Changing the Game

7 Posts tagged with the smart_cities tag

Billions (in Canada) and Trillions (around the world) of dollars are being spent each year on the development and renewal of our infrastructure. Roads, bridges, homes, and [commercial, industrial, and institutional] buildings make the physical fabric of our communities. A small, yet growing portion, of this global spending goes to the systems that make this infrastructure work; such as security, mechanical, electrical, and transportation systems.

 

These systems have always been part of the DNA of the underlying infrastructure for our communities (nothing new there). However, the difference is that they are becoming smarter and more capable to have a profound impact on the performance of the infrastructure. Where historically these systems were subservient to the bricks, beams, and concrete they were housed in; it now seems they are being elevated in importance. The intelligent systems have now the ability to make our infrastructure come to life - and provide greater value to those that depend on it.

 

The great enabler of this shift is the world of information and communications technology (ICT), and more specifically the Internet and IP networks. Networks become the new addition to the DNA of our infrastructure. We have seen already numerous examples where connected and smarter infrastructure has the ability to positively impact economic, social, and environmental sustainability. My blogs have covered several of these examples, and please keep reading them as there are more to come.

The trend of smarter and more connected infrastructure is unstoppable as every sensor, device, system (and user) will become a node on the Internet and its worldwide networks. We [as in leaders in the construction, design, development, ICT industries, and many other stakeholders] have now the stewardship to channel this transformation into a direction that is repeatable and sustainable. Together we have the ability to (re)build the fabric of our communities through the intelligent use of technology and innovation. As we see this technology and innovation converge with bricks and mortar, we will end up with infrastructure that meets our, and our children’s, rapidly growing expectations in a resource constraint world.

 

At Cisco Plus in Canada on Wednesday May 16th, a selected group of leaders in the infrastructure industry (architects, engineers, developers, builders) will gather to discuss the implications of “clicks and mortar”, and the opportunities it will provide to all that are interesting pursuing them. The future is here, let’s now optimize and monetize it, together.

 

When you are visiting Cisco Plus, please attend also the Business Session “Managing Unprecedented Change with Business Transformation” by Sandy Hogan (Cisco Vice President of Americas Business Transformation) on Wednesday May 16th at 11am EST.

497 Views 0 Comments Permalink Tags: innovation, technology, networks, transformation, sustainability, buildings, demand, change, s+cre, communities, smart, connected, smart_cities, smart_connected_communities, huijbregts, rick

Only a couple miles from Edmonton (Alberta, Canada) lies beautiful St. Albert, a town of approximately 65,000. St. Albert is one of the region's most affluent communities, and its statistics would make you want to live there. Adjacent to the populated part of the City lies 400 acres of rural land, screaming to be developed as an extension to the already popular City.

 

The screams were heard by Rampart Avenir Communities, founded by Gerry de Klerk (an entrepreneur immigrant from beautiful Netherlands) and his family. Last summer, De Klerk family received the final blessing from St. Albert Mayor Nolan and City Council and the planning for the build out of "Avenir" is now in full swing.

 

Avenir is going to be home to 10,000 new residents; containing a nice mix of single family and multifamily housing that will be immersed in green land and the existing picturesque creek that flanks the Westside of the 400 acres land. The centre of this timeless development will include commercial and retail space and become a hub in a new regional transportation network, making it easy to get in and out of Avenir.

 

But that's not all: Rampart Avenir Communities has set their mind to also become the most smart and connected community in the region, and a blueprint for 21st community development in Canada and the World. In addition to great design and engineering and an optimized blend of 'work, live, play, and learn', Rampart's Avenir will also have one of the fastest -- and open access -- networks into every home, business, and corner of the community. Avenir will be a connected hub in the region, and leverage the network infrastructure to deliver new experiences to the residents, generate new business opportunities for the private and public sector, enhance health, education, and community services, and be fully enabled for future opportunities and technologies.

 

Rampart Avenir Communities has realized that you can't build and operate 21st Century communities with 20th Century processes and eco system partners. Gerry did what not many other community developers have done before: one of the first contracts he signed was with Cisco Canada. The entrepreneurship and vision of Gerry and Rampart Avenir Communities; his willingness to break glass where necessary and appropriate; combined with Cisco's technology leadership and global experience in building smart and connected communities; and with numerous other innovative partners that don't take no for an answer, has put the endeavor on track to become a Canadian showcase and worldwide example.

 

Follow progress on Facebook as the community gets developed online.

