas with a strong connection between millions of devices and sensors, enabling the IoT to work efficiently. Therefore, cities like London are installing 5G cells across the city, using drones to identify available spaces.

4. Geospatial technology
Urban planning requires geolocation accuracy and detailed geographic data. Smart cities rely on technologies such as Global Positioning System (GPS) for transportation management and connected vehicles. The Geographical Information System (GIS) helps city planners to build an urban digital model with georeferenced data.

This enables building engineers, for example, to determine the best route for bicycle lanes or where to locate multimodal transport stations. In the case of new cities such as Belmont, USA, city planners use geospatial technologies to design residential and urban areas in a way that promotes walking commuting.

5. Robotics
Robots left sci-fi movies to become part of everyday life. The integration of robotics aims to improve city operations, such as using drones for postal services. Cities such as Dubai, Singapore and Tokyo are at the forefront of this trend, introducing humanoids for services such as room service in hotels, surveillance and to attend the information desk at public offices.

For example, visitors to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics are going to get help to communicate in Japanese from humanoid robotic translators. Meanwhile, in Dubai, Robocop is not a fantasy anymore, since the city is testing humanoid police officers with the intention to replace 25 percent of their police force by 2030.

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Smart City Technologies: Role And Applications Of Big Data And IoT | HERE Mobility

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Cities around the world are becoming smarter. They are implementing initiatives to promote greener and safer urban environments, with cleaner air and water, better mobility and efficient public services. These initiatives are supported by smart technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) that provide the technical framework to implement smart city projects.

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A team of researchers from Empa, ETH Zurich and Zurich University Hospital has succeeded in developing a novel sensor for detecting the new coronavirus. In future, it could be used to measure the concentration of the virus in the environment -- for example, in places where there are many people or in hospital ventilation systems.

Jing Wang and his team at Empa and ETH Zurich usually work on measuring, analyzing and reducing airborne pollutants such as aerosols and artificially produced nanoparticles. However, the challenge the whole world is currently facing is also changing the goals and strategies in the research laboratories. The new focus: a sensor that can quickly and reliably detect SARS-CoV-2 -- the new coronavirus.

But the idea is not quite so far removed from the group's previous research work: even before the COVID-19 began to spread, first in China and then around the world, Wang and his colleagues were researching sensors that could detect bacteria and viruses in the air. As early as January, the idea of using this basis to further develop the sensor in such a way that it could reliably identify a specific virus was born. The sensor will not necessarily replace the established laboratory tests, but could be used as an alternative method for clinical diagnosis, and more prominently to measure the virus concentration in the air in real time: For example, in busy places like train stations or hospitals.

Fast and reliable tests for the new coronavirus are urgently needed to bring the pandemic under control as soon as possible. Most laboratories use a molecular method called reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, or RT-PCR for short, to detect viruses in respiratory infections. This is well established and can detect even tiny amount of viruses -- but at the same time it can be time consuming and prone to error.
An optical sensor for RNA samples
Jing Wang and his team have developed an alternative test method in the form of an optical biosensor. The sensor combines two different effects to detect the virus safely and reliably: an optical and a thermal one.

The sensor is based on tiny structures of gold, so-called gold nanoislands, on a glass substrate. Artificially produced DNA receptors that match specific RNA sequences of the SARS-CoV-2 are grafted onto the nanoislands. The coronavirus is a so-called RNA virus: Its genome does not consist of a DNA double strand as in living organisms, but of a single RNA strand. The receptors on the sensor are therefore the complementary sequences to the virus' unique RNA sequences, which can reliably identify the virus.

The technology the researchers use for detection is called LSPR, short for localized surface plasmon resonance. This is an optical phenomenon that occurs in metallic nanostructures: When excited, they modulate the incident light in a specific wavelength range and create a plasmonic near-field around the nanostructure. When molecules bind to the surface, the local refractive index within the excited plasmonic near-field changes. An optical sensor located on the back of the sensor can be used to measure this change and thus determine whether the sample contains the RNA strands in question.
Heat increases reliability
However, it is important that only those RNA strands that match exactly the DNA receptor on the sensor are captured. This is where a second effect comes into play on the sensor: the plasmonic photothermal (PPT) effect. If the same nanostructure on the sensor is excited with a laser of a certain wavelength, it produces localized heat.

And how does that help reliability? As already mentioned, the genome of the virus consists of only a single strand of RNA. If this strand finds its complementary counterpart, the two combine to form a double strand -- a process called hybridization. The counterpart -- when a double strand splits into single strands -- is called melting or denaturation. This happens at a certain temperature, the melting temperature. However, if the ambient temperature is much lower than the melting temperature, strands that are not complementary to each other can also connect. This could lead to false test results. If the ambient temperature is only slightly lower than the melting temperature, only complementary strands can join. And this is exactly the result of the increased ambient temperature, which is caused by the PPT effect.

To demonstrate how reliably the new sensor detects the current COVID-19 virus, the researchers tested it with a very closely related virus: SARS-CoV. This is the virus that broke out in 2003 and triggered the SARS pandemic. The two viruses -- SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV2 -- differ only slightly in their RNA. And validation was successful: "Tests showed that the sensor can clearly distinguish between the very similar RNA sequences of the two viruses," explains Jing Wang. And the results are ready in a matter of minutes.

At the moment, however, the sensor is not yet ready to measure the corona virus concentration in the air, for example in Zurich's main railway station. A number of developmental steps are still needed to do this -- for example, a system that draws in the air, concentrates the aerosols in it and releases the RNA from the viruses. "This still needs development work," says Wang. But once the sensor is ready, the principle could be applied to other viruses and help to detect and stop epidemics at an early stage.

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viruses; human biology; genes; virology; microbes and more; biochemistry research; detectors; organic chemistry; wearable technology

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A new biosensor for the COVID-19 virus: Detection in the environment

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Researchers have developed a novel sensor for detecting the new coronavirus. In future, it could be used to measure the concentration of the virus in the environment -- for example, in places where there are many people or in hospital ventilation systems.

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Researchers at the Swiss Federal Laboratory have developed a sensor that could potentially quickly and reliably detect SARS-CoV-2, the COVID-19 virus.

Prior to the coronavirus spreading around the world, Jing Wang and his colleagues were researching sensors that could detect bacteria and viruses in the air. The concept of the sensor would not replace the established laboratory tests but could be used as an alternative method for a clinical diagnosis to measure virus concentration in air in real-time. The sensor could be used in busy places like train stations and hospitals.

The sensor features optical and thermal effects to detect the virus safely and reliably. It's based on tiny structures of gold nanoislands on a glass substrate and DNA receptors that match specific RNA sequences of SARS-CoV-2 are grafted onto the nanoislands. The receptors on the sensor are complementary sequences to the coronavirus's unique RNA sequences to help reliably identify the virus.

Wang and the researchers used localized surface plasmon resonance to detect the virus. The technology utilizes an optical phenomenon that happens in metallic nanostructures. They modulate incident light in specific wavelength ranges to create a plasmonic near-field around the nanostructure. Once molecules bind to the surface, the local refractive index in the plasmonic near-field changes.

The sensor's plasmonic photothermal effect produces localized heat when the nanostructure on the sensor is excited with a laser of a certain wavelength.

To test the device, the researchers used the SARS-CoV virus, which broke out in 2003 and triggered the SARS outbreak, because the RNA on the two viruses differ only slightly, according to the researchers.

"Tests showed that the sensor can clearly distinguish between the very similar RNA sequences of the two viruses," Wang said in a news release.

The researchers plan to develop the sensor further to measure the coronavirus concentration in air in places like Zurich's main railway station. So far, the researchers plan to develop a system that draws in the air, concentrates the aerosols in it and releases the RNA from the viruses.

"This still needs development work," Wang said.

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This sensor could detect COVID-19 in the air | Medical Design and Outsourcing

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Researchers at the Swiss Federal Laboratory have developed a sensor that could potentially quickly and reliably detect SARS-CoV-2, the COVID-19 virus. Prior to the coronavirus spreading around the world, Jing Wang and his colleagues were researching sensors that could detect bacteria and viruses in the air.

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A complete system with Eco-friendly and functional improvements. Where we also provided space for vendor and merging them into the system benefits both, the user experience of daily commuters and provides a permanent space to a vendor.

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A complete system with Eco-friendly and functional improvements. Where we also provided space for vendor and merging them into the system benefits both, the user experience of daily commuters and provides a permanent space to a vendor.

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The Australian government has allocated A$50 million for the Smarter Cities and Suburbs Program to encourage projects that "improve the livability, productivity and sustainability of cities and towns across Australia".

One project funded under the program is installation of temperature, lighting and motion sensors in buildings and bus interchanges in Woden, ACT. This will allow energy systems to be automatically adjusted in response to people's use of these spaces, with the aim of reducing energy use and improving safety and security.

In similar ways, governments worldwide are partnering with technology firms to make cities "smarter" by retrofitting various city objects with technological features. While this might make our cities safer and potentially more user-friendly, we can't work off a blind faith in technology which, without proper design, can break down and leave a city full of environmental waste.

Read more: Can a tech company build a city? Ask Google

How cities are getting smarter

A "smart city" is an often vague term that usually describes one of two things. The first is a city that takes a knowledge-based approach to its economy, transport, people and environment. The second is a city connected and managed through computing - sensors, data analytics and other information and communications technology.

It's the second definition that aligns with the interests of multinational tech firms. IBM, Serco, Cisco, Microsoft, Philips and Google are among those active in this market. Each is working with local authorities worldwide to provide the hardware, software and technical know-how for complex, urban-scale projects.

In Rio de Janeiro, a partnership between the city government and IBM has created an urban-scale network of sensors, bringing data from thirty agencies into a single centralised hub. Here it is examined by algorithms and human analysts to help model and plan city development, and to respond to unexpected events.

Tech giants provide expertise for a city to become "smart" and then keep its systems running afterwards. In some cases, tech-led smart cities have risen from the ground up. Songdo, in South Korea, and Masdar, UAE, were born smart by integrating advanced technologies at the masterplanning and construction stages.

Read more: How does a city get to be 'smart'? This is how Tel Aviv did it

More often, though, existing cities are retrofitted with smart systems. Barcelona, for instance, has gained a reputation as one of the world's top smart cities, after its existing buildings and infrastructure were fitted with sensors and processors to monitor and maintain infrastructure, as well as for planning future development.

The city is dotted with electric vehicle charging points and smart parking spaces. Sensors and a data-driven irrigation system monitor and manage water use. The public transport system has interactive touch screens at bus stops and USB chargers on buses.

Suppliers of smart systems claim a number of benefits for smart cities, arguing these will result in more equitable, efficient and environmentally sustainable urban centres. Other advocates claim smart cities are more " happy and resilient ". But there are also hidden costs to smart cities.

The downsides of being smart

Cyber-security and technology ethics are important topics. Smart cities represent a complex new field for governments, citizens, designers and security experts to navigate.

The privatisation of civic space and public services is a hidden cost too. The complexity of smart city systems and their need for ongoing maintenance could lead to long-term reliance on a tech company to deliver public services.

Read more: Sensors in public spaces can help create cities that are both smart and sociable

Many argue that, by improving data collection and monitoring and allowing for real-time responses, smart systems will lead to better environmental outcomes. For instance, waste bins that alert city managers when they need collecting, or that prompt recycling through tax credits, and street lamps that track movement and adjust lighting levels have the potential to reduce energy use.

But this runs contrary to studies that show more information and communication technology actually leads to higher energy use. At best, smart cities may end up a zero-sum game in terms of sustainability because their "positive and negative impacts tend to cancel each other out".

And then there's the less-talked-about issue of e-waste, which is a huge global challenge. Adding computers to objects could create what one writer has termed a new " internet of trash " - products designed to be thrown away as soon as their batteries run down.

from shutterstock.com

As cities become smart they need more and more objects - bollards, street lamps, public furniture, signboards - to integrate sensors, screens, batteries and processors. Objects in our cities are usually built with durable materials, which means they can be used for decades.

Computer processors and software systems, on the other hand, are short-lived and may need upgrading every few years. Adding technology to products that didn't have this in the past effectively shortens their life-span and makes servicing, warranties and support contracts more complex and unreliable. One outcome could be a landscape of smart junk - public infrastructure that has stopped working, or that needs ongoing patching, maintenance and upgrades.

Read more: Does not compute: Australia is still miles behind in recycling electronic products

In Barcelona, many of the gadgets that made it one of the world's smartest cities no longer work properly. The smart streetlights on the Passatge de Mas de Roda, which were put in place in 2011 to improve energy efficiency by detecting human movement, noise and climatic conditions, later fell into disrepair.

If smart objects aren't designed so they can be disassembled at the end of their useful life, electronic components are likely to be left inside where they hamper recycling efforts. Some digital components contain toxic materials. Disposing of these through burning or in landfill can contaminate environments and threaten human health.

These are not insurmountable challenges. Information and communications technology, data and networks have an important place in our shared urban future. But this future will be determined by our attitudes toward these technologies. We need to make sure that instead of being short-term gimmicks to be thrown away when their novelty wears off, they are thoughtfully designed, and that they put they put the needs of citizens and environments first.

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Technology is making cities 'smart', but it's also costing the environment

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The Australian government has allocated A$50 million for the Smarter Cities and Suburbs Program to encourage projects that "improve the livability, productivity and sustainability of cities and towns across Australia". One project funded under the program is installation of temperature, lighting and motion sensors in buildings and bus interchanges in Woden, ACT.

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The Small Wind Guidebook helps homeowners, ranchers, and small businesses decide if wind energy will work for them by addressing the following questions:

Is wind energy practical for me?

What size wind turbine do I need?

What are the basic parts of a small wind electric system?

What do wind systems cost?

Where can I find installation and maintenance support?

How much energy will my system generate?

Is there enough wind on my site?

How do I choose the best site for my wind turbine?

Can I connect my system to the utility grid?

Can I go off grid?

Introduction

Can I use wind energy to power my home? More people across the country are asking this question as they look for a hedge against increasing electricity rates and a way to harvest their local wind resources. Although wind turbines large enough to provide a significant portion of the electricity needed by the average U.S. home generally require 1 acre of property or more, approximately 19.3% of the U.S. population lives in rural areas and may own land parcels large enough to accommodate a wind energy system.

A small wind electric system will work for you if:

There is enough wind where you live

Tall towers are allowed in your neighborhood or rural area (or you live in flat terrain with no tall obstacles nearby)

You have enough space

You can determine how much electricity you need or want to produce

You can interconnect with your utility service provider (assuming you have a grid-connection application)

It works for you economically.

