Industry Journal Creating sustainable value through technological leadership | Special Issue: Metropolitan Solutions
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Creating sustainable value through technological leadership
Special Issue: Metropolitan Solutions
Urbanization
Mobility
Buildings
Water
How urban planners use smart sustainability concepts to slow down climate change.
How local governments use new traffic systems to reduce emissions and congestion.
How energy-efficient buildings save money and improve quality of life.
How filtration, disinfection and desalinization systems alleviate drinking water shortages.
02 Industry Journal | Metropolitan Solutions 2011 | Editor’s note
Intelligent buildings save on energy, not on light. Greater efficiency, greater recurring profit. With answers by Siemens.
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Industry Journal | Metropolitan Solutions 2011 | Editor’s note 03
Editorʼs note Dear Readers, There are few issues in the world these days with as much global impact and importance for humanity as the future of our cities. After all, the kind of world in which we and our descendants will live will be determined in urban centers. Cities are the engines driving economic growth – and their development is crucial for ensuring prosperity and social justice. What’s more, cities are major consumers of energy and resources. They produce 80 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions, and thus play a key role in climate protection. The most important mechanisms for achieving sustainability goals on a large scale – for balancing economic, ecological, and social aspects – can also be found in our metropolises. In this special Metropolitan Solutions issue of our regularly published Industry Journal, we provide nearly 80 pages of informative analyses and reports on topics related to urbanization, mobility, buildings, and water. This includes, for example, articles on the sustainable planning of cities and their greater metropolitan areas. We also cover urban mobility concepts, energy-efficient buildings, the increasingly important production and treatment of drinking water and wastewater, and much more.
Sincerely, Siegfried Russwurm
Prof. Dr. Siegfried Russwurm, CEO Industry Sector
04 Industry Journal | Metropolitan Solutions 2011 | Contents
06: Metropolises for the future
36: You brake, you’ll win
In cities, decisions are being made about the type of environment people will inhabit in the future. Examples from around the world show that technological solutions can enable both urban growth and sustainability.
Metropolises are suffocating in traffic. Buses in particular could run more cost-effectively – if their diesel drives were supplemented by an electric motor that uses braking energy. There is a tremendous demand for hybrid vehicles.
Urbanization
Mobility
06–17: Metropolises for the future From Sweden to China: How metropolises are
36–38: You brake, you’ll win How hybrid buses transform their braking force
already providing for greater sustainability.
into energy and reduce environmental pollution generated by cities.
18–21: Masterplan for better megacities Stanford University economist Paul Romer makes a case for preplanned cities in the third world.
22–23: Showroom for sustainability In Singapore, Siemens interactively presents what urban planners should take into consideration.
39–41: Clearing the way Intelligent transportation management systems make it possible to have fewer traffic jams while providing more environmental protection.
42–43: Tightrope-walking in Venice A cable car provides environmentally safe trans-
portation in Venice – and serves as a tourist
24–30: A new homeland Concepts from forward-thinking city developers for
attraction.
urban population centers worldwide.
31–33: Interview with Prof. Albert Speer The prominent urban planner and architect discusses future-oriented metropolises.
34–35: New lights for towns and cities LED lighting concepts lend special character to cityscapes and buildings.
Industry Journal | Metropolitan Solutions 2011 | Contents 05
Contents
52: Not only under divine protection
60: Clear gold
Almost nowhere on Earth are there more art treasures, historical buildings, and tradition to be preserved than in the Vatican. For 70 years, Siemens technologies have protected people and preserved buildings.
Supplying everyone with drinking water is one of the largest challenges facing mankind in the next few decades. The solution could lie in physical, chemical, and biological technologies.
Buildings
Water
44–47: Turbo rate of return for real estate Real estate property can be more profitable if it
60–67: Clear gold Filtration, disinfection, and desalination plants
comes with certificates issued by “green building”
can alleviate global water shortages.
organizations. But only a few of these seals of approval are recognized worldwide.
48–51: City oases The combination of a pleasant atmosphere, architectural brilliance, and energy efficiency
68–73: Water means growth Singapore has transformed its lack of water into a positive trend. Every day, it purifies millions of liters of surface water into precious drinking water.
creates buildings that are ready for the future.
52–56: Not only under divine protection Siemens has been supplying the Vatican with
74–75: How does it work? A water management system.
technological solutions since 1941.
57–59: Farming up high People are running out of land to grow food. Vertical farming in multistory buildings could be a solution.
76: Imprint
06 Industry Journal | Metropolitan Solutions 2011 | Urbanization
Metropolises for the future The cities will be the decisive factor on how humanity will be living in a hundred years or less. The metropolises of the world are, on the one hand, gigantic power plants for innovation and economic growth. On the other hand, they are also genuine eco-monsters! For all of this, sustainability in congested urban areas is not an impossibility. Worldwide, many examples show how the interests of economy, society and environment can be brought together. In any number of countries, revolutionary planning is about to go into action. The Siemens Industry Journal presents future-oriented approaches in Europe, the United Arab Emirates and the United States.
Industry Journal | Metropolitan Solutions 2011 | Urbanization 07
“Metropolises are suffering more and more under climate change, the scarcity of resources and food, overpopulation and economic instability. These factors will lead to a drastic change of the cities.” Dr. Anna Tibaijuka, Executive Director UN-Habitat
08 Industry Journal | Metropolitan Solutions 2011 | Urbanization
Cities provide an outstanding example of how we can explain the relativity in numbers: in terms of area, they cover only one percent of the earth’s surface. That’s not much. Yet they consume 75 percent of the world’s energy requirement and produce 80 percent of all greenhouse gases. That’s a lot. Added to this is the fact that urbanization is rapidly increasing. About half the world’s population currently lives in cities. This means that this one half is accountable for 80 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions. In 40 years, 70 percent of humanity will be city dwellers – and cause more than 90 percent of the greenhouse gases. In addition, the number of megacities with 10, 20, even 30 million residents is steadily growing. In threshold and developing countries, especially these crowded areas are steadily expanding, most of them uncontrolled – and with them pollution, poverty and criminality. Cities are increasingly developing into catalysts for the problems of humanity: global warming, scarcity of resources, water shortages, unavailable education, social unrest. Condemning urbanization however would be the wrong approach to these problems. According to studies made by the consultation firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, the hundred biggest cities in the world alone account for one third of the global GDP (gross domestic product). Within the European Union, the cities bring in as much as 85 percent of the GDP according to studies made by the European Commission. Urban development as a lever
A different kind of sustainability problem: in Stockholm, there is already gridlock on bicycle paths.
First and foremost, the final factor – the human one – is an aspect that is occasionally shortchanged. And so, cultural differences in Europe alone are already so extreme that they make unified approaches impossible: “We’ve already got gridlock problems on the bicycle paths,” says Gunnar Söderholm, Director of Environmental Administration and Health for the city government of Stockholm. Things are different in Poland. “Anyone here who uses public mass transit instead of a car is branded a loser,” Leszek Drogosz reports. He is the Vice Director of Infrastructural Development for Warsaw.
Statistics like these show: cities hold the key to the future of earth – in both a good and a bad sense. Getting started with improvement measures in the big cities is the longest lever to promote growth and encounter global hazards head-on. The magic word is “sustainable urban developof the European ment” – a project that will do equal justice to the economy, GDP (gross domestic the society and the environproduct) is already ment.
“When sustainable urban construction is the issue, there is only one direction to move – upwards. The horizontalization of poor cities is a global problem,” says Dieter Läpple, earned in cities. emeritus professor of building In actual practice this means art and metropolitan developthree things: firstly, urban ment at the HafenCity University in Hamburg. planners must come up with innovative comAfter all, cities can only be designed sustainably prehensive concepts for future cities. Secondly, with low surface consumption, compression cost-efficient green technologies have to be deand short access paths, which is why they have veloped, implemented and financing concepts to grow upwards. Läpple says: “We can see how created. And thirdly, urban residents must be this works right now with examples in Shenzen integrated and convinced. and Shanghai.”
Industry Journal | Metropolitan Solutions 2011 | Urbanization 09
Sweden sets a good example A prime example of sustainable urban development is the Stockholm district of Hammarby Sjöstad. The “Hammarby Model” was even exported to Russia, Great Britain and China. In the one-time pollutionstressed industrial area, the city fathers began the ecological reconfiguration some 20 years ago. The goal was to cut CO2 emissions in half. To reach it, the residents, for example, generate half their energy requirement themselves. This way, they take advantage of wastewater and household refuse to heat and cool their homes and generate electricity. In addition, they separate their garbage, which is then removed by vacuum force through a system of subterranean pipes.
16,000 energy-saving LED’s illuminate the surfaces of the 190-meter-high Turning Torso in Malmö.
Greentech is the decisive factor for the future The most important prerequisites for a sustainable urban development, however, are green technologies, which also provide economic usefulness. Many of them are already on the market. This way, measures for the energy optimization of buildings generally begin showing a profit in a very short time – and have an enormous climate-protection effect, because buildings consume 40 percent of all energy worldwide and cause 21 percent of the greenhouse gases. Building changes could lower the energy requirement by 40 percent. Siemens not only makes the appropriate technologies available but also provides financing concepts. Siemens makes the initial investments under the terms of an energy contracting plan. The repayment comes from saved energy costs. Siemens has already realized more than 1,500 such projects and thus provided cost savings of two billion euros and an annual reduction of over 1.2 million metric tons of CO2. In traffic systems, green technologies can likewise save sizable costs while also protecting the climate. For example LED traffic light systems: they consume up to 90 percent less electricity than conventional systems – with ten times the lifespan. This starts paying off as soon as five years later. According to current estimates,
One sustainable success is also the newly constructed Malmö district of Västra with 3,000 dwellings for 10,000 residents. Electricity and heat are provided here in complete balance from renewable energy sources. Pedestrians and bicycle riders have priority and new bus lines reduce the individual traffic.
a large city with 700 intersections could save some 1.2 million Euros by switching to LED technology. Or traffic jams: they devour an annual three percent of the GDP in industrial nations and produce millions of tons of unnecessary emissions. These levels can be drastically lowered by converting to modern traffic management systems. Energy-efficient trains such as the ones on the Oslo subway lines are also easy on the environment: they need 30 percent less energy than their predecessors. Then there are the hybrid buses in São Paulo, which emit one third less CO2. Or the signal system currently being used for the Metro in Delhi, which reduces thousands of tons of CO2 emissions. Citizens would also welcome steps like these. A study conducted by the European Commission in conjunction with the EU action plan entitled “Urban Mobility” concluded that 90 percent of the citizenry consider traffic management systems worthy of improvement. On the following pages we will present concepts, developments and trends from different regions of the world, all united by a single thought: the development of sustainable, future-oriented cities and metropolitan areas.
10 Industry Journal | Metropolitan Solutions 2011 | Urbanization
Data and facts With a population of 1.6 million, Abu Dhabi is the largest state in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which also includes Dubai, Ajman, Fujairah, Ras alKhaimah, Sharjah and Umm al-Quwain. The UAE ranks among the most oil-rich nations in the world. The economy has been growing steadily to a very high level over the past eleven years. A correspondingly large workforce has moved here from other places – and with it an increase in the housing requirement. Even now, 80 percent of the population is made up of foreign workers. In 2008 Abu Dhabi presented an overall economic plan for municipal development up to 2030. By then, the “Greater Abu Dhabi City” is expected to grow to a population of some three million.
The first groundbreaking for Masdar City took place in 2008. By 2020 50,000 people, a university, as well as 1,500 companies are expected to move into the six-square-kilometer area in the south-east of the emirate. The “Silicon Valley of Regenerative Technologies” is consistently oriented toward the principles of the WWF One Planet Living Sustainability Standards and is striving to become the first city worldwide to leave no ecological footprint behind. All in all, ADFEC, the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company as representative of the Masdar City Project, reckons with investments in the amount of around 22 billion US dollars. Part of the costs should be refinanced over the emissions trade.
Example Masdar City Tiruvenamalai in India, Rovigo in Italy, Tsarinsk in Russia, and Pirmasens in Germany – these cities have two attributes in common: each one has a population of around 50,000 people, and each of them is virtually unknown outside their own countries.
Masdar City will be carbon-neutral, and will be able to get along without ordinary air conditioners, cars or the combustion of fossil fuels. The new city will mainly consume self-produced energy derived from photovoltaic systems, solar power plants, and thermal refuse recycling. Even during the eight-year construction period, a solar power plant with a capacity of ten megawatts will supply the required energy. It has been on line since May of 2009.
Some 50,000 people will also live in Masdar City, but unlike those other places, the six-square-kilometer infrastructure project in the emirate of Abu Dhabi was “We are a world-famous sensation years before its completion, because talking about over the next couple of years the technolthe vision of a climate-neutral high-tech city, which goes easy ogy to do on precious resources and more with makes possible a consistently less.” sustainable living and working environment, will become reLord Norman Foster, ality here in the midst of the Architect desert sands. By 2020 at the latest, the population will find a totally environment-friendly home town here, and an additional 40,000 commuters will come to work here. 1,500 companies and a sizable number of scientists from all over the world will settle here. They will be doing research at the newly established Masdar Institute of Science and Technology on such sustainability topics as renewable technologies and building engineering.
Shade instead of conventional air-conditioning
Masdar City was planned by the British star architect, Lord Norman Foster. His team planned the city so that the closely situated, shade-giving building construction style would keep the city 20 degrees cooler than the surrounding desert areas. Light industry will be situated in a technology park on the outskirts of town. The residents of Masdar City will be able to enjoy getting from one place to another on foot. Cars will have to remain in parking garages outside of town, the ground-level streets are reserved for pedestrians and bikers. Trees and plants border the sidewalks. At high temperatures automatic sun shields will roof over the public
Industry Journal | Metropolitan Solutions 2011 | Urbanization 11
Close quarters for plenty of shade, coupled with ultramodern building engineering, provides pleasant temperatures without energy-guzzling air conditioners in the Arab Masdar City.
squares. For longer distances, new-fangled mobility concepts with futuristic electric personal rapid transit vehicles are available bringing passengers to their destinations underground in a cabin with no waiting times. An elevated light rail transit system will connect Masdar with the airport. Ultra-modern building engineering The people will live and work in buildings with futuristic façades. They stand on concrete stilts, and their building engineering for heating, ventilation, cooling, light, and household appliances observe uncompromising sustainability principles. The municipality will supply drinking water through a solar-driven seawater desalination plant. The refuse will be collected via a state-of-the-art system and completely recycled. Masdar City should be the cleanest city in the world and become the prototype of a sustainable lifestyle. Beyond Masdar City as well, Abu Dhabi is investing heavily in upgrading green technologies. Of all places, the country with one-tenth of the world’s petroleum reserves, where a liter of gasoline costs less than thirty cents, where public transportation is virtually unknown, this very emirate wants to become a leader in the field of renewable energies. The motivation: the improvement of the ecological footprint and the
build-up of an alternative to oil dependency. “The emirate has committed itself to providing at least seven percent of its energy production from renewable energy sources by 2020,” says Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, CEO of the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company. In the coming ten years this could generate a market of up to eight billion US dollars, just like banks and holding companies. Masdar City is the solution for the entire value-added chain in the area of renewable energies. Siemens AG is also involved here. It has committed itself to developing environmentally sound technologies for the energy market. The staff members in divisions like Environmental Systems & Services and Renewables are currently working full speed ahead on increasing the efficiency of buildings, industrial plants, and transportation systems. “The Masdar Initiative is an interesting project for Siemens and fits strategically right into our Energy Efficiency and Environmental Protection Program,” says Tom Ruyten, Key Account Manager at Siemens LLC Siemens One in Dubai. Intelligent building engineering with room automation, for instance, uses sensors to recognize when rooms are vacant and then turn down lights and cooling systems – which in turn leads to a sizable reduction of CO2 emissions.
