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Solution
Vehicle Sharing System
Vehicle sharing systems allow customers to use various vehicles without the need to own each vehicle. There are different types of vehicle sharing systems on the market. Differences can include the type of vehicle shared, like car sharing, bike sharing, scooter sharing or electric vehicle sharing. In addition to the type of the vehicle, one main difference between vehicle sharing systems is the vehicle holder. Most commonly, the operator owns the vehicles that are then shared with the users. Another opportunity is peer-to-peer vehicle sharing, in which the citizens share their own vehicles. For each vehicle sharing system, it is necessary to ensure the accessibility of the vehicles and to manage the location and operation of the vehicles.
Solution
Green Remediation
Within the EU, there are many brownfields with polluted soil, water or air. A significant number of these brownfields have a central location and are connected to the transport system. Green Remediation is a solution which remediates these brownfields and enables the use of these areas. The main benefits of applying this model are: 1) Prevention of new developments on greenfields 2) Improvement of human health and environmental conditions. The idea behind this green remediation is that not only pollution is minimised or eliminated, but also the efficient use of resources and impacts of restoration techniques are reduced. The essential point is that the polluted soil or groundwater is decontaminated on-site, eliminating the need for removal and transport off-site. Additionally, energy can be generated locally, allowing savings in power consumption. Also, old infrastructure can be reused or recycled.
Solution
Smart Parking
A Smart Parking System makes use of sensors or other technologies to determine the availability of parking lots in cities. This information can be shared with drivers, reducing the time spent on looking for parking, and thus reducing traffic congestion. Additionally, municipalities can get precise and updated information about the traffic situation, allowing them to align parking tariffs with transportation goals. The system can also let the customer pay and reserve a parking lot, guiding them to free spots, and even park the customer's car for them.
Solution
Urban Farming
The global agriculture has a high environmental impact (30 percent of global emissions). This is mainly the case due to long supply chains. Currently, the average distance traveled for agricultural products is more than 2,400 km (Urban Farming in the City of tomorrow, 2018) . Using an Urban Farming approach, this distance can ideally be reduced to less than 10 km. This offers a new attractive option for a decarbonised food distribution system. In addition to this, securing urban food and resource supply is increasingly becoming a challenge, especially in heavily populated cities with limited access to surrounding agricultural areas. Thus, food produced within urban areas offers various opportunities for cities. There are different types of urban farms, e.g. differentiated by the location of the farm (such as rooftop, window, greenhouse, balcony, containor, inddor or vertical farming), differentiated by the method of farming (such as hydroponic, aeroponic or mistponic farming) or differed by the people cultivating the plants (such as community, instiutional, commercial or personal farms). The following information gives a general overview, but mainly focuses on indoor and vertical farming.
Solution
Electrification of fleets
In order to reduce fossil energy consumption, electric mobility is a key component of creating sustainable transportation. Not only is the transport sector responsible for 30% of total EU CO 2 emissions (72% of which are from road transport), but the rate of emission reductions has also slowed down. Other sectors, such as energy, agriculture, forestry, fisheries and housing, have significantly reduced their CO 2 emissions since 1990, while in the transport sector's CO 2 emissions are higher today than in 1990 due to the ever-increasing role of mobility in our lives (European Parliament, 2019). One solution to reduce transport-related CO 2 emissions is electric mobility. Due to their longer lifespan and lower operational costs, electric vehicles can be financially beneficial. Fleet solutions facilitate the diffusion of electric vehicles rapidly and successfully into the market. Additionally, facilities to charge the electric vehicles are mandatory (Proff, Fojcik 2016, p. 128). The main goal is to diffuse electric mobility for environmental reasons. The overall vehicle population can be reduced by building up electric fleets. Plus, using electric fleets provides opportunities for companies and cities to create an innovative image and to test new technologies. The limited range of electrically driven vehicles is often less of an issue for company- and city-operated vehicles, as shorter distances are primarily covered. Fleet applications offer excellent opportunities for fast and successful diffusion of electric vehicles into the market, paticularyl since e.g. around 60 % of annual new car registrations in Germany are accounted for by companies and the self-employed. After their first commercial use, the vehicles are usually transferred to the used car market after a few years. Electric fleets for companies are thus a catalyst for the wider potential market diffusion of electric vehicles.