Small wind electric systems can contribute to our nation's energy needs. This guide will provide you with basic information about small wind electric systems to help you decide if wind energy will work for you.

Why Should I Choose Wind?

Wind energy systems can be one of the most cost-effective home-based renewable energy systems. Depending on your wind resource, a small wind energy system can lower your electricity bill slightly or up to 100%, help you avoid the high costs of extending utility power lines to remote locations, and sometimes can provide DC or off-grid power. In addition, wind energy is clean, indigenous, renewable energy.

How Do Wind Turbines Work?

Wind is created by the unequal heating of the Earth's surface by the sun. Wind turbines convert the kinetic energy in wind into mechanical power that runs a generator to produce clean electricity. Today's turbines are versatile modular sources of electricity. Their blades are aerodynamically designed to capture the maximum energy from the wind. The wind turns the blades, which spin a shaft connected to a generator or the generator's rotor, which makes electricity.

First, How Can I Make My Home More Energy Efficient?

Before choosing a wind system for your home, you should consider reducing your energy consumption by making your home or business more energy efficient. You can start by learning how electricity is used in U.S. homes. Reducing your energy consumption will significantly lower your utility bills and will reduce the size of the home-based renewable energy system you need. To achieve maximum energy efficiency, you should take a whole-building approach. View your home as an energy system with interrelated parts, all of which work synergistically to contribute to the efficiency of the system. From the insulation in your home's walls to the light bulbs in its fixtures, there are many ways to make your home more efficient.

Improving insulation and sealing air leaks in a home are two of the fastest and most cost-effective ways to reduce energy waste. Homes built prior to 1950 use approximately 60% more energy per square foot than those constructed in 2000 or later.

Turning your thermostat down 7° to 10°F for 8 hours a day from its normal setting can save as much as 10% on heating and cooling.

Low-e exterior or interior storm windows can save you 12% to 33% on heating and cooling costs, depending on the type of window already installed in the home.

By replacing your home's five most frequently used light fixtures or bulbs with models that have earned the ENERGY STAR, you can save $75 each year.

When shopping for appliances, look for the Energy Star® label. Energy Star® appliances have been identified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Energy as being the most energy-efficient products in their classes.

For more information on how to make your home energy efficient, see Energy Savers: Tips on Saving Money and Energy at Home.

Is Wind Energy Practical for Me?

A small wind energy system can provide you with a practical and economical source of electricity if:

Your property has a good wind resource.

Your home or business is located on at least 1 acre of land.

Your local zoning codes or covenants allow wind turbines.

You can determine how much electricity you need or want to produce.

It works for you economically (you may be eligible for state/utility or federal incentives).

You're comfortable with long-term investments.

Your average electricity bills are $150 per month or more or you don't have access to utility grid power.

You may wish to refer to the Small Wind Consumer's Guide Checklist, which was developed by the Northwest Wind Resource and Action Center. The document contains ten questions that interested parties should consider prior to installing a small wind energy system and three common mistakes to avoid.

Zoning and Permitting Issues

Zoning refers to the general local regulations that allow and restrict various types of projects, whereas permitting refers to acquiring permits for a specific project within the scope of those zoning rules.

The zoning and permitting processes for wind energy installations seek to address safety, aesthetics, and community interests and concerns. Some of these concerns might include sound level, visual impact, wildlife impact, TV/radio interference, ice shedding, or broken equipment.

Practices vary dramatically across the country so becoming familiar with the local regulations, authorities, and general requirements is helpful. In some cases, zoning and permitting expectations are consistent and straightforward. In other cases, hearings may be required and the process is uncertain. A project designed within the existing limitations will experience a much smoother permitting process and will be more likely to receive a permit. But if your project falls outside of defined limits, it must usually undergo a special review process to obtain a variance from the existing rules and regulations - a potentially expensive and time-consuming process that often involves at least one public hearing and has no guarantee of success.

Before you invest in a wind energy system, you should research potential zoning and permitting obstacles. Some jurisdictions restrict the height of the structures permitted in residential-zoned areas, although variances may be obtained. Most zoning ordinances have a height limit of 35 feet.

You can find out more about zoning and permitting requirements by:

In addition to zoning issues, your neighbors might object to a wind turbine that blocks their view, or they might be concerned about the sound it produces. Most zoning and aesthetic concerns can be addressed by supplying objective data. For example, a typical 2-kilowatt wind turbine operates at a noise level of approximately 55 dB 50 feet away from the hub of the turbine. At that level, the sound of the wind turbine can be picked out of surrounding noise if a conscious effort is made to hear it.

What Size Wind Turbine Do I Need?

The size of the wind turbine you need depends on your application. Small turbines range in size from 20 Watts to 100 kilowatts (kW). The smaller or "micro" (20- to 500-Watt) turbines are used in applications such as charging batteries for recreational vehicles and sailboats.

One- to 10-kW turbines can be used in applications such as pumping water. Wind energy has been used for centuries to pump water and grind grain. Although mechanical windmills still provide a sensible, low-cost option for pumping water in low-wind areas, farmers and ranchers are finding that wind-electric pumping is more versatile and they can pump twice the volume for the same initial investment. In addition, mechanical windmills must be placed directly above the well, which may not take advantage of available wind resources. Wind-electric pumping systems can be placed where the wind resource is the best and connected to the pump motor with an electric cable. However, in areas with a low wind resource, mechanical windmills can provide more efficient water pumping.

Turbines used in residential applications can range in size from 400 Watts to 100 kW (100 kW for very large loads), depending on the amount of electricity you want to generate. For residential applications, you should establish an energy budget and see whether financial incentives are available. This information will help determine the turbine size you will need. Because energy efficiency is usually less expensive than energy production, making your house more energy efficient will probably be more cost effective and will reduce the size of the wind turbine you need (see How Can I Make My Home More Energy Efficient?). Wind turbine manufacturers, dealers, and installers can help you size your system based on your electricity needs and the specifics of your local wind resource and micro-siting.

A typical home uses approximately 10,766 kilowatt-hours (kWh), an average of 897 kWh per month. Depending on the average wind speed in the area, a wind turbine rated in the range of 5 to 15 kW would be required to make a significant contribution to this demand. A 1.5-kW wind turbine will meet the needs of a home requiring 300 kWh per month in a location with a 14 MPH (6.26 meters per second) annual average wind speed. The manufacturer, dealer, or installer can provide you with the expected annual energy output of the turbine as a function of annual average wind speed. The manufacturer will also provide information about any maximum wind speeds at which the turbine is designed to operate safely. Most turbines have automatic overspeed-governing systems to keep the rotor from spinning out of control in extremely high winds.

Along with information about your local wind resource (wind speed and direction) and your energy budget, this information will help you decide which size turbine will best meet your electricity needs.

What Are the Basic Parts of a Small Wind Electric System?

Home wind energy systems generally comprise a rotor, a generator or alternator mounted on a frame, a tail (usually), a tower, wiring, and the "balance of system" components: controllers, inverters, and/or batteries. Through the spinning blades, the rotor captures the kinetic energy of the wind and converts it into rotary motion to drive the generator, which produces either AC or wild AC (variable frequency, variable voltage), which is typically converted to grid-compatible AC electricity.

Wind Turbine

Small wind turbines can be divided into two groups: horizontal axis and vertical axis. The most commonly used turbine in today's market is the horizontal-axis wind turbine. These turbines typically have two or three blades that are usually made of a composite material such as fiberglass. Vertical-axis wind turbines consist of two types: Savonius and Darrieus. A Savonius turbine can be recognized by its "S" shaped design when viewed from above. Darrieus turbines look like an eggbeater and have vertical blades that rotate into and out of the wind.

The amount of power a horizontal-axis turbine will produce is determined by the diameter of its rotor. The diameter of the rotor defines its "swept area," or the quantity of wind intercepted by the turbine. The turbine's frame is the structure onto which the rotor, generator, and tail are attached. The tail keeps the turbine facing into the wind.

Tower

Because wind speeds increase with height, the turbine is mounted on a tower. In general, the higher the tower, the more power the wind system can produce. The tower also raises the turbine above the air turbulence that can exist close to the ground because of obstructions such as hills, buildings, and trees. A general rule of thumb is to install a wind turbine on a tower with the bottom of the rotor blades at least 30 feet (9 meters) above any obstacle that is within 300 feet (90 meters) of the tower. Relatively small investments in increased tower height can yield very high rates of return in power production.

There are two types of towers: self-supporting (free-standing) and guyed. Guyed towers, which are the least expensive, can consist of lattice sections, pipe, or tubing (depending on the design); supporting guy wires; and the foundation. They are easier to install than self-supporting towers. However, because the guy radius must be one-half to three-quarters of the tower height, guyed towers require space to accommodate them. Although tilt-down towers are more expensive, they offer the consumer an easy way to perform maintenance on smaller lightweight turbines (usually 5 kW or smaller). Tilt-down towers can also be lowered to the ground during hurricanes and other hazardous weather conditions. Aluminum towers are prone to cracking and should be avoided. Most turbine manufacturers provide wind energy system packages that include a range of tower options.

Balance of System

Costs in addition to the turbine and the tower are the balance of system, including parts and labor, which will depend on your application. Most manufacturers can provide you with a system package that includes all the parts you need for your application. For example, the parts required for a water-pumping system will be different from the parts required for a residential, grid-connected application. The balance of system equipment required will also depend on whether the system is grid-connected, stand-alone, or part of a hybrid system. For a residential grid-connected application, the balance of system parts may include a controller, storage batteries, a power conditioning unit (inverter), wiring, foundation, and installation. Many wind turbine controllers, inverters, or other electrical devices may be stamped by a recognized testing agency, such as Underwriters Laboratories or Intertek.

Batteries for Stand-Alone Systems

Stand-alone systems (systems not connected to the utility grid) require batteries to store excess power generated for use when the wind is calm. They also need a charge controller to keep the batteries from overcharging. Deep-cycle batteries, such as those used for golf carts, can discharge and recharge 80% of their capacity hundreds of times, which makes them a good option for remote renewable energy systems. Automotive batteries are shallow-cycle batteries and should not be used in renewable energy systems because of their short life in deep-cycling operations.

Small wind turbines generate direct current (DC) electricity. In very small systems, DC appliances operate directly off the batteries. If you want to use standard appliances that use conventional household alternating current (AC), you must install an inverter to convert DC electricity from the batteries to AC. Although the inverter slightly lowers the overall efficiency of the system, it allows the home to be wired for AC, a definite plus with lenders, electrical code officials, and future homebuyers.

For safety, batteries should be isolated from living areas and electronics because they contain corrosive and explosive substances. Lead-acid batteries also require protection from temperature extremes.

Inverters for Grid-Connected Systems

In grid-connected systems, the only additional equipment required is a power conditioning unit (inverter) that makes the turbine output electrically compatible with the utility grid. Batteries are usually not required.

What Do Wind Systems Cost?

Installation costs vary greatly depending on local zoning, permitting, and utility interconnection costs. The average cost of small wind projects installed in 2017 was $10,117/kilowatt.

Although wind energy systems involve a significant initial investment, they can be competitive with conventional energy sources when you account for a lifetime of reduced or avoided utility costs. The length of the payback period-the time before the savings resulting from your system equal the cost of the system-depends on the system you choose, the wind resource on your site, electricity costs in your area, and how you use your wind system.

Compare prices when shopping for a wind system as you would any major purchase by reviewing the product literature from several manufacturers.

How Do I Find a Certified Small Wind Turbine?

To justify your investment in a small wind turbine, you will want assurances that your turbine model has been evaluated for safety, performance, and functionality. The following resources will help you.

The Small Wind Certification Council provides independent, accredited certification of small wind turbines and consumer information, and you should familiarize yourself with this material.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL's) National Wind Technology Center provides information about NREL's small wind turbine testing and development. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and NREL have selected four partners (Intertek Testing Services NA, Inc. in New York, Kansas State University, The Alternative Energy Institute at West Texas A&M University, and Windward Engineering, LLC in Utah) to establish small wind Regional Test Centers to conduct tests on small wind turbines to meet national and international standards. Reports from these Regional Test Centers are available for consumers.

The Interstate Turbine Advisory Council (ITAC) compiles a national unified list of small and mid-size wind turbines eligible for incentive funding from ITAC state and utility member programs. In addition to requiring certification for small wind turbines, ITAC reviews manufacturers' consumer and dealer services, marketing consistency with third-party testing, turbine operational history, turbine warranty, and manufacturers' response to technical problems, failures, and customer complaints. As a collaborative and common inventory of turbines, the unified list assures customers that tax- or rate-payer funding fully supports the installation of reliable and safe technology as well as enables improvements in program consistency, transparency, and benefits.

Research small wind turbine companies to be sure they offer certified turbines and that parts and service will be available when you need them. Ask for references from past customers with installations similar to the one you are considering. Ask the system owners about performance, reliability, and maintenance and repair requirements, and whether the system is meeting their expectations. Also, find out how long the warranty lasts and what it includes.

Where Can I Find Installation and Maintenance Support?

You must decide whether you will perform the installation and maintenance work on your small wind turbine or whether you will hire an experienced small wind installer. This decision will affect your system's cost. Many people elect to install their own turbines. Before attempting to install your wind turbine, ask yourself the following questions:

Can I pour a proper cement foundation?

Do I have access to a lift or a way to safely erect the tower?

Do I know the difference between AC and DC wiring?

Do I know enough about electricity to safely wire my turbine?

Do I know how to safely handle and install batteries?

If you answered no to any of the above questions, you should probably hire a system integrator or installer. Contact the manufacturer for help or call your state energy office and local utility for a list of local system installers. A credible installer may be able to provide many services such as permitting, obtaining interconnection approval, etc. Find out if the installer is a licensed electrician. Ask for references and check them. You may also want to check with the Better Business Bureau.

Turbine and tower manufacturers should provide their own operations and maintenance plan; however, turbine owners should be aware that all rotating equipment will require some maintenance. Many turbines require periodic lubrication, oil changes, and replacement of wear surfaces such as brake pads. Bolts and electrical connections should be checked and tightened if necessary. The machines should be checked for corrosion and the guy wires for proper tension. In addition, you should check for and replace any worn leading edge tape on the blades, if appropriate. After 10 years, the blades or bearings may need to be replaced, but with proper installation and maintenance, the machine should last 20 years or longer.

Every turbine should include an owner's manual or operations manual to provide the consumer with scheduled and unscheduled maintenance information as well as other unique product information. Scheduled maintenance guidelines should be followed. If you do not have the expertise to maintain the machine, ask whether your installer provides a service and maintenance program.

How Much Energy Will My System Generate?

