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Smart Cities - Blog Post 3 - COVID-19 and How it is Changing our World

WHAT IS CORONAVIRUS?

COVID-19, is a disease created by a strain of coronavirus, and has spread like rapid-fire throughout the world over the course of approximately 4 months after emerging in December in China. “COVID-19 symptoms can range from mild (or no symptoms) to severe illness” (CDC). Due to a lack of immunity to the disease, citizens across the world have been asked to stay home and social distance from one another. Thus, limiting those who may go to their place of work and access resources.

COVID CHALLENGES

All spheres of life are affected by the coronavirus but for this discussion have been broken into three specific challenges that will impact all areas across the globe. These challenges include the economy, food security, and mental health.

The financial world is collapsing as a direct result of the disease. People are unable to work and provide services as to avoid contact with the public and their co-workers. Thus, people are not being paid, and do not have as much money as they normally would to spend. Because of the lack of businesses open, combined with the incredibly high number of unemployed individuals, the economy is not stimulated. Stocks are tanking and people are unable to pay for their basic needs – including food.

Food insecurity is already a large issue in the United States. According to Feeding America, “In 2018, an estimated 1 in 9 Americans were food insecure, equating to over 37 million Americans, including more than 11 million children” (Feeding America). Being food insecure means an individual is unable to access and/or afford food to promote a healthy lifestyle. COVID, in stifling citizen’s incomes and their access to many stores due to closings and emphasis on social distancing, has only exacerbated this issue. Because schools are no longer in-person, students who received free or reduced lunch due to their families being unable to provide for them, may no longer do so.

Finally, what is making all extroverts so woeful – social distancing and the effects of it on mental health. “Social distancing is something we do because we appreciate and honor community needs over personal convenience. Distancing is not the norm of the human condition.” (Roberts) Humans are inherently social creatures. Distancing due to the virus means people are unable to engage with other individuals besides those in their own home. While necessary, social distancing means our desire for human contact is not being met.

CHANGES AND POSSIBLE SMART CITY SOLUTIONS AMID COVID CRISIS

Although no one can be exactly sure what the world will consist of post-COVID when a vaccine is developed, experts can only make educated predictions as to the human environment when this pandemic blows over. Using the three major challenges as guidelines, three major changes for the world following the height of the pandemic have been highlighted.

1. FOOD

First, the food system will experience major alterations. Food safety and food shopping practices will have evolved as people have become more careful about how much they buy (whether that is for stockpiling or the opposite), how often they buy, what they buy, and adapting cleaning habits when it comes to bringing food from groceries into their homes.

Food is also social. We are not meant to eat alone. The social side of eating will likely emerge as a way to reconnect with others and help unravel some of the mental health damage done by social distancing. “Humans are social animals, let it never be forgotten” (Roberts).

COVID-19 has highlighted how desperately some citizens need food banks or in the example of students, free and reduced lunch. “Even before this virus hit, food banks and pantries were struggling to meet the needs of an estimated 37 million Americans who routinely struggle with hunger” (Egger). Now, volunteering and donations are low. Once the pandemic is let up, applications should be put in place to show people where food banks are within a city, what their supplies are, and who they are supplying to. If the intended crowd is students who have been granted free and reduced lunch, then that will be communicated on the application. Those in need of food can narrow their search of their area, if they are a student or elderly, or even if they have filed for unemployment to allow them to see the places that they are able to access food. Some food banks may require online paperwork to verify an individual’s status – such as if they are a student in need of free food. Upon arrival all that will need to be done is the volunteer will scan a code on the customer’s phone of will be able to look them up on a device at the location in case the customer does not have access to a mobile device. This leaves some privacy for the consumers as well and for the most part creates and environment for “no questions asked”.

This application would also allow citizens to sign up to volunteer. A minimum number of volunteers would be set for each location, and the specific location would only open if this minimum number of volunteers is met. The app should provide more opportunities for clean and available food sources for those who are food insecure. Heavier protocols will be followed at locations and all of those working will have to sign off on wearing gloves and protective gear – serving the same purpose as a mask does currently: to protect others not necessarily yourself.

Image: Adams, S. – displaying a line for a food bank during COVID-19 outbreak

2. TELEWORKING

In another effort of social distancing to avoid contamination, people have been asked to work from home. The world has come to the realization that teleworkers can be, in some cases, just as effective by working from their homes, thus eliminating the need for some office spaces. In a quote from Matt Mullenweg, chief executive of WordPress and Tumblr, ‘“Millions of people will get the chance to experience days without long commutes, or the harsh inflexibility of not being able to stay close to home when a family member is sick… This might be a chance for a great reset in terms of how we work,”’ (Hern).

