Paris is known as the City Of Light principally because of the gas lights of the 1800’s, but it may be time to turn the lights off, at least late at night.

Andrew Price, Will The City Of Light Go Dark To Save Energy?

A proposal from Delphine Batho, head of the Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development, and Energy, would require stores, offices, and public buildings across the country to turn off the lights between 1 a.m. and 7 a.m. The point of the policy, according to Batho, is not only to save energy and money but also “to change the culture” in a time of economic crisis, making people aware of the importance of using energy resources efficiently.

If the new policy is approved by Parliament, it will take effect in June, with certain exceptions for hospitals, police stations, and other critical operations. Indeed, the target of the policy seems to be shops that keep their lights on all night long. Or at least that’s what some proprietors seem to think. France’s Commerce Council has made statements opposing the idea, claiming that it will turn off tourists and hurt business. Predictably, the light bulb and lighting systems industries have also objected.

The savings could be considerable — $261 million per year — but the biggest impact could be the cascade out to other cities and towns that might follow Paris’ lead.

29 December 2012 30 studio630 Permalink

climateadaptation:

Urban Renewal

These 10 global infrastructure and tech companies are among the early leaders in smart-city programs.

“Like Siemens and ABB, most of the beneficiaries of urbanization will be infrastructure and technology outfits that provide or utilize smartphones, sensors and software and services to track the use of a city’s assets and commit resources when and where they’re needed. Cloud technology, which can cut costs while boosting computing capacity, will play a big role. Even social media will participate, as cities multiply the ways a citizen can spot a problem–anything from a water-main break to a traffic snarl–and then alert others to avoid it or do something about it.

Technology researchers at IDC estimate the size of the smart-city information-technology market is now $34 billion annually and will gain 18%-plus a year to $57 billion by 2014. That’s not a huge amount to global giants, but certainly enough to help drive growth. (The companies don’t break out earnings related to these projects.) The market has broadened to include items like broadband connectivity, green belts, renewable energy, green buildings and other intelligent-city systems. “You are talking about smart water, smart transportation, better public safety,” says Jennifer Bélissent, a consultant at Forrester.”

Source: Barron’s “Dawn of the Smart City”

Related articles

• “The bias lurking behind every large-scale smart city is a belief that bottom-up complexity can be…” (underpaidgenius.com)
• Those Pesky Humans: Urban Planning and its Discontents (blogcritics.org)
• Why The U.S. Government Should Embrace Smart Cities (fastcompany.com)

Source: climateadaptation

2 October 2011 328 thenextweb Permalink