Category Archives: Blogs

First DATA than SMART. Transform post #7

matrixLast week I bought a new washing machine. Key to my decision for the AEG lavamat washing machine was the product information available on the internet and the ability to compare with other brands. The availability of abundant information made it possible for me to make a swift and smart decision. Due to the availability of data, I am convinced I made a good choice.

Our cities’ TRANSFORM project is based on the conviction that sustainable decisions can only be made, if reliable information is available. And that is logic. If there is no proper or reliable information at hand, politicians, investors and firms will never be able to make reliable decisions, make convincing plans, calculate risks involved, or negotiate with partners when e.g. designing new infrastructure.

The energy system of a city is incredibly complex, and will be even more in the future. The system is about energy production, distribution and consumption. But it is also about summer and winter, about peak consumption when you and your fellow citizens rise in the morning and take a shower.

It is, if it comes to sustainable solutions, about isolating buildings and the needed investments, about solar panels on roofs and the gains, it is about smart meters and making decisions on the data given, it is about infrastructure for electric vehicles and it’s investments, it is about big users and the recovery of waste heat, it is about big investments in distribution systems, it is about smart grids, the development of new techniques and decisions to invest. If you like, I can go on……

Above this, all these different energy components are related. One will influence the other and vice versa. In the end, a cities’ energy system consists of hundreds of components and they are all, one way or the other, connected.

All our cities have problems mining relevant data.
We think we are already smart cities because we are ranked so.

But we are not!
We lack the abundant DATA to be smart.

What do we need, now we change to renewables and sustainable solutions?
How can we truly become SMART energy cities in the future?
Smart cities can only develop when there is reliable, abundant and proper data available.
And after that, we can only be smart if we can make decisions based on it.

TRANSFORM is collecting all needed data.
TRANSFORM is turning all this data into maps so we are able to understand.
TRANSFORM is building tools to make quantitative decisions.
TRANSFORM is building tools to make qualitative decisions.

TRANSFORM is helping to make cities SMART.
First of all we need data.

After that we can become smart!

Ronald van WarmerdamRonald van Warmerdam
Sr project manager Projectmanagement Bureau, city of Amsterdam / lecturer TuDelft / Coordinator TRANSFORM

https://twitter.com/rvwarmerdam

It is the next generation. Transform post #6

My dad made a movie clip of me, as a five year old boy, playing in our street. It is in the middle of the 60’s and the street is surprisingly empty. One car only, owned by our neighbor, is parked in the street. Others simply went by bike, I suppose.

Wind MillDuring my life, the image of the street totally changed. The city nowadays is fully packed with cars and the countryside is filled with asphalt. I grew up in a world that became accustomed to broad highways, big power plants and high chimneys with big plumes. Even though we have partly cleaned the smoke fumes with complicated techniques, it is still a system that is harmful. But I grew up with it and the appearance has become familiar. And although I believe in public transport and bicycles, at the same time my image of transportation is highways and plenty of cars in the street. My image of energy is large scale power stations.

Some weeks ago I attended the “E- Harbours” congress in Zaandam the Netherlands. It was striking how many people of my generation were attending the meeting. The discussion was about transition, change and leadership. But when the discussion came to windmills and wind energy it struck me that a lot of people are still against it, whether it is along the highway or in the city. On the one hand my generation is talking about change and leadership and on the other, working against it by banning windmills from the environment.

This is my generation!

I realize this is about reference. And the question is, whether my generation can change their perception of the environment and the elements in it. On the other way: my perception of the environment allows highways of asphalt, but has difficulty with hundreds of windmills next to it.

Is it up to the next generation to solve this problem of perception?

My kids, just graduated, are raised up in a world with internet, small scale infrastructures, ICT and sustainable solutions. They accept sustainable solutions, public transport, bicycles with ease because they grew up with it. And they know smoking chimneys are harmful and burning carbon is changing climates.

The next generation, my kids, were taught that the system my generation built up, is ending, unsustainable and that, with the help of the crisis, everlasting growth is a fairy-tale.

My kids have a different image about the landscape. They have no problem with windmills in the environment, making clean energy. Or roofs full of solar panels. And it is logical, their reference is different.