As a result, there is a projected decrease in the use of buildings in urban areas for offices and workspaces. In the current world, where technology becomes more advanced and mobile, and wifi is increasingly available, working from home is made easier.

To smooth over any hiccups that will be experienced for those who will be working from home, an application will be created that allows workers to clock themselves in, organize meetings (using Zoom or Skype perhaps) and their workdays, set or be given deadlines, etc..

Tools will be provided on the application including a calculator showing how much the individual has worked in the week and how many hours they have left to work if they are someone who is not on a salary, the ability to show if they or their coworkers are online, the ability to video chat and set up meetings, etc.. This application would incorporate the tools of both Google (such as the calendar), Zoom or Skype (in terms of chatting ability), and Box – a document cloud space so employees are able to share large amounts of content quickly with one another.

A concern that comes along with working from home is the bandwidth it takes to connect with these services constantly. This application would be able to provide a dashboard displaying just how much data and bandwidth is being used for that application specifically. To protect the individual’s privacy, it is only able to access this data for the application – not anything else running on the computer.

A monitoring system to be paired with this application may be implemented in the office space of a company. The simple system would use sensors to collect data on how often the office space is used – i.e., lighting, internet, etc. – and organize the data in a dashboard display. Managers or owners of the company are able to view how often the space is being used and then are able to assess how essential the space is.

Image: Laporte, Lisa

3. TRANSPORTATION

Because of this decrease in the number of people needing to commute to work, there will be significantly less people on the road. Transportation as a whole will be altered due to the pandemic. Public transit may fall in popularity following the footsteps of social distancing and due to the fear of contracting germs from other individuals, but most people will likely still not drive themselves everywhere – especially in large urban areas. This leaves the door open for “Small vehicles that carry a few people and can accommodate flexible schedules and destinations” (Fulton) – much like UberPool.

Applications like Uber and Lyft do a wonderful job of providing shared ride services to the public. A combination of smart city solutions could be implemented to better this change in transportation. First, an overarching ride sharing application could be created – showing ride offers for all of the services provided in a specific area. For Bloomington this would include Lyft, Uber, and Nomad. Along with the list of services, the details of how many people have joined a ride, a map displaying which drivers of which service are closest to you (as is done with Uber), and all of the differing prices will be displayed. This may increase competition between ride services but may also even the playing field of ride prices, just as two competing gas stations across the street from one another would experience.

Sensors collecting data on how much public transportation is being used in an area could be made public. This data could simply be from Bloomington Transit buses in the case of Bloomington. Every time a student steps onto a bus, the driver is required to press a button, assumable to keep track of the number of riders. Trends would be able to be graphed and displayed if this data was made available. Ride services could benefit from this by knowing when to deploy more or less drivers, as well as the public could know when it is safer to ride if there are less people.

Following the thread of gas prices, it may be important to have an application displaying a map of all gas stations and their current prices. COVID has made it difficult to predict the gas prices and being able to stay in your home and view the prices before leaving your home can become important. It minimizes one’s time outside – which is important for social distancing – but it is also helpful in today’s world COVID-19 or not.

Sources:

- Adams, S. (2020, April 6). Hundreds wait in long lines at Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank for food giveaway. Retrieved April 22, 2020, from https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-allegheny/long-lines-continue-at-pittsburgh-food-bank/

- CDC. (n.d.). What you should know about COVID-19 to protect yourself and others. Retrieved April 23, 2020, from https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/downloads/2019-ncov-factsheet.pdf

- Covid-19 could cause permanent shift towards home working. (2020, March 13). Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/mar/13/covid-19-could-cause-permanent-shift-towards-home-working

- Feeding America. (n.d.). What Is Food Insecurity in America? Retrieved April 23, 2020, from https://hungerandhealth.feedingamerica.org/understand-food-insecurity/

- Lisa Laporte, lisa-laporte. (n.d.). 4 Benefits Of Working Remotely. Retrieved from https://issuu.com/lisa-laporte/docs/12_16_4_benefits_of_working_remotely

- Roberts, W. (2020, April 2). Four Ways COVID-19 will Change Food Systems and Food Security. Retrieved April 23, 2020, from https://www.resilience.org/stories/2020-04-02/four-ways-covid-19-will-change-food-systems-and-food-security/

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ethroop · 5 years ago

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Post 2 - Community Meeting

The Bloomington Historic Preservation Commission met on Thursday, February 27th, 2020 at 5:00PM to review commissions of homes within the different historic districts in the town. The meeting took place in the Bloomington City Hall in the McCloskey Conference Room. In attendance, was the panel itself, consisting of two women and six men, all were white and over 40 years old, and the audience – consisting of 13 other individuals, all of which were white and predominantly men.

