Smarter, Greener Cities – The Need Of The Hour

Urban areas are now home to over half the world’s population and every week the global urban population grows by about 1.4 million people. This growth puts a lot of pressure on cities in the form of increased demand for transport, energy, telecommunications, waste management, water, and building infrastructure. This same population also consumes 70% of the energy that we produce; which means that, now more than ever, we need to make a change – for the better.

Technology has been a powerful tool in our advancement as a civilization, but at the same time can be accused of disturbing our planet. It has progressed to help us adapt and survive but it also possesses the ability to cause massive destruction. Technological progress has brought in remarkable prosperity but has failed to grow environmentally. The Earth’s limited resources are depleting due to their misuse and overuse, and the growing urban population is creating an irreversible impact on our environment. In a time where our survival depends on technology that is also causing our home harm, we need to learn to use it efficiently in the places where their impact is the greatest – our cities.

A smart city is an urban area that collects and then uses data to manage resources and services efficiently including transportation, utilities, waste management, and other information and community services. These cities are theoretically designed to minimize their impact on the environment while maximizing comfort, productivity and even assets that can be given back towards the betterment of the environment. A smart city integrates information and communication technology with physical devices to optimize the living conditions of the city with minimum wastage of resources like power and water. The advent of such technology would not only ensure that our urban cities are “greener” for the environment but also help us retrofit energy-efficient measures towards the health, prosperity, and comfort of citizens. With pollution levels on a constant rise in the cities, measures can be taken to integrate waste, pollution and environment management into the Internet of Things (IoT) that keeps the Smart City functioning at its peak.

ActiveBuildings is the first step to achieving this seemingly monumental task by improving Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) using data analyzed from easy-to-install and network-integrated air quality sensors. Smart buildings are set to improve key quality-of-life indicators, such as health, safety, and environmental quality, by 10 to 30 percent, and an economically sound air quality monitoring and improvement system are just what ActiveBuildings brings to the table.