1,161 Views 1 Comments Permalink Tags: innovation, s+cc, transformation, cities, communities, connected, smart_cities, smart_connected_communities, behaviour, huijbregts, productivity, rampart, avenir, st., albert, alberta

This year, the impressive collection of Canada’s top 100 infrastructure projects total an astounding $ 114 billion investment (18% more than last year !). Only five years ago, a list as impressive as this one would have gone unnoticed by companies in the IT industry. Our industry would have simply dismissed it as just concrete, big cranes, and increased traffic congestion.

 

On the flip side, the companies that are involved in the large projects would have not given IT much thought either. Traditionally, the IT components in construction would have been as low as 0.25% (civil) to as high as 3% (commercial) – probably not more than $ 400 million of the $ 114 billion investment. IT would have been a rounding error and afterthought.

 

Times have changed. IT is increasingly becoming required and even mission critical for the development of future infrastructure projects. The driving force will come from a need for connectivity; connected lighting controls and HVAC in buildings; transportation systems (e.g. automated toll systems); sensors; wireless devices in vehicles and on persons, and so forth. Everything is becoming connected and interdependent. The underlying networks will need to be build or updated to support the massive increase of traffic (bits and bytes) and activity (transactions).

 

Additionally, the required compute power for the “analytics” that is giving us the ability to optimize the performance of our infrastructure (utilization, economics, energy) is calling for data centers and the secure availability of the cloud.

 

Not long from now, I suspect that we will find some of the largest IT infrastructure projects rank in the top 100 as provinces, municipalities, and businesses will need to develop this mission critical infrastructure. IT will be more than a rounding error, and become like concrete as the foundation for a smart and connected world.

1,220 Views 1 Comments Permalink Tags: networks, transformation, cities, change, infrastructure, communities, connected, smart_cities, smart_connected_communities

For the past three years Cisco has been a supporter of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and has actively participated in most of their National events and forums. ULI’s latest Fall Meeting and Urban Land Expo with more than 6,000 attendees, just came to a close last week in Los Angeles and Cisco joined as Sustaining Member and Anniversary Sponsor. The meetings were as inspiring as they were sobering. Clearly, the U.S. real estate market is leading and responding to the economic anguish. There is very little new development happening and (growing) vacancies taint the existing real estate portfolios and market atmosphere.

 

Top of mind for the leading real estate professionals were the economic uncertainties in the U.S. and abroad (especially in Europe led by the Greece situation); the continuing  trouble in the housing market; the political instability (in the U.S. and around the world); and the perceived pressure to pay more attention to environmental issues like energy savings and carbon reductions. In these times of ambiguity, real estate owners have become more forceful and resourceful in providing features and functionalities that differentiate their properties over the very large existing (and mostly obsolete) building stock. Although the greening of buildings through LEED certification already was becoming widely accepted before the latest economic downturn, it seems that the pursuit of LEED accreditation is one of those factors that real estate owners and developers use to control the marketability and brand of their product. Many session presenters and panel members were flaunting the pursuit of LEED Gold or even Platinum certification: it appears to have become the new norm.

 

Here I was sitting with my Cisco hat on, becoming growingly surprised why nobody made any mention of ICT (Information and Communications Technology) as an enabler for their buildings to become leaner, greener, and meaner --- except for the few technology-focused breakout sessions, including the well attended opening session with Joe O’Connor (moderator, Cisco Smart + Connected Communities), Stan Gale (Gale International), Anil Menon (Cisco Smart + Connected Communities), Thomas Ike (Lutron Electronics), and Phil Williams (Webcor Builders).

 

Naturally, the omission of ICT from the real estate buzz did not come as a surprise to me. Compare it to asking the CEO of a leading financial institution or airliner what the top 5 issues are that are on her mind – it rarely is ICT. Considering we clearly have transitioned well into the “information age”, and are increasingly becoming part of a connected world (which nobody denies), it is rather disappointing that ICT does not often enough get called out as a leading enabler and solution (or even concern) for the challenges that we all face. And it certainly is not the lack of proof points by now, which demonstrate that the IT-enablement of buildings (Smart + Connected Real Estate) has a profound impact on the economic sustainability (reduced CAPEX, impact on OPEX, new business opportunities in real estate as we embrace the cloud for building analytics, for instance); environmental sustainability (energy measurement and visualization, energy and carbon reduction); and social sustainability (future-ready places to live, learn, work, and play; the marriage of virtual and physical in the design and planning of spaces and communities). – sorry for sounding like a broken record.

 

Yes, we can build (and renovate) buildings for less money up front, that cost less to operate, that virtually automatically optimize energy and carbon consumption, and provide innovative and dynamic environments for those that live, learn, and earn in them---with the use of existing information technologies (no more bleeding edge). I understand…it is a journey that we’re part of. Just like only three years ago I was questioned what Cisco was doing at the ULI; this year we seem to have become a household name and participant. I am not asked anymore why we are there…but am asked what we can do for them (the real estate world). We’re glad to be part of the journey. We are already looking forward to our participation at the 2012 ULI Real Estate Summit and the Spring Council Forum in May in Charlotte, North Carolina.