Upon entrance to the meeting room, there was a chair that propped open the door, also offering a handout that gave the agenda for the meeting. The defendants and panel members were given a larger packet with further details on all of the homes being discussed. The agenda was laid out as follows:

I was only present for the sections I through IV because after this was going over the meeting time of 5-9PM. I did not stay for the Demolition Delay section of the meeting – only the certificates of appropriateness.

The goal of these meetings of the Historic Preservation Commission is to sustain historically accurate architecture and construction. Any type of home improvement or changes within any of the Bloomington Historic areas is subject to judgement under the panel’s eyes. These historic areas include but are not limited to: the Elm Heights Historic District, the McDoel Historic District, Greater Prospect Hill Historic District, Near West Side Conservation District, and Showers Furniture Factory Historic District.

Homes under scrutiny are picked to be reviewed at these biweekly meetings to evaluate how the changes the home is to undergo (or has already undergone) does not follow the guidelines of the historic areas and how the owners of the properties can fix these problems.

Following the agenda, the staff reviewed property did not promote much discussion – the owner was told to halt his alterations to the home on the exterior and the petitioner left. The first commission review following this took a considerable amount of time. The board berated the land lord of a property that exists in the Elm Heights District. In order to quickly remedy a clay pipe that had burst, the petitioner had pulled up part of the front yard to replace the pipe, thus having to install a new set of stairs with a metal railing and a new deck that sets on top of the old concrete steps, which had become a bit of a tripping hazard. The petitioner was heavily criticized for her use of building materials especially in this process. Apparently, the use of a metal railing was absolutely unacceptable, and the wood used to build the deck was completely inappropriate in that she was covering the limestone and concrete walkway that defined the historic area. They found that her, the petitioner’s, solutions were (and I quote) “clumsy” and “seemingly inappropriate to the surrounding architecture”.

While I fully respect preserving history, the methods that this panel go about doing things seemed a little stuck up, especially after sitting through the first commission review. Commission review A (the one described above – see handout for key) was the only review where the petitioner was a woman. Although I could be projecting, it seemed as if because she was a woman, the panel ripped her apart more than any other review and seemingly ganged up on her. Her review easily took 45 minutes, in comparison to the average of about 10-15 minutes for all of the other reviews. They used more berating words and continued to drag on about how awful her solution was, and the conclusion of what actions she should take were mixed in with their criticisms and hard to extract.

The staff recommendation as a solution to her poor judgement was that she replace the metal railings with wood again (which is what it was originally and was removed because it was rotting), the concrete steps to be replaced with limestone, and the new deck to be at least stained a darker shade (all stains had to be approved by the board of course). In essence, everything that she had just put in place to make her front yard more sustainable and resistant to an incident like this happening again, she would have to undo. If that’s not a tall order, I don’t know what is. I believe she was doing what was best in the moment. Her solution was not an eyesore and was definitely more sustainable in the long run than what the panel was telling her she should have done. Below is an image of the solutions the petitioner implemented.

The following issues discussed included: a proposal for an addition to a home in the McDoel Historic District – which was approved. An alteration and remodeling of a small shed-like structure on a property in the Greater Prospect Hill Historic District – which would be reconsidered after another design was submitted and the petitioner came to the next meeting to have his ideas looked at for a third or fourth time. A request to build a home on a vacant lot in the Near West Side Conservation District – which was approved because the petitioner included blueprints and a list of materials to be included in the build. And finally converting an old, abandoned kiln building in the Showers Furniture Factory Historic District into an office and commercial space. This last design was not approved and was asked to be redrawn again after the panel decided it looked to modern. The design kept the base of the brick building – improving and making the inside safe – while building a more modern upper level on it. The upper level used lots of glass and dark grey siding to complement the red brick. The panel mostly disliked the large sheets of glass serving as railings for the top level, and thus asked for a re-submission. The design can be seen below.