12 Industry Journal | Metropolitan Solutions 2011 | Urbanization
Example U.S. suburbs “Is the American dream turning into a nightmare?” the U.S. cable news network CNN recently asked. A little house on a green lawn, plus a snazzy car – since the 50’s this has been the epitome of the American Way of Life. But because of heavy traffic, the daily trip to work from the suburbs meanwhile takes up to two hours – for just one way. Most people could only afford this because of the low fuel prices. When they meanwhile exploded in 2008 because of the skyrocketing price of petroleum, the freedom of the suburbs became an unaffordable luxury for many Americans. In addition, the voices of the environment advocates got louder – the energy balance of the car-dependent suburbs is monstrous. “Americans will have to settle into the American countryside differently” because of this, the well-known urban scholar James Howard Kunstler demands. He wants to teach Americans the European lifestyle. Expressed less dramatically this means, primarily, compression. Multistoried, multi-family dwellings should make it possible for residents to walk to shopping areas and public transport stations. In many big cities such as Phoenix, Arizona, “walkable urbanism” is already a way of life. An outrageous demand on the suburbs, because here the car is king – pedestrians are foreign objects. There’s a shortage of sidewalks. But these communities are beginning to recognize the signs of the times. To remain attractive with
3 questions to … … Lawrence Levy, Director of the National Center for Suburban Studies at Hofstra University in Hempstead, Long Island in New York State.
their extra-urban location, they have to take action. “The model of the U.S. suburbs is over”, says François Bellander, Director of the French think-tank TransitCity. For Harry Kitchen, an economist at Trent University in Canada, the solution is clear. “Transportation is the key to solving all the problems of the suburban lifestyle.” If gasoline were again to get as expensive as it was two years ago, many U.S. suburbs would be trembling over their survival. Commuter towns from which the majority of the residents go to work in the nearby large city could experience an exodus. The farther the homes are from the center, the more they will drop in value. Tax revenues will drop, and so will property values. Chris Leinberger, professor of urban development at the University of Michigan estimates that communities where public transportation is accessible by foot will command between 40 and 200 percent higher real estate prices than suburbs dependent on car ownership. In the early 20th century, America’s suburbs grew along the streetcar lines and thus into the access roads. “With the rapidly growing expansion of the public suburban transport lines, the U.S.A. was now able to return to its roots”, says Alan Berube, research director for the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. With regional trains instead of motor travel, Siemens Mobility calculates, up to 25 percent of the required energy could be saved. But the United States will remain the United States. The people will not dethrone King Car. To come to terms with the gridlock problem, an increasing number of mayors are getting interested in traffic management systems based on
Industry Journal | Metropolitan Solutions 2011 | Urbanization 13
What are the problems
Are there pragmatic
How will the suburbs
for the suburbs?
solutions?
look 50 years from now?
The problem is primarily demographic; large, one-family homes are not attractive either to retirees or young people. This is aggravated by the transportation problem. Suburbs like the towns on Long Island have a flawless train connection with New York City – but nobody there lives anywhere near the stations. Almost all the passengers have to drive their cars to the station. There are hardly any bus connections.
We have to make use of empty strip malls, waste land and run-down downtown areas and develop suburban centers there with direct train connections. Under the keyword New Urbanism, quite a few things got moving over the past years. But because of the real estate crisis, everything came to a grinding halt.
the European model – from parking guidance systems to a green wave of staggered traffic signals. “The crisis offers opportunities for us”, says Christy Peebles, who heads business operations at Siemens ITS (Intelligent Traffic Systems) U.S.A., headquartered in Austin, Texas. “The government has appropriated many billions of US dollars in conjunction with an economic stimulus package for traffic projects. This doesn’t just result in orders, but also sparks the awareness of decision-makers for the options of modern traffic technology.” Automated traffic guidance versus gridlock At Siemens ITS, an adaptive control system for communities in the US, called Scoot, is in heavy demand. It is currently being introduced in 15 U.S. communities. It measures the traffic volume at intersections and regulates the traffic lights accordingly. “Scoot optimizes the traffic flow and thus reduces CO2 emissions and fuel consumption,” says Peebles, who introduced the system in places such as Florida’s Orange County. Not long ago, she introduced the system in Orange County, Florida. The frequent sudden rainfalls there regularly led to traffic jams when the many tourists tried to go back to their hotels from the beach. Thanks to Scoot, the city no longer needs anybody to reset the traffic lights manually. Peebles estimates that in the next three years, her division will enjoy a double-digit growth rate. Siemens ITS holds a large share on the U.S. market for intelligent traffic solutions. This means every fourth traffic light system in the United States is from Siemens. Meanwhile, more and more American cities are expanding their rail traffic. This is good news for Jürgen Wilder in Sacramento, California. As
20 percent will be transformed into innovative centers with high-rise buildings within easy walking distance from public rail transport. 80 percent of the citizens, however, will remain dependent on their cars for commuting – yet often have shorter distances to the nearest railroad station. In addition, home offices will become more and more popular thanks to the Internet.
head of Siemens Rolling Stock U.S.A., he is in charge of the light rail business in North America. This is the name of a specifically American mass transit system on narrow tracks where trains with speeds of up to 110 kilometers per hour can travel some 25 kilometers per hour faster than German suburban trains. With their help, U.S. mayors not only want to open up the streets again, but also to control the growth of the communities. In April of 2007, for example, Siemens delivered mass transit systems to Charlotte, North Carolina. The rail route also goes through an abandoned industrial zone. Today, after less than three years, despite the financial crisis, many new stores and restaurants have opened up here. “A rail route will be dependable for the next 50 years. High-speed buses, by contrast, can be re-routed over night,” says Wilder. Real estate prices climb thanks to railroad routes Business people appreciate investments like these. And they know: as soon as a blueprint of a rail line is submitted to the building commission, the real estate prices rise all along the route. A good sales argument for the rapid transit systems that have been excellently marketed in the United States, especially on the east and west coasts and in the middle west. “Our rapid transit business has significantly grown over the past few years,” says Wilder. His market share climbed from 40 to 60 percent. Whereas he previously sold 30 to 60 trains a year, today that number is from 60 to 100.
14 Industry Journal | Metropolitan Solutions 2011 | Urbanization
Example Seoul More than 25 million people currently live in the South Korean metropolis of Seoul and the satellite municipalities on the periphery. The number of residents in the world’s fifth largest city has increased ten-fold since the 1950’s. This enormous growth has its downsides. In this sense, Seoul is among the capital cities with the worst air quality in the world. The traffic noise is, at least during rush hour, often unbearable. This should be over and done with in just a few years. Currently, this megacity is becoming a pilgrimage site for city planners eager to witness sustainable development. Trail-blazing processes and technologies are being exemplarily implemented to improve the quality of life in the city and protect its environment. The goal of Seoul’s mayor is ambitious. Se-hoon Oh wants to develop his municipality to a model megacity. This is why the motto of the official four-year plan is justifiably “Seoul – a clean and attractive global city”. 300 kilometers of subway routes Seoul has already taken the first steps on the way to becoming an outstanding example. In a cooperative effort between government, corporations, international experts and citizens, projects are coming into being to establish milestones worldwide. This goes especially for the transit system, but also the building engineering and city planning. The subway system went into operation as early as 1974. Today, it covers a track system of some 300 kilometers underneath the city of millions. Further expansion is now under way. In September 2011, a new, 10.6-kilometer-long, fully automated connection in Uijeongbu, north of Seoul, will go into operation. Siemens is supplying, among other things, the rubber-tired Val model rolling stock, the automatic train control system, the operation control center as well as the system engineering and has also assumed the project management.
card-sized “Smart Transportation Cards”. The cards are used around 31 million times a day. A bus management system informs passengers on arrival and departure times and serves concurrently as a planning instrument for the bus company. These are just a few examples of how the city administration of Seoul is successfully making mass transit vehicles appetizing for its citizens. Further improvements are already on the drawing board. As of 2017, there will be a bus or train stop every 500 meters. One of the best airports in the world Airline passengers should also have every possible comfort. In 2001, the Incheon International Airport opened near the capital city. Three years later, the expansion began to increase its capacity to 44 million passengers annually. In 2010, the aviation research company Skytrax singled Incheon out as one of the best airports in the world, together with Singapore Changi and Hong Kong International. Siemens had a share in that. The company supplied an innovative high-speed tray system. This sends luggage whizzing rapidly through the 900-meter-long tunnel that connects the main building with the new terminal and serves around 240 check-in counters. Normal baggage and bulky luggage travel on the same conveyor line. 33,000 pieces of baggage an hour are transported this way. To make sure this world’s first facility of this kind functions smoothly, Siemens first tested the special demands on the control system at the Siemens Airport Center in Fürth.
Exemplary city bus system
People who want to decide for themselves how they will reach their destination use the city government’s web-based PTA (Personal Travel Assistant). In a matter of seconds, the electronic travel guide ascertains the route with the lowest CO2 emissions or calculates the pollutant emissions the PTA owner causes. This schools their awareness of personal responsibility. The service is based on the future-oriented IT infrastructure and the outstanding broadband coverage of South Korea.
The city bus system with over 350 routes is also impressive and banks on customer orientation. Passengers pay their fares cashfree with credit-
In the struggle against environmental pollution and traffic noise, Mayor Se-hoon Oh and his team don’t count on high tech alone. Now and
Industry Journal | Metropolitan Solutions 2011 | Urbanization 15
Green areas are rare in Seoul and as highly respected as paintings in a museum. This makes environmentfriendly transport systems all the more important – not just for excursions to natural surroundings.
again, the city government also decides to take radical, rather conservative measures when it comes to sustainable action. This included ripping out an approximately 3.7-kilometer-long expressway over the Cheonggyecheon, the “cold water stream”. On the grounds, a generous green area was created for the citizens right in the heart of the downtown area, bifurcated by the river. Getting the citizens involved Acting sustainably is, according to Se-hoon Oh, also a task for the citizenry and the business community. This is why in 2009, the starting shot was fired for the construction of a zeroenergy building, which was developed in cooperation with the ISE, the Fraunhofer Institute for
Solar Energy Systems. It has been planned to incorporate all the knowledge of modern energysaving engineering, and be heated and cooled with such regenerative energy sources as sun, geothermics and wind. “We want to show that this is possible throughout the year in the zeroenergy house, and that it is also comfortable”, explains Professor Volker Wittwer, deputy head of the ISE. Siemens became involved, among other things, in the installation of the water conditioning and the optimization of the refrigeration plants in three business centers in the South Korean capital. In existing buildings, Seoul also places its bets on sustainability. Here, the job is to use energy renovation to increase both comfort and energy efficiency.
16 Industry Journal | Metropolitan Solutions 2011 | Urbanization
The Pearl River Delta at a glance City Guangzhou
Population (in millions)
Area (in km2)
GDP growth (in % p.a.)
Export (in billions of US dollars)
10.0
7,434
14.9
37.9
Shenzhen
8.6
1,953
14.8
168.5
Dongguan
6.9
2,465
18.2
60.2
Foshan
5.9
3,848
19.2
26.2
Jiangmen
4.1
9,541
15.1
8.7
Huizhou
3.9
11,158
17.4
14.6
Zhaoqing
3.8
14,856
15.3
2.2
2.5
1,800
15.7
17.3
1.58
1,688
16.7
18.5
Zhongshan Zhuhai
Source: Guangdong Statistical Yearbook 2008
Example Pearl River Delta It’s been official for two years: China is the world’s biggest exporter, having ousted Germany from the top spot which it had occupied for so long. One region made the largest contribution to this success: the Pearl River Delta. A place that would sound to some people today like the setting of an adventure novel will soon be as familiar to schoolchildren as New York, Tokyo, London, Cairo, Moscow or Berlin, because today the Pearl River Delta numbers among the most powerfully growing and richest economic regions in the People’s Republic of China – it is the Asiatic Dorado of our times. The aim of the current five-year plan (2011-2016) is for the region’s nine largest cities to be joined together to form a megametropolis with 40 million inhabitants. At the spot where the Pearl River flows into the South China Sea, over the past few years a veritable world factory has come into existence at incredible speed. Nowhere else are more watches, telephones, radios, toys, shoes as well as electrical components and clothing produced and exported. And the growth is unstoppable. This colossal boom is also reflected in the already almost explosive development of the nine cities in the region as well as the two special administration regions of Macao and Hong Kong.
Metro in the Chinese mega-metropolis Guangzhou: Siemens has been involved in the expansion of the metro in Guangzhou since 1994.
An urbanization that has been ongoing for years attracts more and more job-seekers to the delta – especially former farm workers. Whereas 30 years ago, only 20,000 people lived in the former fishing village of Shenzhen, today’s population is 8.6 million. Many other towns in the region have meanwhile also grown into cities with millions of residents. Guangzhou, once called Canton, with its current population of ten million is also one of these megacities. And there are now some seven million people each living in Dongguan and the former British Crown Colony of Hong Kong. More than 50 million people make their homes today on the 43,000 square kilometers of the Pearl River Delta. And growth places a heavy burden on the environment. Growth entails environmental impact The nearly inexhaustible requirement for work forces in the cities of this boom region is leading there to similar problems as in most of the other million-inhabitant metropolises around the world. These include chaotic traffic conditions and sizable environmental stresses. No wonder the region is now in first place on the list of the biggest Chinese environmental malefactors. Besides this, the energy and water supply fail to meet requirements everywhere. The signs in the Pearl River Delta, however, are now pointing to sustainability. In this sense, a consortium in Guangzhou is now expanding the
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Power supply from far away
With a capacity of 5,000 megawatts, a transmission voltage of 800 kilovolts and a transmission distance of 1,400 kilometers, the high-voltage direct current transmission system from Yunnan to the Pearl River Delta is breaking records.
Metro lines 2 and 8 with modern control and signaling systems. Besides this, the company supports the city in optimizing its energy mix. Renewable energies are slated to be put into operation more and more. And work is also under way on an up-to-date health care infrastructure. These activities are urgently required, because the Chinese government has given the green light, now that the eastern half of the delta has been made attractive for investors, to make the western half equally interesting. This is where, among other things, roads and rail connections are now being improved. In addition, the 50-kilometer-long Hong-Kong-Zhuhai-Macao, the longest bridge in the world, will soon span the distance between the cities. This will further increase the inflow into the region and in turn raise the population. Where once water buffalos ploughed the rice fields, today an unstoppable increase of production sites is the order of the day. Impulses emerge from Hong Kong This continues the development that began about 30 years ago and has since picked up speed more and more. Back then, it was largely firms in Hong Kong that opened up the economic area. Today, companies from the former Crown Colony alone operate more than 60,000 production sites and employ in the neighborhood of eleven million people – tendency rapidly rising. But the region is not only continuously gaining in attractiveness because of its low
Siemens contributes to the improvement of the climate balance in the Pearl River Delta. In December of 2009, the company put the first pole of the world’s highest performance high-voltage direct current transmission system into operation. The system uses water power to convey CO2-free-generated electricity from the coastal province of Yunnan 1,400 kilometers to the industrial region. This happens virtually loss-free. 95 percent of the electricity for five million households goes to Guandong Province. The alternative would be fossil-fired power plants on-site – which would emit 30 megatons of CO2 annually. The entire high-voltage direct current transmission system will be up and running by mid 2010.
salary level. A more significant factor is that the most eager consumers in all of China also live here. The per capita income and the retail sales revenues here are higher than anywhere else in the People’s Republic. All in all, the nine provinces in the Pearl River Delta contribute more than one third of the aggregate gross domestic product. The management of the factories is primarily in the hands of Hong Kong Chinese. They live on site or steer the companies from their home town. The special administrative zone on the Chinese south coast, however, also assumes an important role as a finance and logistic center for the Pearl River Delta. Hong Kong’s Chek Lap Kok International Airport is one of the most important airports in Asia. In five hours, people can fly from here to about one half of the world’s population. The key Chinese markets are only four hours away. Every day 750, planes land here from all over the world. Some 80 airlines fly from Hong Kong to 140 international destinations. The financing for Chek Lap Kok was once provided by the British. When they turned over their former colony in 1997, they decided to invest a large portion of their income surplus in the airport to provide the city with a foundation for economic growth. The Pearl River Delta also profits from this investment and government support. The area has transformed itself into one of the foremost economic centers worldwide. The economy in most of the cities in the Pearl River Delta is growing by doubledigit figures annually.
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Masterplan for better megacities The Stanford economics professor, Paul Romer, advocates establishing drawing-board cities for the Third World – including an independent economic and legal system. Building these so-called Charter Cities requires the support of other countries. This would allow for easily controllable urbanization and generate economic growth. Some experts consider this to be a fairy tale, others see it as ingenious.