 

See you there. Hmmm…it’ll be a great opportunity to also check out Envision Charlotte.

1,967 Views 0 Comments Permalink Tags: innovation, s+cc, transformation, urban, land, s+cre, estate, communities, smart, smart_cities, huijbregts, uli

We are walking into the Rêve, one of Tridel’s latest developments on King West in Toronto. This 14-storey residential building is one of the most advanced, enabled, and green communities in town.

 

As we walk in, we are greeted by the concierge that is not actually there. A high-definition Cisco TelePresence video solution beams the concierge in from some remote location. It’s as if she’s there and provides us directions as no in-person experience would have done any better. [Virtual Concierge]

 

On the 14th floor, we enter the Eco-Suite. This sustainable home combines high quality design, environmental features, and the latest technologies in an effort to augment and improve the experience of condo living as we know it.

 

Where we once would expect light switches, we now find touch displays that control much more than light. For every room in the suite, we can control our lights, blinds, energy, TV and audio. It provides also the platform for accessing new web-based applications and value-added services. The same features and functionalities (and look and feel) are available on the TV screen, internet, and handheld devices.

 

Solar panels on the roof generate and augment power for the building, and many other environmental features such as green roofs, recycled building materials, and water-saving automatic faucets provide the ideal home for the environmentally conscious residents in the LEED-certified Rêve.

 

Surely, it is not about the technology or the panels on the roof, or even the TelePresence video solutions in the building.  All those are merely a means to an end: creating an environment (both physical and virtual) that becomes an extension and enabler for the rapidly changing expectations we have of life in an increasingly connected world.

 

We are looking for comfort, safety and security (both physical and virtual), health, flexibility and future-readiness, access to friends, family, and information, anytime and anywhere, and the ability to personalize everything around us as we see fit and when we see fit. We want to have all this while using as few resources as possible and leaving a smaller footprint in the world.

 

With the proliferation of connected devices (from tablets, smart phones, laptops, to the intelligence in our cars, and even our fridges and stoves) we can now surround ourselves ubiquitously with enabling technologies that provide the means to that end. Where typically this ability is limited to the devices that we carry; Tridel now made it integral part of the spaces that we live in.

 

Design, technology, the environment, innovation, and life… all becoming one.

2,421 Views 0 Comments Permalink Tags: innovation, networks, transformation, green, sustainability, buildings, change, communities, connected, smart_cities, smart_connected_communities, behaviour, engagement, huijbregts, rick

Last month Cisco launched its UPoE (Universal Power over Ethernet), delivering up to 60W to networked end-devices. Now, I am not very technical myself to understand how this all works, but I certainly can see the business implications (for every IT professional and business, but also the developers of buildings and communities) as the journey of PoE continues to develop.

 

Power over Ethernet (PoE)  is a technique that delivers electrical power over Local Area Network cabling to networked devices. PoE itself isn’t new (but not old either). In 2000 we were able to deliver 7W over the network, called “Inline Power”. The term PoE was coined in 2003 when the IEEE approved a standard (IEEE 802.3af) for PoE up to 15.4W. Only 4 years ago PoE was able to deliver 30W to networked devices, enough to power IP Phones, wireless access points, but also video surveillance cameras and access controllers. Last year, Delta Controls was the first building automation company to launch its PoE IP HVAC controller to the market which was premiered at Carleton University in Ottawa. This year, Universal Power over Ethernet (UPoE) leapfrogged the industry to provide 60W per switch port to enable new deployment options in next-generation infrastructure.

 

So, how is all this relevant for those outside of IT (especially for those that build buildings and communities)? UPoE will cut capital and operational cost; simplify facilities maintenance and management; reduce environmental footprint; and provide for future-ready physical environments.

 

(1) As “the Internet of Things” becomes part of the DNA of an infrastructure project (as the 4th Utility), we’ll see more and more devices connect natively to the Network (from IP Phones to LED lighting, HVAC controllers, TelePresence, LCD displays, etc.). Once connected to the Network, many of these devices can, should, and will be able to be powered through this same network. The elimination (or reduction) of electrical cabling and the labor related to it will have a significant positive impact on the capital cost of a networked building. How many power plugs do you need at a desk if your phone, TelePresence unit, and your laptop are going to be powered through the same network that operates them? Consider $300 per door (or more) savings for eliminating the electrical provisioning for each access controller above your ceiling panels.