In terms of smart city tactics, they used a software that I have actually helped organize data for – which was an amazing surprise. The software is called Elevate. It is a Geographic Information System (GIS) platform designed and built by 39 Degrees North, a local company started here in Bloomington. Elevate serves only select counties within Indiana, providing parcel information including blueprints, history of owners, geographic location, and other statistics. The Historic Preservation Commission used Elevate to view some of the homes that were under review for this meeting. The software provided images of the home so the panel could have a visual representation of the problem at hand. I am so proud that Elevate is being used, as it is always special to see something you’ve worked on being implemented in the world, even if I have only worked with data for Clark County and not Monroe.

The whole meeting seemed very old school and outdated in how it was set up, who it was set up by, and the information provided to everyone during the meeting – i.e., the massive packets of paper with the entire slide show that was used during the meeting printed out. Unfortunately, because this whole meeting and panel is about preserving history and having anything too modern or technologically advance on or around the homes would be going against their ideals. To remedy this, I believe a simple online application could be of use. The application would include an interactive map that set out the borders of all the historic districts within Bloomington. Each historic district would have its own “look book” with guidelines on how to go about home improvements of each one. History of each district would be provided to supplement and further encourage home owners in the area to keep up the look of that era. This would include old photos for reference and current homes that withhold the design ideals that the Historic Preservation Commission believes are appropriate. Materials that are acceptable to use and how to use them could be listed – especially including materials that serve as a look-a-like replacement to less sustainable and durable materials that would have been used in the time period that the neighborhoods represent. An online submission would be available for homeowners to submit their desired design changes to the panel. This would allow the Commission to view the petition, make a decision if they immediately would like to allow or veto it, and if they would like to follow-up with an in-person meeting such as the one I attended. One of the main issues at the meeting seemed to be that some of the petitioners had attended three or four times in a row with minor tweaks to their proposals in hopes of getting approved by the panel. Finally, within the application, if petitioners did make it to come before the panel, I believe the slideshow used within the meeting should be made available within the application to make it easily accessible to anyone and everyone, on top of not wasting the incredible amount of paper that I saw used during this meeting.

Below is an image of me at the meeting.

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ethroop · 5 years ago

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Oslo - Smart Lighting Technologies

As the world experiences increasing effects due to climate change, cities across the globe have been making efforts to be more “green” in their activities. We often see smart city solutions in an attempt to solve these arising global warming and climate change issues. This is particularly true of European countries.

Europe set up directives to reduce carbon emissions, thus Norway introduced a smart lighting solution in Oslo, its capital. As the capital, Oslo is a very large urban center with a population of ~670,000 people. According to Thorn Lighting, “Oslo has been ranked number one in terms of quality of life and is among the 39 signatory cities to the LUCI Charter on Urban Lighting” (Thorn). The LUCI Association promotes “a culture of sustainability in lighting” (LUCI Association). In an attempt to utilize ICTs to improve safety on the road and in public areas, save energy, and limit lighting while still allowing the city to be aesthetically pleasing, smart lighting was born and provided by Thorn Lighting. The Smart Street Light system was born as a result in 2011. This system integrates technologies from a few different companies to shape the project. LONWORKS provides energy management solutions, and is used by Kongsberg Analogic, which integrated this smart lighting system. Philips Lighting is the Dutch lighting solutions company utilized, combined with Thorn Lighting that produces the lamps themselves.

“Oslo chose an Echelon smart lighting system based on LONWORKS technology; an open architecture that lets control devices from multiple manufacturers interact with each other” (Tomas). Echelon’s SmartServers, manage the streetlights, and log and report how much energy these streetlights use in addition to the length they run during a given day

“A total of more than 4,000 Thorn Legend, Thor, Urba and R212 street lanterns have been installed in the city” (Thorn Lighting), but the project has ended up including 65,000 smart lights. The different types of lamps provided by Thorn are specific to the parts of the city they are implemented in to promote safety and visibility. The lights are suspended in different ways depending on the setting they are placed in. This can be, for example, a central street area versus a residential area. The first image included is an example of one of the lamps. Enabled with lighting controls, these lamp’s efficiency falls between 30 to 80%. They ensure there is not over-lighting, with light levels based on knowledge of the flow of traffic and the time of day. The lights dim according to traffic, weather, and available light. This smart technology within the lamps can also identify when a lamp fails to perform correctly and report this information back.