Sustainability and transition appear to be almost a generation problem. And that gives me a lot of hope for the future. It is the next generation!

Ronald van WarmerdamRonald van Warmerdam
Sr project manager Projectmanagement Bureau, city of Amsterdam / lecturer TuDelft / Coordinator TRANSFORM

https://twitter.com/rvwarmerdam

The Entrepreneurial State. Transform post #5

I am reading Mariana Mazzucato’s “The entrepreneurial state, debunking public versus private sector myths”. I am half way but convinced that it is a must read, for everyone acting for a sustainable world. Maybe the book will help us, solving huge sustainable challenges we are standing for.the-entrepreneurial

As coordinator of TRANSFORM I am attracted by the book!

TRANSFORM is a research and implementation program to reduce the CO2 emissions of cities. The core of our TRANSFORM program is to find the barriers blocking possibilities to reduce carbon emissions, to be more energy efficient, to refit buildings, etc.

It is all about innovation in smart grids, about citizens’ involvement, new business models and sound governance. And TRANSFORM is about finding solutions in collaboration with industrial partners and knowledge institutes.

As you will understand, innovation is about finance too!
And this is where Mazzucato, as an economic researcher, teaches us. Based on elaborate research, she explains that major industrial innovation – in the US -, is mostly funded by governmental institutions, rather than by venture capital. The market is not, as often suggested, taking the risks of new development and innovation. Innovations, like ICT, Nanotechnology and pharmaceuticals are all – at the start – funded by the state. And yes, when proven to be profitable, markets and venture capitalist takes over. Of course!

In relation to Sustainable development Mazzucato states (with Foray et al. 2012) that, “Major socio-economic challenges such as climate change and ageing require an active State, making the need for a better understanding of its role within the public-private partnership more important than ever”.

This is what TRANSFORM is all about as well. The collaboration between governmental organizations (our cities), working together with our partners: Accenture, Enel, Hespul, Siemens, AIT, DTU, ERDF, Hamburg Energy, IBA Hamburg, ARE, Arup.

I sincerely hope, that we can find, together with our partners, the innovative solutions that will support our search for a sustainable future in our cities. Maybe Mazzucato shows us the way!

More to read:
Mazzucato’s website
Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad. My favourite newspaper!

Ronald van WarmerdamRonald van Warmerdam
Sr project manager Projectmanagement Bureau, city of Amsterdam / lecturer TuDelft / Coordinator TRANSFORM

https://twitter.com/rvwarmerdam

It’s all about DATA. Transform post #4

Daniel Goleman, Ecological IntelligenceIf you want to consume in an eco-friendly way, you want to know how stuff is made, where it comes from and what it contains. If you want to live in an eco-friendly way you need to know what the impact is of your behaviour, for instance, with water consumption and energy. DATA is what you need!

But do you get the right data if you are standing in your supermarket? Where is the information concerning energy and water if you want to live sustainably? We lack data in our lives!

In his great book Ecological Intelligence, Daniel Goleman explains it all. If we lack DATA we are not able to change our behaviour! He states that industry and governments need to give the right (and honest) information so people can make the right choices. He calls it RADICAL TRANSPARENCY!

By giving radical transparency, industry and trade will be able to change the supply chain of stuff in a sustainable way. Life Cycle Analyses of all stuff and all procedures is needed and Transparency is key.

To TRANSFORM, DATA is one of the most important aspects.

If cities, businesses and citizens, want to change to low carbon societies, they need DATA to get SMART, to be sure that action is into the right direction. A Smart (Energy) City is all about DATA; DATA to make the right choices, DATA to build a sound business plan and DATA to make better (political) decisions for sustainable city (re)development.

TRANSFORM is building a Decision Support Tool based on massive DATA: energy data, socio-economic data, demographic data etcetera. The tool can run scenarios and supports decision making! The more data, the better the outcome, and the better the decisions. Soon we will inform you about the tool.

