Without New Technology, Partnership and Innovation, Cities Will Miss the Mark –
Originally published in: Colorado Municipal League (CML) Magazine
Vol. 97, No. 4, October 2021 (Sustainability Edition)
Author: Tyler Svitak, Executive Director
Smart cities use new technology, data and partnership as tools to approach complex problems, and few issues are more complicated than achieving truly sustainable communities. The environmental and social consequences of the status quo are pressuring cities across the country, and especially in Colorado, to reckon with new ways to approach water, energy, transportation and housing. The issues become even more pressing as the social aspects of sustainability elevate issues of equity, where historically disadvantaged communities continue to feel the worst consequences of our environmental damage.
Many cities, counties and states have established audacious but necessary sustainability goals in response to growing threats to quality of life. To implement the massive change and innovation required to hit these goals, cities will need strong governance, funding, internal capacity, data, stakeholder participation and partnership mechanisms. These are among what the Colorado Smart Cities Alliance considers the Elements of Smart Government, and the governments that want to tackle sustainability can benefit from robust smart cities programs to help them achieve their goals.
Colorado Case Studies
Let’s take a closer look at some real examples. Many governments are seeking to generate 100% renewable energy and then electrify everything they can in order to meet carbon emissions reduction goals. This is the right strategy, but implementing it is a challenge due to grid balancing, energy storage, load management, peak demand events and more. Smart cities technologies can help overcome these challenges, and assist cities to implement renewable and electrification strategies well.
Vehicle-to-Grid
One technology that can help to solve these problems is vehicle-to-grid (V2G) which allows electric vehicles (EVs) to discharge their very large batteries to power homes, buildings, or the entire energy grid. When strung together, a distributed network of EVs can provide more energy storage than a utility alone, which has the potential to provide massive resilience, climate and energy cost benefits to communities. It is innovations like this that need to be proven to reach our aggressive climate goals, and smart cities in Colorado are tackling them head on.
The Colorado Smart Cities Alliance partnered with Fermata Energy, the Alliance Center, and the City of Boulder to test the nation’s first commercially available fast-charging V2G solution. Initial results are promising, showing up to $300 in monthly building energy savings. This project won the IDC’s Smart Buildings Award this year as an example of the innovation we need to reach our collective sustainability goals. The technology had never been used in Colorado, and the project required partnership with the charger and software manufacturer, the automaker, Xcel Energy, Colorado Carshare, the City, and the building owners. It also required creative funding models, data management processes and other elements that a smart cities program can help cities navigate across departments and issues.
Public Charging
Furthermore, if we want people and fleets to electrify their own travels, we need convenient public charging options and solutions for people who live in multi-unit dwellings and can’t charge at home. One project Denver recently implemented provides free public fast charging stations to transportation network company drivers that resulted in Lyft bringing 200 EVs to pilot a new program in Denver. This was a major smart cities project for the City and County that required many of the elements described above to accomplish an innovative technology project that aligned many partners around common goals.
Looking Ahead
Colorado has recently launched the nation’s largest fleet of electric, autonomous vehicles at the Colorado School of Mines. The project, called AvCo, is an exemplary demonstration of the impactful results that come from extensive collaboration between the private sector and multiple public agencies and stakeholders. The 100% electric shuttles will produce significant savings compared to a traditional gasoline or diesel transit service and the project paves the way for future efforts to reconceptualize our transportation systems to be more sustainable.
Smart cities need to be sustainable, and sustainable cities need to be smart. To save our communities from the impacts of climate change and other sustainability issues, governments must invest in structure, process and resources to effectively innovate. A smart cities program can help foster the growth of innovation ecosystems through partnership with companies and academia to help solve those problems while seeding economic development opportunities. Any city with strong sustainability goals needs a robust smart cities program, too, because without one, they will struggle to accomplish what they’ve promised.
Featured image credit: Power Shift, https://powershiftco.com.au/
