EuroWire November 2015

Transatlantic cable

and citizenry more engaged in the journey towards more sustainable and smarter cities” than in the USA. (“Smart Cities: Why Is The US So Far Behind?,” 25 th August) But most of all, Mr Collier asserts, Europe is moving faster than the USA because the European Union (EU) has a continent-wide emphasis on smart cities. This includes signi cant funding through a large network that includes development and deployment; “whereas in the US,” he said, “each city is pretty much on its own.” Can the gap be narrowed? Messrs Adams and Collier are in agreement that existing infrastructures stand in the way of complete rebuilding – something that many smart cities require. The economic constraints of such an undertaking thwart many local governments in the United States. But Mr Adams noted that the USA has overcome the state model before, and cited a striking mid-20 th Century success: the Interstate Highway System, inaugurated in 1956 by President Dwight D Eisenhower who considered it one of his major achievements. Mr Adams concurs in that judgment. “That is an incredible feat if you think about it,” he told Ms Brandt. “To connect every piece of America by road. Crossing multiple states, counties, everything. And it works.” † If Americans of the early 21 st Century can summon the will to pursue another vision of connectivity, they can take example of Europeans whose traditional networks and services are being made more e cient with the use of digital and telecom technologies for the bene t of residents and businesses. To this end, the European Union is investing in smart information and communications (ICT) research and innovation, and developing policies in line with its 20/20/20 targets. Ms Brandt wrote that the 20/20/20 rule is helping the EU to create more smart cities, either directly or as a side-e ect. The rule, adopted in 2007, stipulates for the 28 member-states a 20 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels; a rise in the share of energy produced from renewable resources to 20 per cent; and a 20 per cent improvement in energy e ciency. The European Union plans to reach those goals by 2020. Dorothy Fabian USA Editor

To ensure a minimum quality of service Mr Burger also called for the regulation of contracts that BT and others have with the US telecoms. He noted that, at present, there are no speci c time frames within which the American companies must rectify an outage that takes down a BT network.

Cities

‘Smart cities’ in the USA lag their European counterparts by a fairly wide margin. Catching up will take an e ort of will

“Is the United States really that far behind Europe?”

The question – posed by Jaclyn Brandt of the electric power news site SmartGridNews – referred to the speed with which the USA is creating so-called smart cities: those employing digital technology to e ect better public service, more e cient use of resources, and less impact on the environment. To judge from two well-quali ed respondents who considered the question, the answer is yes. Although many cities in the United States are implementing “smart” technology, the country as a whole continues to fall behind others in terms of smart city rollouts. According to Todd Adams, chief of sustainability and innovation with an Ohio-based marketing communications agency, many countries with no energy infrastructure are starting from scratch and moving straight to smart technology. But the USA is forced to work with existing infrastructure that is decades old. “In the United States we have so much invested in what we already have,” Mr Adams told SmartGridNews . In countries with no electrical infrastructure, he said, they can ’go from zero to 60’ in terms of building their energy systems. The investment in an electrical grid can yield prompt quality-of-life results in terms of reducing carbon footprint, enhancing urban planning and water e ciency, and enabling partnerships. Steven Collier, director of smart grid strategies for Milsoft Utility Solutions (Abilene, Texas) and an IEEE technical expert, advanced an explanation of another kind. He pointed out that European cities tend to be denser and to have better public transit, a larger commitment to cycling and walking, and a stronger focus on sustainability and low-carbon solutions. Perhaps most important, he said, they have “a culture

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November 2015