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The renowned US economist wants to use out-of-the-box town planning to better steer urbanization in less industrialized nations - and even gave up his professorship at Stanford to pursue this.
of land should be made available. Partner counIt was in October 2009 when Paul Romer surtries supply the necessary funds and act as a prised everybody with an unusual idea at a development agency. However, before the city is conference held by the Mexican Central Bank in built following the drawing board, it is provided Mexico City: the renowned US economist sugwith a charter. This contract establishes gengested that Mexico create a second Hong Kong eral legal, political, and economic conditions. or Shenzhen. To Romer, all that is needed is getting together with an industrialized nation such The charter replaces the existing government, enables inhabitants to create something comas Canada and adopt its laws to apply to a tract pletely new, and provides invesof land in Mexico. Companies tors with security in politically have long-term legal security rather unstable areas. Some and would invest, while Mexifind this idea eccentric, others cans could migrate to create a see it as ingenious. “The differbetter life for themselves – and The difference ence between revolutionary and the economy could not help but between revolucrazy is not that big.” flourish.
tionary and crazy
“Romer is balancing exactly on The greenfield strategy has is not that large. the fine line drawn between many advantages, argued them,” says Bill Easterly, ecoRomer. For example, energynomics professor at the New efficient buildings could be York University. There is no constructed, solar cells on roofs question that Romer has to be would be mandatory, and the taken seriously. His work on economic growth city would have to be planned so that public mass transportation would be available to every- and technology makes him a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Economics. The American body. The city would be perfect for the use of believes so strongly in his concept that he realternative energy. When the sun is shining or signed from his tenured position at Stanford the wind is blowing, electricity can be used for University in 2008 to establish the non-profit saltwater desalination plants – potable water is Charter Cities foundation. extremely scarce in this region. “Already existing technology could be used in a highly costVoluntary is a prerequisite effective manner,” continues Romer. He travels throughout the world and campaigns for a groundbreaking idea – Charter Cities. Behind it hides the thought of a start-up called megacity. For this purpose, an unoccupied tract
“I want to make the world a better place,” says Romer, nothing more and nothing less. He likes to use Hong Kong as his model. Great Britain was the colonizing power while China used the
Industry Journal | Metropolitan Solutions 2011 | Urbanization 21
city as a laboratory for practical market economy and created the special economic zone Shenzhen in the vicinity. Different from the practices once applicable to Hong Kong, Romer’s idea of Charter Cities is based on voluntary contracts among the participating countries. However, serious criticism is the order of the day. There are voices that claim that charter cities are neo-colonialistic and unfeasible. Failed attempts such as South Africa or Mauritius show that special zones are not big hits. “You can accuse Romer of many things, but you cannot accuse him of neo-colonialism,” says Ranil Dissanayake, who is a UN advisor for the governments of Zanzibar and Malawi. He applies a more psychological perspective to the problem: “A charter city would be an admittance of failure for the government of a developing country.” “Foreign civil servants could line their pockets with overdimensional profits,” adds Gulzar Natarajan, who works for the Indian government in Andhra Pradesh. Valid regulations make the difference
Other critics consider Hong Kong an unsuitable model: the city has natural advantages such as its bay and its central location. The success of the city rests more on geographical and cultural aspects than on the introduction of British law. Romer does not accept this objection. “If this were true, Hong Kong would have developed earlier. When the British came to Hong Kong in the late 19th century, there was nothing there,” asserts Romer. “Location or culture matter somewhat, but the rules that apply – they make the difference.” When he founded Aplia in the year 2000, the economist convincingly proved that he can convert ideas into practical application. The company sells learning programs at a rate of 10 million dollars per year. In 2007, he sold Aplia and took the profit to finance Charter Cities. He borrowed the name from the Charter of Pennsylvania. The state’s guaranteed religious freedom as well as freedom of trade attracted a large number of able immigrants from Europe and pressured (coerced) the neighboring states to provide similar guarantees. Romer considers Cuba to be the ideal place for the first Charter Cities. Cuba could transfer the administrative rights of the special zone Guantánamo to Brazil. Another one would be North Africa, where the “Shenzhen of Europe” could be established. Despite the criticism received by Romer, his idea, as he reports, is met with a great deal of interest by under-developed countries in Africa as well as South and Latin
America. Magatte Wade, an entrepreneur from Senegal, successfully sells products with an African flair in the US, for example beverages and cosmetics. She exercises considerable political influence in her own country. For instance, she works together with the wife of Senegal’s president in a healthcare and education foundation. Several months ago Romer discussed his idea with her in San Francisco. Wade liked the concept: “Economically it would hit us like a bomb.” Despite this statement, the Senegalese does not agree unconditionally with Romer. Only the economic law (commercial law) could come from abroad, but the criminal as well as the family laws are determined by the host country. Otherwise, you are faced with the accusation of colonialism. “It would work in Senegal,” says Wade, “but not in the form proposed by Romer.” But what are the optimal norms for a Charter City? Romer does not want a direct democracy. Instead he uses the model of a central bank: the bank is democratically legitimized, however, it also possesses considerable autonomy. This is exactly what Romer proposed to the bankers of the Central Bank in Mexico. “Aren’t elections a good thing?”, one of them asked, rather put out. “Would you find it appropriate if the prime rate would be decided in Mexico each week?” Romer responded. The banker laughed.
Personal profile The US scientist Paul Romer (55) earned a BS in astrophysics to be able to solve “truly difficult problems.” Later he enrolled at MIT for a degree in economics and received his PhD in economics from the University in Chicago. He is a Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Policy Research and taught as a professor at the US universities of Stanford, Berkeley, Chicago, and Rochester. In 2008, he resigned his teaching positions and founded the Charter Cities foundation (www.chartercities.org). As an economist, Romer focuses primarily on the relationship between economic growth and new technologies. In 1997, Time Magazine counted him among the 25 most influential people in the USA. “The interest in growth theory increased abruptly due to Romer,” says Robert Solow, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 1987.
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Showroom for sustainability Cities are gaining in importance in the battle against climate change. At the “City of the Future” exhibition in Singapore, Siemens is presenting its entire portfolio of solutions and technologies for sustainable city development.
As the world’s population continues to grow, with increasing urbanization, and with the constantly increasing number of megacities with many millions of inhabitants – especially in emerging nations and third-world countries – global problems like environmental pollution, scarce resources and noise pollution are also becoming more severe. Mastering these challenges for sustainable city development is the job of city planners, public services operators, and the industrial and manufacturing sectors. Since 2009, Siemens has been presenting its comprehensive portfolio of solutions and technologies for sustainable city management at the “City of the Future” exhibition in Singapore. The company’s partner in this undertaking is the Singapore Economic Development Board. The
1,485-square-meter exhibition space displays more than 200 solutions and 90 case studies. Navigation via interactive screens In the public gallery, visitors have the opportunity to navigate interactively via Ubiq screens through the entire range of Siemens innovative products and technologies for sustainable city development. These solutions provide answers to such issues as water treatment, building technology, public mass transit, and complete transportation. Just a few steps ahead, practical applications of these solutions are shown at the “Reference Kiosk,” which offers detailed information about existing Siemens projects worldwide.
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In the “City of the Future,” experts can choose to run through simulated exer cises that focus on building cities. Or they can use the touch screen or models to familiarize themselves with solutions for sustainable city development.
The core of the exhibition is the “City Management Solutions Center.” Visitors have the opportunity to test and expand their know-how of city management. In the “City Game” they try to manage a city in an interactive simulation game. For example, they may be confronted with the complex challenge of balancing the benefits of building transport infrastructure like roads and train systems against cost recovery and noise and air pollution. And if the player does not provide sufficient water and energy, the metropolis collapses. City Cockpit and effective city management Timely and accurate data is required for effective and efficient decision-making. The City Cockpit provides just that – a software solution that allows the display of city data such as financial, environmental, and transport-related data. City decision makers can have relevant data displayed on a customized dashboard, and have the ability to drill down to the specifics. With its “City of the Future,” Siemens has created a comprehensive work exhibition of the company’s complete city management portfolio. The project has developed into a global competency center and forum for sustainable city development. More than 500 high-ranking political and business leaders worldwide have visited the exhibition so far. They use the forum for socializing and exchanging experiences. Singapore, ranked in 2009 as the most innovative city in the world by the Boston Consulting Group, is an ideal location for the exhibition. The dynamic and vibrant Southeast Asian metropolis is a testament to environmental and resource con-
sciousness in spite of its high population density. Its five million inhabitants live in an area measuring a mere 710 square kilometers. This is three times as many inhabitants per square kilometer as in Hamburg, which has 1.7 million inhabitants living on 755 square kilometers. It is a result of deliberate strategies for sustainable city management. Singapore has developed into a green city, leading the way for many other neighboring megacities in Asia. In Singapore, many exotic plants grow between street canyons. A thriving rain forest is located just a few kilometers from the center of the city, and boasts a greater variety of trees than the entire North American continent. This is vital to Singapore’s air quality, as green open spaces are green “lungs” to urban metropoles, in that they provide a natural source of air-conditioning. Depending on the size of the plants found in such forests, the effect on the surrounding temperature can mean a reduction of up to four degrees Celsius. Singapore as a true experimental field Singapore depends on the development of innovative technologies and processes. Its government focuses on close cooperation with international corporations and research organizations, and offers incentives to encourage them to base their operations there. Optimal research facilities prove attractive to corporations when deciding to relocate to Singapore. Companies are able to use the metropolis and its infrastructure as a true experimental field and to develop ideas together with local universities, making Singapore a hot spot for groundbreaking innovations, today, and in the future.
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A new homeland The world’s cities are more valuable today than ever, not just as growth regions, but as decisive factors for the future of the world’s climate. The number of conurbations, the number of inhabitants, and with them, the consumption level of resources, are all rising at a breathtaking pace. Sustainable satellite cities close to metropoles are being created to help steer rapidly rising population growth in an ecologically acceptable direction.
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Peter Löscher, CEO of Siemens AG (left), explains the concept of the drawing-board city of Masdar in Abu Dhabi. Siemens is involved in the planning. Crowding and traffic conditions similar to those in Shanghai (right) will simply not exist in Masdar.
At least there is one thing city planners don’t have to worry about nowadays, and that’s lack of work. The days of mass exodus by citizens of western industrialized nations in favor of seeking their new homes in outlying areas are long over. Fleeing the city is a thing of the past, according to the German Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (Naturschutzbund Deutschland). In developing countries and newly industrialized countries this trend never existed. On the contrary, people have always streamed into metropoles, and they continue to do so, today more than ever. They come in search of work, medical care, clean water, and their piece of the affluence pie. However, many of them encounter unemployment, poverty, and catastrophic hygiene conditions. The United Nations has predicted that the onslaught will continue. They expect that, by 2050, two-thirds of the world’s population will live in metropoles. That amounts to a total of six billion people or twice as many as today. Other studies predict that, within 40 years, as much as 75 percent of people will live in cities. In China alone, each year, 13 million citizens move from the countryside into cities. Consequently, hundreds of huge new metropoles are to be built in this booming country. Cities with populations of 170 million inhabitants already exist in China. Although large cities cover a mere two percent of the earth’s surface, they already produce 80 percent of greenhouse gas emissions and
consume 75 percent of the world’s total energy consumption. If the consumption of resources develops parallel to population growth in cities, an ecological disaster is certain. For the developers of large cities, accomodating growth and sustainability at the same time is a mammoth task: if the consumption of resources in urban areas with a high population density develops in parallel with population growth in cities, then an ecological disaster is unavoidable if the situation is dealt with on a “Business as usual” basis. The Frankfurt city architect and internationally renowned city planner Albert Speer fears the worst, should countries not opt to construct new buildings or modernize existing ones sustainably (see page 31). “Then the world will have nothing left,” he explains. Creating infrastructures for increased ecology It can’t be allowed to go that far, warns Gregor Hartner, partner of Booz and Company, a global management and consulting firm. “The challenge to sustainable city concepts lies in achieving an infrastructure that both offers inhabitants a CO2-neutral lifestyle and develops industries that are capable of producing competitively viable green technology solutions for the world market.”
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The internationally renowned US architect and city planner Daniel Libeskind concurs. “The challenge is combining sustainability with living in extremely confined spaces.” In Shanghai, around 7,200 inhabitants live on no more than one square kilometer of land. By comparison, Berliners have twice as much land available to them. The technology already exists The first steps towards sustainability have already been taken. Many of the essential technologies are already in existence. “They just need to be adapted to local requirements accordingly,” says Dr. Wienholt, leader of the Marketing Development Board for Cities at Siemens. Such an example is a network management system (NMS) which allows the required components and functions of a water network to be optimized and tested virtually before they go into operation. Siemens has developed the SIWA NMS solutions package for this purpose. It incorporates the monitoring, control, and water distribution optimization from source through to consumer. Using a modular concept SIWA NMS covers all measuring, controlling, and regulating functions. From measuring technology to energy distribution, simulation to automation and monitoring, and including all communication technology required to enable it have been conceived on computers, while taking account of the system’s life cycle. The system does not go into operation until it functions in a stable manner. The advantages for municipalities are shorter implementation times for new networks, lower costs, optimum supplies, and lower energy consumption.
The largest cities in the world in 2010 Megacities are booming. Worldwide, 30 conurbations with more than ten million inhabitants are already in existence. Statistical sources and the various ways in which urban centers are defined mean that data varies considerably. The United Nations (UN) predicts that, within the coming 15 years, the number of megacities with more than 20 million inhabitants will increase significantly. The UN expects an overall rise in the population of the world’s largest cities by around 45 percent.
Rank
City
Country
Inhabitants (in millions)
1. Tokyo
Japan
38.7
2. Delhi
India
22.2
3. São Paulo
Brazil
20.3
4. Mumbai
India
20.0
5. Mexico City
Mexico
19.5
6. New York/Newark USA
19.4
7. Shanghai
China
18.6
8. Calcutta
India
15.6
9. Dhaka
Bangladesh
14.6
Pakistan
13.1
10. Karachi
Source: United Nations, World Urbanization Prospects, New York 2010
Self-financing solutions Such systems are just one of many that will go into future-capable cities. This is illustrated in the “Sustainable Urban Infrastructure – London” study, that was carried out jointly by Siemens AG and McKinsey. For example, London could reduce its CO2 emissions by 20 megatons by 2025, using existing technology. 70 percent of the savings potential could be realized by technologies that literally finance themselves, by saving energy costs. In all, 200 technical options were identified by the experts working on London. Such figures illustrate that it is the total number of measures that result in great success. “Sustainability can only exist when a broad range of activities coincide with one another,” confirms Dr. Wienholt. One cannot expect to achieve much when a city introduces tolling, without improving its public transport considerably and guaranteeing its inhabitants their individual mobility.
The SIWA NMS solutions package enables virtual optimization of municipal water systems.
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Outstanding Curitiba
Brazil
Above average
The greenest cities of Latin America In November 2010 prior to the UN Climate Conference in Mexico City, Siemens introduced its Latin American Green City Index. In addition, Economist Intelligence Unit, a research and consultancy company examined the sustainability of 17 large cities in a total of eight countries. In the previous year, the European Green City Index was introduced (see Industry Journal 1/2010). It compares the environmental sustainability of the 30 major European cities throughout 30 different countries.
Belo Horizonte
Brazil
Bogotá
Columbia
Brasilia
Brazil
Rio de Janeiro
Brazil
São Paulo
Brazil
Average Medellín
Columbia
Mexico City
Mexico
Monterrey
Mexico
Porto Alegre
Brazil
Puebla
Mexico
Quito
Ecuador
Santiago
Chile
Below average Buenos Aires
Argentina
Montevideo
Uruguay
Sub-standard Guadalajara
Mexico
Lima
Peru
Milestones for the development of megacities have been set, for instance, by Mr. Wu Zhiqiang in cooperation with Siemens. The vice president of the Tongji University of Shanghai and dean of its College of Architecture and Urban Planning is one of the most renowned city planners in China. Using so-called eco-city models, Mr. Wu and Siemens aim to bring city growth and environmental protection together.
of cities. The planning work is in full sway. Mr. Wu’s city planning concept is already on display near the mouth of the Yangtze River. There, a sustainable city for over 700,000 inhabitants, is planned to reach completion by 2020 with lots of water features and recreational areas, comparable to European metropoles.