The general objective of the project is to control lighting and electrical costs and become more energy efficient fueled by the city of Oslo’s desire to be more environmentally friendly. Overall, the city will have more control, which is a general theme with smart cities: giving the people control over their environment. According to Oslo’s Street Division, they concluded that Oslo used “way too much light. We don’t need that kind of light for the road to be safe – especially during some parts of the day when you can have lower light and still have enough” (Cisco). While initiating the project, the city ran into the issue of the EU law not allowing the dimming of streetlights. The law was changed for the Elm project.

In conclusion, the city saved 1.3 million US dollars in electricity annually, and the maintenance costs were reduced due to the sensors being able to notify the support system for Elm. A write-up by Cisco states that the “new system will pay for itself in less than three years” (Cisco). The project helped highlight Oslo as a leader in the race for large cities to become environmentally friendly.

Casting light into community spaces and streets promotes a connection to the city, encouraging people to spend more time in these spaces and thus feel more connected to their community. Lighting makes or breaks a space, and if the lighting is sufficient, then it makes a place feel more welcoming than if it was dim or completely dark. This lighting solution makes the citizen feel prioritized while saving energy and reducing light pollution at the same time.

I am extremely supportive and have high praise for this project and I do not have any criticisms for it. I am obsessed with turning all of the lights off in my home, to the point where I irritate my roommates. Saving energy is something that is close to my heart. Similar to the air quality sensing solution in Boston, I only wish that it was implemented in more cities.

If it would be possible to put solar panels on the lights so they require energy from the grid only when there isn’t enough energy saved up. This could lower the cost for the city even more. It may an initially expensive cost to install the lights, but the fact that the system can pay for itself within three years should be initiative enough for more places across the globe to integrate it.

Image 1 - example of one of the Thorn Lighting lamps used in Oslo

Sources:

“City of Oslo, Norway.” City of Oslo, Norway - English, Thorn Lighting, 23 July 2018, www.thornlighting.com/en/solutions/case-studies/smart-city/efficient-leds-and-smart-controls-in-city-of-oslo.

“Charter on Urban Lighting.” LUCI Association - Lighting Urban Community International, LUCI Association, www.luciassociation.org/about-luci/charter-on-urban-lighting/.

Oshin. “Top 3 Global Smart Cities That Are Helping The Environment.” Greener Ideal, 6 Nov. 2017, greenerideal.com/news/top-3-global-smart-cities-helping-environment/.

Tomás, Juan Pedro, et al. “Case Study: Oslo Using Smart Lighting to Drive Sustainability.” Enterprise IoT Insights, 10 Oct. 2017, enterpriseiotinsights.com/20171010/smart-cities/oslo-smart-lighting-sustainability-tag23-tag99.

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ethroop · 5 years ago

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Boston - Elm Air Quality Monitoring

In 2014, Perkin Elmer, a company that helps lead sustainability efforts within cities, launched Elm. Elm is an air quality monitoring system and service implemented in Boston, Massachusetts. The service provided is an online and mobile application that displays real-time data on a dashboard-like display, showing the air quality in different locations across the city.

In twenty-five different locations in the city, Perkin Elmer has placed sensors that measure 7 different air quality indicators. These indicators include: “ozone (O3), totally reducing gases (TRG), similar to volatile organic compounds (VOC), noise, particulate matter (PM), total oxidizing gases (TOG), similar in trend to nitrogen dioxide (NO2), temperature, and humidity” (PerkinElmer). The sensors collect and read the surrounding air every 20 seconds. This allows those using the application to always have a real time update, 24 hours a day. The particulate matter sensor that Perkin Elmer produced measures volume scattering. Here, “particles (possibly including particles larger than 2.5 µm) entering the sensor scatter light from an internal light source. The scattered light signal is converted to an estimated particle mass concentration” (EPA).

Our experiences in our day to day lives are directly influenced by the quality of the air surrounding us. Air pollutants degrade the quality of life for plants as well, not allowing them to conduct photosynthesis as effectively as they should be able to. As a result, these plants cannot clean the air as effectively on top of the fact that there are very little plants and trees within urban settings. This raises awareness for both human health and for other living organisms as well. Perkin Elmer’s goal is for people to understand how much pollution, but air pollution in particular, can affect them and the impacts these pollutants can have on these individual’s health. The Elm project utilizes the IoT within these sensors (ICTs) to improve a living space. This project is about raising awareness. Elm creates healthier neighborhoods; residents are aware of their wellness choices and are allowed to examine pollution trends within their area.