More information:

Ronald van WarmerdamRonald van Warmerdam
Sr project manager Projectmanagement Bureau, city of Amsterdam / lecturer TuDelft / Coordinator TRANSFORM

https://twitter.com/rvwarmerdam

Transforming distribution systems. Transform post #3Energiebunker, Hamburg

Distribution of heat to buildings and houses is an excellent way to use waste heat from power and incineration plants. It’s a great way to increase the energy efficiency of the power plant, and of energy use in total. It used to be profitable to connect new build city districts, to systems like that, for instance the new city district of IJburg in Amsterdam. But the better the energy efficiency of buildings, the less energy is needed. And here comes a problem: making a business case for infrastructure is getting harder and harder, if not impossible.

New generation buildings are so well isolated that they hardly need heat during most of the year. Only in winter, there will be some months, during which extra heat is needed, to make living comfortable. But for only a couple of months, the system will be too expensive and not profitable… New solutions have to be developed to solve this.

This is Transformation!
Finding new solutions!

What could be a solution?

If business is not profitable in the short term, what could a city do to reach their energy and climate goals? This question is solved in Hamburg, where the municipal started being entrepreneurial again. Founding ‘Hamburg Energy’ to invest in, and build a district heating system with the Energy Bunker as a storing facility for heat.

More information: http://www.iba-hamburg.de/en/themes-projects/energiebunker/projekt/energy-bunker.html

Ronald van WarmerdamRonald van Warmerdam
Sr project manager Projectmanagement Bureau, city of Amsterdam / lecturer TuDelft / Coordinator TRANSFORM

https://twitter.com/rvwarmerdam

From science to business. Transform post #2Amsterdam Climate & Energy Fund

About eight years ago, my city Amsterdam started with the first roadmap for sustainable city development. Cities all over the world started to define their energy strategy in order to reduce carbon emissions, due to the Kyoto agreements.

I remembered Amsterdam proudly presenting their first plans to the press and the public. The event was held in “Het tropen-instituut” in Amsterdam and the floor was filled with politicians, scientists, consultants, civil servants and students. The discussion was about science, research and political commitment. Only a few businesses were there to promote their stuff.

Guess what? Eight years later, Amsterdam transformed!

A couple of months ago Amsterdam introduced the Amsterdam Investment Fund (AIF). What changed? The location was the Amsterdam Arena. The soccer stadium. AIF will invest about 70 million Euros in sustainable projects to safe the climate and improve the air quality of the city. And it is about profit and taking risks. The floor, during the presentation of AIF, was packed with suited up business men and women. And now, a few months later, more than hundred investment proposals have been sent in and one can state that AIF is very successful.

Amsterdam is transforming! Yes! From, still being in its infancy, to a full grown sustainable business city.

More information about AIF: www.akef.nl

Ronald van WarmerdamRonald van Warmerdam
Sr project manager Projectmanagement Bureau, city of Amsterdam / lecturer TuDelft / Coordinator TRANSFORM

https://twitter.com/rvwarmerdam

 

Honesty. Transform post #1

TRANSFORM - Transformation Agenda for Low Carbon CitiesTransform is an international project that deals with the urban transformation of cities depending on carbon based energy, to cities independent of it. Sounds easy, right?

Since Kyoto, dozens of cities all over Europe defined goals to reduce their carbon emissions. Big ambitions of 20% carbon reduction and more are defined. It turned out that reaching the goals is much more difficult than setting them. Since, sometimes more than a decade ago, no real changes happened.

The question is: why? In all these cities there is a lot of political power at work, a huge amount of scientific research done and business working on solar panels, building refit or energy production by wind etc.

Still big changes did not start and most probably hardly any city will reach their goals by 2020. There has to be something else at stake. This is exactly what Transform is about.

Transform is about finding the real barriers. Finding the bottle necks and finding new solutions for change. Urban transformation is about changing an enormous complex system of energy production, energy distribution, consumption, related policy, economy and legal structures. But Transform is also about human behaviour, about changing old school business, urban redevelopment and changing rusted systems.

Transform is, bottom line, about honesty. Cities being honest to look at themselves and dare to discover the barriers for change. Taking action! If cities are able to not only look to the little successes they make but also to the big picture, they are able to find these barriers. Whether the barriers are political, economic, legal or else.

More information: www.urbantransform.eu

Ronald van WarmerdamRonald van Warmerdam
Sr project manager Projectmanagement Bureau, city of Amsterdam / lecturer TuDelft / Coordinator TRANSFORM

https://twitter.com/rvwarmerdam