Currently, the cooperation is working on how the individual requirements of cities, based on their individual climatic conditions in particular, can be met by technological means. The next phase is to involve the development of concrete plans for eco-city models. This will form the basis for new cities, making them ecologically sound, extremely livable, and as autonomous as possible from their very inception. A further requirement of eco-city models is that they must be cost-efficient, and applicable to a number
Megacity construction projects are also found beyond China’s national borders. Worldwide, colossal building complexes are literally mushrooming overnight. Doha, the capital city of the state of Qatar, for instance, is home to the eightand-a-half-kilometer-long Barwa Commercial Avenue. On 940,000 square meters, 600 luxury stores and offices are to reach completion by the summer of 2012. In addition the complex, which measures around 110 football fields, will feature 800 high-class residential units. Top sustainabil-
Sustainable luxury worldwide
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ity standards guarantee energy efficiency and a high-end quality of life. Around 5,000 kilometers away, as the crow flies, in Cologne, on the Rhine, an entirely new city area is being constructed to accommodate more than 3,000 inhabitants. Here, too, construction managers have made the ecological protection of resources and futureoriented infrastructure top priority. Masdar city – a showcase How a sustainable city concept will look in reality can be seen in the drawing-board city of Masdar, in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates (see page 10). 50,000 inhabitants and a total of 1,500 companies will have settled on this sixsquare-kilometer piece of land by 2020. Masdar city is to have little or no air-conditioning systems, no cars, minimal greenhouse gas emissions, and no landfill sites. A number of seawater desalination plants will provide drinking water.
An innovative power grid combined with modern building technology are to be supplied by Siemens. In the initial project phase, the concern is to deliver integrated automation technology and is developing applications for an intelligent power grid (the so-called Smart Grid), together with the Masdar Institute. This is to connect numerous building management systems to a system for managing the city grid. The goal is to enable the energy consumption of each building to be monitored and controlled individually. “In the realization of Masdar City, we have the newest innovations permanently in focus,” emphasizes Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Chairman of the Masdar Group, State Secretary of the Foreign Office of the United Arab Emirates, and member of the UN Advisory Group on Climate Change. Siemens intends to further deepen the partnership. Together, the research team intends to spearhead technological innovation in the areas of carbon capture and storage.
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Contributions to sustainability Siemens is one of the trendsetters in sustainable city development. Just how efficient and environmentally protective innovative technologies are, is made evident by the following examples: • Eight billion liters of drinking water per day are purified by Siemens systems, worldwide • In around 7,500 public buildings, innovative systems are already bringing about a reduction in energy consumption costs of two billion Euros per annum and are sinking CO2 emissions by a total of 2.4 million tons. Using new lighting technology alone brings about energy savings of 80 percent compared to conventional light bulbs. • A total of 7.6 million tons of CO2 are reduced per year in large cities by the Siemens Light Rail System. Furthermore, the Velaro high speed train utilizes a mere 330ml of fuel per Kilometer for every 100 passengers transported – about as much as the contents of a can of coke. • Worldwide, more than 8,000 Siemens wind energy systems are already producing enough electricity to supply 2.6 million homes satisfactorily.
Three questions for … ... Dr. Willfried Wienholt, Manager of the Marketing Development Boards for Cities at Siemens.
Will sustainable mega cities differ from the metropoles of today? Architecturally, these cities will not really differ from our cities today. The real change lies in using resources efficiently, especially in relation to energy. For example, completely new forms of individual and city transportation will come about. Cars will run on electricity or hydrogen. In addition, the use of energy-saving hybrid or electric buses will become the norm.
Solutions from one source
How will the energy consumption
Siemens first positioned itself as an urban infrastructures solutions provider over 160 years ago. In the early days, electrification of cities was top priority. For the past ten years, Siemens has been providing customers with complete solutions. In doing so, the company focuses on the goals of cities, such as on planned economic development for example, or on predicted population growth.
of buildings evolve?
A master plan is devised to define in detail, how the intended development can be attained. Should hybrid buses, conventional buses, taxis and trains or a combination of options be used to equip the city with its passenger transportation system? Which heating and cooling system makes economical and ecological sense? These are just two of the many questions posed by customers which Siemens addresses individually, and makes suggestions as to how goals in relation to these questions can be reached. City Account Managers engage in dialog with cities of various sizes. There are 60 such experts worldwide. They identify each city’s individual requirements and provide tailor-made solutions together with the relevant Siemens business area.
In winter, buildings will hardly lose any heat, thanks to efficient insulation and innovative technology. Lighting costs will fall to a fraction of current levels. Furthermore, buildings of the future will produce more energy than they use, thanks to solar energy technology or combined heat and power systems.
Will fossil fuels such as coal and oil have served their time? Fossil fuels will remain the mainstay of energy supply. However, in the energy mix of the future, the role of renewable energies will progressively increase.
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At the gates of the metropolis of Changchun, China, Albert Speer and his employees are planning “Automobile City,” a sustainable expansion of the city for 300,000 inhabitants.
“The world will not endure without sustainable cities” Sustainably planned and organized cities are critical to human survival, says Albert Speer. In this interview the internationally renowned city planner and architect explains how to make new cities sustainable, why Changchun in China, aka Detroit East, can be sustainable, and the role automobiles will play in private transportation. Mr. Speer, for over 40 years you have planned new cities throughout the world, developed high-rise projects, and created public transportation concepts. How have people’s needs changed over the course of time? The demands regarding space, quality of life, and surroundings continue to grow. At the same time, people are moving back into major cities.
Will this mean more transportation chaos, slum areas, and environmental pollution in major cities? This concern is unfounded. Singapore is an example which shows that things can be different. This city dealt with these issues early on and came up with model solutions. Today, despite formidable population growth in pretty much the same amount of space, the metropolis offers aboveaverage quality of life and extensive green space.
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In addition, public transportation offerings grew so that, at least in the inner city, owning a car is unnecessary. And there are no slums in Singapore. Do you expect that the worldwide similarity in the architecture of inner cities will continue to grow? Should we expect exchangeable cityscapes? Architecture is in fact showing a greater similarity and is therefore less important. However, city planning should not come off an assembly line. The objective of our work is to shape the characteristics of a city – for example through a special plan, through its location, and urban design. And how do you do this? I am convinced that in a sustainably planned city, almost all of the residents can get by without their own cars. Innovative technologies even allow for factories to move into inner cities without polluting the environment. This reduces traffic and hazardous emissions. Is this then a plea for sustainable cities? It certainly is. Things will simply not work without sustainable cities. The world will endure only when cities become self-sufficient and act in a sustainable manner. What does this mean in practice? On the one hand, that buildings should be energy-efficient and their electricity and heating supplies should be decentralized. In practical application this would mean, for example, the use of block heat and power plants. In addition, this would mean that trash has to be separated cleanly, and that there have to be separate cycles for potable and waste water. To make a city self-sufficient requires that agricultural areas close to the city provide food. And we need green spaces within the city, improving the climate and offering local recreation areas. How would such a package of measures impact a city’s consumption of resources? By our calculations it would save around 50 percent of resources. And it would mean a higher quality of life. Having one’s own car is considered to be a status symbol in much of the world. Does the automobile continue to be important within your concept? Having one’s own car will drop in importance as a city vehicle. Nevertheless, citizens will remain
as mobile as before. I am thinking, for example, of the use of small buses which can be ordered by telephone and take the passenger to his desired location – a sort of demand-responsive transport. At present you are working in China on a number of large urban development projects. What role does sustainability play? In the major cities, the Chinese planners and authorities have learned a lot over the past few years. The architectural blunders of the past are now just history. China has very precise regulations for the construction of high rises. Increasingly, the existing structure of the building is being retained as well. And the topic of sustainability is playing an increasingly important role. Take our project in Changchun, for instance, an automobile city where about 300,000 people are supposed to work and live. City fathers are hoping to develop it into “Detroit East.” What characterizes this “Changchun International Automotive Development Area”? In the development of the 120-square-kilometer auto city, reducing the land used and conserving
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resources were given top priority. For this reason, in Changchun we recommended combining all automobile production plants and supplier operations with a city for more than 300,000 people in a central zone with apartments, green space, institutions of higher learning, as well as other public facilities. It saves a lot of space. What role does the environmental aspect play? A very important one. All plants and supplier organizations, as well as the college for design, materials, and new technologies, are connected via a rail-based supply and delivery network. We also want to connect the new city to the actual city of Changchun with a high-speed rail line. This will decrease automobile traffic and energy consumption, and, of course, CO2 emissions. In addition, the green corridors will bring fresh air into the city because they cool faster than buildings.
long construction as a whole will take. A city is never really completely finished, it always continues to develop. And what is the importance of cultural characteristics in your city plans? They are gaining in importance. After all, we want to provide an improved quality of life. This can be seen in another project in Changchun, which closely follows Chinese tradition. It is an expansion of the city, with space for an additional 400,000 inhabitants. Following old models, we are planning sections of 350 by 350 meters, where inhabitants can get everything done on foot.
When will the auto city be finished? Construction on the apartments has begun, and the parks are pretty much completed. With such a massive project, it is impossible to say how
About the person
In Benghazi, Libya, space for a commercial center is to be restructured (left). In the award procedure for Terminal 1A West at Frankfurt Airport, the design from Speer’s firm was ranked first for its creative and spatial quality (above).
Albert Speer (76) is one of the world’s most renowned architects and city planners. Together with his partners, the Berlin native developed master plans for Expo 2000 in Hanover, the Cologne inner city, and the 2022 Soccer World Cup in Qatar, as well as a feasibility study for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Munich. His planning skills were also seen in other projects such as Frankfurt Airport, and in countries such as Egypt, China, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, and Romania. In 2001, Speer opened his own office in Shanghai. There, more than 100 employees develop trendsetting concepts for new, sustainable major cities.
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Celestial Expo pavilion Shiny parking garage The facade of the Siemens parking garage at the headquarters of the Siemens Building Technologies Division in the Swiss town of Zug is illuminated with LED luminaires made by the Osram joint venture Traxon Technologies. 1,230 luminaires with a total of 25,900 LEDs emphasize the structure of the building. Equipped with high-performance LEDs that can be flexibly controlled in terms of color and intensity, the luminaires can generate any color from the three primary colors red, green, and blue. The total power consumption per operating hour amounts to only 39.2 kW, which approximately equals the power consumption of 20 electric kettles.
The World Expo 2010, which took place in Shanghai from May to October 2010, was themed “Better City, Better Life”. Keeping to this theme, Osram and Traxon Technologies designed the inside of the “We are the World” pavilion on the Expo grounds. Right at the entrance, visitors were greeted by a virtual sky with a natural daylight effect created by LEDs. Moreover, the LEDs generated several weather scenarios – from sunny days all the way to thunderstorms. A total of 1,180 automatically controlled LED luminaires made the outside of the pavilion shine brightly. The spherical architecture of the pavilion posed an extra challenge to the lighting technology. Power cables in special lengths had to be made and laid to ensure optimal lighting.
New light for towns and cities Innovative lighting concepts give a special character and charm to townscapes and buildings. But such solutions have long been considered an ecological offence with regard to sustainability. The commercial success of extremely energy-efficient LEDs, however, makes it possible to bring aesthetics, safety, cost-efficiency, and environment protection in line in the large-area illumination of buildings.
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Historical illumination Lustrous event In 2008, Traxon Technologies showed in the Japanese city of Yokohama how light from a historical railway bridge can create a piece of modern art. Japan’s second-largest city was hosting the light event “Light it up, Ninja,” which was organized by LPA, Japan’s largest lighting design agency. All planning, as well as the date for the event, was kept secret until the kick-off. Traxon illuminated a historical railway bridge in Yokohama Bay with LED luminaires. The luminaires were installed in the steel framework of the bridge and shone in various colors. This created a symbolic link between the old and the new.
Man longs for light – in the morning darkness on the way to work as well as in the evening after a visit to the opera. Light provides a feeling of safety and creates moods. That’s why light is such an important design instrument that shapes the townscape – with the illumination of historical facades, modern office buildings, and public places. The Siemens division Osram, one of the leading lighting manufacturers of the world, and the Osram joint venture Traxon Technologies, a world leader in LED lighting systems, have dedicated themselves, among other things, to city beautification. The range includes street and sign lighting, the illumination of buildings and objects, and even the use of facades as oversized multimedia displays that can transform the sky-
In Regensburg, Osram shows that it is possible to illuminate a historic city center listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site with LEDs in the proper style and in an energy-saving manner. The retrofit LEDs melt discreetly into the historical setting and let alleys and facades shine in new splendor. To meet the demands of an old town with a state-of-the-art illumination solution, Osram and the Regensburg branch of Siemens developed a luminaire prototype which makes it possible to replace ordinary 90 W mercury-vapor luminaires with LED luminaires. These can be loaded with a different number of LEDs on each side, which enables various forms of light distribution with a single solution that requires only 42 W.
line of big cities into dazzling advertising spaces by connecting single, relatively small lighting elements in a way that makes them appear as a new image from a distance. Powerful LED modules are outstandingly bright and withstand even extreme weather conditions. Moreover, the LEDs are particularly durable and energy-efficient, which ensures low operating costs and protects the environment. A combination with modern lighting management systems makes possible lighting performances with color changes and effects.
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Brake and you’ll win This article is based on an article featured in Siemens Pictures of the Future in the fall of 2010.
The engineering world is working tirelessly to improve environmentally friendly mass transit in an effort to loosen the traffic’s stranglehold on modern-day cities. Studies show that buses are more fuel-efficient when their diesel drive is supplemented by an electric motor that uses braking energy than their conventional counterparts. The ELFA hybrid drive developed by Siemens has seen the company take a leading role in commercially utilized hybrid vehicles, and today’s demand for them far exceeds expectations.
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How stop and go is detrimental to the environment Respirable dust caused by conventional buses and trucks is disproportionately high in congested traffic. The use of low-emissions hybrid vehicles is a very effective means of protecting the environment.
Respirable dust (in grams per kilometers driven)
users pay tolls to enter the inner city, and “gasguzzlers” are charged an extra fee. Munich, too, has taken steps in the same direction, by rerouting trucks away from its inner city. Many metropolitan areas are soon to follow suit, restricting direct access to the inner city to fuel-efficient vehicles and those with electric drives.
4.0
However, technical challenges remain. “A battery that keeps a bus operating for an entire day still weighs and costs too much,” says Manfred Schmidt from Siemens Drive Technologies Division in Nuremberg, the manufacturing site for electric drives. For this reason, Siemens’ hybrid buses are equipped with both an internal combustion engine and an electric drive. Conveniently, they don’t need to be connected to an outlet: as soon as the driver steps on the brake, the energy is fed into an electric storage unit. Typically, a metropolitan bus spends between 25 and 40 percent of its time waiting at bus stops or red lights. When the bus starts up again, it uses the stored braking energy to accelerate with zero emissions and a very low noise level.
