“Entrepreneurs are making cities smarter and more sustainable, and we still have plenty of time to get more of them into this very important area.” This message was received in a panel discussion at the beginning of this year for experts on smart cities and the role of modern technologies in sustainability and safety... and the forms of positioning these cities for a greener and safer future.
smart city energy
Among the most important features that experts highlight: > Residential energy storage. There are many opportunities for companies working in the field of developing and modernizing homes to store energy in the coming years in light of the growing need for a diversity of forms of green technologies in residential buildings, most notably those working in the field of solar energy installation, battery manufacturing, and the development of artificial intelligence platforms that increase the efficiency of energy use, according to what Alex Bazhenov, founder and CEO of Lumen, a home energy company. Bazhenov sees the greatest opportunity in the platforms that create the collaboration and harnessing of these diverse technologies to enable homes to collect, harvest and use energy more efficiently. > Microgrids. Energy production plants and centralized – even sustainable – energy sources face great and persistent potential for instability. Hence, Bazhenov believes that smart and local electric grids will allow homes to be more sustainable and resilient in the future. And in cases where the electrical supply to homes is interrupted, some of them can succeed in recovering the electricity and using it to power everything thanks to the energy stored by the solar units and household batteries. In the future, we will see more residential communities that depend on local energy sources such as solar farms that occupy small residential communities rather than large geographical areas.
water recycling
> Water efficacy. Drought conditions that have ravaged the West Coast of the United States in recent years have turned clean water into a much-needed commodity. Fernando Ramirez, managing director of Hydra-Loup Systems, a water recycling company in the Netherlands, said that these circumstances revealed the need for companies that can come up with innovative ways to reuse water. He pointed out that by 2030, 60 percent of the population around the world will live in urban areas, which will put "infrastructure in front of a great challenge," noting that "infrastructures face challenges today, but the high population numbers will increase the need to focus on the use of technology." Hydralube makes technology-assisted systems that collect and sterilize wastewater (wastewater) — which is used by laundries, dishwashers and clothes — for reuse in bathrooms and irrigation systems. This company entered the US market in 2021 as drought-prone areas began to ease their water reuse regulations. The city of Phoenix has recently begun allowing residential units to reuse waste water, as has Florida, which has allowed it to be used exclusively for irrigation. In turn, San Francisco County today requires new buildings starting at 250,000 square feet to install water regeneration systems.
Technology