According to the AWEA Small Wind Turbine Performance and Safety Standard, the Rated Annual Energy of a wind turbine is the calculated total energy that would be produced during a 1-year period with an average wind speed of 5 meters/second (m/s, or 11.2 mph). The following formula illustrates factors that are important to the performance of a wind turbine. Notice that the wind speed (V) has an exponent of 3 applied to it. This means that even a small increase in wind speed results in a large increase in power. That is why a taller tower will increase the productivity of any wind turbine by giving it access to higher wind speeds.

The formula for calculating the power from a wind turbine is:

Where:

P = Power output, watts

Cp = Maximum power coefficient, ranging from 0.25 to 0.45, dimension less (theoretical maximum = 0.59)

ρ = Air density, kg/m³

A = Rotor swept area, m² or

π D² / 4 (D is the rotor diameter in m, π = 3.1416)

The rotor-swept area (A) is important because the rotor captures the wind energy. So the larger the rotor, the more energy it can capture. The air density, ρ, changes slightly with air temperature and with elevation. The ratings for wind turbines are based on standard conditions of 59° F (15° C) at sea level. A density correction should be made for higher elevations as shown in the Air Density Change with Elevation graph. A correction for temperature is typically not needed for predicting the long-term performance of a wind turbine.

Although the calculation of wind power illustrates important features about wind turbines, the best measure of wind turbine performance is annual energy output. The difference between power and energy is that power (kilowatts [kW]) is the rate at which electricity is consumed while energy (kilowatt-hours [kWh]) is the quantity consumed. An estimate of the annual energy output from your wind turbine, kWh/year, is the best way to determine whether a particular wind turbine and tower will produce enough electricity to meet your needs. Contact a wind turbine manufacturer, a dealer/installer, or a site assessor to help you estimate the energy production you can expect. They will use a calculation based on the particular wind turbine power curve, the average annual wind speed at your site, the height of the tower that you plan to use, micro-siting characteristics of your site and, if available, the frequency distribution of the wind (an estimate of the number of hours that the wind will blow at each speed during an average year). They should also adjust this calculation for the elevation of your site.

To get a preliminary estimate of the performance of a particular wind turbine, use the formula below.

Where:

AEO = Annual energy output, kWh/year

D = Rotor diameter, feet

V = Annual average wind speed, mph

The Wind Energy Payback Period Workbook is a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet tool that can help you analyze the economics of a small wind electric system and decide whether wind energy will work for you. It asks you to provide information about how you will finance the system, the characteristics of your site, and the properties of the system you're considering. It then provides you with a simple payback estimation (assumes no increase in electricity rates) in years. If the number of years required to regain your capital investment is greater than or almost equal to the life of the system, then wind energy will not be practical for you.

Is There Enough Wind on My Site?

Is the wind resource at your site good enough to justify your investment in a small wind turbine system? That is a key question and not always easily answered. The wind resource can vary significantly over an area of just a few miles because of local terrain influences on the wind flow. Yet, there are steps you can take to answer the above question.

The highest average wind speeds in the United States are generally found along seacoasts, on ridgelines, and on the Great Plains; however, many areas have wind resources strong enough to make a small wind turbine project economically feasible.

Although there may be many methodologies for understanding the wind resource at a specific location, gathering on-site, measured wind data is typically preferred.

Prior to conducting an on-site measurement campaign, some small wind project developers use state wind maps to conservatively estimate the wind resource at turbine hub height. While these maps can provide a general indication of good or poor wind resources, they do not provide a resolution high enough to identify local site features. State wind maps cannot include information on complex terrain, ground cover, wind speed distribution, direction distribution, turbulence intensity, and other local effects. Purchased maps or services can often provide higher resolution and more flexibility with zooming, orientation, and additional features. Pay attention to a map's height above ground as it relates to the potential project's tower height. Adjusting the wind speed for the height difference between the map and the turbine height adds a potential source of error depending on the wind shear exponent that is selected, and the greater the height difference the greater the potential error. Therefore, for small wind generator applications, 30- to 40-m wind maps are far more useful than 10-, 60-, 80-, or 100-m wind maps. It is also important to understand the resolution of the wind map or model-generated data set. If the resolution is lower than the terrain features, adjustments will be needed to account for local terrain effects.

Local airport or weather stations can offer local wind data, but these data may be less reliable than actual site data. If airport data (typically recorded at 30 ft or 10 m above ground) or weather station data (typically recorded at 5 to 20 ft above ground) are used, inquire not only about the site's current equipment and location but also if it is historically consistent with the data collection equipment and siting. Equipment at these sites is not primarily intended for wind resource assessment, so it may not be positioned at an appropriate height or in a location free of obstructions. Unfortunately, airport and weather stations are usually far from the site of interest, with considerably different orography, tree cover, and monitoring height, making these data of questionable usefulness. Given the expertise required to effectively establish and correlate wind resource data, the data provided by airport and weather stations may only provide a rough screening assessment.

Average wind speeds increase with height and may be 15% to 25% greater at a typical wind turbine hub height of 80 ft (24 m) than those measured at airport anemometer heights. The National Climatic Data Center collects data from airports in the United States and makes wind data summaries available for purchase.

Another useful indirect measurement of the wind resource is the observation of an area's vegetation. Trees, especially conifers or evergreens, can be permanently deformed by strong winds. This deformity, known as "flagging," has been used to estimate the average wind speed for an area.

Flagging, the effect of strong winds on area vegetation, can help determine area wind speeds. Small wind site assessors can help you determine whether you have a good wind resource on your site. State or utility incentive programs may be able to refer you to site assessors with training in assessing the wind resource at specific sites. Computer programs that estimate the wind resource at a particular site given specific obstacles are also available. Site assessors and computer programs can help to refine the estimates provided on wind resource maps.

On-site data measurement adds a new layer of confidence to the techniques discussed above, but with substantial additional costs, effort, and time, especially when the preferred methodology is to match turbine hub height and collect data for a minimum of 1 year. Obtaining several years of data is better, or 1 year that can be referenced to a longer-term data set if there is good correlation with the on-site data. A number of small, affordable wind data collection systems are available for on-site measurement and are best run for at least 1 year. These systems include anemometers, wind vanes, and temperature sensors that are mounted as close to hub height as possible. Calculating the wind shear exponent requires collecting data at two different heights. Having wind shear data is essential for conducting an accurate analysis of the cost versus benefits of taller towers. In addition, analysis must be performed to determine wind speed averages and extremes, wind distribution, Weibull parameters, the wind direction rose, turbulence intensity, vertical wind shear exponent, and associated uncertainties.

Finally, if there is a small wind turbine system in your area, you may be able to obtain information on the annual output of the system and also wind speed data if available.

How Do I Choose the Best Site for My Wind Turbine?

A proper site assessment is a detailed process that includes wind resource assessment and the evaluation of site characteristics. With this in mind, you may wish to consider hiring an experienced small wind site assessor who can determine your property's optimal turbine location. The following information highlights key steps in the site selection/assessment process.

If the surrounding area of a potential site is not relatively flat for several miles, then an evaluation of the main topographic features is necessary, both nearby (macro siting) and at the proposed turbine site (micro siting). The topographical evaluation should include shape, height, length, width, and distance and direction away from the proposed turbine site of any landforms. "Nearby" could include influences from large objects such as hills, groves of trees, or high wind breaks up to a mile away, and smaller objects could include single trees and buildings, especially within 500 feet of the proposed turbine location.

Owners of projects located near complex terrain should take care in selecting the installation site. Landforms (or orography) can influence wind speed, which affects the amount of electricity that a wind turbine can generate. Elevated areas not only experience increased wind speeds because of their increased height in the wind profile but also may cause local acceleration of the wind speed, depending on the size and shape of the landform. If you site your wind turbine on the top of or on the windy side of a hill, for example, you will have more access to prevailing winds than in a gully or on the leeward (sheltered) side of a hill on the same property. Other elevated landforms (bluffs, cliffs) can create turbulence, including back eddies, as the wind passes up and over them. Siting the tower to avoid the zones of turbulence created by the landform is critical.

Turbulence intensity is a major issue for small turbines because of their tower height and location around "ground clutter." Turbulence can reduce the annual energy output estimate from 15% to 25% because wind turbine power curves are typically developed based on measurements taken at sites with relatively low turbulence intensity compared to typical small wind project sites.

Varied wind resources can exist within the same property. In addition to measuring or finding the annual wind speeds, you need to know about the prevailing directions of the wind at your site. Knowing the prevailing wind direction(s) is essential to determining the impact of obstacles and landforms when seeking the best available site location and estimating the wind resource at that location. To help with this process, small wind site assessors typically develop a wind rose, which shows the wind direction distributions of a given area. The wind rose divides a compass into sectors (usually 8 or 16) and indicates the average wind speed, average percentage of time that the wind blows from each direction, and/or the percentage of energy in the wind by sector. Wind roses can be generated based on annual average wind speeds, or by season, month, or even time of day as needed.

In addition to geologic formations, you need to consider existing obstacles such as trees, houses, and sheds, and you need to plan for future obstructions such as new buildings or trees that have not reached their full height. Your turbine needs to be sited upwind of buildings and trees, and it needs to be 30 feet above anything within a 500-foot horizontal radius. You also need enough room to raise and lower the tower for maintenance, and if your tower is guyed, you must allow room for the guy wires.

Whether the system is stand-alone or grid-connected, you also need to consider the length of the wire run between the turbine and the load (house, batteries, water pumps, etc.). A substantial amount of electricity can be lost as a result of the wire resistance-the longer the wire run, the more electricity is lost. Using more or larger wire will also increase your installation cost. Your wire run losses are greater when you have direct current (DC) instead of alternating current (AC). So, if you have a long wire run, it is advisable to invert DC to AC.

You may wish to consider hiring an experienced small wind site assessor who can determine where the turbine should be located on your property.

Wind Turbines Mounted on Buildings

While there have been instances of wind turbines mounted on rooftops, it should be noted that all wind turbines vibrate and transmit the vibration to the structure on which they are mounted. This can lead to noise problems within the building. Also, the wind resource on the rooftop is in an area of increased turbulence, which can shorten the life of the turbine and reduce energy production. Additional costs related to mitigating these concerns, combined with the fact that they produce less power, make rooftop-mounted wind turbines less cost-effective than small wind systems that are installed on a tower connected to the ground. For more information, see Deployment of Wind Turbines in the Built Environment: Risks, Lessons, and Recommended Practices.

Can I Connect My System to the Utility Grid?

Small wind energy systems can be connected to the electricity distribution system. A grid-connected wind turbine can reduce your consumption of utility-supplied electricity for lighting, appliances, and electric heat. If the turbine cannot deliver the amount of energy you need, the utility makes up the difference. When the wind system produces more electricity than the household requires, the excess is sent or sold to the utility. These arrangements with the utility company are typically called net metering or net billing, and they address the value of the electricity sold or net excess generation, the time period for valuing the electricity (typically annually or monthly), and any other contractual requirements with the utility.

Grid-connected systems can be practical if the following conditions exist:

You live in an area with average annual wind speed of at least 10 mph (4.5 m/s).

Utility-supplied electricity is expensive in your area (about 10 to 15 cents per kilowatt-hour).

The utility's requirements for connecting your system to its grid are not prohibitively expensive.

There are good incentives for the sale of excess electricity, sale of the renewable energy credit, and/or for the purchase of wind turbines.

Federal regulations (the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978, or PURPA) require utilities to connect with and purchase power from small wind energy systems. However, you should contact your utility before purchasing a wind turbine system and connecting to their distribution lines to address any power quality and safety concerns. Your utility can provide you with a list of requirements for connecting your system to the grid. The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) is another good source for information on utility interconnection requirements. AWEA contributed much of the following information.

Net Metering

Net metering programs are designed to allow the electric meters of customers with generating facilities to "turn backwards" when their generators are producing more energy than the customers' demand. Net metering allows customers to use their generation to offset their consumption over the entire billing period, not just instantaneously. This offset would enable customers with generating facilities to receive retail prices for more of the electricity they generate.

Net metering varies by state and by utility company, depending on whether net metering was legislated or directed by the Public Utility Commission. Net metering programs specify a way to handle the net excess generation (NEG) in terms of payment for electricity and/or length of time allowed for NEG credit. If the net metering requirements define NEG on a monthly basis, consumers can only receive credit for their excess that month. But if the net metering rules allow for annual NEG, the NEG credit can be carried for up to a year. Most of North America sees more wind in the winter than in the summer. For people using wind energy to displace a large load in the summer (like air conditioning or irrigation water pumping), having an annual NEG credit allows them to produce NEG in the winter and receive credits in the summer.

Safety Requirements

Whether or not your wind turbine is connected to the utility grid, the installation and operation of the wind turbine is probably subject to the electrical codes that your local city or county government, or in some instances your state government, has in place. The government's principal concern is the safety of the facility, so these code requirements emphasize proper wiring and installation and the use of components that have been certified for fire and electrical safety by approved testing laboratories, such as Underwriters Laboratories. Most local electrical codes requirements are based on the National Electrical Code (NEC), which is published by the National Fire Protection Association. The latest version of the NEC includes sections specific to the installation of small wind energy facilities. It is available for purchase online at the National Fire Protection Association website and can also be found at most local libraries.

If your wind turbine is connected to the local utility grid so that any of the power produced by your wind turbine is delivered to the grid, then your utility also has legitimate concerns about safety and power quality that need to be addressed. The utility's principal concern is that your wind turbine automatically stops delivering any electricity to its power lines during a power outage. Otherwise line workers and the public, thinking that the line is "dead," might not take normal precautions and might be hurt or even killed by the power from your turbine. Another concern among utilities is whether the power from your facility synchronizes properly with the utility grid and it matches the utility's power in terms of voltage, frequency, and power quality.

A few years ago, some state governments started developing new standardized interconnection requirements for small renewable energy generating facilities (including wind turbines). In most cases, the new requirements are based on consensus-based standards and testing procedures developed by independent third-party authorities, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and Underwriters Laboratories. Utility companies will typically require compliance with IEEE 1547, which addresses electrical safety requirements for wind turbine systems. Some utilities may require appropriate electrical listing before allowing interconnection of the wind system.

Interconnection Requirements

In most cases, it is quite advantageous to interconnect a small turbine with the customer's utility service, thereby using the utility for backup power to cover the variability of the turbine's energy production as well as storage of excess energy. Such interconnection typically requires utility permission, which is usually in the form of an interconnection agreement. This agreement will address metering and billing arrangements with the utility and may include requirements for additional safety equipment or procedures, protection devices, and inspections.