3.5 Large buses 3.0 2.5 2.0 Trucks
1.5 1.0 0.5
Medium-sized buses 0.0 0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Speed in km/hours Source: The World Bank 2004
The World Bank study “Reducing Air Pollution from Urban Transport” does not mince words when it claims that the “development of costefficient hybrid drives is the best possible way to leverage the benefits of emissions reduction by switching to electric drives.” The study is alarming. Every year, one hundred thousand people die of air pollution-associated diseases and continued global economic growth greatly exacerbates this problem. Today, in many large cities, people prefer to take the bus downtown than to go by car. This is not only the case in threshold countries where car ownership is a luxury. In many industrialized countries, bus transport constitutes half of all local transportation. The more congested metropolitan cities are, the more fervent the wish for quiet and clean vehicles, and for less traffic in general. A number of cities across Europe have taken measures to reduce traffic congestion in recent years, and the trend is set to continue. Since 2003, London has been limiting access to its inner city. Both London and Stockholm have decided to make their car
Since June 2010, MVG, Munich’s public transportation company, has been using two hybrid buses for its routes. One of them is the City Hybrid by MAN, equipped with Siemens drive technology. “We want to test and compare different hybrid buses and support manufacturers in the further development of innovative automotive engineering,” says Herbert Koenig, CEO of MVG. Serial instead of parallel hybrid solutions The serial hybrid solution by Siemens is based on ELFA technology. Whereby a parallel hybrid, drives the axle by both an internal combustion engine and an electric motor drive, a serial hybrid by contrast, uses only an electric motor to do this. Here, a varied energy mix that allows just about all combinations of energy production with energy storage, supplies the motor. Generators driven by internal combustion motors or fuel cells generate power while batteries or ultracapacitors (ultracaps) are used for energy storage. The advantages of an ultracap compared to batteries are its far higher power density and power efficiency. The ultracap is capable of storing a large amount of energy in a small space. In addition, it is largely maintenance-free and has a much longer service life than a lithium-ion battery. When the ultracap is discharged, the diesel motor starts up and supplies a generator, which in turn generates current for the energy storage. “With serial hybrid technology, more brake power can be injected than with parallel systems, because
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The next generation Traffic experts are convinced that hybrid buses (see image below) are already an important step forward in improving urban environments. However, in the final analysis, they are only an intermediate step to zero-emission buses. There are two different ways to reach this goal: either with battery-operated vehicles, where the energy storage unit would be charged at the final destination or in the depot, or with a hybrid model that uses fuel cells for the drive in addition to the battery. The fuel cells could then charge the onboard battery while the vehicle is in operation. It is currently not possible to predict which technology will prevail. “Whether we are going to use hydrogen or electrical current as fuel depends how and where we produce electricity in the future,” says Manfred Schmidt of Siemens Drive Technologies Division in Nuremberg.
the electric motor is larger,” explains Schmidt. When brakes are applied in a bus, about 150 kilowatts of electricity is made available. In a parallel hybrid drive, however, a smaller electric motor can hold approximately 50 to 80 kilowatts. “This means that you give up as much as two-thirds of valuable braking energy and the savings potential is rather low,” says Schmidt. 30 percent fuel savings A serial hybrid consumes one-third less fuel and reduces climate-damaging carbon dioxide emissions
in the process. Depending on the number of bus stops and inclines, a conventional bus requires between 40 and 60 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers. A bus that drives approximately 60,000 kilometers per year consumes about 30,000 liters of diesel. A hybrid consumes a mere 20,000 liters. In sum, a hybrid bus saves about 26 tons of CO2 compared to a conventional bus. Siemens engineers have succeeded in reducing diesel consumption by a further ten percent thanks to an additional innovation. The drive usually comprises two three-phase asynchronous motors that are linked with a summation gear. If they are replaced by self-excited synchronous motors, the motor requires less electric power to generate a magnetic field that turns the motor. This working principle reduces losses, makes the machine more efficient, and transfers more energy to the axle. Extraordinary demand The hybrid bus is gaining momentum at the moment. If Beijing follows through on the announcement that it is going to change half of the city’s bus fleet to hybrid buses, the demand for these buses will skyrocket. “Worldwide interest is already huge,” says Manfred Schmidt. Siemens in Nuremberg works with many different bus manufacturers worldwide. MAN is not the only one among them who is placing orders for ELFA. Mercedes, the Belgium manufacturer Van Hool, and the Indian company, Tata Motors, have also placed their orders for ELFA. Wrightbus from Northern Ireland ordered drive technology for double-decker buses from London. When the mayor of London, Boris Johnson, introduced plans for the new vehicles in May 2010, he praised their “innovative green technology” and predicted that the streets of London will see hundreds of these hybrid buses in the near future. To date, ELFA buses are to be found all over the continent, in Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Turkey, the USA, and Brazil. In Germany, Public Transportation Services in Hamburg plans to introduce Mercedes hybrid buses that combine a mixture of battery and fuel cells based on ELFA. Beginning in 2020, every new bus in the hanseatic city will be a hybrid model. “It was a political decision for emission-free inner cities,” says Schmidt. Also suitable for hybrid drives are garbage trucks and small trucks, especially for longer trips with many stops. Faun, a North German company, markets a garbage truck with ELFA, a model that is already in use in Leipzig.
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Clearing the way Growing cities, increasing traffic – but with fewer traffic jams and greater safety: transportation technicians are working on making the impossible possible. They are developing intelligent, networked, and dynamic concepts that point automobile drivers in new directions.
Every year, tens of thousands of German vacationers answer the call of the Swiss mountains. For many, their travels take them through the Austrian city of Bregenz. To avoid paying the highway toll, drivers traveling to Switzerland often take the toll-free road on the eastern shore of Lake Constance and through downtown Bregenz. This leads to serious traffic jams; during the season, bumper-to-bumper traffic is the norm.
For some time now, however, an intelligent traffic sign has been getting drivers to rethink their plans – allowing city residents to breathe a sigh of relief. Instead of a general, widely ignored recommendation to take the highway, display panels now inform drivers of the actual travel times into Switzerland. Drivers can then decide whether they would rather fight their way through downtown, or whether it would be smarter to invest a few Euros on highways tolls
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and get there in less than half the time. Since the sign has been erected, many more drivers are opting to travel the toll route, significantly relieving traffic in the city. And travelers feel well informed, not patronized. To determine the dynamic travel time information reliably, Siemens installed infrared sensors on downtown street lamps. The sensors register every movement of the autos passing by. Traffic density on the highway is determined by loop detectors embedded in the asphalt. Using this information, the computer calculates the respective travel time. The display panel is continuously updated via radio. Traffic management systems such as these reduce traffic congestion and increase road safety (see interview to the right). Solutions for megacities What works for highways and wide-scale areas also works for the megacities of this world, as London clearly shows. There, Siemens has implemented many elements of its “Complete mobility” strategy. To optimize traffic flow and reduce congestion, automobile drivers are kept up to date and networked accordingly. Public transportation is also included in the concept. London improved its local and regional transportation using Siemens commuter trains, and initiated a city toll system with the participation of Siemens. The result: more that 50 percent of drivers switched to buses and trains, and street traffic in the toll area was reduced by 15 percent. And each year, 150,000 tons fewer CO2 emissions are generated. Greater mobility, increased safety, sustainable environmental protection – more than 2,400 employees of the Intelligent Traffic Systems (ITS) segment are committed to these goals. Their products and solutions are always based on three levels. First, transportation flows are determined and analyzed – using video cameras, satellite images, or radar detectors. Based on the data collected in this way, real-time information, short-term prognoses, and long-term scenarios and recommendations are established in the next step. The information is intended for motorists as well as public and private institutions. The third step involves influencing traffic flows both in the short term and sustainably. This could be handled in the short term, for example, by using variable message signs posting information such as dynamic speed limits, bans on passing, use of shoulders for traffic on a temporary basis, and warnings. In contrast, longterm transportation control is focused on traffic
signaling and control, such as giving buses and trams preferential treatment, as well as sophisticated toll and parking guidance systems. “The greatest challenge is coordinating the traffic data and linking the systems,” said Uwe Strubbe. This is the job of the head of Siemens Mobility in Bavaria and the director of the Bavarian Transportation Information Agency (VIB), a consortium with participation by the state government. “Our job is to provide citizens and companies with comprehensive traffic information. Traffic data – from cars to trains to bicycles – are collected, evaluated, and made available for free on the Bayerninfo Web site.” A similar job is performed by the traffic management center (VMZ) Berlin, where Siemens has a 100 percent share in its operating company. Through online offers, information boards, and a local radio station, motorists are kept informed continually. “Berlin has one of the most modern traffic control centers in Europe. Traffic is recorded at more than 600 measuring locations with more than 300 video cameras,” said Jürgen Glauche, Senior Product Manager at Siemens Mobility in Berlin. Green waves in the Persian Gulf It is not only the western world that depends on networked traffic control. The growing metropolitan areas in Asia and South America require intelligent strategies to handle the onslaught on their road networks. Abu Dhabi and Dubai were the first to be equipped by Siemens with a central traffic management system that ensures green waves in the Persian Gulf. The result: fewer traffic jams, reduced energy consumption, lower environmental impact, and more relaxed drivers. Other Asian megacities such as Bangkok and Shanghai use high-speed rail and toll solutions from Siemens. And in Santiago, Chile, Siemens technology controls some 2,000 crossings. This information is continually updated and provided via the Internet. But even the most intelligent concepts function only when drivers follow the information provided by traffic centers. However, many find it difficult to deviate from their usual routes. “The recommendations provided by the Berlin traffic management center are followed only by 30 to 40 percent of motorists. Comparatively speaking, this is a relatively high level of acceptance,” said Glauche. With ever more exact data and precise information, he and his colleagues are working on increasing these numbers – to benefit both citizens and the environment.
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Interview with Sylvia Piszczek, traffic expert at the German Federal Road Research Institute (BASt) To what extent do traffic control systems contribute to traffic safety?
Traffic in Mumbai, India, often resembles a parking lot, putting a strain on the environment and people’s nerves (upper left). Things run better in Munich thanks to automated traffic control (upper right); in London with its city toll and integrated traffic concept (center); and with the computer-based traffic management center in Berlin (below).
To a significant degree: evaluations of seven tested route guidance systems have shown that appropriate systems help prevent accidents. Where the systems are in use, the accident rate fell 25 percent, and for multi-vehicle accidents with more than six vehicles, the rate dropped 54 percent. In fog, the accident rate dropped by 80 percent. What is the reason for this effect? Route guidance systems such as variable message signs or flexible speed limits and warnings mean greater attention on the part of motorists. They have been shown to adapt their speed and following distance better to the actual traffic situation. How do traffic control systems contribute to the prevention of traffic jams? The control systems ensure a much more efficient distribution of traffic flow. Depending on the size of the network and associated detours for individual drivers, up to 15 percent of drivers can be redirected, thereby reducing the volume in stretches where jams commonly occur.
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Tightrope-walking in Venice Futuristic and environmentally friendly transportation has taken shape in the form of a fully automatic, cable-driven train in the North Italian lagoon city known for its boats as a means of public transportation. Not only does it help reduce road traffic, the train has the potential to become an additional tourist attraction here.
When one thinks of transportation in Venice, images of gondoliers ushering passengers through the city of love springs to mind. Or the vaporetti, the boats that travel in a frequent tempo up and down the Canale Grande as part of the local public transportation system. However, since April 2010 the city in Northern Italy has been home to the new star in transportation, albeit not on the water, but above it. A so-called Cable Liner connects the island of Tronchetto with the Piazzale Roma, the gateway to the historic center of this lagoon city. The train travels between the inner city and the new service center on the man-made offshore
island, with its countless bus and car parking lots for vehicles arriving from elsewhere. The Cable Liner transports a total of 3,000 passengers an hour in one direction alone. This is carried out almost noiselessly, thanks to the use of a pulling cable rather than on-board drives. The train covers the route, which spans 870 meters, in a mere three minutes. By contrast, in the past people travelling by car and bus on the car bridge between the mainland and the island of Tronchetto needed to walk twenty minutes to get to the city center. People traveling alone often avoided the 20-minute walk
Industry Journal | Metropolitan Solutions 2011 | Mobility 43
An intelligent mover
of service and reduces waiting times during peak demand periods.
The Cable Liner is a cable-propelled train. Its drive technology is located in the basement of its departure station, rather than on the train itself. As a result, the rail cars are 30 percent lighter than conventional models, and glide quietly along, not least thanks to their low-noise rubber tires and light steel construction. These low-energy trains reach a speed of 30 kilometers per hour and retrieve up to 40 percent of their drive power during braking. The units with a capacity of up to 200 passengers consist of four rail cars. There is no driver on board. Employees at the control center monitor the route and operation via video monitoring and can respond quickly when needed, thanks to a network of sensors. In addition, it is also possible to shorten the stopping interval where necessary. This increases frequency
Siemens supplied the entire electrical drive tech nology, the communication and control system technology for the train system, and also supplied the passenger information system. In addition, the company was responsible for the software development and start-up. The Cable Liner is not only to be found in Venice. Jointly, Doppelmayr and Siemens have fitted numerous airports worldwide with the Cable Liner, and have also supplied it to cities such as Las Vegas. The future of this technology is assured. Thanks to its comparatively lower construction and operation costs, the energy-efficient cable train is an economical and attractive alternative to conventional rail systems for short routes.
From the train station on the offshore island of Tronchetto (left) the Cable Liner takes a mere three minutes to reach the historical center of Venice.
and opted to drive to the Piazzale Roma instead, resulting in a shortage of parking spaces and chaotic traffic congestion in the city. The 20-million-euro traffic system which was realized by Siemens and the Austrian funicular railway specialists Doppelmayr not only relieves the inner city of additional traffic congestion, it also protects the environment. However, the train isn’t just environmentally friendly, it enhances this tourist city architecturally. From a height of five meters, the Cable Liner glides along ropeways in seven-minute cycles over the canals. A special feature is the
180-meter-long bridge over the Tronchetto. The Venetians affectionately call it the ‘gabbiano,’ the Italian word for seagull, because it is shaped like a bird. The three train stations (two end-stations and the station of Marittima which is an intermediate stop) also fit aesthetically into the Venetian city. In fact, the futuristic train ride has what it takes to become an additional tourist attraction. There is just one catch for visitors to Venice, however. There are no photo opportunities with City Liner staff like the typical ones visitors take with gondoliers or colorful vaporetti captains. Why not? The train operates without a driver and is fully automatic.
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Turbo rate of return for real estate National and international green building organizations are setting new quality standards for single-purpose buildings and, increasingly, for residential buildings, too. Much-coveted certification increases the value of real estate considerably, once it has been awarded. Occupants pay quite a bit more for lower operating costs and the prestige that goes with having the “right address.”
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Platinum for the Sierra Nevada College Environmental scientists at the Sierra Nevada College work in first-class surroundings, in a building combining state-of-theart technology with unconventional solutions, located in the midst of pristine nature, between Nevada and California. A Siemens building automation system, together with additional installations, optimizes the environmentally friendliness of the building. A combined heat and power plant significantly reduces power consumption. A solar current installation generates 30 kilowatts of electricity. And sunlight creates comfortable lighting by using lighting screens to break sunbeams by up to 9 meters. Old jeans and newspaper double as building isolation or as part of the ceiling. The balance obtained is excellent: Energy and water consumption are reduced by 65 percent as compared to other building automation systems. The college takes welldeserved pride in its LEED platinum certification.
Platinum, gold, and silver – these precious materials are becoming much more popular in real estate, but not as raw materials. In fact, they are labels for the ecological correctness of buildings. Siemens is vying for a LEED platinum certification for its company’s new headquarters in Munich. The Sueddeutsche Verlag already managed a LEED golden certification for its new headquarters. And that’s not all. There is a huge demand for the US label. Currently more than 20,000 buildings worldwide have been registered as having passed the test in accordance with LEED criteria for environmental responsibility and energy efficiency. In addition, there are another 60 Green Building Organizations currently offering their own certification. Added-value for buildings There are good reasons for the eco-seal trend: recognized buildings create higher returns, fewer vacancies and better leasability at attractive prices. Overall, they ensure a higher resale value. Real estate experts talk about rental incomes that are up to 12 percent higher or revenues that have increased by as much as 16 percent. According to the figures of the US Green Building Councils, tenants are 27 percent more satisfied with commercially used “green” buildings as compared to traditionally built or renovated houses. What this also means is that employees do not get sick as often and their general motivation at work is significantly higher. And let’s not forget, occupants save about 30 percent on energy, water, and garbage disposal fees. CO2 emissions are reduced by one-third.
Small wonder that the US publisher McGraw Hill expects the construction volume for green buildings to have reached five times as high as it is now, within the next two years. “Green buildings are for real estate what jeans were for fashion – a trend that takes a long time to catch on and ends up as a long victory march,” predicts Thomas Beyerle, the research director of Aberdeen Immobilien Kapitalanlagegesellschaft headquartered in Frankfurt. The battle of the certification agencies The battle of the real estate appraisers is a fierce one. The most recognized certificate worldwide is the LEED certificate. Globally-oriented investors and managers of real estate funds in particular, value the label highly, because it provides for an internationally defined and established basis for comparison. Deutsche Bank hired not one but two Green Building Organizations to certify the ecologically outstanding modernization of their two highrise office buildings in Frankfurt. The building now carries the LEED quality mark and the “German seal of approval for sustainable construction” of the German Society for Sustainable Building (DGNB). “For this seal, they examine a great deal of criteria that addresses such items as social, functional, and site quality,” says Ullrich Brickmann. The Siemens expert for energy efficiency solutions believes that the DGNB testing procedure could pay more attention to such areas as energy efficiency and technical building equipment. Aside from that, this
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Summary of available certifications Approximately 60 national Green Building Organizations worldwide offer test procedures for buildings. Europe alone awards close to 20 different eco labels. Here is a summary of the most important seals of approval.
