Smart cities
A new way of designing electricity distribution and generation
We need new cities that can use cleaner energy and manage it more smartly
In the future we will live in cities where everything happens more harmoniously. Where the environment is cleaner and the energy used is greener because it takes advantage of the energy generated by the sea, rivers, the sun, and the wind. Where consumers are more self-reliant because they are able to minimize costs by producing their own e energy and manage their consumption in real time. Where vehicles do not pollute, they are quieter, they are supplied with renewable energy, and they will make it possible to store the excess energy produced.
The future of the planet depends on our ability to change to more sustainable and less resource-intensive living standards. We need new cities that can use cleaner energy and manage it more smartly.
Smart cities are characterized by the use of smart grids in which digital technology enables traditional grid problems to be solved, with advantages at various levels.
Advantages of smart cities
At home
Consumers know exactly when, how, and where they spend energy during the day and can:
- Program appliances to run at the most convenient times;
- Manage real-time consumption, minimizing costs;
- Enjoy new services and price plans tailored to their consumer profiles;
- Use integrated home solutions to interact with consumer devices;
- Remotely activate services such as tariff and power changes;
- Produce energy at home, for own use or for sale to the grid, by installing photovoltaic solar panels or small wind turbines;
- Achieve more efficient energy management by consulting the balance online between what they consume and what they produce.
At work
Smart grids enhance:
- Industrial projects and skill centres that create employment and exports;
- Scientific research projects in collaboration with academia;
- Innovative tools enabling companies to monitor their energy consumption in a very detailed and reliable manner;
- Adjust energy consumption to business activity, which may result in higher levels of efficiency and lower consumption;
- Provision of more and better products and services by utilities.
In public spaces
What changes in public spaces?
- Replacement of traditional lighting by LED technology - with a 40% to 50% reduction in electricity consumption;
- Setting of lighting according to natural light conditions: with the lights becomes active and progressively brighter as it gets darker, avoiding unnecessary consumption;
- Reduction brightness between 2am and 5am, maintaining minimum safety conditions;
- Adoption of dynamic control systems that manage the brightness in accordance with road or human presence, ambient lighting conditions, and environmental conditions;
- LED technology is also used in traffic lights, allowing energy savings of about 80% compared to incandescent lamps.