Solution
Intermodal Mobility Hubs
Rapid urbanization, aging infrastructures, population growth and climate change continue to challenge the world’s cities. Cities that take efforts to advance and diversify their urban mobility systems and evolve their transit hubs will gain a competitive edge. Mobility Hubs provide a focal point in the transportation network that seamlessly integrates different modes of transportation. They are places of connectivity where different modes of transportation – from walking to rapid transit – come together seamlessly and where there is an intensive concentration of working, living, shopping or playing. Collectively, this integrated suite of mobility services is intended to meet first-last mile needs of transit users. The most beneficial intermodal mobility hubs are mainly implemented close to existing mobility junctions such as train stations.
Solution
Bike Sharing System
A bike sharing system intends to make a community share a fleet of bikes. Therefore, users do not have to own a bike, but everyone can use the fleet flexibly. Most existing bike sharing systems operate as economy-to-peer sharing, but there are also peer-to-peer bike sharing systems. In an economy-to peer sharing system, the operator owns the vehicles which he shares with his customers. Within the peer-to-peer bike sharing, users share their vehicles. For each bike sharing system, it is necessary to ensure the accessibility of the bikes and to manage the location and operation of the bikes. Extensions of the bike sharing system, such as to include electric bikes and thus charging stations are possible. .
Solution
Electric Bus System
Electric busses are not only economically beneficial, as they do not have any local emission, but due to their longer lifespan and lower operational costs, they can also be financially beneficial. The electric bus system is a public transportation system that is operated by electric buses only. As every public transportation system, it can include ticketing, information of customers and a monitoring system. Additionally, facilities to charge the electric buses are mandatory. Due to the charging process, a management system for operation and planning of range as well as route optimisation is even more important than it is with conventional bus systems. (see also SCIS )
Solution
Public Charging System for Electric...
The current EU regulation on emissions for cars is the strictest worldwide. Along with further restrictions the thresholds cannot be meet with conventional cars only anymore. One alternative technology, reducing the local emissions, are electric vehicles. For a successful market penetration, a functioning infrastructure is necessary. Therefore, public charging systems for electric vehicles support the electrification of urban mobility systems by providing chargers. These chargers can be of different power ranges and charging technologies. In addition, they can be smartly integrated into the local grid and provide information about the system for customers, operator and other stakeholders. For the user experience, it is recommended to include a payment and authentication system, which facilitates the access and enhances the transparency of the charging process.
Solution
Virtual Power Plant
The increasing usage of renewable energy raises the risk of unpredictable energy generation drops or peaks. A virtual power plant reduces these risks by aggregating several small production units. Besides balancing (unpredictable) sustainable energy supply and demand in neighbourhoods, it improves the yield of energy generation units as it enables households to store and/or trade surplus energy. A virtual power plant incorporates energy generation units, load and battery systems. As an online platform, the virtual power plant aggregates people’s production and consumption of energy and stores the surplus locally. Due to this aggregation, it’s possible to trade energy on the wholesale markets: the use of a home battery lets you store energy when electricity prices are low and discharge the battery when there are high. Overall the virtual power plant is able to monetize flexibility and minimizes the risk of shortages in supply by using a different set of functions.
Solution
Urban Air Quality Platform
Each day everyone breaths in and out approximately 20,000 times – at the same time industries, combustion engines and chimneys constantly pollute our air. An urban air quality platform is an air-quality-sensing network, which allows citizens to access hyperlocal data about local emissions, such as ozone, particulate matter, nitric oxides, carbon monoxide and ammonia. Moreover, data on air quality, on the weather or traffic can be also added. The sensors collecting the data can be installed either by an operator, e.g. the municipality or on private property. Citizens’ participation in the implementation process allows a faster and agiler project development cycle. To inform citizens about the local urban air pollution a platform as well additional notifications are possible. Additional suggestions on behavioural changes can enable the citizens to lessen their own impact on the urban air pollutants. The mandatory and additional functions of the system are shown below. The impact of it varies depending on the functions implemented. Regarding the benefits of the solution, this is evident. The benefits, which can be achieved by a system containing all additional functions below, are shown as potential benefits whereas the general benefits can be reached by implementing the mandatory functions only.