LEED Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Established: Primarily in the USA and Canada Areas: New buildings and extensive modernization, buildings in inventory, residential buildings, intellectual development, inlaid shell, etc. Evaluation criteria (main criteria): sustainable site, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, room and environmental quality, innovation, and planning process Rating system for certification: certified, silver, gold, or platinum Energy Star Established in: the USA Areas: public/commercial buildings, residential real estate Evaluation: energy efficiency Certificate: Energy Star seal EU GreenBuilding Established: in Europe Areas: non-residential real estate Evaluation: energy efficiency, ventilation, savings recommendation Certificate: GreenBuilding seal
EU GreenLight Established: in Europe Areas: non-residential real estate Evaluation criteria: energy efficiency for outside and inside lighting Certificate: GreenLight seal BREEAM Building Research Establishment’s Environmental Assessment Method Established: in Great Britain Areas: residential and non-residential constructions Evaluation criteria: management, health and comfort, pollution and land use, energy consumption, CO2 emission, infrastructure, building material, water demand Rating system for certification: passed, good, very good, excellent BUND energy-saving hospital quality seal Established: in Germany Areas: hospitals Evaluation criteria: CO2 emissions, energy consumption, energy management Certificate and information plaque DGNB German Society for Sustainable Building Established: in Germany Areas: new construction for office, administrative, and residential buildings Evaluation criteria: ecological, economical, socio-cultural and functional, technical quality, as well as process and site quality Rating system for certification: bronze, silver, and gold
rather recent test seal has yet to gain international acceptance. In essence, only a seal with worldwide recognition can provide the manufacturer of sustainable construction material, energy-efficient components, and system solutions with an image that withstands the global field of competition.
testing system is actually known only to those directly involved with it, for the most part. This goes for the EU-initiated Green Building Program, too, which has yet to make it beyond Europe. The flood of certifications for sustainably built or modernized real estate is on the increase.
Many certificates are only accepted nationally
The German TÜV Süd presented its own certification system in 2010. Known as SCoRE (Sustainability Certification of Real Estate), the organization defines itself as “the first German sustainability certificate for investment properties.” And very soon, the German Energy Agency (dena) will follow suit with a seal of approval for non-residential buildings. But Ullrich Brickmann does not waiver: “We live in a global environment. In the medium term, national seals of approval won’t be able to keep up with the pace set by international investors, who are rapidly increasing in number.”
Other national Green Building Organizations that award eco labels are rather similar. For the most part, their quality certificates are only known in their own country. This is true, for example, of the French HQE (Haute Qualité Environmentale), the Australian Green Start Certification and the Japanese CASBEE certification system. To date, only the British BREEAM seal is sought-after abroad. Despite having certified approximately 185,000 buildings to date, the quality of the British
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City oases Comfortable climate, architectural brilliance, and exemplary energy efficiency are not contradictory. On the contrary, the combination of those qualities results in trendsetting buildings. To realize such projects is not witchcraft: the necessary technologies are already available on the market.
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If you asked in a street poll what is the greatest climate killer, most likely you’d get the answer “cars,” or maybe “traffic.” In third place would presumably be industry. Most likely, the ranking would not contain buildings. As a matter of fact, buildings are the greatest energy consumers in the world. They account for approximately 40 percent of worldwide energy consumption and produce 21 percent of all CO2 emissions. This includes high rises and office buildings as well as historical buildings and private homes. Automobiles and factories use just under 30 percent of primary energy consumption. Ullrich Brickmann knows why buildings are No. 1 on the disreputable list of energy-wasters. He is an expert in energy-efficient building solutions with Siemens Building Technologies (BT) division in Frankfurt am Main: “Many building owners still shy away from making the necessary primary investments to install efficient solutions. They prefer budget-priced but highenergy technology.” This isn’t surprising considering that owners pass the operating costs of buildings on to the renters. Competition factor operating costs High operating costs will increasingly become an important factor for renters when it comes to leasing properties, as buildings have an enormous potential for energy savings. The German Energy Agency (Deutsche Energieagentur, dena) estimates that the costs of heat consumption can be reduced by 30 percent, and electricity consumption by 15 percent. A study conducted by the German Federal Environment Agency
(Umweltbundesamt) shows that the results are even more favorable in historic buildings. According to the study, the costs of heat consumption can be reduced by more than half through careful restoration, insulation of walls and basement ceilings as well as using heat-insulating windows. In other words, the investment will pay off in a relatively short period of time. New York Times a pioneer Energy-efficient construction does not only help the bottom line. Environmentally friendly technologies offer a more comfortable climate for users and allow for the creation of architectural masterpieces, such as the headquarters of the New York Times, designed by star architect Renzo Piano. The 52-story skyscraper not only uses approximately 30 percent less energy than a conventional office building: the façade, made of clear glass, offers a clear view through the lobby into a beautiful atrium – an oasis in the middle of Manhattan. Up until now, glass façades were considered to be massive energy consumers. Like greenhouses, they retain heat in the summer, and therefore require specially designed, highperformance, cost-intensive air-conditioning. Not so in the headquarters of the US-based daily newspaper. Piano had a second façade installed made of ceramic elements which block direct light. The blades automatically change their position according to the course of the sun. Sensors support adequate light saturation to ensure that enough light brightens the inside rooms at all times. Electrical light is hardly ever used.
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The air-conditioning of the New York building is similarly efficient. Valves feed the highrise building with cool air in the early morning hours, ensuring a comfortable temperature throughout the day. It sounds easy, but requires a lot of advanced technology. Among other things, inner and outer temperature, occupancy of the building, and the performance of the combined power–heat generation units need to be considered in order for adequate decisions to be made. Facility management is the centerpiece Trendsetting technologies are needed to integrate the vast amount of information to ensure that the operation the New York Times company headquarters is both environmentally sustainable and cost-efficient. This highly demanding task is handled by the building automation and control system “Apogee” developed by Siemens. It monitors and controls air-conditioning, water cooling, heating, fire alarm systems, and power generation. Hundreds of sensors installed anywhere in the building deliver the necessary data. Only a few control commands are needed to adapt the systems to the time of day. The goal is to operate as few systems as possible, which was achieved without compromising the comfortable climate. Sensors are not only essential instruments to create a user-friendly and energy-efficient environment at the New York Times. “We can use them to imitate nature,” says Dr. Osman Ahmed, Head of Global Research and Innovation Siemens Building Technologies in Buffalo Grove, USA. He is confident that buildings will eventually not be mere casings, but intelligent systems that communicate with their users. Automatic measurement of the CO2 concentration Today, this scenario is reality in the laboratories of Siemens Corporate Technology. A prototype of an optical laser sensor monitors if the airconditioning in the building is working. The CO2 emissions within the building amounts to 400 parts per million (ppm). Companies that don’t have sensors installed have a considerably worse balance of more than 1,000 ppm, which is when people get tired, have difficulty concentrating, and don’t feel well.
Buildings as a part of smart grids Today’s power grids are operating at their limits, with some of the grids being 40 years old, and older. A high amount of energy is lost on its way from the electricity supplier to the consumer. In many cases, peak demand cannot be satisfied. At the same time, regenerative energy supply is advancing. However, sun and wind energy are fluctuating producers and cannot maintain continuous production. To integrate them into a traditional grid is problematic. Smart grids are the future of power generation. Similar to Internet communication, the production of energy is decentralized. Small community power plants, agricultural biogas plants, or photovoltaic panels on the roofs of factories and private homes are becoming increasingly important elements of the system. Buildings are playing an important role, and their operating companies are becoming active participants in the electricity market. Japan’s nuclear crisis will surely accelerate this process. Buildings as energy repositories In the future, intelligent buildings will use relatively large quantities of electricity during low tariff hours and store excess quantities in newly designed boilers and cooling systems or at refueling stations for electric cars. During these times, for example at night, these buildings produce little electricity of their own. During high tariff hours – mainly during the day – the energy stored will be used to cover their own requirements in order to use as little of the expensive electricity as possible. This requires the use of powerful storage media which are currently the focus of extensive research activities worldwide. Buildings as energy producers On the other hand, in the near future buildings themselves will become important energy producers within the entire grid. A few years from now, façades and large window areas will presumably convert solar energy into electricity. Heat-exchange
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systems in basements will produce energy and even the air circulation within high rises may one day produce electricity. The buildings will produce electricity during high tariff hours, exactly when they can selfsufficiently cover a large extent of their own requirements with their own plenteous storage media. Automated distribution: a requirement However, the production and storage of electricity alone are not sufficient in a smart grid. The energy must also be distributed efficiently. “By using innovative information and communication technologies, we are able to transform the classical means of energy distribution into intelligent electricity supply grids, down to the level of the individual building,” says Andreas Schierenbeck, CEO of Siemens Building Automation Business Unit. “The goal is to enable each individual building to independently regulate its proprietary electricity demand, store surplus energy, and supply the grid with organic electricity through an automated energy management system.” Power suppliers and communities alike benefit from these technologies. A better balance of electricity production and demand reduces expensive peak times resulting in less demand for primary energy and less emissions of harmful greenhouse gases.
According to Paolo Bertoli, head of the Green Building Initiative of the European Union for the improvement of energy efficiency for non-residential buildings, those who wish to optimally heat, cool, and light a building need not wait any longer: “The most important technologies we need are already out there.” This includes the utilization of intelligent power meters for private households. These devices measure the usage of electricity several times per hour and transmit the results via cable or radio transmission to the power utility company. The advantage for the customers: they receive detailed information about their electricity usage, enabling them to influence their power consumption. According to the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, the approximate savings potential for intelligent meters amounts to 9.5 terawatt hours, i.e. 9.5 billion kilowatts. Several pilot projects are currently underway at a number of energy supply companies. Another important factor is the use of low-energy lighting: 19 percent of worldwide energy is used by light sources. Exchanging these with LED lights has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions by 450 million tons. Energy Saving Performance Contracting Energy Saving Performance Contracting has long grown up. According to this model, suppliers offer their customers clearly defined energy savings throughout the term of the contract and provide advance financing of the start-up expenses, bearing considerable savings potentials. Michael Geißler, chairman of the Berlinbased energy agency “Berliner Energieagentur” does the math: “Germany-wide, contracting can result in annual savings of 800 million Euros and a reduction of CO2 emissions by 4.5 million tons.” Building engineers have determined additional potential. Buildings of the future need to conform to the highest standards in terms of comfort and safety as well as energy and cost efficiency. The course is set to achieve this goal in the near future. In China, for example, sustainable satellite neighborhoods, so-called “EcoBlocs,” are on the rise, employing trendsetting technologies and offering thousands of apartments all operating self-sufficiently and emissions-free.
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“The collaboration that Siemens brings to the Vatican, both in terms of its highly responsive managers and technicians, as well as the technologically advanced instruments the company provides, demonstrates Siemens’ commitment and technical skills that are prized accordingly by the upper echelons of the Vatican City.” Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo, President of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State and President of the Governate of Vatican City
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Not only under divine protection The many artworks, historical buildings, and traditions at the Vatican requiring protection are unlike any place else on Earth. Human eyes and attentiveness have long been insufficient to provide proper security monitoring. High-tech, individual solutions are necessary for security and for maintaining building technology at its highest level.
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Saint Peter’s Basilica, Rome, with a capacity of 20,000, is Christianity’s most famous church. Its security requirements are correspondingly high.
Interview with Peter Löffler, the head of Lifecycle Security of the Security Solutions Business Unit of the Siemens Building Technologies Division
Can security problems be solved through technical means alone? No unfortunately not. But we can make the world much safer with our systems. We continue working on this with our customers and the authorities.
How has the security field developed economically? Since the 9/11 attacks in New York in 2001, the worldwide threat level has increased dramatically. As a result, the field saw above-average growth and has become one of the fastest growing markets. This development will continue.
What would you like to see to further increase security on streets and plazas? Algorithms capable of evaluating the characteristics of milling crowds of people. This would enable previously defined measures to be put into place and prevent accidents. For example, if panic is spreading because of an overfilled train, access to the track or train station could be closed in a timely manner.
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Who is responsible for security at the Vatican? “The Swiss guards” is the accepted response. And it is true, up to a point: in May 2010, Pope Benedict XVI expressed again his trust in the Swiss guards: “Peter’s successor sees your true support and entrusts himself to your vigilance.” The Swiss troops have been guarding the entrances to the Apostolic Palace since 1506. The 110 faithful guards have been called upon many times to protect the leader of the Roman Catholic Church against assaults, and selflessly provide for his personal protection. However, when talking about protecting the inestimable treasures of the world’s smallest recognized state against theft, vandalism, fire, or other harm, the Vatican relies on its close partnership with the Siemens Building Technologies Division (BT). A singular 44 hectares It is an enormous challenge because every detail in the 44-hectare city is a historical work of art. Almost every building is unique. Historians, architects, and tourists rave about the beauty of Saint Peter’s Basilica, the Apostolic Palace, and the Sistine Chapel. Small wonder that UNESCO designated this center of faith for one billion people in the middle of Rome a World Heritage Site back in 1984. Cooperation with Siemens dates back long before that, to 1941, to be exact. The Vatican awarded Siemens the contract to install telephone and electrical equipment. In 1986 linear smoke detectors were installed in rooms containing priceless artworks. And just ten years later BT participated in the expansion and renovation of Casa di Santa Marta. Innovative technologies were installed in the Papal guest house to safely accommodate cardinals and bishops during their participation in conclaves, consortia, and other religious ceremonies. But guests are also supposed to feel comfortable during their stay. For this reason, the Vatican brought the building technology up to start-of-the-art, including air-conditioning and electric power supply and distribution.
Protecting the Vatican newspaper In 1999 the Casa di Santa Marta and the headquarters of L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, were equipped with fire detectors and special fire control panels. And over time, new orders came from the Holy See to make Vatican City more secure and adapt its building technology to the latest developments. In 2001, the mini-state had 90 working fire control panels and around 2,000 smoke detectors. These were not commercially available products, but rather highly sophisticated units with specialized equipment to protect the irreplaceable treasures of the Vatican museums and other buildings. An additional requirement from the customer: the required installed equipment could not in any way impact the presentation of the artworks. It was not just the forward-looking innovations from Siemens that convinced the Vatican to seamlessly continue its cooperation with Siemens. “Our successful cooperation with the Vatican is due to the fact that we do not position ourselves as sales people, but instead as partners and advisors,” explained Armando Trevisi, who directed the Italian subsidiary of Building Technologies through the end of 2009. In 2003, additional security and safety products based on the latest technology were installed. To ensure the highest levels of security, BT works together with the Vatican’s technical employees. This enabled them to determine potentially critical areas that could lead to fires and include them while planning the control panels. A single network for all control panels Together with the customer’s technicians, Siemens has now connected all fire control panels to a single network. The fiber-optic-based network now includes 120 panels and thousands of fire detectors linked to the MM8000 danger management system. The building technology systems are also being continually optimized, and have now been linked using the Desigo building automation and control system. The same is true for the modern lighting solutions from the Siemens Osram Division that light several halls.
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Several months ago the Vatican Bank, the “Istituto per le Operere di Religioni,” began using Siemens systems to protect against fire and theft. The installed solution provides the financial institution with the highest level of autonomy for control and monitoring. To meet customer requirements, the Desigo building automation and control system is also used. Multiple management stations control and manage via the Internet. The fire detectors are connected by an interface to the Vatican City Fire Department’s monitoring system. It activates immediately if the graphic displays on-screen and messages make deployment necessary. For about a year now, Pope Benedict XVI has also been benefiting from Siemens solutions in his private quarters, which control and monitor
lighting and control panels in his inner sanctum. The same is true of the Cappella Paolina, the Vatican audience chamber – the Sala Nervi, the Papal helipad, and the small state’s police station. Further expansion of cooperation The cooperation between Siemens and the Vatican is expanding further: for example, technicians are currently working on a procedure to enable all systems installed in the museums to be merged, further improving monitoring. For Siemens, this new order is yet further proof of the appreciation Rome has for its solutions. Transparency and partnership along with single-source, comprehensive solutions are the foundation for this trust.
Saint Peter’s Square is the border of Vatican City. There, the traditional Swiss Guards provide security.
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Farming up high Soon there will not be enough land to provide food for humanity. People will have to look for something new – in the middle of the city. “Vertical Farming” is the name given to this vision by some not-so-crazy urban planners.
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Flowering gardens and farmland for fruit, vegetables, and grain in buildings are already much more than a theoretical vision.
biodiversity, and is reaching critical mass due to the growth in population. “Today, the 6.8 billion people throughout the world are cultivating an area the size of South America in order to produce food. Based on current forecasts, by 2050 the population will grow to 9.5 billion. The world will need additional fertile land the size of Brazil to feed itself – and that land simply does not exist.” A farmscraper can Despommier’s conclusion: build produce as much upward.
