Update on EIC project – smart cities and the environment

Purpose To assess whether the ‘smart city’ agenda will enable UK cites to make real progress in tackling with entrenched environmental challenges such as Greenhouse gas carbon emissions Waste management Air quality Water use

Task Force members include:

Definitions Smart city initiatives/applications are those which are based upon using the power of networked devices (both centrally controlled and citizen controlled) and analysis of ‘big data’ to improve the functioning and capability of cities.

Dashboard – Top 10 cities

Eg air quality – no progress

Ways in which smart can help Increasing understanding of challenge through data creation and collection eg smart meters (enabling more effective strategies). Raising awareness of the challenge to political leaders and citizens (increasing the political will to take action) Identifying efficiency improvements which benefit the environment Enable real time management of traffic flows to reduce air quality hotspots Real time matching of supply and demand, and the automation of city services and activities to improve resilience and reduce pollution Enable citizens to affect their own environmental footprint

Automated Demand Response UK has approximately 1.8m commercial properties. Within Europe, 67% of electricity consumption is used by commercial, public or industrial facilities – at least 10% of the peak electricity demand in these buildings can be moved or reduced by making temporary adjustments to the building’s electrical plant (such as heating and cooling). By emitting no carbon, ADR provides a secure, reliable and automated tool to manage networks at times of energy stress.

Automated Demand Response ADR can help Governments and building owners benefit by: Improving the reliability of electricity supply Reduce overall cost of distributing electricity Reduce costs to consumers Contribute toward low carbon economy and legally-binding targets. Obtaining new revenue streams which reward the provision of their building’s flexible load Providing increased visibility of a building’s energy use Enabling them to reduce on-site electricity costs

Utrecht – air pollution pilot project

But little evidence of impact to date (max %). Why? Smart not always the best answer…

Is smart always the right answer? Smart is not always effective at cutting pollution at source. (eg vehicle emissions cut more effectively through retrofit of diesel engines.) Hard engineering solutions eg SuDS may be needed Veolia/LSE ‘Imagine 2050’ emphasises nanotechnology and eg micro-scale plant based effluent cleaning over smart ‘ICT systems’.

But little evidence of impact to date (10-15%) Why? Smart not always the best answer… Environment not prioritised in ‘smart thinking’

Smart city case studies by environmental relevance ReportEnviro-relatedIndirectly enviro- related Non environmentTOTAL FCC: UK smart cities1236 BIS International case studies 1247 Arup: Smart solutions 2057 CfC Smart policy paper 1056 B’ham smart action plan TOTAL

But little evidence of impact to date (10-15%) Why? Smart not always the best answer… Environment not prioritised in ‘smart thinking’ Smart city/environment market not developing effectively?

Market issues Chicken and egg – there isn’t always enough robust evidence or large-scale case studies to inform major investment in smart solutions, but this lack of investment is often the reason case studies don’t exist. Relatively immature market – R+D but limited evidence Funding cuts – local authorities focusing on delivery of statutory requirements and an inability to do much beyond that. If smart can help fill that gap and save money, then there’s an opportunity. Institutional structures: Funding often in silos or ringfenced. Responsibility for environmental problems may be with a utility or national govt not city. Procurement – cities may lack knowledge/skills to ‘buy’ effectively in this market If a politician or city leader is persuaded by the smart argument, not always clear where to go to buy to buy technology/solution. End ‘customer’ is changing – may be citizen not local authority

Next steps Planned launch - EIC Annual Conference (2 Dec) as part of ‘Liveable Cities’ session (keynote speaker - Mark Watts, C40) Possible seminar on findings January Appetite in taskforce to see analysis continue beyond report’s publication – quarterly surveys or further report in two years’ time analysing progress.