In states that have retail competition for electricity service (e.g., your utility operates the local wires, but you have a choice of electricity provider), you may have to sign a separate agreement with each company. Usually these agreements are written by the utility or the electricity provider. In the case of private (investor-owned) utilities, the terms and conditions in these agreements must be reviewed and approved by state regulatory authorities.

Insurance

Some utilities require small wind turbine owners to maintain liability insurance in amounts of $1 million or more to protect them from liability for facilities they do not own and have no control over. Other utilities consider the insurance requirements excessive and unduly burdensome, making wind energy uneconomic. In seven states (California, Georgia, Maryland, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Washington), laws or regulatory authorities prohibit utilities from imposing any insurance requirements on small wind systems that qualify for net metering. In at least two other states (Idaho, Virginia), regulatory authorities have allowed utilities to impose insurance requirements but have reduced the required coverage amounts to levels consistent with conventional residential or commercial insurance policies (e.g., $100,000 to $300,000). If your insurance amounts seem excessive, you can ask for a reconsideration from regulatory authorities (in the case of private investor-owned utilities) or the utility's governing board (in the case of publicly owned utilities).

Indemnification

An indemnity is an agreement between two parties in which one agrees to secure the other against loss or damage arising from some act or some assumed responsibility. In the context of customer-owned generating facilities, utilities often want customers to indemnify them for any potential liability arising from the operation of the customer's generating facility. Although the basic principle is sound-utilities should not be held responsible for property damage or personal injury attributable to someone else-indemnity provisions should not favor the utility but should be fair to both parties. Look for language that says, "each party shall indemnify the other . . ." rather than "the customer shall indemnify the utility . . ."

Customer Charges

Customer charges can take a variety of forms, including interconnection charges, metering charges, and standby charges. You should not hesitate to question any charges that seem inappropriate to you. Federal law (Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978, or PURPA, Section 210) prohibits utilities from assessing discriminatory charges to customers who have their own generation facilities.

Can I Go Off-Grid?

Hybrid Systems

Hybrid wind energy systems can provide reliable off-grid power for homes, farms, or even entire communities (a co-housing project, for example) that are far from the nearest utility lines. According to many renewable energy experts, a "hybrid" system that combines wind and photovoltaic (PV) technologies offers several advantages over either single system. In much of the United States, wind speeds are low in the summer when the sun shines brightest and longest. The wind is strong in the winter when less sunlight is available and may be stronger at night compared to the day. Because the peak operating times for wind and PV occur at different times of the day and year, hybrid systems are more likely to produce power when you need it. (For more information on solar electric or PV systems, see Using Solar Electricity at Home).

For the times when neither the wind turbine nor the PV modules are producing, most hybrid systems provide power through batteries and/or an engine-generator powered by conventional fuels such as diesel. If the batteries run low, the engine-generator can provide power and recharge the batteries. Adding an engine-generator makes the system more complex, but modern electronic controllers can operate these systems automatically. An engine-generator can also reduce the size of the other components needed for the system. Keep in mind that the storage capacity must be large enough to supply electrical needs during non-charging periods. Battery banks are typically sized to supply the electric load for 1 to 3 days.

An off-grid hybrid system may be practical for you if:

You live in an area with an average annual wind speed of at least 9 mph (4 m/s).

A grid connection is not available or can only be made through an expensive extension. The cost of running a power line to a remote site to connect with the utility grid can be prohibitive, ranging from $15,000 to more than $50,000 per mile, depending on terrain.

You would like to gain energy independence from the utility.

You would like to generate clean power.

Glossary of Terms

Airfoil -The shape of the blade cross-section, which for most modern horizontal-axis wind turbines is designed to enhance the lift and improve turbine performance.

Alternator-An electric generator for producing alternating current. See also generator.*

Ambient -Of the surrounding area or environment; completely surrounding; encompassing. Used to distinguish environmental conditions, e.g. temperature or sound, from what is added by mechanical devices.*

Ampere-hour -A unit for the quantity of electricity obtained by integrating current flow in amperes over the time in hours for its flow; used as a measure of battery capacity.

Anemometer -A device to measure the wind speed.

Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) -The building authority for the area, generally a city or county building department, including its inspectors.*

Availability -A measure of the ability of a wind turbine to make power, regardless of environmental conditions. Generally defined as the time in a period when a turbine is able to make power, expressed as a percentage.*

Average wind speed -The mean wind speed over a specified period of time.

Beaufort scale -A scale of wind forces, described by name and range of velocity, and classified from force 0 to 12, with an extension to 17. The initial (1805) Francis Beaufort wind force scale of 13 classes (0 to 12) did not reference wind speed numbers but related qualitative wind conditions to effects on the sails of a frigate, then the main ship of the Royal Navy, from "just sufficient to give steerage" to "that which no canvas sails could withstand." Although the Beaufort scale has little use in site assessments, a system of tree flagging observations has been used to estimate prevailing wind directions and levels on the scale over time.

Behind-the-meter / behind-the-fence generation-An electrical generating system connected on the user's side of a utility meter, primarily for energy usage on site instead of for sale to energy retailers. See also net metering.*

Betz limit-The maximum power coefficient (Cp) of a theoretically perfect wind turbine equal to 16/27 (59.3%) as proven by German physicist Albert Betz in 1919. This is the maximum amount of power that can be captured from the wind. In reality, this limit is never achived because of drag, electrical losses, and mechanical inefficiencies. See also Cp.*

Blades -The aerodynamic surface that catches the wind. See also wing, airfoil, rotor.

Brake -Various systems used to stop the rotor from turning.

Certification -A process by which small wind turbines (100 kW and under) can be certified by an independent certification body to meet or exceed the performance and durability requirements of the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) Standard.*

Converter -See Inverter.

Corrosivity -A measure of oxidation and/or material degradation.*

Cp-Power coefficient; the ratio of the power extracted from the wind by a wind turbine relative to the power available in the wind. See also Betz limit.*

Cut-in wind speed -The wind speed at which a wind turbine begins to generate electricity.

Cut-out wind speed -The wind speed at which a wind turbine ceases to generate electricity.

Density -Mass per unit of volume.

Direct drive -A blade and generator configuration where the blades are connected directly to the electrical generating device so that one revolution of the rotor equates to one revolution of the electrical generating device.*

Displacement height -The height above ground level where wind speed is theoretically zero based on the effects of ground cover.

Distributed generation -Energy generation projects where electrical energy is generated primarily for on-site consumption. Term is applied for wind, solar, and non-renewable energy.*

Diurnal -Having a daily cycle or pattern. It may be useful to average many daily cycles of wind speed or wind energy production to understand a typical daily pattern, by month, season, or year.

Downwind -On the opposite side from the direction from which the wind blows.

Drag -An aerodynamic force that acts in the direction of the airstream flowing over an airfoil.*

Dual-metering -Buying electricity from the utility and selling it to the utility with two different energy rates, typically retail (buying) and wholesale (selling).

Electric cost adjustment -An energy charge (dollars per kilowatt-hour) on a utility bill in addition to the standard rate in the tariff, which is associated with extra costs to purchase fuel, control emissions, construct transmission upgrades, and so on. These various costs may be itemized or rolled into one electric cost adjustment rate. Sometimes referred to as fuel cost adjustment.

Electric utility company -A company that engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity for sale, generally in a regulated market. Electric utilities may be investor owned, publicly owned, cooperatives, or nationalized entities.*

Energy curve -A diagram showing the annual energy production at different average wind speeds, typically assuming a Rayleigh wind distribution (with a Weibull shape factor of 2.0).

Energy production-Energy is power exerted over time. Energy production is hence the energy produced in a specific period of time. Electrical energy is generally measured in kilowatt-hours ( kWh). See also power.*

Environmental conditions-Of or pertaining to ambient state of the environment. See also temperature, wind, humidity, corrosivity.*

Flagging -The deformation of local vegetation toward one direction, indicating the prevailing wind direction and relative strength (more formally called Krummholtz formation). Flagging is sometimes used with the Beaufort scale to generate an initial estimate of local site conditions. (Note: flagging does not determine the wind resource, but is a confirming indicator of it. For example, sometimes flagging is the result of sunlight availability, or trimming of tree branches near electrical lines. The assessor needs to understand when flagging is relevant, or when it is a confirming indicator of another condition at the site.)

Frequency distribution -A statistical function presenting the amount of time at each wind speed level for a given data set and location, usually in percent of time or hours per year.

Furling -A passive protection for the turbine in which the rotor folds up or around the tail vane.

Gearbox -A compact, enclosed unit of gears or the like for the purpose of transferring force between machines or mechanisms, often with changes of torque and speed. In wind turbines, gearboxes are used to increase the low rotational speed of the turbine rotor to a higher speed required by many electrical generators.*

Generator-A machine that converts mechanical energy to electricity. The mechanical power for an electric generator is usually obtained from a rotating shaft. In a wind turbine, the mechanical power comes from the wind causing the blades on a rotor to rotate. See also blade, rotor, stator, alternator.*

Geographic information system (GIS) software -GIS software is used for managing map-based information and data. It may also be used to visualize the relationships between terrain, wind data, land-use boundaries, obstacles, and potential wind turbine locations.

Governor -A device used to limit the RPM of the rotor. Limiting RPM serves to reduce centrifugal forces acting on the wind turbine and rotor as well as limit the electrical output of the generating device. Governors can be electrical, also know as "dynamic braking," or mechanical. Mechanical governors can be "passive," using springs to pitch the blades out of their ideal orientation, or an offset rotor that pitches out of the wind, or "active" by electrically or hydraulically pitching blades out of their ideal orientation.*

Grid -The utility distribution system. The network that connects electricity generators to electricity users.

Grid-connected-Small wind energy systems that are connected to the electricity distribution system. These often require a power-conditioning unit that makes the turbine output electrically compatible with the utility grid. See also inverter.*

Gross annual energy production -The amount of annual energy (usually in kilowatt-hours) estimated for a given wind turbine at a given location, before adjusting for losses (see net annual energy production).

Guyline -A guyline (or guy wire) supports guyed towers, which are the least expensive way to support a wind turbine. Guyed towers can consist of lattice sections, pipe, or tubing. Because the guy radius must be one-half to three-quarters of the tower height, guyed towers require more space to accommodate them than monopole or self-standing lattice towers.*

Horizontal-axis wind turbine (HAWT) -A wind turbine with a rotor axis that lies in or close to a horizontal plane. Often called a "propeller-style" wind turbine.*

Hub-That component of a wind turbine to which the blades are affixed. See also rotor, blade.*

Hub Height -The distance from the foundation to which the tower is attached to the center of the hub of a HAWT.*

Humidity -A measure of moisture content in the air.*

Induction generator -An asynchronous AC motor designed for use as a generator. Generates electricity by being spun faster than the motor's standard "synchronous" speed. Must be connected to an already-powered circuit to function (i.e. the grid), but does not require an inverter to produce grid-ready electricity.*

Interannual variability -The variation from year to year in average wind speed, distribution, and patterns.

Interconnection standards -Specifies the technical and procedural process by which a customer connects an electricity-generating device to the grid. Such standards include the technical and contractual terms that system owners and utilities must abide by. State public utility commissions typically establish standards for interconnection to the distribution grid, while the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) establishes standards for interconnection to the transmission grid. While many states have adopted interconnection standards, some states' standards apply only to investor-owned utilities and not to municipal utilities or electric cooperatives.*

Intermittency -Stopping or ceasing for a time; alternately ceasing and beginning again. Wind and solar resources are described as intermittent because they change without regard to peoples' needs or wants.*

International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) -The international wind-industry standards body.*

Inverter -A device that converts direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC).

kW -Kilowatt, a measure of power for electrical current (1,000 Watts).

kWh -Kilowatt-hour, a measure of energy equal to the use of 1 kilowatt in 1 hour.

Lattice -A structure of crossed wooden or metal strips usually arranged to form a diagonal pattern of open spaces between the strips. Lattice towers, either guyed or freestanding, are often used to support small wind turbines.*

Lift -An aerodynamic force that acts at right angles to the airstream flowing over an airfoil.*

Micrositing -A resource assessment tool used to determine the exact position of one or more wind turbines on a parcel of land to optimize the power production.

Microturbine -A very small wind turbine, usually under a 1,000 Watt rating, which is appropriate for small energy needs (e.g., for cabins, campers, sailboats, very small communication stations, or other small off-grid loads).

Monopole -A freestanding type of tower that is essentially a tube, often tapered.*

MW -Megawatt, a measure of power (1,000,000 Watts).

Nacelle -The body of a propeller-type wind turbine, containing the gearbox, generator, blade hub, and other parts.

Nameplate capacity -The power capacity of a generating device that is typically affixed to the generating device. Nameplate capacity typically, but not necessarily, represents the maximum continuous power output of the generating device.*

Net annual energy production -The amount of annual energy (usually in kilowatt hours) produced or estimated for a given wind turbine at a given location, after subtracting losses from the gross annual energy production. A variety of losses may be estimated for obstacle wind shadows, turbulence, turbine wake effects, turbine availability, high-wind hysteresis effects, electrical efficiency, blade icing, blade soiling and surface degradation, idling parasitic losses, control errors, low temperature shutdown, utility system maintenance, and other issues specific to a given turbine installation.

Net metering / net billing-For electric customers who generate their own electricity, net metering allows for the flow of electricity both to and from the customer. When a customer's generation exceeds the customer's use, electricity from the customer flows back to the grid, offsetting electricity consumed by the customer at a different time during the same billing cycle. In effect, the customer uses excess generation to offset electricity that the customer otherwise would have to purchase at the utility's full retail rate. Net metering is required by law in most U.S. states, but state policies vary widely. See also behind-the-meter.*

Noise-Generally defined as unwanted sound. Sound power is measured in decibels, dB. Building and planning authorities often regulate sound power levels from facilities. See also sound, electrical noise.*

O & M costs -Operation and maintenance costs.

Obstruction -A general term for any significant object that would disturb wind flow passing through a turbine rotor. Most common examples are homes, buildings, trees, silos, and fences. Topographical features such as hills or cliffs that might also affect wind flow and are not called obstructions.*

Off-grid -Energy-generating systems that are not interconnected directly into an electrical grid. Energy produced in these systems is often used for battery charging.*

Orography -A branch of physical geography that deals with mountains.

Overall height-The total height of a wind turbine from its base at grade to its uppermost extent. See also total height.*

Peak demand -The maximum electricity consumption level (in kilowatts) reached during the month or billing period, usually for a 15- or 30-minute duration. The definition of peak demand may vary by electric utility. This is a simplified definition of a complex topic.