For as long as there have been cities, they have differed from the land surrounding them in two ways: the land is flat, but cities reach toward the sky. And in the city, all food that is purchased is produced in the countryside. For centuries there has been an unwritten rule: farming cannot take place in the city.
However, Dickson Despommier is attempting to change this. The professor of environmental medicine at New York’s Columbia University has been chamas 1,000 hectares Solutions for major cities pioning the idea of moving farmof farm land. ing into the city for more than There are already a myriad of a decade. His concept is called reasons why vertical farming “Vertical Farming”: hothouse could be a solution for cities. high-risers being cultivated in Food production in the middle the middle of the city to meet of a city could bring many posthe fruit and vegetable requireitive impacts – for example, promote growth, ments of residents. “A 30-story farmscraper can produce as much food as 1,000 hectares of farm- stop urban decay, recycle water, and generate energy. The number of areas with a high poland,” said Despommier. “And with far less envipulation density is rapidly increasing around ronmental impact and water consumption.” the world. Megacities like Delhi, São Paulo and Mumbai are already home to more than 20 Lack of arable crop land million inhabitants. Providing for these people will be much easier if every lettuce leaf doesn’t As the New York ecologist began developing his have to be transported hundreds of kilometers. idea in 1999, his primary idea was for a solution In cities affected by structural changes, once for the land. Conventional farming requires a industrial or commercial areas lie idle. The lot of energy and water, endangers the soil and
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change to agrarian spaces offers an opportunity for revitalization. And with vertical farming, the otherwise serious problems of conventional farming, such as contaminated soil, never occur in the first place. In Detroit the investor John Hantz, with the support of the city, has begun converting deserted industrial and residential areas into farms. The plants can be irrigated with non-potable water, and the production waste can be converted into biogas or electricity at biomass facilities. Chicago as leader In industrial countries, cities developed under the premise of low-priced, available energy. When these assumptions begin to be questioned, as is happening more now than ever before, new, sustainable solutions have to be found. Vertical farming is perfectly suited to this. U.S. ecologist Ben Kennedy, a colleague of Despommier at Columbia University, examined what would be required if someone in a city such as Chicago wanted to cultivate the six most consumed fruits and vegetables following the vertical farming concept – namely iceberg lettuce, red oak leaf lettuce, tomatoes, strawberries, broccoli, and spinach. His results: cultivation would require 1,467 “garden carousels,” modules consisting of one of each of the six plant types in rotation. The total required area, approximately 100,000 square meters (one-twentieth of the area required for conventional cultivation) could be housed in five inner-city warehouses that already exist. In addition to the total investment of 122 million dollars for the purchase and renovation of the buildings and purchase of the garden carousels, an additional 5 million dollars per year would be required for personnel, maintenance, and energy costs. This would produce a yield of foodstuffs with a market value of close on 100 million dollars per year. “It would bring in money, create jobs, and even become a tourist attraction,” said Dickson Despommier on why vertical farming makes sense for Manhattan. Maybe not in Times Square, but perhaps in Harlem. And perhaps not quite as extravagant as the 132-story “Dragonfly Building” that Belgian architect Vincent Callebaut wants to build on Roosevelt Island next to Manhattan: a combination office building, farm, and solar power plant. One
hundred fewer floors would be enough for Despommier. Hyatt Hotels with farmland He already has the Manhattan Borough President on his side; all he needs now is a suitable investor and the right property. This is partially due to New York’s strict building codes, which are not designed for hothouse highrisers. For this reason, Despommier is running a pilot project in Jordan: the Hyatt Hotels there will become carbon neutral by cultivating farm highrisers. “You’ll have an abundance of sunshine – for the water, you have to drill deeper than in New York.” But now the time may be right for Despommier’s dream: local food production is now the trend. “After the flood of staged productions, what’s missing now are grounded, authentic results,” said Nicole Lüdi, trend researcher at the renowned Gottlieb-Duttweiler Institute in Rüschlikon near Zurich. “We long to undo our perceived disconnection from our roots. The longing for reconnection is growing – a reconnection with our origins. It is a sort of homesickness.” The city dwellers want to return to the land. Naturally, there have always been critics of today’s type of urban way of life. But the adherents of alternative, rural ideas were always nothing more than fringe groups, or back-tonature types. Now in the developed countries of Europe they are part of the mainstream. And because, according to Lüdi, “not everyone can be self-supporting, in a consumer society organized according to division of labor. Eventually the economy will come to grips with the longing for reconnection, and it will make an offer containing the hope of coming closer to that longed-for state.” Something like the recently opened “Prime and Toast” in Kuwait, a restaurant with an integrated farm. For irrigation, one of the highest cost factors for agrarian undertakings in the desert, the condensed water from the restaurant’s air-conditioning system is used. But the production, the cultivation of herbs, salad, and vegetables are also integrated directly into the restaurant experience. Guests can personally select their head of lettuce or cauliflower, which is picked and prepared before their very eyes.
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Clear gold Water is one of mankind’s most essential resources. Yet the global supply of this raw material will represent one of the world’s greatest challenges in the coming decades. Billions of liters of groundwater is contaminated each day due to pollution. Hundreds of people die each hour due to thirst or bacteria in drinking water. However, industrial filtration plants, intelligent disinfection solutions, and water desalination systems can contribute to solving these problems, as can small and cost-effective regional solutions.
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“Management of water resources and water systems is absolutely necessary to meet the objectives of societal and economic progress.” 3rd United Nations World Water Development Report
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Nothing is possible without water: in the industrialized world, we each use on average sevenand-a-half liters of water just to brush our teeth – because we leave the water running. His morning shower sends 100 to 200 liters down the drain. The production of a cup of coffee, from planting until it reaches the breakfast table, swallows up 140 liters. Another 150,000 liters circulate through the industrial production machinery to provide a mid-size automobile. To create a lunchtime hamburger, almost four liters are required, a serving of salad involves another 22 liters, and the indulgance of a steak, that’s 1,000 liters. Many people don’t realize the importance of clean drinking water to their daily lives. Unlike the industrialized world the developing world faces significant challenges. UNICEF estimates that some 1.2 billion people in the developing world do not have access to clean drinking water. And double that number have to live without sanitary facilities. That is more than one-third of the world’s population. Often, there is nothing else to be done than make do with contaminated water. The consequences: disease, poverty, death. Each day, 4,500 children alone die as the result of contaminated water. And the situation is getting worse. UN experts have calculated that by the year 2025 some 3.4 billion people worldwide will suffer from water shortages. That is almost half the world’s population. By 2030, people will need 40 percent more clean water than is available on earth. The global crisis in water quality has already begun, according to the 2010 report by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). Water consumption increasing
on and greater use of chemicals. This not only increases water consumption, it also threatens water quality. In developing countries today, 90 percent of water from sewage systems and 70 percent of industrial wastewater is still directed unfiltered to farmland. Ten percent of the world’s population is being fed by plants irrigated with contaminated water. When industrial, agricultural, and urban hazardous materials flow together in the wastewater, and even more chemicals are applied, the effects multiply. Agriculture is the largest consumer At 75 percent, the lion’s share of water consumption goes to agriculture, between 5 and 20 percent is consumed by industry. But global economic growth has increased demand to record levels because all forms of industrial production require water. Whether for cooling, cleaning, or production, water is necessary in factories. And potentially fatal if unnecessarily high volumes of valuable potable water are consumed and then flow contaminated into rivers or sewers. Higher industrial production and more cities also means an increased need for energy. Which means: more water. From power plants to geothermal energy sources to – naturally – hydropower. Without water, there is not a single source of energy that could be tapped. It is conceivable that in the future hydropower will become one of the most important sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels. Small hydropower plants already meet half the energy required in 66 nations. Where in 1995 worldwide industrial water demand was at 752 cubic kilometers, by 2025 that number is expected to reach 1,170 cubic kilometers.
1.2 bn
The reasons are numerous – and have long been known. Population growth continues; by 2050, the population of the world’s cities alone is expected The problem: clean water reto be around 6.4 billion, most people in developing sources are dropping worldwide. of them living near the coast. countries have no acAlthough our blue planet is Because of insufficient infrathree-quarters water, only two structure and aging sewage sycess to clean drinking percent is freshwater. And much stems, increasing quantities of water. of that is locked up and cannot untreated wastewater will flow be tapped, frozen in a glacier or into rivers and coastal waters, hidden in mountain rocks. threatening marine ecosystems like never before. In regions such as warm secIn addition, human encroachment into nature tions of the Atlantic, fish can no longer survive. has left its detrimental mark: deforestation, Additionally, according to information in the UN’s “Water for Life” report, by 2030 global food monoculture, empty groundwater reserves in urban centers, redirection of natural water production will have to increase by 60 percent in order to feed the world’s growing population. flows, and the construction of reservoirs. “Such measures seriously impact water supplies,” said Generally this means more artificial irrigati-
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Water supply to private homes worldwide 100 Water connection in house or garden Connection to sewer 80
60
40
20
75 percent of worldwide water consumption is due to agriculture. A large share returns to the groundwater contaminated by fertilizers and chemicals.
Markus Weiler, Director of the Institute for Hydrology at the University of Freiburg. Groundwater levels sink, the water seeps down to inaccessible depths. Even some areas with high levels of precipitation now have to buy additional water. Climate change aggravates water problems Climate change is making the global water supply situation even more acute: it is becoming increasingly more difficult to forecast how much water will be available in any given location. “Water supply and hygiene are being impacted by climate change, and they in turn are impacting climate change,” according to the “Vision 2030” water report by the World Health Organization. Water supply facilities and sewage treatment plants also have a carbon footprint – for example because of the energy required to run water pumps and wastewater treatment technology, adding to climate change. It is a vicious circle. There is no denying that water scarcity and quality will be critical global subjects well into the future. There’s a reason for the challenge set forth by the authors of the McKinsey study “Char-
Africa
Asia
Latin
Oceania
Europe
America & Source: WHO/Unicef
Caribbean
ting Our Water Future”: “These gaps in supply can only be closed through radical rethinking and more efficient water usage.” Siemens Water Technologies in Warrendale, PA, USA, knows how extremely necessary a change is. Since 2005 this Business Unit and its international team have been doing everything to offer industrial customers and communities sustainable solutions for highly efficient water usage and supply. Siemens Water Technologies has grown to become one of the world’s leading providers, serving more than 90 percent of the Top 500 companies. The water specialists have more than 900 products on offer. From sophisticated cleaning technologies that return available water supplies back into circulation for reuse, to disinfection, to tapping new water supplies through ocean desalination, to elaborate wastewater management. “Water is a valuable resource. It is time that it is treated as such,” said Gordon. Water treatment is a very energy-intensive enterprise. It not only negatively impacts the environment, it represents a significant cost factor for companies and communities. The scarcer water becomes, the
North America
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Simulations for water networks More than five billion cubic meters of potable water flow through German water pipes annually. Almost double that flows through sewer systems. Controlling these flows is a complex business for water managers. Back-up storage should be neither too full nor too empty. The pressure in the pipes has to be correct, pumps must not dry out. The only way to control the water flow is through sophisticated automation technology and numerous sensors together with measurement and control instruments.
Siemens technology will provide disinfection and onsite service to resort pools, fountains, and theme parks in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
more costly it will be in the future to clean it so that it can be used as potable water. More and more companies and communities are recognizing the fact that water is an extremely valuable resource. However, making water fit for cinsumption is also very energy-consuming and not only places a strain on the environment, but also constitutes a significant cost factor. The less water is available, the more expensive it will be in the future to purify it sufficiently for use as drinking water. Drinks manufacturers leading the way The management of CPF, Inc./Northeast Hot Fill Co-op, Inc., the bottled water producer in the US state of Massachusetts, has recognized this. The company produces Aquafina bottled water and carbonated beverages such as Pepsi and Schweppes ginger ale. The company wanted to minimize the cost of their water and wastewater, while producing purified bottled water. They asked themselves: How can we use our process water sustainably, instead of sending 25 percent down the sewers as previously? Today, an ingenious water treatment system, a combination of two single-pass RO systems and continuous electrodeionization, produces firstclass results: 90 percent water recovery rate. The company reduced the plant’s water consumption by about 15 million gallons per year. “We are very happy with the system,” said the plant quality manager.
But do all these components work together optimally in every situation? In the past, this was difficult to predict. Siemens Corporate Technology has devel-
Disinfection system for Walt Disney World Management at Walt Disney World Resorts in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, was also looking for greater efficiency. The water in the pools, fountains, and water slides used by children has to meet the highest standards. In the past, calcium hypochlorite was solely used for disinfection. But this resulted in high storage costs and potential hazards. The new water treatment technology from Siemens is saving significant costs as part of a strategic overall concept: the OSEC electrochlorination system generates hypochlorite directly onsite using salt and electricity. The transport and storage of chemicals is eliminated and disinfection is safer and more efficient. In addition to the individual components, Siemens Water Technologies delivers comprehensive service packages. The disinfection systems are controlled remotely using the Strantrol Impact controller, constantly ensuring the same water quality. In addition, Siemens technicians perform all maintenance and customer service on the 165 fountains and pools at the resort and parks. The contract between the leaders in family entertainment and Siemens Water Technologies runs for ten years. Largest treatment plant in the USA The example provided by the Orange County Water District (OCWD) in Fountain Valley, Cali-
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oped a simulation process for virtually testing the automation technology of a water network before the start of construction. The computer model displays all components of a water network, algorithms simulate the water flows. Is the pumping capacity correct? Is the pressure okay? Is the network providing the correct volume of water? The engineers optimize the control processes on the computer, transfer them to real control units, connect them to a model network, simulate failures and unexpected fluctuations in demand, and continue optimizing until the system is stable. Only then is it used in the real water network. The benefit for communities and customers: the process not only reduces the development time for a new network, it optimizes the supply and energy consumption.
fornia shows how efficient treatment technologies can also work for communities. As in all communities, county officials have a major challenge. They have to provide the right quantity of water of suitable quality at the right price, so that the region remains attractive for private and industrial consumers. Orange County has an additional problem to deal with: the region is growing rapidly and the demand for water has skyrocketed. In January 2008, the largest treatment plant in the USA was established here. It combines Memcor membrane technology from Siemens, reverse osmosis, and advanced oxidation. Treated secondary wastewater that at one time was flushed into the ocean is now filtered by a system of membrane fibers, which removes the dirt particles, bacteria, and other contaminants. A clever arrangement of filtering ponds produces a natural waterfall. This made it unnecessary for the pumps to force the amount of water through the membranes. As a result, five times the amount of water of conventional systems can be cleaned using the same amount of energy. And the water requires little chemical pretreatment. After this process, the water is pumped into retention ponds, mixed with groundwater, and then allowed to seep into the ground – an additional, natural cleaning process. Orange County officials should be satisfied: since the plant was commissioned three years ago, the innovative process has brought the region more than 50
Pressurized membrane filtration systems offer a compact and modular solution for water reuse and pretreatment for desalination.
billion liters of additional water, year after year. On the second anniversary of the plant last year there was reason to celebrate. At that time, the process had provided the region with 119 billion liters of additional groundwater. Membrane technologies have proven themselves not only for wastewater treatment, but also for ocean desalination. Without desalination it would be impossible to meet water needs in many regions. At the ocean desalination plant in Perth, Australia, for example, membrane filters are used for pretreatment. The pressure membrane filtration system presses 360,000 cubic meters of water through its tubes each day, with little energy required. An effective pretreatment step. Desalination for resource conservation. Water reuse and desalination help reduce the burden on source water supplies. When the environmental needs and economics make sense, desalination can provide alternative source water, especially in water-scarce regions like the Middle East. Energy efficiency will be a key factor for future wider adoption of desalination technology. Today, Siemens is working specifically on new desalination technology to reduce energy consumption by up to 50 percent, as compared to existing technology.