 

(2) Operational maintenance and management (including Moves, Adds, and Changes or MACs) of networked devices that are powered over Ethernet become much more efficient and cost effective. Especially if you extend the PoE infrastructure with available kinetic technologies (i.e. a kinetic light switch does not need ANY wiring as its kinetic energy communicates over a PoE wireless network) the possibilities of quick customization and change of our physical environments becomes more effortless and instant. One would not need an electrician (as we know them) anymore to add or rewire electrical infrastructure to accommodate new locations for networked devices. A video surveillance camera, LCD display, or LED light fixture can be placed (and powered) in places where no electrical wiring is provided.

 

(3) It is a well established fact that much of our energy loss is due to the many up and down conversions that are needed to move electrons from the power plant to the low-voltage end devices in your building (consider how hot the power plug for your laptop can get). If you add the possibility of adding solar energy or other alternative energy sources, you now can leverage the network to generate in DC and deliver in DC, thus eliminating energy loss due to conversions. Also, the Network is optimized to monitor, manage and control the power delivery and consumption to all its networked devices (see: EnergyWise). UPoE makes energy optimization and reduction part of the buildings DNA.

 

(4) Lastly (yet, there are many more benefits that I’ll discuss in future blogs), UPoE adds to the future-readiness of a networked building. We don’t know what systems and devices will be required for the performance and operation of our physical environments. What we do know is that the Network is the new lifeline of such environments; and end devices will consume less and less energy (maybe 60W or less—wouldn’t that be interesting)?

 

This means that the networks we are building today are able to power, enhance, and enable the features and functionalities of tomorrow.

Maybe it’s time to re-write MasterFormat Division 26? (and consequently also 23, 25, 27, 28, 33).

 

www.rickhuijbregts.com

2,208 Views 0 Comments Permalink Tags: innovation, technology, s+cc, ict, smart_grid, networks, smart_building, transformation, green, energy, sustainability, buildings, systems, change, s+cre, connected, smart_cities, cisco_energywise, smart_connected_communities, productivity, rick, emissions

Carbon Disaster

Posted by Rick Huijbregts Jun 20, 2011

According to unpublished estimates from the International Energy Agency [IEA], greenhouse gas emissions have increased by a record amount last year to the highest carbon output in history. Last year, a record 30.6 Giga-tones of carbon dioxide poured into the atmosphere, mainly from burning fossil fuel, a rise of 1.6 Gt on 2009 [IEA estimates]. Emissions from energy fell slightly between 2008 and 2009, from 29.3 Gt to 29Gt due to the worst global economic recession in 80 years. The IEA has calculated that if the world is to escape from most damaging effects, annual energy-related emissions should be no more than 32 Gt by 2020. If this year’s emissions rise by as much as 2010’s, that limit will be exceeded nine years ahead of schedule [the Guardian, June 9].

 

Take into the consideration the status of the supply (generation) side of energy: 80% of power stations like to be in use in 2020 are either already built or under construction. These account for 11.2 Gt emissions (out of 13.7 Gt in the electricity sector) that are “locked in”; and thus savings will have to be found elsewhere. Also, the world is changing its mind on nuclear power after the Tsunami damage at the Fukushima power plant in Japan. As a result, Germany already halted its reactor program, and other countries are reconsidering nuclear power. Nuclear is one of the major technologies for generating electricity without carbon dioxide.

 

These are glooming facts; especially if you take into consideration the mass urbanization of the rapidly growing world population. More than 70% of all energy today is consumed in cities; and it is expected that in the years to come more than 500 M will migrate to cities to seek economic and social prosperity. The American Institute of Architects [AIA] has predicted that of all the functional real estate that we require in 2030 to accommodate such dramatic shifts , more than 70% does not exist today. The anticipated build-out that we require to support the growing and urbanized global population will even further jeopardize chances to salvage our environmental predicament.

 

Now, I happen to work for a company that has a strong vision and available capabilities to address or impact many of the problems in front of us: from generation to distribution with smart grids, to consumption and supply with smart buildings. And we’re certainly not alone: our partners show no less impressive innovation and capability to contribute towards the solution. What’s truly missing is the coming together of industry, institutions, and government, and the alignment of investment and focus to get stuff done—leadership, ownership, policy, direction. It’s time for the “Urban Electronic Nervous System” as Martijn Moerbeek calls it, to assist in monitoring, managing, controlling, optimizing, and minimizing the flow of everything: people, electrons, water, traffic, etc. The will and innovation is there. Technology is the foundation. Let’s put it to work.

829 Views 0 Comments Permalink Tags: innovation, technology, smart_grid, energy, sustainability, demand, change, carbon, communities, smart, smart_city, smart_cities, smart_connected_communities, huijbregts, rick, emissions

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