Energy Efficiency Opportunities in U.S. Cities

The United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) is the official non-partisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. According to usmayors.org, there are 1,393 such cities in the U.S. today.

During their 82nd Winter Meeting in Washington, D.C., in January, the USMC unveiled the results of a survey in which nearly 300 cities provided data about how they are deploying energy technologies to make their city operations and communities more energy efficient. The full report is available – Energy Efficiency and Technologies in America’s Cities – as is a related press release.

 

 

Among a number of key findings, the report lists the following areas currently targeted by cities for energy efficiency, along with the percent of cities reporting each; up to three responses per city were possible: 

• Public Buildings (83%)
• Outdoor Lighting (54%)
• Wastewater Treatment (21%)
• Water Supply (20%)
• Traffic Management on Roads (16%)
• Public Transit (16%)
• …

Wonderware software solutions help smart cities better manage their infrastructure operations, including their energy efficiency, across diverse applications like facility/building management, water and wastewater, and transportation.

U.S. Cities Beta-test Smart Cities Council Readiness Guide

Earlier this month, the Smart Cities Council announced that leaders from a number of cities across the U.S. are evaluating a beta version of the Council’s Readiness Guide. The Readiness Guide is a how-to manual for building tomorrow’s cities today by enabling cities to self-assess their readiness to innovate. Mayors and their smart city teams from Hartford, Dallas, Baltimore, Orlando, and Green Bay have been evaluating the Guide’s usefulness to determine the next steps toward transformation. The Readiness Guide, created by the Smart Cities Council Advisory Board and Partners, offers a unique holistic view of a city’s future – including the built environment, energy, transportation, communications, water, health and human services, and public safety.

The Smart Cities Council will continue to work with city leaders across the U.S. to gain feedback, followed by Europe, Asia and Latin America. The Readiness Guide will be officially launched next month to cities worldwide at the Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

For more information, read the complete news release on www.smartcitiescouncil.com. Invensys is an Associate Partner of the Smart Cities Council.

Infrastructure 2013 Report Released by Urban Land Institute and Ernst & Young

Last week, the Urban Land Institute (ULI) held its Spring Meeting in San Diego, California. At the event, Infrastructure 2013: Global Priorities, Global Insights was released, the seventh in a series of global infrastructure reports produced by ULI and Ernst & Young. The 72-page report assesses the state of infrastructure globally and includes research and analyses on the latest trends, challenges, and innovations, along with insights from experts. It includes coverage of the Americas, Europe/Middle East/Africa, and the Asia Pacific regions.

Long Beach Water Department Increases Efficiency with Wonderware SCADA Solution

Long Beach Water Department (LBWD) in Long Beach, California, is responsible for keeping the city's 487,000 residents supplied with clean, good-tasting water that meets stringent federal and state regulations for drinking water quality. As the largest groundwater treatment plant in the U.S., the department’s facility is considered one of the most modern plants in the world. LBWD also operates and maintains nearly 765 miles of sewer lines, removing more than 40 million gallons of wastewater per day from throughout the city and delivering it to Los Angeles County sanitation district facilities.

U.S. Infrastructure Financing for Cities Task Force Launched

On April 17, the United States Conference of Mayors and the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) announced the launch of the Infrastructure Financing for Cities Task Force (IFC Task Force) that will address critical issues facing American cities. Thus far, 17 mayors with a combined constituency of more than 17 million people have joined the IFC Task Force. Collaborating with CGI – which brings together leaders from business, government, labor, and civil society to address the world's most pressing challenges – the mayors will explore solutions to current obstacles to public infrastructure investment, look at existing models of leveraging private capital to finance projects such as road and water system improvements, and deliberate innovative investment models such as the creation of an urban infrastructure bank.

America's Infrastructure Graded a D+

Every 4 years, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) releases a Report Card for America’s Infrastructure that depicts the condition and performance of U.S. infrastructure in a simple school report card format by assigning letter grades to each of 16 categories. The 2013 Report Card provides a comprehensive assessment of current infrastructure conditions and needs along with recommendations for improvement.

America’s Aging Infrastructure

Written by Lane Swensen, Product Marketing, Invensys

Infrastructure is critical to the well being and proper functioning of a society. Whether on a national, regional or local/municipal level, infrastructure provides citizens with critical, life-sustaining services like drinking water, wastewater treatment and electricity. It also enables mobility through efficient transportation networks and makes competitive manufacturing possible through integrated transportation/delivery systems including roads, rail and air.

Lack of infrastructure is one issue receiving attention. We see many rapidly developing economies (RDEs) that are instituting infrastructure projects of many types, some of which are very impressive and large in scale.

In developed economies, while infrastructure has continued to expand with population growth, some existing infrastructure has been in place for decades with little fundamental upgrade. Too often, these systems are well beyond their original design life and are in need of attention.

In President Obama’s State of the Union Address this week, he acknowledged that America had “an aging infrastructure badly in need of repair.”

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE website) has published the Report Card for America’s Infrastructure a number of times. Though the categories have evolved a bit over the years, America’s cumulative grade has pretty much stayed the same – and not in a good way (Report Card website):

2009 – D

2005 – D

2001 – D+

1998 – D     

…where “D” means Poor, and “F” means Failing.

A new, 2013 report card will be coming out next month and will provide a valuable update. If it’s consistent with prior years, the report will also indicate the massive amount of investment estimated to be needed to bring lower grades up to a “B” or Good status. In the 2009 report, that amount was $2.2 Trillion over the subsequent 5 years.

Last month, ASCE released the report Failure to Act: The Impact of Current Infrastructure Investment on America’s Economic Future (details here). It is thought-provoking and reminds us that failing to act only exacerbates the problems America is facing with its infrastructure. And, because infrastructure is so fundamental to a society, its decline (lack of maintenance) likely means a substantial impact to a national economy, fewer jobs and lower incomes / consumer spending. 

We’ll continue to discuss infrastructure developments around the world on this blog, including across the segments receiving attention. There are many opportunities.