Creating a visual manifestation of data and information from any technology can have a profound effect on the user. Having this representation can help users understand and process this information set before them faster than if they were asked to read an essay involving the same data.

The data collected allows scientists at Perkin Elmer to make observations and conclusions about the air quality at particular times. For example, from the data it is visible that Tuesdays have the highest level of particulate matter within the week, the ozone is at its highest between 1pm and 3pm during the summer months, and May and June are the noisiest months. From these claims, they can suggest to users within the city to try to stay indoors on Tuesdays and shift their activities to another time of day during the summer months other than between 1 and 3pm.

I am personally a visual learner and I love creating maps. This map application created by Elm is one of the reasons I love mapping and GIS (geographic information systems/science) – the visual component is what sells it – to me and the consumer. GIS, and any visual representation whether it’s a map or a graph allows you to manipulate the data. You decided exactly what you want the user to see, and in some cases interpret without having them dig through paragraphs of scientific research.

Studying geography, one of the first things we are taught is that maps only show selective truths. While it is impossible to acquire all information for any scenario, it is also impossible to show all information for any scenario. This can sometimes lead to the creator lying with a map by only displaying data that will support their claims, but it can also allow the creator to home in on important aspects. The latter is something particularly special about maps that I enjoy combined with the visual component. Luckily with this data set there is not much to hide from the user. Elm has the simple task of just displaying the numbers it collects in a given area.

I don’t have any criticisms of this project. I think it is a strong and effective way of raising awareness about air pollution. I would love to see it put into many other cities across the globe. Then if possible, showing both local data and allowing users to compare general statistics between different cities where the Elm sensors have been implemented.

Air pollution is a massive issue especially in large urban spaces. As the density of urban areas continues to rise due to the trend of people wanting to move back into the city, the need for more energy to power our lives increases with this. Burning fossil fuels and pushing pollutants into the air results from this, creating poor breathing air. This project helps the every day citizen be aware of the air they are breathing in and having their bodies deal with. This awareness can potentially push people to be more conscious about the greenhouse gases they produce, and hopefully decrease this amount of pollutants we push into the air.

My only suggestion is somehow promoting the product and making it available in more cities – which Perkin Elmer has made clear that they want to do. The map layout is perfect and displaying where the sensors are in relation to one another

The user is allowed to look on the map and connect where they are in relation to where the nearest sensor is. It creates the feeling that they are being prioritized while providing relevant and localized data.

Images 1 & 2:

“Elm - Innovation IoT Solution to Monitior Air Quality.” Cantina, cantina.co/work/elm/.

Sources:

“PerkinElmer Launches Novel Real-Time Air Quality Sensor Network.” PerkinElmer, Inc., 9 June 2014, ir.perkinelmer.com/news-releases/news-release-details/perkinelmer-launches-novel-real-time-air-quality-sensor-network.

“Evaluation of Emerging Air Pollution Sensor Performance.” EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, 21 Nov. 2019, www.epa.gov/air-sensor-toolbox/evaluation-emerging-air-pollution-sensor-performance.

PerkinElmer. “Advances in the Visualization of Urban Air Quality Data and Environme...” LinkedIn SlideShare, 5 Feb. 2016, www.slideshare.net/PerkinElmer/advances-in-the-visualization-of-urban-air-quality-data-and-environmental-monitoring-using-tibco-spotfire-and-the-elm-air-sensing-network.

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ethroop · 5 years ago

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SolarRoad - Netherlands

The Netherlands is known for their love of cycling; the bike culture in this region is enormous. In comparison to a place such as America, it is far more sustainable than the United States’ heavy reliance on individualistic automobile transport.

In 2014, in the small town of Krommenie, which is roughly 12.5 miles (22 kilometers) from Amsterdam in the Netherlands, a project called SolaRoad began. SolaRoad replaced an already existing bike path asphalt strip with solar modules. This stretch of solar panels is ~250 feet (70 meters) long. In effect, the SolaRoad collects solar energy and puts it back into the grid in Krommenie. The goal of SolaRoad is to make clean energy available almost by “invisible” and “seamless” means.

The lab tested panels allowed scientists to make the prediction that the technology would produce 70 kWh annually per square meter. Shockingly, the panels exceeded expectations and produced 9,800 kWh in the first year! This number of kilowatts is enough to power three Dutch households for a whole year.

