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The "Eco-City" the European city in 2030

It is 2030 in the European Union and today's cities from the largest capital cities to the smallest suburbs and provincial towns have been undergoing a major transformation in the last 20 years. The city of the mid-20th century, churning out pollution, wasting energy and clogged with traffic and all the carbon footprint, congestion and stress it used to cause with its skylines dominated by ugly, concrete buildings, has long since disappeared. In its place stands a city where human, environmental, social and economic demands are carefully balanced.

This transformation was unavoidable. By 2010, the expansion of Europe's cities posed an ever-growing threat to the environment and to quality of life. Only 2% of the planet was urbanised, yet these vast, sprawling metropolises accommodated some 3.5 billion human beings and consumed 75% of the world's resources. The energy costs that these cities faced were reaching unprecedented levels. Between 2005 and 2015, however, a change in mentality also occurred as, both individually and collectively, people began to realise the importance of striking the right balance between economic needs on the one hand and resource and environmental sustainability on the other. Despite facing major challenges, the work begun in the 1990s by the United Nations, including the Kyoto Protocol and the Rio and Copenhagen Summits, had sown the seeds of change. This growing commitment to sustainable development, which had started as a symbolic gesture among political circles, gradually began to take effect as other economic stakeholders came on board, including governments, regulators and major players in industry and manufacturing (energy, transport, automotive, construction, etc.). The transformation of Europe's cities into Eco-Cities in the 2030s can be attributed to several factors: The wide-scale use of renewable energy sources (solar, wind, geothermal, etc.) and electricity storage (grid-connected batteries, etc.) within urban infrastructures. This led to an increase in the amount of renewable energy produced directly by these infrastructures. It also led to the development and expansion of "eco-districts", comprising intelligent, energy-plus buildings, turning them into virtual power plants. The reduction in the carbon footprint of eco-districts and cities in general, designed to achieve cities that are carbon neutral within their own environment.

The growth in public transport, including the introduction of energy management systems within transport infrastructures (metro systems, trams and electric car charging systems) and the development of transfer interfaces to release electricity back into the urban energy grid. The introduction of new, multi-functional information systems, capable of monitoring the precise carbon footprint of each individual urban facility or network. Between 2010 and 2030, these systems developed to such an extent that they were able to provide performance indicators and, eventually, allowed local or regional authorities to rank their cities within the European "Carbon Trading Scheme".

National government and European Commission commitments on major climate change issues (the "Grenelles de lenvironnement" environmental round-table discussion in France, the reduction in industrial CO2 emissions, carbon tax projects and targets to increase the proportion of renewable energy use to 20% by 2020) had a major impact on urban planning policies and on energy management initiatives in major cities throughout the European Union. In an effort to reduce the impact of energy consumption and production on the carbon footprint of European cities, major industrial firms began working on an integrated approach in the early 2010s, designed to control energy use and manage local energy resources across the entire urban area. The potential was huge, and the transformation no less so. In its drive to improve energy efficiency, the Eco-City of 2030 has become an inseparable web of interconnected networks (energy, water, communication, public transport, carbon footprint monitoring), together forming a scalable city, where resources can be channelled in the most efficient way possible to reduce costs and the city's environmental impact. The "smart city" of 2030 is now run by an ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) network infrastructure, under which the energy and information networks are merged into one. This hybrid structure has enabled cities to function more efficiently, promoting social, cultural and human development while successfully mitigating the environmental impact of these activities. A city may rightly be called a "smart city" when investment in human and social capital, and in both traditional (transport) and new (ICT) infrastructures leads to growth and creates jobs. It is also a sustainable city, in which there is a careful balance between resource efficiency and quality of life (including the average level of education). The smart city is founded on the cornerstones of energy efficiency and sustainable development. These two key principles are reflected in its urban landscape: - Office and residential buildings now have their own renewable energy sources (solar panels or miniature wind turbines on their roofs) and electricity storage units (gridconnected batteries). - Intelligent buildings with their own energy management and control systems also contribute to more efficient energy consumption. - Intelligent energy management systems can be found in eco-districts throughout the city. The use of energy storage and renewable energy technologies only came into its own when these resources were properly coordinated at district or city-wide level. With these intelligent "micro-grids" in place, cities are able to optimise their

use of green energy sources, extend the lifespan of energy production and consumption facilities and monitor infrastructure energy consumption and production levels in real time. Car-sharing schemes are in place, using fleets of electric vehicles, allowing authorities to manage the public transport network and urban network resources more effectively. There are vast electric public transport networks, substantially reducing the city's carbon footprint. Energy-plus tram/metro stations have been built, where the energy produced by braking is recovered and stored, and subsequently released into the urban electricity grid. Wastewater recovery systems, energy-producing solar surfaces, etc.

The Eco-City is managed jointly by public institutions, stakeholders from the energy, construction, telecommunications and transport sectors and, most importantly, by urban citizens themselves, who are well trained in sustainability and are responsible for managing their own energy consumption and the carbon impact of their activities. The Eco-City (or "smart city") of 2030 be it Copenhagen, Manchester, Strasbourg or elsewhere is the logical outcome of sustainable city initiatives begun by governments and industrial companies and manufacturing firms in the 2010s. Through this simple and now universally accepted principle that it is possible to reconcile human well-being and respect for the environment the Eco-City has proven that energy-management, construction, transport, telecommunications and other types of technology are capable of reversing the trend for urban expansion and of creating a city of the future where economic demands, quality of life and sustainable development can co-exist.

Model Based Engineering

Forecasting & Simulation

Scheduling & Dispatch

Maintenance & CO2 Tracking

C loud C omputing Through Web services Internet Ethernet IT Bus


Historisation

SCADA

Ethernet C ontrol Bus

Advanced C C O2 apture C ontrols

Storage Management

Renewable Farm Management

Transportation Energy Management

Building Energy Management

The "Eco-City" of 2030 towards an integrated urban network that covers all resources and functions

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