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Extremely pure water for the pharmaceutical industry Consistent high-quality water is critical for pharma applications. Extremely pure water must meet quality requirements and industry standards. One Canadian medical device manufacturer re-
are now affordable solutions, such as the SkyHydrant mobile water filter, developed jointly by Siemens and Australia’s SkyJuice Foundation. It is based on membrane technology. “Using the SkyHydrant, this excellent cleaning process can even be used in crisis areas,” said Rhett Butler, Sales Manager for Siemens Water Technologies in Australia and founder of the non-profit SkyJuice Foundation. The Siemens Foundation has donated the SkyHydrant primarily to supply people in poor regions of Africa and Asia with clean drinking water. The technical assistance is linked to an educational concept. “Because these projects are successful only if people understand why clean drinking water is important, what hygiene is, and how to work with these technologies,” said Christine Weyrich, Water and Health Project Manager at the Siemens Foundation in Munich. Take Ethiopia, for example. Many fountains are dry, sanitation is lacking, and the fight for water determines the daily routine. For the Afar, a nomadic people that live on livestock breeding, access to clean drinking water is becoming increasingly scarce. Together with UNESCO and Hope’87 (Hundreds of Original Projects for Employment), an international initiative, the Siemens Foundation built fountains and ponds, and tapped into new sources.
A single SkyHydrant produces enough drinking water each day for one thousand people. Cost per person per year: 30 US cents.
quired USP quality requirements. The company selected the PreVUE system from Siemens due to its integrated, automated design, which packaged the entire system on a single skid. The prevalidated system ensures USP quality water, allowing the customer to focus on what it does best – manufacturing. Cost-effective technology for poor regions Modern technology alone will not be enough to solve the problem of water scarcity. This is especially true in developing countries that often cannot afford expensive plants. However, there-
To prevent the spread of disease, latrines were established and SkyHydrants installed. The people were trained on how to maintain these water stations on their own. Children are taught in school about hygiene, the environment, and water supply. In peace groups at the schools, the subject of water conflicts among tribal groups is part of the discussion. According to Weyrich: “In regions like Ethiopia, comprehensive, decentralized measures in the local communities are most effective.” Regional solutions instead of comprehensive systems Markus Weiler from the Institute for Hydrology at the University of Freiburg finds this approach to be a sensible one. “Uniform solutions do not work in developing countries. We have to look for regional approaches that fit with the cultural, climatic, and geological prerequisites of the country.” A mixture of centralized and decentralized approaches is what is needed, a combination of industry-based top-down methods and explanations and training on-site. Because mistakes have long-term consequences. According
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to Weiler: “When the groundwater reserves are pumped dry, it takes 20 years to refill the water level.” It is even more important to look critically at water consumption in agricultural production. It uses the lion’s share of the world’s water reserves. “Why do we have to cultivate cotton or rice in water-starved regions, instead of cultivating plants that provide maximum yields under local conditions?” asked Weiler. “Why don’t we more carefully control the use of chemicals in agriculture, before they cause long-term con-
tamination of our soil and groundwater?” And why in so many industrialized countries is the polluter-pays principle, where if you contaminate the water you are responsible for its cleanup, not in effect? This approach has proven to function well in many nations, such as the Netherlands. To be certain: there are no simple solutions, and a variety of players have to work together effectively – from politicians, to industry, to consumers. But if successful, mankind will enhance its most valuable treasure: clear gold.
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Water means growth Water is precious yet scarce in Singapore. However, the insular city-state is making the best of its situation. For some years now the Southeast Asian metropolis has been recycling millions of liters of surface water to ultrapure water with Siemens filtration systems. By 2012 the recycled amount will add up to 20 percent of the total water demand. Singapore has turned into a global competence center for water technology – a dynamic future industry in a world where 1.6 billion people have no access to drinking water.
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Efficient water treatment plants from Siemens are the reason why the insular state of Singapore located between Malaysia and Indonesia has enough clean water.
South of Malaysia is where the lion city lies – the literal meaning of Singapore. Its emblem is Merlion, a legendary figure and a mixture of lion and fish. The lion’s head is a symbol of strength and fearlessness, the fish’s body represents the origin from and the connection to the sea. The small state is living up to its name: Singapore has developed into one of the most influential economic centers in Asia over the last few decades; its container harbor is said to be the biggest in the world. The Southeast Asian metropolis is a land of services and high-tech, 6,000 multinational companies and 500 financial institutes call it their home.
Public Utilities Board (PUB). “If I leave the water running, she starts yelling at me immediately. That’s just the attitude we are looking for. Every scholar must learn and be aware: If I’m using water, every drop counts.”
Unfortunately, the otherwise so very successful insular city-state is having trouble supplying its 4.8 million inhabitants and its industry with enough drinking and process water. Flowing sources of water are, common for islands, not worth mentioning, and even though there are 15 reservoirs spread over 700 square kilometers, only about half of the city-states own demand can be met. For this reason children are brought up with a strong consciousness for this scarce resource. “My four-year-old daughter uses a glass when she brushes her teeth. Brushing her teeth under running water is out of the question,” explains Lim Chiow Giap, director of the
Singapore has now been looking for alternative water supply strategies for ten years now. Within this process, the city-state is investing large sums in technologies to win drinking water from seawater and in surface water treatment. Siemens supplied the respective technology.
And every drop is expensive, too. For many decades almost half of the daily water demand was imported from Malaysia, that’s how scarce water is here. The dependency on external supply is still there, a fact that is causing the government some concern. Alternatives to the conventional water supply
In the district of Kranji, for instance, wastewater has been recycled to drinking water in a water recycling plant from Siemens since 2002 – “NEWater,” as named by project planners in Singapore. About 80 million liters of water are recycled in Kranji per day. More than 200 companies
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As the economic metropolis on the Sea of China continues to thrive in importance and size, so will its water demand.
are among those using the water being recycled here, and the number of customers continues to rise. “We have many more customers than initially expected,” says Harry Seah of PUB. “We expect the number to rise to 30 percent of all companies by 2012.” Pretreatment makes all the difference The most particular part of the water recycling process in Kranji is the pretreatment technology. “The Siemens solution differentiates itself from those of other suppliers with this innovative process,” states Jagannath Rao, Senior Vice President, Siemens Water Technologies International Business. Low-pressure membranes are used within this process. At first, several thousand straw-like membrane fibers are bundled into filter modules, in groups of four row, and are connected with a common bus to a rack. Several racks are then dipped into a pool of waste water. “Harmful substances in the water, such as aerosols, bacteria, and germs cling to the membrane’s surface as it is not permeable for such undissolved substances,” explains Rao. Reverse osmosis membranes, which filter out the remaining harmful substances, are used next. Similar to the first filtering process, only
clean water molecules can pass through the membranes, harmful substances remain. In a final step the filtered water is disinfected with UV rays. This is to make absolutely sure that all remaining organisms have been filtered out and crystal-clean drinking water is the end product. “Siemens offers us a broad realm of promising technology,” says Harry Seah of PUB. “A number of them will have a major influence on realizing our goal here in Singapore: continuously improving water supply and thus sustainably securing it.” Last but not least, these technologies are accounting for the growth of another industry in the former British colony on the Malacca Straits. Next to its position as an influential center of commerce connecting the Asian-Pacific and European economy, Singapore is also the global competence center for water technology (see also page 22). The water industry was recognized as the technology of the future here earlier than anywhere else. For this reason the most pressing water questions of the 21st century are discussed nowhere more intensely than in Singapore: How can the world’s population be supplied with clean water – environmentally friendly, efficiently, and cost-effectively? The Siemens process has advantages in all three
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points, as the recycling process is cheaper and more cost-effective than other processes such as sea water desalination. It’s no suprise that Kranji is often visited by entire delegations from the entire world. Their questions are also being answered by many scientists conducting research on-site for Siemens – in the “Water Hub,” a network of Singapore’s leading research centers and authorities, among them the Nanyang University, the Research and Development Authority A*Star and the local water authority. Siemens has invested about 35 million Euros to install its global headquarters for research and development of water technologies right here. Singapore’s authorities and research centers have recognized the acuteness of water management and innovative ideas earlier than many other cities and communities around the world, and also stand out through their very active support of the same. This also makes Singapore an ideal location for Siemens Water Technologies. 400 people from different institutes and companies from all over the globe are looking for new possibilities to meet global water scarcity in Singapore’s Water Hub. Even today, every
fifth person on earth has access to less than 20 liters of drinking water per day – the minimum amount a person needs to drink, wash and cook, according to the UN. Even in regions where water should be sufficient there are often problems because of lacking infrastructure. The precious resource can thus often not be delivered to households. According to UN studies, about 1.6 billion people live in areas dealing with an economic water scarcity situation. Solutions are therefore urgently needed. "We are currently working on numerous projects and processes at the same time, ranging from simulation of current dynamics to further developing our membrane technology," explains Rüdiger Knauf, who is responsible for global research and development at Siemens Water Technologies. “We’ve already rented the building next door – it’s getting quite crowded around here.” In Singapore, all innovative activities by Siemens will be bundled and further developed for the Asian region, to optimally complement existing research and development scenarios in the US, Germany, and Australia. Another reason for further developing Singapore as a hub for water
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treatment technologies is to bring products developed and tested in the US and Europe to the Asian market more quickly. To do this, Siemens has put together a team of 160 employees to offer products for municipal and industrial water technology for Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Korea, Taiwan, India, and the Philippines – all based in Singapore.
had developed a concept where desalination is not dependent on energy-intensive heating and evaporation anymore. Sea water is, rather, channeled through an electrical field. This way energy usage per cubic meter of water is reduced from 10 kilowatt hours in common plants to 1.5 kilowatt hours. Even the very best technologies on the market today still need twice that amount of energy. This technological breakthrough could well lead to such desalination technologies being used more frequently around the world.
80 Mio.
Recycling surface water is only one part of the picture for Siemens employees when it comes to Singapore’s water supply. Another important project is ob80 million liters taining drinking water from the This is surely the case for of drinking water sea. To speed up development, Singapore as well. “As a small are produced every the city council has issued 300 island city-state, we have no million US dollars in research other choice but to invest in day by wastewater grants for innovative enterpristate-of-the-art infrastructure processing plants ses. During “Singapore Interand technology to make our in Kranji. national Water Week,” an intercity worth living in,” says Tony national tradeshow occuring Tan, acting prime minister for for the first time in June 2008 many years and one of the key for high performance industries, Singapore’s figures in Singapore’s 40 years of rising from a government awarded 3 million US dollars in rethird-world country to the top. “Leading intersearch grants for the first time ever for the best national technology corporations like Siemens technology which cuts the costs for desalination have played a significant part in this process.” in half. Siemens received the prize. Scientists
In the NEWater purification plant, surface water is first passed through ultra-thin membranes, then cleaned in a reverse osmosis process, and subsequently treated with germicidal UV rays. Resulting in high-quality drinking water.
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How does this work?
A water management system
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Management of global water resources is vital to creating sustainable water supplies for potable, agricultural, recreational, and industrial use. Keeping water flowing across the entire water cycle will become increasingly essential for mankind – for drinking water, industrial pro-
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Drinking water treatment
cess water, wastewater, and water transport. This requires high-performance, efficient solutions for water treatment, plant automation, electrical systems, and building technology, and the requisite services from financing, design and planning, commissioning, maintenance and emergency support, to modernization.
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A full range of potable water treatment and systems support municipalities in providing drinking water to their customers. These include conventional filtration, membrane filtration, clarification, disinfection, and control systems.
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In today‘s competitive environment, companies must manage costs associated with water and wastewater treatment. Siemens helps companies meet ever-increasing industrial regulations, while improving efficiency and reducing waste disposal costs.
Treatment plants and building topics Lighting, grounding, intercom and radio systems, air-conditioning, water and sewage, or pulpits – all these systems, while not part of the core process itself – are nevertheless necessary for the smooth operation of a plant. A complete range of services ensure that infrastructure systems always operate at high availability and productivity.
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Industrial process water Process water and high-purity water needs differ significantly across industries, with each industry having its own application requirements. High-purity water and chemical feed technologies help industrial and laboratory customers ensure consistent quantity and quality for their production and research needs.
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Efficient, high-performance pump stations and long-distance water supply systems ensure an efficient transportation process from the waterworks to the area to be supplied, ensuring that the end user can be supplied with water at any time.
Wastewater treatment A large portfolio of technologies and services help communities meet their wastewater treatment requirements. These include biological and anaerobic treatment, clarification, digestion, chemical feed, reclaim and reuse systems, and odor control systems. By reclaiming and reusing highly treated wastewater, communities can reduce the costs of clean water, ensuring adequate supplies, and help to preserve a diminishing natural resource.
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Water transportation
Energy and automation Totally Integrated Automation (TIA) and Totally Integrated Power (TIP) from Siemens provide an integrated and scalable product and system basis for meeting customers’ specific automation solutions. They allow reliable, flexible, and economical energy distribution and automation for the plant‘s daily operation.
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Electrotechnology and automation A modular water management system optimizes the plant‘s water supply. It consists of sewer control, leakage location and detection, and optimization of operations, and, beyond that, a document management system and electronic operation journal. This is accomplished with a wide product range such as flow measurement equipment, automation, SCADA and control systems including telecontrol technology, complex power unit systems, MV/LV-switching systems, and the complete program of electrotechnology. Services such as monitoring over the lifecycle, maintenance, upgrades, and rebuilding are included.
76 Industry Journal | Metropolitan Solutions 2011
Imprint Industry Journal | Special Edition Metropolitan Solutions Creating sustainable value through technological leadership
Published by Siemens AG Industry Sector Communications Werner-von-Siemens-Str. 50 91052 Erlangen, Germany
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Editor Gerald Odoj Siemens AG Industry Sector Communications Erlangen, Germany
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das AMT Gesellschaft für individuelle Kommunikation mbH & Co. KG Andreas Jung (CEO) Tiessenkai 10 D-24159 Kiel www.das-amt.net
Getty images: pp. 06/07, p. 12, S. 15, pp. 18/19, pp. 52/53, p. 54, p. 56 left, p. 58, pp. 60/61, p. 63 Pitopia: p. 56 right Thinkstock: p. 42 ©Foster + Partners/Masdar Initiative: p. 10, p. 11 © AS&P – Albert Speer & Partner GmbH: p. 31, p. 32, p. 33 © Robert Fischer: p. 31 right © Sierra Nevada College 2007–2009: p. 46 © Frank Aussieker/Visum: p. 49 © 2009 The Vertical Farm Project: p. 57
Contributors to this issue Christian Buck, Maximilian Geyer, Detlef Gürtler, Meike Hebestreit, Stefanie Heinrich, Ken Hutt, Andreas Jung, Mathias Peer, Jochen v. Plüskow, David Rosenblum Andrea Wiedemann, Martin Wiedemann
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Always well-informed, always up-to-date
From Industry Journal 01/2009 p. 78–73
This special edition of the Industry Journal, addressing the topic of “Metropolitan Solutions”, was created based on articles from the regularly published Siemens Industry Journal. You can obtain this magazine free of charge in the future. Keep your finger on the pulse of innovation and be one of the first to learn about and profit from the latest developments for more productivity, efficiency, and flexibility! Simply download the latest issue as a PDF file, or subscribe free to the printed magazine at www.siemens.com/industryjournal
From Industry Journal 01/2010 p. 06–17, p. 18–21
From Industry Journal 02/2010 p. 39–41, p. 52–56, p. 57–59, p. 60–67, p. 74–75
From Industry Journal 03/2010 p. 22–23, p. 36–38, p. 44–47
From Industry Journal 01/2011 p. 24–30, p. 31–33, p. 34–35, p. 42–43
02 Industry Journal | Metropolitan Solutions 2011 | Editor’s note
Intelligent buildings save on energy, not on light. Greater efficiency, greater recurring profit. With answers by Siemens.
Fact: Commercially used buildings could reduce their overall energy requirements by 50%, and save as much as 80% on lighting. Take the opportunity to do the right thing now. With integrated building technology by Siemens, and innovative lighting solutions by Osram, you can cut operating costs throughout the entire lifecycle. This
increases cost efficiency dramatically and reduces CO2 emissions permanently, all without sacrificing comfort and safety. Answers by Siemens and Osram convert energy efficiency into real profits. Day or night. Floor by floor. Room for room.
siemens.com /efficiencygains
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Creating sustainable value through technological leadership
Special Issue: Metropolitan Solutions
Urbanization
Mobility
Buildings
Water
How urban planners use smart sustainability concepts to slow down climate change.
How local governments use new traffic systems to reduce emissions and congestion.
How energy-efficient buildings save money and improve quality of life.
How filtration, disinfection and desalinization systems alleviate drinking water shortages.