Peak power -The maximum instantaneous power than can be produced by a power-generating system or consumed by a load. Peak power may be significantly higher than average power.*

Permitting -The process of obtaining legal permission to build a project, potentially from a number of government agencies, but primarily from the local building department (i.e., the city, county, or state). During this process, a set of project plans is submitted for review to assure that the project meets local requirements for safety, sound, aesthetics, setbacks, engineering, and completeness. The permitting agency typically inspects the project at various milestones for adherence to the plans and building safety standards.

Power coefficient -The ratio of the power extracted by a wind turbine to the power available in the wind stream.

Power curve -A chart showing a wind turbine's power output across a range of wind speeds.

Prevailing wind -The most common direction or directions that the wind comes from at a site. Prevailing wind usually refers to the amount of time the wind blows from that particular direction but may also refer to the direction the wind with the greatest power density comes from.*

PUC -Public Utility Commission, a state agency that regulates utilities. In some areas known as Public Service Commission (PSC).

PURPA -Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (1978), 16 U.S.C. § 2601.18 CFR §292 that refers to small generator utility-connection rules.

Rated output capacity -The output power of a wind machine operating at the rated wind speed.

Rated wind speed -The lowest wind speed at which the rated output power of a wind turbine is produced.

Reactive power -When the voltage and current waveforms for AC power are out of phase the resulting instantaneous power flow is modeled as real power and reactive power. The presence of reactive power increases the instantaneous current flow required to do work. The increase in current flow results in additional line losses. The utility tariff for larger customers may include a charge for reactive power compensation, measured in kilo-volt-amp-reactive.

Rotor -The rotating part of a wind turbine, including either the blades and blade assembly or the rotating portion of a generator.

Rotor diameter -The diameter of the circle swept by the rotor.

Rotor speed -The revolutions per minute of the wind turbine rotor.

Setback -In zoning parlance, the distance required between a structure and another structure, property line, utility easement or other demarkation.*

Shadow flicker -A moving shadow that occurs when rotating turbine blades come between the viewer and the sun.

Site assessment -The act of evaluating a site to determine a favorable location for a wind turbine, which includes assessing the expected wind resource and potential turbine performance at that location.

Small wind turbine -A wind turbine that has a rating of up to 100-kilowatts, and is typically installed near the point of electric usage, such as near homes, businesses, remote villages, and other kinds of buildings.

Sound-Pressure waves occurring at a frequency in the audible range of human hearing that are registered as sensory input by the ear. See also noise.*

Start-up wind speed-The wind speed at which a wind turbine rotor will begin to spin. See also Cut-in wind speed.

Stator -The stationary part of a rotary machine or device, especially a generator or motor. Most especially related to the collection of stationary parts in its magnetic circuits. The stator and rotor interact to generate electricity in a generator and to turn the driveshaft in a motor.*

Swept area-The area swept by the turbine rotor, A = π R2, where R is the radius of the rotor. See also rotor diameter.

Tariff -An official schedule of rates or charges from a utility, usually with different rate schedules by customer classification (e.g., residential, commercial, industrial, farm, or other designation) and/or a service or meter rating for the customer.

Temperature -A measure of thermal energy.*

Tip-speed ratio -The speed at the tip of the rotor blade as it moves through the air divided by the wind velocity. This is typically a design requirement for the turbine.

Topography -The surface configuration and relief features of an area, such as hills and bluffs, and the detailed mapping and description thereof.

Total height-The height of the wind system from the top of the foundation to which the tower is attached to the tip of a blade extended upwards. See also overall height.*

Tower -A structure designed to support a wind turbine at a substantial height above grade in a wind flow. Typical types include monopole, guyed lattice, and self-supporting lattice designs.*

Turbulence -The changes in wind speed and direction, frequently caused by obstacles.

Turbulence intensity -A basic measure of turbulence that is defined by the ratio of the standard deviation of the wind speed to the mean wind speed. For wind energy applications this is typically defined as a 10-minute average wind speed and standard deviation based on 1-second samples. Turbulence intensity is important for wind energy applications because it has implications for both power performance and turbine loading. Experience indicates that it can be a significant issue for small turbines because of their tower height and location around ground clutter, which puts them in the most turbulent area of the atmospheric boundary layer. The effects of turbulence on distributed wind turbines can be seen in both power production and loading

Upwind -On the same side as the direction from which the wind is blowing-windward.

Upwind rotor -A horizontal-axis wind turbine whose propeller is located upwind of the tower; a wind turbine with an architecture such that the wind flow passes through the propeller prior to flowing past the tower.*

Vertical-axis wind turbine (VAWT) -A wind turbine whose rotor spins about a vertical or near-vertical axis.*

Wet stamp -Refers to a specific engineering review of a specific plan or set of drawings by an in-state licensed engineer who subsequently approves the plan or drawings with his/her stamp. A wet stamp implies an original stamped document, not a copy.*

Wind -The movement of an air mass.*

Wind farm -A group of wind turbines, often owned and maintained by one company. Also known as a wind power plant.

Wind rose -A visual means of representing the frequency with which the wind blows from different directions.*

Wind shadow -A turbulent and/or low-wind-speed region downwind of (behind) an object such as a building, tower, or trees.

Wind shear -The difference in wind speed and direction over a relatively short distance in the atmosphere. Wind shear can be broken down into vertical and horizontal components, with horizontal wind shear seen across storm fronts and near the coast, and vertical shear seen typically near the surface (though also at higher levels in the atmosphere near upper-level jets and frontal zones aloft).

Wind turbine -A mechanical device that converts kinetic energy in the wind into electrical energy.*

Yaw -The movement of the tower top turbine that allows the turbine to stay into the wind.

Zoning -Most land has been delegated to various zones by a region's local government and building department officials (at the city, county, or state level [occasionally]). The zones control types of land use, such as agricultural, residential, commercial, and industrial, and include subcategories. Each type of zoning carries its own specific permitting restrictions, such as building height and property line offsets (required separation distance).

Web Resources

Distributed Wind Energy Association
DWEA provides info about distributed and community wind, including a Permitting and Zoning Resource Center.

Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC)
IREC is a non-profit focused on accelerating the use of renewable energy and energy efficiencies. You can subscribe to IREC's quarterly Small Wind Newsletter.

Wind Energy Information by State

Choose a state to find state-specific data and information about wind energy, including maps, capacity, ordinances, and more.

Site Assessment Sample Checklist

Wind Energy Site Assessment (Customer Name/Location)

1. Motivation

____Specify customer goals and expectations

____Reviewed electricity usage and costs (including rate structure)

2. Site Description

____Documented location(s)

____Reviewed topography, landscape, surface roughness, and ground clutter

____Estimated displacement height (if applicable)

____Documented obstacles

____Reviewed construction and delivery access

____Estimated soil conditions

____Documented potential safety hazards

3. Wind Characteristics

____Acquired wind maps and wind data

____Considered wind measurement

____Estimated wind characteristics (e.g., speed, direction, Weibull, turbulence, shear, uncertainty)

4. Micrositing and Analysis

____Completed micrositing

____Adjusted for topography

____Adjusted wind direction

____Adjusted for wind shear

____Adjusted for displacement height

____Adjusted for obstacles and wind shading

____Completed adjusted wind speeds

____Completed energy estimation

____Adjusted energy estimation for losses

5. Other Requirements

____Reviewed interconnection and examined service panel

____Checked zoning and permitting requirements (to the extent established for the area)

____Checked for Federal Aviation Administration/aviation impact

____Checked environmental requirements (if established for the area), observed potential issues

____Prepared U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service materials for review

6. Report

____Recommended turbine options and tower options with estimated net annual energy production for each scenario

____Recommended prime location with secondary options

____Completed checklist and report information

____Included educational section.

Sample Report Outline

Wind Energy Site Assessment (Customer Name/Location)

1. Motivation

Customer goals: __Energy __Independence __Marketing __Save World __Other _______

Electricity usage: ____Low ____High ____Avg kWh/mo ____Peak demand (kW) ____kVAR

Electricity rate (as appropriate): ____Tariff ____Base $/kWh ____

Electric cost adjustment/Fuel cost adjustment $/kWh ____$/kW-mo ____$/kVAR ____Fixed costs ____Taxes ____ Other

2. Site Description

Address: ___________________________________________________________________

GPS: _____________________

Location maps: (insert here: general area, close-in, site plan)

Photographs: (insert here - i.e., Dermandar panorama)

Topography features: ___________________________________________________________

Main features: ______Shape______Height______Length ______Distance______Direction

Landscape description: __________________________________________________

Displacement height: ______Mature Canopy Height (*0.67 or 0.75 =) ______Displacement Height

Obstacles: (e.g., number, height, width, type, distance, direction) List here:

Access: (e.g., roads, obstacles, installation layout) ___________________________________

Soils: ______Class ______Strength ______Water Depth___________________Description

Potential Hazards: (e.g., overhead, underground, terrain, weather, wetlands, agricultural operations) ________________

Existing utilities: (location, overhead, underground: water/well, electric, sewer/septic system, natural gas/propane, cable television, phone, other.)

3. Wind Characteristics

Wind maps: (source, insert here)

Wind data sources: _________________________________________ (see Section 5.1)

Wind measurement: ___Needed (yes/no)?______Scope ________Duration ________Cost

Wind speeds: ______Average _______________Weibull parameters (insert details here)

Wind directions: __________Prevailing __________Secondary (insert wind rose, energy rose)

Turbulence: ________Intensity

Wind shear: ________Exponent

Uncertainties: __________________________List, combine: ____________Wind-speed range

Others: ________________________________________________________

4. Micrositing and Analysis

Micrositing: (describe selected location and height, rationale, benefits, challenges, other options)

Topography adjustment:

____ (Factor to adjust wind speeds from source data, rationale) ____New average wind speed

Wind direction adjustment:

____ (Degrees to adjust wind rose from source data, rationale) ____New prevailing direction

Wind shear adjustment: ____displacement height ____ exponent ____ data height

____hub height ____New average wind speed

Wind shade adjustment: (Obstacle #, shade factor, direction (%), weighted factor)

List here:

Adjusted wind speeds: ____New average wind speed _______Range ____ Weibull parameters

Energy estimation: ____Avg __________Range (apply turbine power curve; multiple options)

5. Other Requirements

Because zoning and permitting requirements are local, there can be large variations in procedures and the amount of information available to the site assessor at the time an assessment is prepared. Reporting on these factors will have to be adjusted accordingly. Environmental requirements may also vary.

Interconnection: ______Utility ____Allowed ____________Location_____________Requirements

Service Panel Specs: ____Voltage____Phases ____Current ____Power ____Spare breakers

Zoning: ______Zone ____Height Limit ____Setback__________________Other restrictions

Permitting: ______________Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) ______Fees ______Lead time

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA): ________________________Distance, Direction to nearest Airport ______FAA class

Environmental requirements: (Any requirements by AHJ, state, or federal agencies?)

Environmental observations: (Any obvious wetlands, other issues known to customer or by the site assessor?)

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service report for the area

6. Report

Recommendation: ____ (Yes/No, Explanation)

Preferred location: _______________________________Describe, add to site plan

Checklist: (Include checklist developed above)

Education: (Include discussion of energy efficiency, turbine and tower options, horizontal-axis and vertical-axis wind turbines, micro/small/large/multiple units, incentives, economics, operation and maintenance expectations, off-grid systems, and building integration).

References

1. U.S. Census Bureau. What is Rural America

2. U.S. Department of Energy. Small Wind Electric Systems

3. U.S. Department of Energy. How Do Wind Turbines Work?

4. U.S. Department of Energy. Storm Windows.

5. U.S. Department of Energy. Energy Savers: Tips on Saving Money and Energy at Home

6. U.S. Department of Energy. Is a Small Wind Energy System Right for You?

7. National Renewable Energy Laboratory. (2015). Small Wind Site Assessment Guidelines

8. American Solar Energy Society, Small Wind Division Webinar. Overview: Zoning for Small Wind Turbines

9. American Planning Association. (2011). Planning for Wind Energy

10. Energy Information Administration. How much electricity does an American home use?

11. U.S. Department of Energy. Installing and Maintaining a Small Wind Electric System

12. U.S. Department of Energy. Wind Energy Basics

13. American Planning Association. (2011). Planning for Wind Energy

14. U.S. Department of Energy. Small Wind Electric Systems

15. U.S. Department of Energy. Balance-of-System Equipment Required for Renewable Energy Systems

16. U.S. Department of Energy. 2017 Distributed Wind Market Report

17. U.S. Department of Energy. Memorandum Re. Quality Assurance through Wind Turbine Certification Requirements. April 11, 2014.

18. U.S. Department of Energy. 2012 Market Report on Wind Technologies in Distributed Applications

19. U.S. Department of Energy. Installing and Maintaining a Small Wind Energy System

20. National Renewable Energy Laboratory. (2015). Small Wind Site Assessment Guidelines

21. American Wind Energy Association. AWEA Small Wind Turbine Performance and Safety Standard

22. Manwell, James. (2010). Wind Energy Explained. John Wiley & Sons Ltd. ISBN 978-0-470-01500-1

23. U.S. Department of Energy. Installing and Maintaining a Small Wind Electric System

24. National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Wind Energy Resource Atlas of the United States

25. National Renewable Energy Laboratory. (2015). Small Wind Site Assessment Guidelines

26. National Renewable Energy Laboratory. (2015). Small Wind Site Assessment Guidelines

27. National Renewable Energy Laboratory. (2015). Small Wind Site Assessment Guidelines

28. U.S. Department of Energy. Planning a Small Wind Electric System

29. National Renewable Energy Laboratory. (2015). Small Wind Site Assessment Guidelines

30. U.S. Department of Energy. Installing and Maintaining a Small Wind Electric System

31. American Planning Association. (2011). Planning for Wind Energy

32. National Renewable Energy Laboratory. (2015). Small Wind Site Assessment Guidelines

33. U.S. Department of Energy. Installing and Maintaining a Small Wind Electric System

34. Interstate Renewable Energy Council. (2010). The Intersection of Net Metering & Retail Choice: An Overview of Policy, Practice, & Issues

35. Interstate Renewable Energy Council. (2010). The Intersection of Net Metering & Retail Choice: An Overview of Policy, Practice, & Issues

36. National Fire Protection Association. National Electrical Code

37. National Renewable Energy Laboratory. (2015). Small Wind Site Assessment Guidelines

38. U.S. Department of Energy. Hybrid Wind and Solar Electric Systems

39. U.S. Department of Energy. Off-Grid or Stand-Alone Renewable Energy Systems

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The Small Wind Guidebook helps homeowners, ranchers, and small businesses decide if wind energy will work for them by addressing the following questions: Is wind energy practical for me? What size wind turbine do I need? What are the basic parts of a small wind electric system? What do wind systems cost?