The project attracted 300,000 cyclists and scooters in this initial year. The stretch of solar panels was expanded 20 meters in 2016, two years after SolaRoad was introduced. With this update came new thin-film photovoltaic panels. SolaRoad hopes to expand into cities in Holland for a total of 150 meters of pavement.

These solar bike paths of course cannot compete with normal solar panels that are placed on roofs of buildings because of influences such as bikers bloking the sunlight. Yet, it is still more productive in energy terms than having a simple asphalt bike path. “The more solar electricity we can generate via cost-competitive means versus the alternative, the better” (Rooij). This is an example of how smart cities are utilizing spaces and technologies, in this case, a simple bike path (yes, this is a technology), as the host for ICTs to better make use of all surfaces within a city. This is done to help better the community and maximize energy production without producing greenhouse gases. It encourages both a greener form of transportation as well as clean energy.

Luckily, riders hardly appeared to notice a difference in the experience of riding on this new surface created by the solar panels. Unfortunately, poor weather within the first month of rolling out the project caused the top layer of some of the panels to come off. Updates were made and the panels were quickly replaced.

Similar projects are being developed in the US and France. In the US, Solar Roadways a solar panel covered road that also de-ices the surface is being created, and in France, Wattway, is an attempt to cover 1,000 kilometers of roadway in the panels.

I have personally always been fascinated with solar power. This project is just one example of how such an amazing amount of energy can be produced from solar panels. But I also feel as if there is more potential for this project. Remembering a project created in London where when a pedestrian strolled across and ICT walkway, the pressure they put on this walkway would generate kinetic energy. The amount of energy generated wasn’t massive, but possibly on a large scale with this massive volume of cyclists could make a huge difference.

While riders claim that this new surface does not change their experience a noticeable amount, could this same technology even be applicable to something like cars? The projects being created in both the US and France seem unlikely to result to anything because of the weight and form of the vehicles. Cars are so much heavier than harder on surfaces than a cyclist. The impact a car has does not even come close to the impact a semi-truck would have. Automobiles also take up a massive amount of surface area in comparison. This solar panel roadway solution is perfect for roadways for bicycles because a human on a bike does not block a lot of sunlight due to the shape and form of the person and bike. A solid block, such as a car, blocks most sunlight, not allowing the solar panel to collect energy. It is also slightly concerning that even after intensive lab testing the panels still failed after a month in the real world. If this technology was being used in a roadway utilized by cars, it would be disastrous closing down the road to fix the panels. In addition, fixing the panels could potentially be very expensive considering it is a fairly new technology and is not mass produced. But on the flip side, this is all the more reason to create more roadways like this – the price of the panels will go down, thus being easier to fix, and more clean energy will be produced.

While the technology isn’t perfect it is still working so efficiently. The main downside to this project appears to be that it is still in the experimental phase. It is unclear how this energy is being distributed and utilized in the community. The only source I could find states that the SolaRoad “can feed energy back to the grid” (Huntington).

It is disappointing to me that projects like this will not develop in the US, or if they do it will not be for a very long time. The cycling community, even at its strongest, is nowhere near the level it is in the Netherlands.

I would be curious to know if short walls around the sides of the roadway that could collect reflected light from the surface of the solar panels, without letting there be and glare for the cyclist’s eyes, would provide much more kilowatts of energy. The walls would have to be fairly short for this light to not refract into people’s vision, to still provide sunlight from all angles, and for the path to have the feeling of a road. If the walls were too high it could potentially make the road feel like a tunnel, in essence ruining the experience and reason for solar panels.

Image 1:

“SolaRoad.” SolaRoad, en.solaroad.nl/.

Image 2:

@Stop-SolaRoad. “Seeing Is Believing, i Never Believed It Anyway, Solaroad Sucks (Tax Money).” Twitter, 29 Oct. 2019, twitter.com/Stop_Solaroad/status/1189216271591772160.

Sources:

van Rooij, Rogier. “Dutch Solar Bike Path SolaRoad Successful & Expanding.” CleanTechnica, 22 June 2019, cleantechnica.com/2017/03/12/dutch-solar-bike-path-solaroad-successful-expanding/.

Huntington, Scott. “Looking at the Dutch Solar Bike Path After One Year.” Triple Pundit, 11 Jan. 2016, www.triplepundit.com/story/2016/looking-dutch-solar-bike-path-after-one-year/29346.

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