Solution
Local Energy System
Approximately one-quarter of the energy price is owed by the transportation of the energy. The implementation of a local energy system can shift the energy production from a centralised system to a decentralised system. In a local energy system, the energy is produced close to where it will be used, in contrast to a centralised energy production system or a national grid where the production is centralised. The local generation reduces the transmission losses and is able to adapt to the local needs. The system includes the generation, the storage, and the consumption of energy. To optimise the energy consumption a visualization of the consumption or controlled energy consumption are possible.
Solution
Waste separation at source
In 2017, 70 percent of the global waste has been generated in cities - and a rising trend is expected in the next years. One step to efficiently and economically process this waste is the waste separation at source. It is fundamental for reusing and recycling resources because it prevents the contamination of the materials, thus increases their quality. As this system relies on the active participation of citizens, it needs to be simple and easy to understand by the users. The main aspect is that user sort waste according to the materials it is made of, but also that citizens can be identified, thus allowing differentiated pricing when people recycle more or less. In addition, this system can also facilitate composting and the recycling of other stuff like electronics or clothes.
Solution
Smart Home System
The majority of public funding on energy efficiency within the EU is proposed for the building sector. The federal funds in that sector add up to €5.4 billion in 2014. A smart home system is one possibility to improve residential energy efficiency. A smart gateway, as an essential part of the system, connects the smart home with the outside world. This allows the mobile control of devices in the house from remote places. External systems and services can be used for better energy usage regulation. Furthermore, it can be connected to the smart grid as well as electric charging infrastructure to enable better energy efficiency and billing plans, for example, according to peak-time energy consumption or renewable energy content.
Solution
Urban Emergency Service
The city infrastructure must be able to respond to various challenges including catastrophic events, natural disasters, terrors attacks and further cases of emergencies. For that purpose, an integrated emergency handling system is required that can close the gap between emergency centres and the citizens. On the one hand, this system should be able to acquire information from and around citizens based, for instance, on social networks or various sensors distributed in the vicinity in question. On the other hand, the system can provide means for pushing notifications and relevant information to citizens that are potentially in danger.
Solution
Intelligent and Connected Public...
An intelligent and connected public space collects data in public areas and displays or reacts on the data. The data can be securely transferred via Wi-Fi or other similar technologies to be, i.e. combined with a central system. The data that is collected with sensors can be data on the air quality, the movements and people in the public space or safety relevant information. With this, particular importance should be paid to privacy rights, i.e. by using non-intrusive sensors. Often implemented sub-services are Wi-Fi-hotspots or guidance beacons for blind navigation. Public displays can i.e. provide access to local maps, a store and service registry or multimodal route-planning. These mandatory and additional functions of the intelligent and connected public space are shown below. The sensors and technologies used to realise the different functionalities can be attached to, i.e. Smart Lighting poles and make use of the underlying backbone infrastructure.
Solution
Intelligent Waste Logistics
The global amount of waste produced is steadily rising. With the amount of waste, the importance of an efficient processing of waste grows. Intelligent waste logistic covers the waste chain from the pick-up of the waste at the inhabitants' place to the processing of recycling and destruction. Route optimizations for garbage trucks are part of an intelligent waste system. This can be approached by using smart bins, which are able to report their current state. The solution can also be implemented as an underground waste collection system. To improve the processing of the collected garbage, waste sorting robots can be used.
Solution
Smart Home Video Communication
Especially in less densely populated areas or for less mobile people a video conference system can ease the access to lots of services, such as medical advice, education, government services or judiciary. All these services can be used without leaving the house when a smart home video communication system is successfully implemented. Possible advantages of a video conference system are: The use of video enables authentication of the participating parties, people with disabilities can more readily access public services, long waiting queues in public buildings are avoided, and more comprehensive care than via telephone can be provided. Once installed, this system may also be used for educational purposes, to communicate with family or to enable surveillance of one’s property.
Solution
Urban Data Platform
Urban data platforms build the basis for a multitude of applications in a Smart City. An urban data platform intends to map, store and integrate data from different stakeholders of the Smart City ecosystem (public entities, businesses, citizens and organisations). The data can be offered to other service providers, can be analysed or visualised and published. Such an urban data platform can be the basis for a lot of smart city solutions as it offers a secure, stable and flexible base for data-driven solutions. An urban data platform can constitute a holistic system, connecting various services around a city by bringing all data together. A multisided-market approach can support smart and medium enterprises (SMEs) as data is available without any high initial investments, include public services and citizens. The main concern when it comes to urban data platforms is data security and transparency, which places special focus on the responsibility and the reliability of the operator of the platform. A broadly accepted approach is, therefore, the operation by a municipal organisation.