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To print the story please do so via the link in the story toolbar.

Motor vehicle drivers like to say that, it's better to ride standing than to live at stops. Of course, we do not agree to live at stops, but if we add up all the minutes we spent under the canopy of the stopping canopies, many hours and a day will come out. So why not equip our "second home" in the spirit of the times, with whistles with innovations and technologies? We already wrote about just unusual stops; and in this review - 10 of the most innovative stops in which designers tried to realize their dreams of high technology.

The guys from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the alma mater of the famous headcrab wrestler Gordon Freeman, stuffed a bus stop with high technology. Here, there is a local connection to the Internet, and touch screens, and LED lighting ... A Russian person will immediately realize that one thing is missing - the city one, which will guard all this shining cycling.

So we found a structure that can bring real benefits, and at the same time does not require excessive technological stress. Scales are mounted in the seats on the benches of this stop - so passengers can spend time waiting for the bus in pleasant thoughts about the delicious cakes and salads eaten the day before. They want to put such benches in Amsterdam.

The project of this bus stop is the revenge of nature for the reproach and damage caused to it by exhaust gases. The entire roof is a solar panel. What to spend the received energy on? For night lighting or sunny parking.

So, in the spirit of Salvador Dali, we should name the project of four moderately crazy students. Bicycles can be stored on the roof of this stop, windmills spin over the roof, draining water produces energy during rain, and solar panels produce heat.

Conclusion
I used the Internet to make this presentation. We control the pedagogical process and open system for managing science

The basic idea is to use information more efficient. Recommended scientific and pedagogical control over the techno -its reliable and straightforward.This scientific method is a universal method to study in science and other social phenomena

can also be used. Further rating system the content of new targets, by selecting the list of characteristics that will be taken into account it depends.So, it is new to work technology - educational and scientific organization, control, management of works

and all of the education, the social sphere efficient use in the industry we saw.

The guys from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the alma mater of the famous headcrab wrestler Gordon Freeman, stuffed a bus stop with high technology. Here, there is a local connection to the Internet, and touch screens, and LED lighting ... A Russian person will immediately realize that one thing is missing - the city one, which will guard all this shining cycling.

So we found a structure that can bring real benefits, and at the same time does not require excessive technological stress. Scales are mounted in the seats on the benches of this stop - so passengers can spend time waiting for the bus in pleasant thoughts about the delicious cakes and salads eaten the day before. They want to put such benches in Amsterdam.

The project of this bus stop is the revenge of nature for the reproach and damage caused to it by exhaust gases. The entire roof is a solar panel. What to spend the received energy on? For night lighting or sunny parking.

So, in the spirit of Salvador Dali, we should name the project of four moderately crazy students. Bicycles can be stored on the roof of this stop, windmills spin over the roof, draining water produces energy during rain, and solar panels produce heat.

Conclusion
I used the Internet to make this presentation. We control the pedagogical process and open system for managing science

The basic idea is to use information more efficient. Recommended scientific and pedagogical control over the techno -its reliable and straightforward.This scientific method is a universal method to study in science and other social phenomena

can also be used. Further rating system the content of new targets, by selecting the list of characteristics that will be taken into account it depends.So, it is new to work technology - educational and scientific organization, control, management of works

and all of the education, the social sphere efficient use in the industry we saw.

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Motor vehicle drivers like to say that, it's better to ride standing than to live at stops. Of course, we do not agree to live at stops, but if we add up all the minutes we spent under the canopy of the stopping canopies, many hours and a day will come out.

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Climate Adapted People Shelters

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Sponsored content: There are environmental, economic, and social benefits in moving towards city-wide integrated LED lighting systems
City planners across the world are turning their attention towards smart digital infrastructure as they adapt to rapid urbanisation.
What was once a simple system of buildings, roads, and bridges is now an integrated and interconnected web of physical and online services as we move 'online' - and one such transition has been in the way we light our cities.

Signify, formerly Philips Lighting, is pioneering the way in which street lighting technology can radically expand the possibilities and future-proof urban areas.

Having recently been rated as the 2020 global leader in smart city street lighting by Guidehouse Insights, Signify has recognised the integral role lighting plays in the smart city market.

Essentially, smart street lighting uses a management system which enables streetlight luminaires that are connected to be remotely controlled and monitored through a centralised online application.

With Interact City, a software system for remote monitoring and control of connected street lighting, Signify aims to revolutionise cities by providing not only energy efficient smart street lighting but the means to deliver smart city services that will positively benefit the environment, the economy and citizens alike.

The technology can control remotely the output of individual streetlights, detect faults, monitor energy performance and, when coupled with sensors, even facilitate real time alerts for city-wide problems like traffic flow, parking spaces, electrical outages, and possible accidents.

Switching to LED streetlights can reduce energy consumption by up to 50% across a metropolitan area. Adding smart remote management into the mix can increase that up to 80% for certain applications.

The idea of a smart street lighting system was conceived to optimise energy use and simplify control, such as dimming.

Today, scene management software is used to adapt light levels to activity, increasing brightness where there's more footfall, while dimming lights by 30% when sensors detect there are fewer people or cars around.

Similarly, lights adapt to the time of night and season, so energy usage is optimised in relation to changing circumstances and situations.

Data are continuously monitored and collected and give insights into the efficiency of the system across an entire city, which helps to improve initiatives that push energy consumption down even lower, as well as meet sustainability targets.

Energy savings are good for the environment and reduce usage costs for municipalities - but the economic benefits of smart streetlighting go beyond reductions in energy consumption.

While LED streetlights can now pay for themselves from the energy they save, Signify is taking it a step further. It recently launched its BrightSites smart pole which marks a transition away from streetlights as a necessary cost to a potentially revenue-earning opportunity.

The poles, which are being piloted in various cities across the world, can double up as powerful IT service nodes, housing connectivity applications like 4G/5G and Wi-Fi.

This will help improve wireless connectivity and eliminate potential dead zones, as well as meet capacity demands driven by rapidly evolving consumer data consumption and the exponentially increasing number of connected IoT (Internet of things) devices. Forecasters suggest that by 2030 there will be around 50 billion IoT devices in use globally.

For city planners, smart poles can provide an aesthetically pleasing digital real estate, enabling dense coverage for telecommunications companies, and even earn extra revenue from displaying advertisements on digital billboards.

"Concealed integrated antennas offer 4G and 5G services from multiple carriers," said Ronald Gelten, General Manager of Signify's BrightSites smart pole business.

"This delivers on the promise of the smart city of the future, transforming the humble streetlight into a platform for delivering smart city services," he added.

Signify's Interact City software combined with its BrightSites smart poles can also improve social aspects of city life.

Being digital, smart poles can accommodate sensors, CCTV cameras and microphones. The latter could even detect sounds such as a gunshot or car crash and alert the authorities. All this can save precious time for first responders, and the brightness can be remotely turned up to aid those attending the scene.

The Indian city of Pune, which has over 3 million residents, is using smart lighting technology to make their streets safer.

Around 80,000 of the city's halogen streetlights have been replaced with remotely controlled energy-saving LED luminaires.

"Our vision is for Pune to become a smart city, transforming the lives of residents using technology," said Kunal Kumar, IAS, Commissioner, Pune Municipal Corporation.

Overall, connected street lighting systems can improve general liveability, encourage community life, and help residents feel safer. In fact, studies reveal that good quality lighting alone can deter street crime by 21% and accidents involving personal injury by 30%.

Signify designs its smart streetlights with a circular economy in mind - lights are designed to be highly serviceable with components that can be reused and replaced, and luminaires easily upgradable.

What started off as a quest to drive greater energy efficiencies and more control is moving societies away from the traditional understanding of lighting as a tool for illumination, and towards a tool to improve lives.
This post was sponsored by Signify. See our editorial guidelines for what this means.

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Smart street lighting will help future-proof our cities

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Sponsored content: There are environmental, economic, and social benefits in moving towards city-wide integrated LED lighting systems City planners across the world are turning their attention towards smart digital infrastructure as they adapt to rapid urbanisation.

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Street furniture prototypes designed to make cities more adaptable for disabled people are on show as part of the Designs of the Year exhibition at London's Design Museum (+ movie).

The Responsive Street Furniture project by designers Ross Atkin and Jonathan Scott uses digital technology to detect pedestrians with different impairments and help make their journeys easier and safer.

"Working on research shadowing disabled people as they move through public space I was struck by how much of the design of our streets was defined by a tradeoff between the needs of different people," said Atkin. "Features that may advantage one group, like more places to sit, might disadvantage another - by reducing the width of the pavement for example."

As part of an adaptable solution, the duo created a system that detects personal electronic devices of registered users.

Loft MM by C.T. Architects designed as an accessible home for a wheelchair user

They then designed street lamps with adjustable levels of lighting, mounted foldaway seating, pedestrian crossings with extended time limits, and signage that lights up and talks - all able to detect and respond to the user's requirements.

Users who are blind, partially sighted, deaf or hard of hearing select the services they would benefit from via a website. Bluetooth sensors in their smartphones, tablets or a low-cost fob tell sensors in the street furniture to activate their selected functions when they pass by.

"Users of the system only need to register once, logging the help they would like the system to provide and the ID of their smartphone or key fob," Atkin said. "From then on whenever their phone or fob is detected by a responsive item it will automatically provide the help they had requested without them needing to do a thing."

"At the moment the system uses Bluetooth 4.0 to identify the key fobs and phones," he added. "This is a well-supported wireless standard with range and power consumption appropriate to the system's requirements."

The system can provide audio information in different languages for tourists.

The project is nominated in the Digital category for this year's Designs of the Year awards, and is on display as part of the dedicated exhibition at London's Design Museum until 23 August.

Atkin and Scott are still developing the project, and are working with UK hard landscape manufacturer Marshalls, where Scott was recently appointed product development manager for street furniture, to bring the prototype products to London's streets this year.

"The immediate next move is to install a bollard outside the New London Architecture (NLA) as part of an exhibition," Atkin said. "This will be the first outdoor install in public space. After that we'll start trying to get some items installed as part of a bigger street scheme. Discussions are already in progress around this."

Atkin has previously designed a concept named Sightline that aims to accommodate people with impaired vision in public spaces by giving roadwork signs and barriers tactile elements to better understand their surroundings.

Additional reporting is by Alice Morby.

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Responsive street furniture tailors public spaces

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Street furniture prototypes designed to make cities more adaptable for disabled people are on show as part of the Designs of the Year exhibition at London's Design Museum (+ movie). The Responsive Street Furniture project by designers Ross Atkin and Jonathan Scott uses digital technology to detect pedestrians with different impairments and help make their journeys easier and safer.

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Not every property is suitable for solar panels. However, that does not mean that you won't be able to generate clean energy on your property. One renewable energy technology that's becoming an increasingly popular alternative for homeowners looking to generate their own clean electricity is small wind turbines.

An overview of small wind turbines

Small wind turbines, sometimes referred to as home wind turbines, are much smaller than the turbines you see on wind farms. While larger wind turbines can have a blade diameter that spans the length of a football field, small wind turbines typically have a diameter up to 10 meters wide. Because of the smaller blades, these wind turbines have a much smaller power output than large turbines. That makes small wind turbines perfect for projects with smaller electricity needs, such as residential, portable, or off-grid applications.

The best locations for small wind turbines are places that experience frequent, high wind speeds. Generally speaking, the taller the turbine, the windier the environment and the more electricity it's capable of generating. Most of the best spots for small wind turbines are on rural properties, as they tend to have a lot of space and few obstructions that would impact wind speeds. In certain instances, a small wind turbine has the potential to offset 100 percent of a home's electricity bill.

Sizing a small wind turbine for your property

The first step to determining the right size for your wind turbine is knowing how much electricity you want to generate. If you're looking to meet most or all of your electricity needs with a small wind turbine, you can determine your electricity usage by looking at past electricity bills. Alternatively, if you're looking to offset only certain appliances with wind power, the Department of Energy's Appliance Energy Calculator is a good place to start to calculate the electricity demands of specific appliances.

Once you know your electricity needs, find a wind turbine and site location that will meet that need. Many wind turbine manufacturers will report an estimated annual electricity output for their product using certain height and average wind speed assumptions. Without this, the calculation for estimating the realistic power output of a wind turbine can be complicated, as it's dependent on weather patterns, air density, the efficiency of the equipment, the length of the blades, and more. However, you can come up with a rough estimate of a wind turbine's energy production without complicated calculations by using an estimated capacity factor.

Capacity factor is a useful metric to estimate the amount of electricity a power generator can produce across the course of the year. For wind, the capacity factor is calculated by dividing the total electricity produced by a turbine over the total amount of electricity it would have produced over the year if it were to output its maximum power year round. According to the Department of Energy's 2017 Distributed Wind Market Report , small wind turbines have an average capacity factor of 16 percent, but their data set included a range from as small as 2 percent to as high as 36 percent.

Using a capacity factor estimate, you can calculate a rough annual electricity production estimate with the following formula:

Kilowatt-hours per year = 8,760 hours in the year x power rating (kW) x capacity factor (%)

Given the average capacity factor for small wind turbines, a 10 kW turbine will produce roughly 14,016 kWh per year.

Cost of small wind turbines

The cost of installing a small wind turbine can vary depending on the size of the system, the height of the tower, and the equipment you buy. In most cases, the larger and taller the wind turbine is, the more expensive it will be.

According to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), small wind turbines cost between $3,000 to $5,000 for every kilowatt of power capacity. Most homeowners using a wind turbine as their primary source of electricity install between 5 to 15 kW of wind power capacity, meaning they can expect to pay between $15,000 and $75,000 for their small wind turbine project. These numbers do not include any federal or state incentives.

Buying small wind turbines

When it comes to buying a small wind turbine for your home, it's important to compare different products and how they vary in regards to price, design, power capacity, and equipment offerings.

The table below shows how small wind turbines vary in price across different power capacities. Among similarly-sized wind turbines, price differences are largely due to additional components included in the purchase such as charge controllers , poles/towers, batteries, or cables. The additional components you need to purchase depends on the setup of your wind turbine. For instance, off-grid systems require a battery to store electricity, and a charge controller to protect the battery from overcharging.

Small wind turbine products

Product

Power capacity (W)

Cost ($)

Cost per watt ($/W)

Number of blades

Pole/tower included?

Battery included?

Charge controller included?

Most of the products above cannot produce enough electricity to power an average home but can be useful in offsetting a small portion of an electricity bill. Wind turbines that are smaller than 500 watts are referred to as micro wind turbines. They can be particularly useful for small, off-grid energy applications, like boats, RVs, and more.

Should I install a small wind turbine for my home?

Small wind turbines can be a cost-effective way to generate renewable electricity for your home. However, many residential properties are not suitable for wind turbines for a few reasons.

For one, to generate enough electricity to make the upfront investment worthwhile, wind turbines need to be in a windy location. While that may seem kind of obvious, it's not enough to just experience high wind speeds during storms or specific seasons: you want consistent wind patterns capable of spinning the wind turbine all year long to make the upfront investment worthwhile.

As a general rule of thumb, if the average annual wind speed on your property is less than 5 meters per second, it's likely not a suitable location for a small wind turbine. If you're unsure of wind speeds at your property, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has that display average wind speeds throughout the country on a month by month basis. Your nearby airport may also have a record of wind speeds if you're looking for a basic estimate for your region.

Additionally, small wind turbines need to have a certain amount of space and reach a certain height to achieve significant electricity savings. Your jurisdiction may have zoning ordinances that limit the height of a structure you can install on your property, thus limiting how much electricity your wind turbine is capable of producing. You also need enough open ground space on your property to lower the small wind turbine for maintenance purposes - many installers recommend having at least one acre of clear land.

However, you live in a windy, remote, off-grid location, a small wind turbine can be more affordable than connecting your home to the electrical grid. Additionally, micro wind turbines can be useful for other off-grid, portable applications, such as charging batteries for RVs and sailboats.

Compare all your options before making a decision

As you're looking for ways to generate your own electricity, it's always a good idea to compare multiple options before making a final decision. By signing up on the EnergySage Solar Marketplace , you can receive up to seven custom quotes for installing solar on your property. These quotes include cost information and savings estimates that you can compare the economic benefits of solar with small wind turbine offers. If you're looking to start out with ballpark numbers before receiving quotes, check out our Solar Calculator .

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Small Wind Turbines: Are They Right For You? | EnergySage

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Not every property is suitable for solar panels. However, that does not mean that you won't be able to generate clean energy on your property. One renewable energy technology that's becoming an increasingly popular alternative for homeowners looking to generate their own clean electricity is small wind turbines.

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Office of News & Media Relations | UMass Amherst

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AMHERST, Mass. - Scientists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have developed a device that uses a natural protein to create electricity from moisture in the air, a new technology they say could have significant implications for the future of renewable energy, climate change and in the future of medicine.

As reported today in the laboratories of electrical engineer Jun Yao and microbiologist Derek Lovley at UMass Amherst have created a device they call an "Air-gen." or air-powered generator, with electrically conductive protein nanowires produced by the microbe Geobacter. The Air-gen connects electrodes to the protein nanowires in such a way that electrical current is generated from the water vapor naturally present in the atmosphere.

"We are literally making electricity out of thin air," says Yao. "The Air-gen generates clean energy 24/7." Lovely, who has advanced sustainable biology-based electronic materials over three decades, adds, "It's the most amazing and exciting application of protein nanowires yet."

The new technology developed in Yao's lab is non-polluting, renewable and low-cost. It can generate power even in areas with extremely low humidity such as the Sahara Desert. It has significant advantages over other forms of renewable energy including solar and wind, Lovley says, because unlike these other renewable energy sources, the Air-gen does not require sunlight or wind, and "it even works indoors."

The Air-gen device requires only a thin film of protein nanowires less than 10 microns thick, the researchers explain. The bottom of the film rests on an electrode, while a smaller electrode that covers only part of the nanowire film sits on top. The film adsorbs water vapor from the atmosphere. A combination of the electrical conductivity and surface chemistry of the protein nanowires, coupled with the fine pores between the nanowires within the film, establishes the conditions that generate an electrical current between the two electrodes.

The researchers say that the current generation of Air-gen devices are able to power small electronics, and they expect to bring the invention to commercial scale soon. Next steps they plan include developing a small Air-gen "patch" that can power electronic wearables such as health and fitness monitors and smart watches, which would eliminate the requirement for traditional batteries. They also hope to develop Air-gens to apply to cell phones to eliminate periodic charging.

Yao says, "The ultimate goal is to make large-scale systems. For example, the technology might be incorporated into wall paint that could help power your home. Or, we may develop stand-alone air-powered generators that supply electricity off the grid. Once we get to an industrial scale for wire production, I fully expect that we can make large systems that will make a major contribution to sustainable energy production."

Continuing to advance the practical biological capabilities of Geobacter, Lovley's lab recently developed a new microbial strain to more rapidly and inexpensively mass produce protein nanowires. "We turned E. coli into a protein nanowire factory," he says. "With this new scalable process, protein nanowire supply will no longer be a bottleneck to developing these applications."

The Air-gen discovery reflects an unusual interdisciplinary collaboration, they say. Lovley discovered the Geobacter microbe in the mud of the Potomac River more than 30 years ago. His lab later discovered its ability to produce electrically conductive protein nanowires. Before coming to UMass Amherst, Yao had worked for years at Harvard University, where he engineered electronic devices with silicon nanowires. They joined forces to see if useful electronic devices could be made with the protein nanowires harvested from Geobacter.

Xiaomeng Liu, a Ph.D. student in Yao's lab, was developing sensor devices when he noticed something unexpected. He recalls, "I saw that when the nanowires were contacted with electrodes in a specific way the devices generated a current. I found that that exposure to atmospheric humidity was essential and that protein nanowires adsorbed water, producing a voltage gradient across the device."

In addition to the Air-gen, Yao's laboratory has developed several other applications with the protein nanowires. "This is just the beginning of new era of protein-based electronic devices" said Yao.

The research was supported in part from a seed fund through the Office of Technology Commercialization and Ventures at UMass Amherst and research development funds from the campus's College of Natural Sciences.

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New Green Technology from UMass Amherst Generates Electricity 'Out of Thin Air'

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Scientists at UMass Amherst have developed a device that uses a natural protein to create electricity from moisture in the air, a new technology they say could have significant implications for the future of renewable energy, climate change and in the future of medicine.

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Solar powered E Ink digital paper

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Power future cities with pedestrian footsteps

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The latest movie in our ongoing Dezeen x MINI Living series features floor tiles developed by London-based startup Pavegen to produce kinetic energy when stepped on.

The company's smart flooring solution relies on pedestrians to generate reusable energy strong enough to power public lightning.

When stepped on, the tiles cause electromagnetic induction generators to move - setting off a rotary motion that in turn generates power. According to the company, one footstep is enough to generate the amount of off-grid energy needed to light an LED lightbulb for approximately 20 seconds.

The tiles also have a wireless API sensor, which transmits data about movement behaviour in areas where Pavegen is installed. This can help to create an idea of peak times for foot traffic in an area, predict consumer trends, and create heat maps of popular urban spaces.

When installed in a retail setting, visitors and customers in a shop are able to earn digital currency for every step that they take, which is collected using a smartphone app and could be used towards a purchase or to donate to charitable causes.

"What that means is that if you walk into a retailer, you are powering 40 per cent to 50 per cent of the lighting," said Laurence Kemball-Cook, CEO and founder of Pavegen.

"As a user, the retailer would say Laurence, you have made 42 steps, if you can make 50 steps we'll give you some money off your purchase, or even better, you can choose to donate that energy somewhere else," he added.

The technology was created out of a desire to make energy consumption and creation more tangible and approachable. The company claims it sought to find a way for people to further their understanding of issues relating to climate change and sustainability.

"There's a way to engage users on another level, beyond energy," said Kemball-Cook. "No one can see energy, no one really understands what energy is. But this makes it real."

The brand believes that it is the combination of physical participation and data collection that will aid the evolution of smart cities, as well as changing behaviours to address the issues facing urban spaces in the future.

Pavegen was founded in 2009 and has completed over 150 projects globally. It offers permanent public and commercial flooring, as well as temporary installations for events.

This movie is part of Dezeen x MINI Living Initiative, a year-long collaboration with MINI exploring how architecture and design can contribute to a brighter urban future through a series of videos and talks.

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Pavegen offers a flooring solution to power future smart cities

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The latest movie in our ongoing Dezeen x MINI Living series features floor tiles developed by London-based startup Pavegen to produce kinetic energy when stepped on. The company's smart flooring solution relies on pedestrians to generate reusable energy strong enough to power public lightning.

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We know that poor air quality negatively affects our productivity and health. Those particularly vulnerable are children, elderly and individuals with underlying heath conditions, such as asthma or heart disease.

What does this mean for growing cities?

How does a network of monitors work?

Official air quality measurements are monitored by large, fixed field stations. With advancements in air sensor technology, smaller and more portable monitors are now available, which means more monitors can be placed around a community to increase the spatial resolution of air quality assessments. BlueSky™ Air Quality Monitors are approximately the size of a large grapefruit and so lightweight they can be fastened to a pole or fence with a plastic zip tie.

When connected to Wi-Fi, BlueSky™ monitors report hyperlocal real-time air quality data which can be viewed, shared or downloaded from a secure website. Data including time, temperature, an approximation of the U.S. Air Quality Index (AQI) and PM2.5 mass concentrations are recorded independently by each device on the cloud and an internal memory card, and multiple devices can be linked to the same account or project.

Why should I choose BlueSky™ Air Quality Monitors?

BlueSky monitors are designed by measurement experts from TSI Incorporated, a Minnesota-based company that has set the standards for precision instrumentation since 1961. The team at TSI aimed to develop a connected solution for air monitoring that provided reliable, instantaneous data to urban communities working to minimize air pollution exposure.

Inside the BlueSky monitor is a TSI factory-calibrated PM sensor for precise data. A laser-based light scattering particle sensors simultaneously output PM2.5, PM10, temperature and relative humidity. Equipped with self-diagnostics, device managers are notified of poor sensor performance while maintaining data integrity.

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Growing cities to monitor air quality for urban planning

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Official air quality measurements are monitored by large, fixed field stations. With advancements in air sensor technology, smaller and more portable monitors are now available, which means more monitors can be placed around a community to increase the spatial resolution of air quality assessments.

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No charging necessary

Microsoft Research

Throw away your plugs. Microsoft Research has developed a screen powered by ambient light alone.

The prototype "energy-neutral" display can run on office lighting and acts like a miniature e-reader. "What we imagine is that our technology could be used just like a Post-It note," says team member Tobias Grosse-Puppendahl. "But it could be reused, synchronised with notes in other locations, and could be programmed to show up-to-date information, like the weather or the latest bus timetable when you're due to leave the office."

By harvesting energy from its surroundings using photovoltaic cells, the device will never need to be charged.

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"Unlike a computer screen or TV, the e-ink screen doesn't require any power to maintain the image," says Grosse-Puppendahl. "That means that we only need a small amount of energy, which we can collect from the ambient light in an office using a solar panel on the back."

The device is still in the research stage, so it's unclear whether it would be economically viable as a consumer product or have environmental benefits.

While this is the first time that ambient light alone has been used to power a screen, there have been attempts to use other forms of ambient energy. Last year, a group from the University of Washington proposed using the energy in a Wi-Fi signal to power devices. The technology was able to convert the radio wave energy sent from a standard router into electricity, which then powered temperature sensors and low-resolution cameras.

"Some of the most important applications for this technology are different types of sensors," says Vijay Raghunathan from Purdue University. When sensors are placed in an office or elsewhere, their batteries often have to be changed. "Having an energy neutral sensor could save a lot of money."

DOI: 10.1145/2984511.2984513

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E-paper display runs on office lights and never needs charging

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Throw away your plugs. Microsoft Research has developed a screen powered by ambient light alone. The prototype "energy-neutral" display can run on office lighting and acts like a miniature e-reader. "What we imagine is that our technology could be used just like a Post-It note," says team member Tobias Grosse-Puppendahl.

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How can cities build infrastructure today to support tomorrow's rapidly increasing urban population, which the UN says will only increase in the coming decades? Over the past year, we saw designers, architects, and urban planners hard at work finding new ways to think about housing and improve public spaces. They range from new construction-micro homes and prefab houses-to various forms of adaptive reuse, with derelict urban spaces finding second lives as environmentally friendly parks and arts centers.

The winners and finalists in the Spaces, Places, and Cities category of Co.Design's Innovation by Design Awards exemplify the move toward focused, thoughtful design for communities. Here are the 27 best projects of the year.

Carmel Place is New York City's first micro-unit building, where modular units averaging 300 square feet were prefabricated off-site and then stacked to create a tower of compact, tiny living spaces. So life doesn't feel quite so cramped for those inside, the building devotes more space to communal amenities, like a gym and public roof terrace. It's one alternative to the housing shortages gripping many expensive cities, New York included.

Meet the micro-park. This 100-foot-wide park and pier in the South Bronx brought new life to a tiny sliver of land located in an industrial zone and polluted shoreline as part of the South Bronx Greenway Master Plan. Mathew Neilsen Landscape Architects transformed a dead-end street into 1.5 acres of vibrant, community-minded green space, taking on the New York City bureaucracy to make it happen.

This design for Paris's streetlights is a refreshing update to the city's classic art nouveau posts, with digitally manufactured wooden bases made of different grains that represent cities across the country, and efficient LEDs that are partially powered by a solar dome on top of the entire structure. Très chic!

Common is in the middle of the coliving craze, providing housing for young urban professionals who want maximum flexibility and minimum hassle. You can apply online for one of the Havemeyer Building's 51 private bedrooms (stocked with Casper mattresses), and management keeps all the shared spaces clean and stocked with necessities. Say good-bye to buying toilet paper or fighting over who takes out the trash.

This immersive installation inside the New York Hall of Science's Great Hall Building is like a giant, virtual world (complete with a 45-foot waterfall) built out of projectors and Kinect cameras that visitors can manipulate. Connected Worlds is designed to help kids understand the trade-offs and advantages of sustainability as they explore a wildly complex, abstracted environment much like our own.

Created for the fashion label COS, this installation from architect Sou Fujimoto uses a bare minimum of materials to create an immersive spatial experience. Architectural beams of light paired with sound, fog, and mirrored walls converge as a mystical environment that reacts to visitors.

This park in the city of Gwangju, South Korea, has exhibition spaces, libraries, performance halls, and a children's museum-not to mention gardens, playgrounds, a tree park, and a grand lawn. It's all in service of revitalizing the city's identity and providing it with a cultural centerpiece. But the complex also serves as a memorial and monument to the Gwangju Uprising, when hundreds of people died revolting against the dictator Chun Doo-hwan in 1980.