Solution
Drone Delivery System
Delivery trucks for parcels are a noticeable part of urban traffic that can be reduced by implementing a drone delivery system. As the market for deliveries is significantly and steadily growing, especially due to the increasing options in online shopping, this becomes even more relevant. Likewise, the delivery market slowly transforms from a mainly B2B market to a B2C market. These developments lead to the increasing importance of the so called ‘last mile’ – the delivery from the closest transportation hub to the final destination. One opportunity to improve the last mile delivery are drones. Autonomous drones can significantly accelerate delivery times and reduce the human costs associated with the delivery.
Solution
Building Energy Management System
The majority of public funding on energy efficiency within the EU is proposed for the building sector. The federal funds in that sector add up to €5.4 billion in 2014. One way to increase the energy efficiency of buildings is to implement a building energy management systems (BEMS). BEMSs are centralized, computer-based systems, which provide real-time monitoring and integrated control of building services and equipment to optimize energy usage. They typically control the lighting, power, hot water and HVAC (heating ventilation and air conditioning) systems. The system monitors the information received from various sensors in the building (smart meters, occupancy, temperature, carbon dioxide and humidity sensors, etc.) and optimizes the energy consumption while maintaining safety and comfort. These systems can also be used to improve the health and security of the inhabitants by control and monitor of the environment, emergency responses and regular maintenance schedules. The technology can be applied to both residential and commercial buildings and at varying scales from small independent building to complex sites with multiple buildings.
Solution
Smart Lighting
Smart streetlights enable the reduction of running expenses associated with public lighting by delivering several value-added services to cities and citizens. The solution allows the dynamic adaption of the brightness of streetlights according to the season-dependent day and night cycle duration or even to a combination of this and the noise level. A good lighting system increases both actual and perceived security. Furthermore, directed light may improve the well-being of residents. An underlying connectivity backbone connects the poles (i.e. fibre-optic backbone) and serves to deliver digital services via integrated street lights. Within this solution, the lighting poles can be used to provide other functionalities (i.e. Intelligent and Connected Public Space – Wi-Fi, navigation aids for visually impaired people or displays) through the attachment of additional sensors or signalling devices.
Solution
Last Mile Delivery
Due to the growing share of on-line shopping nowadays, an additional sales channel for companies came up. Internet sales has become an essential part of the retailing business in the past years. Consequently, the volume of traffic caused by delivery services has increased rapidly with the success of e-commerce. Likewise, the delivery market slowly transforms from a mainly B2B market to a B2C one (e.g. Drone delivery). The final track of the supply chain – home delivery to a customer – is called “Last Mile”. The “Last-Mile” of a delivery poses significant logisticalcal challenges, especially regarding the increasing customer expectations, such as "same day delivery" or "exact time delivery" which leads to the decreasing time available for planning. Furthermore, the “Last mile” has a huge effect in traffic of commercial vehicles in cities. The Last Mile Delivery (LMD) accounts for a major part of the costs involved in a delivery. A research of Capgemini Research Institute showed that the costs of LMD account 41 % of the overall supply chain costs ( Jacobs, Warner et al., p. 20 ). Figure 1 - Distribution of overall supply chain costs ( Jacobs, Warner et al., p. 20 ) In the reality of LMD, challenges like a small or single order compared to deliveries to stores, many constantly changing geographically dispersed locations (compare deliveries to stores) etc. must be faced. The goal is to improve the efficiency of LMD, to minimize costs incurred, improve safety to minimize the impact on traffic as well as minimize the environmental impact. To improve the quality of life in the affected areas, the LMD should become environmentally friendly and emission-free (noise and emissions), the volume of traffic should be reduced to prevent illegal parking, collisions and stressful congestions. Congestion, air quality, collisions and illegal parking are all ills affecting the quality of life of citizens. The accessibility of inner-city locations is becoming more and more limited for cars and trucks in contrast delivery services are growing especially in these dense inner-city areas. There are several solutions to solve these problems that reduce pollutant emissions, lower the impact on traffic, improve safety and make LMD more efficient.