Do all hostels have to be dingy? Not according to Generator Amsterdam. Located in the Dutch capital's hip Oost neighborhood, this hostel is full of lounges, bars, and designer wallpaper-with no lumpy mattresses or bedbugs in sight.

This elevated public park, which will be situated over New York City's new Hudson Yards neighborhood, is being built on a steel platform on top of old railroad tracks. In short, it's a park that floats. And to support the growth of 30,000 plants and 200 mature trees, it will use jet engines for ventilation, a 60,000-gallon irrigation system, and "smart" soil that will allow trees to grow in just four feet of dirt.

New York City is in the process of replacing its 7,500 antiquated booths with new kiosks that offer free Wi-Fi, phone calls, and device charging, all powered by digital advertisements on the sides of the kiosks. Even though they've been controversial since their rollout, LinkNYC offers a vision for the future of connectivity in cities.

Hospitals rarely feel like healing spaces. The U.K.-based Maggie's Centres provide comfortable environments for cancer patients to heal, without the clinical coldness for which hospitals are so often known. The latest location in London takes that dedication to warmth and recovery to the next level, with a public roof garden that features space for yoga and tai chi and a beautiful translucent facade inspired by musical notes. It's a new vision for how hospital architecture should look and function.

New York's first net-zero-energy school uses 50% less energy than your average New York City public school to serve nearly 450 elementary schoolers. How? It's all about efficiency and lighting. The building uses photovoltaic solar panels to collect energy, and is oriented along a strategic "L" shaped plan to increase daylighting. Plenty of skylights and reflective ceiling panels take advantage of every last drop of natural light, too.

British starchitect David Adjaye designed Washington's latest addition to the National Mall-a museum dedicated to the history and culture of African-Americans in the United States. The multilayered facade resembles an inverted ziggurat, covered in detailed ironwork made by African-American artists that's designed to allow light into the museum's interiors.

The Strand is a former 725-seat abandoned movie theater that was given new life as the home for the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. It's a perfect example of preserving a building's history and character while repurposing it to a new purpose: The renovations preserved the building's facade and some of the original decorations, marquee letters, and even graffiti, but the interior is decidedly modern, with a giant LED screen dominating the lobby.

This University of Minnesota's health center reimagines what a hospital can be, with no private offices or front desk. Instead, patients are checked in via iPad by staff members who come to them-and rooms are available by reservation. It's a new way of thinking about how space can be effectively used to promote healing. No one likes going to the hospital, but details like these can go a long way to improving the experience.

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The 27 Most Innovative Spaces And Places Of The Year

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How can cities build infrastructure today to support tomorrow's rapidly increasing urban population, which the UN says will only increase in the coming decades? Over the past year, we saw designers, architects, and urban planners hard at work finding new ways to think about housing and improve public spaces.

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Bi-Stable

No power needed to hold an image

E Ink's technology is commonly referred to as "bistable". Bistablility refers to the fact that an image on an E Ink screen will be retained even when all power sources are removed. This means that the display is consuming power only when something is changing. For example, when reading on an eReader, power is only needed when turning to a new page but no power is consumed by the display while reading the page. Bistability significantly reduces the power consumption and is a key reason devices using E Ink have such long battery life.

The larger ePaper screen, the more electronic power can be saved compared with the same size LCD screen.

Reflective

No backlight

ePaper

Traditional Paper

LCD

E Ink displays are referred to as "reflective displays." In an LCD, or "emissive display", light from a backlight is projected through the display towards your eyes. In an E Ink display, no backlight is used; rather, ambient light from the environment is reflected from the surface of the display back to your eyes. As with any reflective surface, the more ambient light, the brighter the display looks. This attribute mimics traditional ink and paper, and users of E Ink displays have said that they do not have the same eye fatigue as with LCDs when reading for long periods of time. Therefore, eliminating the need for a backlight significantly increases the battery life versus using a traditional LCD.

LCD (Left), ePaper (Middle), Traditional Paper (Right) Outdoor Performance

Rugged

Plastic-based TFTs allow the end product to be substantially lighter and thinner than products using glass-based TFTs. In addition, glass-based TFTs can be fragile; use of plastic-based TFTs can result in a more rugged end product with less breakage in the electronics due to drops or stress tension.

A 13.3" E Ink displays with a plastic TFT and similar internal components can weigh only 12.3 ounces (349g) as compared to an LCD-based display with smaller screen size 12.9", which weighs an average of 25.2 ounces (713g).

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No power needed to hold an image E Ink's technology is commonly referred to as "bistable". Bistablility refers to the fact that an image on an E Ink screen will be retained even when all power sources are removed. This means that the display is consuming power only when something is changing.

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RFID Tag for Bus Display

Local server for the city receives the location information, and alerts the forthcoming bus stops in the route of the bus, of the bus' number, route and expected time of arrival, which are then displayed at the stop.

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(PDF) An RFID based system for bus location tracking and display

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RFID is a technology similar to that of bar code scanning. An RFID system consists of tags, which use radio frequency signals to transmit its location information to a reader, which usually sends this information to a server that processes it according to the needs of the application.

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Head to one of nine Google/Apple/Facebook shuttle stops in San Francisco this week, take out your phone, and look at the available wireless networks. You'll see a couple networks, called things like GBUS and fbshuttle, that mimic the wireless networks available on the shuttle buses. In fact, if you're a shuttle bus rider, you'll connect to them automatically. But these wireless networks won't take you online: they'll redirect you to a website featuring an animated image of the sidewalk in front of you. You will, in other words, be redirected back to the physical world.

The networks are actually a media installation from artist Harris David Harris, entitled d0ntb33vil (that's supposedly both the password to the real Google bus wireless network and actually the one to David's networks). "On the one hand, confronting riders with an image of the sidewalk offers an indeterminate symbol of failure, suggesting that something in their highly customized interface has gone wrong, while not saying exactly what or why. On the other hand, the imagery gestures toward riders' immediate surroundings and the consequences of increasingly experiencing our environments and social interactions through virtual means," Harris says in a statement about his work.

Tech bus riders have been a convenient target for anti-gentrification protesters for at least a year now. But David contends that he's not actually targeting the riders-even though they're the ones who will likely end up on his wireless networks: "Though individuals may play a role in gentrification, it is ultimately a structural issue tied to government neglect and the increasing power of the unregulated market. Just as the shuttles offer a local example in the privatization of public transit, the sectors' myriad apps and devices promote an increasingly consumer-oriented world in which citizens are nothing more than users, and the only sense of a shared 'commons' can be found in paid or data-mined networks."

Without any of that context, though, riders who end up connected to David's networks will probably just be confused.

The public can access David's installation at the Google bus stop located at Dolores and 18th St (network is GBUS, the password is d0ntb33vil).

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This San Francisco Artist Is Messing With Wireless Networks At Tech Company Bus Stops

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Head to one of nine Google/Apple/Facebook shuttle stops in San Francisco this week, take out your phone, and look at the available wireless networks. You'll see a couple networks, called things like GBUS and fbshuttle, that mimic the wireless networks available on the shuttle buses.

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Engineers at MIT are developing a way to turn the humble RFID tag into a light-powered sensor for the internet of things. Based on thin-film perovskite cells, the goal is to create inexpensive, internet-connected sensors that can operate without batteries or other outside power sources for months or even years.

According to MIT, experts predict internet of things devices will number in the neighborhood of 75 billion by the year 2025. Whether this turns out to be a good thing or not, it does mean that there will be a lot of sensors and other data-gathering devices that will need a lot of energy to keep working.

Since it would be impractical to wire up all these devices to the mains and the prospect of constantly changing millions of tiny batteries is unappealing, MIT researchers have designed photovoltaic versions that can run on sunlight or even dim indoor lighting.

It isn't a new idea. The researchers from the MIT Auto-ID Laboratory and MIT Photovoltaics Research Laboratory admit that tiny solar-powered devices have been tried before, but these have relied on conventional solar technology, which is bulky, expensive, inflexible, and cannot be made transparent. In contrast, the perovskite cells are inexpensive, printable, flexible, and can be made see-through.

The MIT team's approach is to take the perovskite cells and merge them with RFID tags equipped with multiple sensors for monitoring various environmental factors, such as temperature and humidity. These tags can be printed in rolls with the photovoltaic cells incorporated on them and can even be made see-through, so they can be mounted on window glass. They also have tiny, ultra-high-frequency antennas that only cost pennies to manufacture.

The new sensor tags work on the same principle as the RFID tags commonly used to mark retail goods. An RFID tag is essentially an electronic circuit without a power source, but when it comes within range of a reader device that is transmitting a radio signal, the tag picks up energy from the backscatter effect - essentially, it gets its electricity from the radio signal itself. It then transmits the information that is stored in the tag's chip, allowing it to be used for pricing, stock taking, security, tracking, and other applications.

The problem is that the tag can only produce a few microwatts of power and only when the reader is scanning it within a range of a few meters. If it's to be used as a practical sensor, it needs to be powered for much longer periods of time.

For the new tags, the MIT team sandwiched perovskite between an electrode, cathode, and special electron-transport layer materials. This allowed the engineers to tune each cell so it operated as desired under different lighting conditions. These were then made into modules of four cells each, which could generate 4.3 volts each in direct sunlight and transmit data up to 5 m (16 ft) over a 1.5-volt circuit.

Other tests showed the cells reaching efficiencies of up to 21.4 percent under fluorescent lighting and 45 minutes of light exposure could charge them for up to three hours, allowing the sensor tags to monitor temperatures indoor and out for several days while continuously transmitting data five times farther than conventional RFID tags. This would make it possible for one reader to simultaneously glean data from multiple sensors.

When the technology is matured, the team sees the new tags as a way to monitor the environment for months or even years before they deteriorate too much to function. They could be used not only for temperature monitoring, but also cargo tracking, soil monitoring, and energy use monitoring as they expand to include the ability to measure humidity, pressure, vibration, and pollution.

"The perovskite materials we use have incredible potential as effective indoor-light harvesters," says Department of Mechanical Engineering postdoc Ian Mathews. "Our next step is to integrate these same technologies using printed electronics methods, potentially enabling extremely low-cost manufacturing of wireless sensors,"

The research was published in Advanced Functional Materials and IEEE Sensors.

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MIT developing light-powered RFID tags for the internet of things

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Engineers at MIT are developing a way to turn the humble RFID tag into a light-powered sensor for the internet of things. Based on thin-film perovskite cells, the goal is to create inexpensive, internet-connected sensors that can operate without batteries or other outside power sources for months...

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In May, we reported that the small town of Krumbach, Austria, had commissioned seven world-famous architects to design innovative new bus stops for the town (population: 1,000). In exchange for their usual fee, the village offered architects a vacation in the surrounding Bregerzenwald region, which is famous in its own right for its rich architectural history.

One of the bus stops designed for the village was by Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto, whose spindly Bränden bus stop allowed waiting commuters to climb a series of steps built between stilt-like poles. The top of the structure almost worked like a crow's nest, allowing people waiting for the bus to see it coming from the distance.

Unfortunately, it appears that shortly after being opened to the public, Fujimoto's structure fell afoul of the local police department because it doesn't follow Austrian regulations for building safety. Accordingly, a sign has been chained across the entrance to Bränden stop, warning visitors: "This is a work of art. Do not enter."

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Police Say This Fancy Bus Stop Is A Safety Hazard

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In May, we reported that the small town of Krumbach, Austria, had commissioned seven world-famous architects to design innovative new bus stops for the town (population: 1,000). In exchange for their usual fee, the village offered architects a vacation in the surrounding Bregerzenwald region, which is famous in its own right for its rich architectural history.

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Winter's lack of sunlight can be depressing. In Sweden, the problem is especially bad-the northernmost areas of the country see just two hours of sunlight in the winter.

Umeå, a town about 300 miles north of Stockholm, doesn't have quite that much darkness, but it still only gets four hours of light in the depths of the winter months. That's why local energy company Umeå Energy is replacing billboards with overhead light therapy panels at 30 bus stops around the town.

Unlike with the sun, bus riders (and passersby who want a dose of light) should stand in front of the panels with their eyes open to get maximum benefit, according to Yahoo News. They should also spend as much time as possible standing in front of them (for professional light therapy, experts recommend getting half an hour of exposure each day). No radiation is emitted from the panels.

Unfortunately for Swedes who enjoy the panels, bus drivers have been complaining that the lights are blinding them. As a result, Umeå recently removed two of the lights where contrast with the road was proving to be an especially difficult problem. "Drivers and cyclists are having issues with the lights as well. The light is quite bright indeed and directed to the street outside the bus-stops, and I don't really like them," local resident Tomas Helleborg complained to . "They're simply too bright when you're biking or driving past in the dark."

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Swedish Bus Stops Now Offer Light Therapy For Tired Commuters

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Winter's lack of sunlight can be depressing. In Sweden, the problem is especially bad-the northernmost areas of the country see just two hours of sunlight in the winter. Umeå, a town about 300 miles north of Stockholm, doesn't have quite that much darkness, but it still only gets four hours of light in the depths of the winter months.

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How does the climate affect the public space and the way we use it? Sandra Lenzholzer will introduce the theme of climate and the public space in a short talk. She is the author of the book Weather in the City and a landscape architect and urban planner.

Zomerhofkwartier

To illustrate the way different cities deal with climate in the public space three projects will be presented. In Rotterdam the Watersquare stores excess water after rainfall. The Zomerhofkwartier is another area in the city that is vulnerable to the effects of heavy rainfall. Here professionals and inhabitants work together on strategies to handle this. Dirk van Peijpe, founder of the Urbanisten, will explain about these projects.

Amsterdam Rainproof

Heavy rainfall has been more prevalent in the Netherlands the last few years. Amsterdam Rainproof wants to make the city more resilient to this type of weather. Daniel Goedbloed will talk about how to build a network of organizations that can work together to create solutions that make the city better prepared for extreme weather.

The Liverpool Air Project

Gerry Proctor will present The Liverpool Air Project. Here artists and scientists work together to think about the air quality in cities. How can they engage the public in new ways?

The Motown Movement

Three students from Delft moved to Detroit to inspire home owners to sustainably renovate their homes and fight climate change. With one exemplary project they aim to show the inhabitants the possibilities of new technologies in the reconstruction of their homes. Ronen Dan will tell us about his experiences in Detroit.

Paul Currion will highlight the importance of making our cities resilient to climate change. This will be illustrated with his experiences in Serbia after massive flooding.

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Public Space #2: A climate adaptive public space

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How does the climate affect the public space and the way we use it? Sandra Lenzholzer will introduce the theme of climate and the public space in a short talk. She is the author of the book Weather in the City and a landscape architect and urban planner.