mySMARTLife Helsinki – Innovative measures to improve energy efficiency

Innovative measures to improve energy efficiency

Helsinki aims to reduce its emissions through smart solutions on the field of energy efficiency, mobility and the related IoT/ICT solutions. To further advance on this goal, Helsinki together with other cities works on cutting down emissions in the mySMARTLife project. The project activities span over several aspects of urban development while leveraging IoT-enabled systems and open data.

Helsinki reference zone actions are coordinated by the City of Helsinki. Forum Virium Helsinki coordinates project’s IoT and ICT related activities in Helsinki, bringing in expertise on open data and developer engagement.

The objective is to reduce energy consumption in the area by 10-20%. This goal will be achieved through district renovation and smart home energy control systems. Together with local partners Helen, VTT and the City of Helsinki Environment Center that coordinates the Helsinki Demo, several actions are taken to meet this goal

A smart lighting solution will be co-designed in the residential public zones of Korkeasaari and Mustikkamaa. Demonstration consists of adaptive LED-based outdoor lighting system to replace the current gas-discharged lamps and include additional features like navigation and communication. Lamp post infrastructure will be connected to the urban platform.

Helsinki urban platform – new data for developers and decision-makers

IOT-based sensor network will monitor environmental aspects of the project. Forum Virium’s project manager Timo Ruohomäki sees many benefits in this more data-driven approach.

“Could properties co-function in such a smart way, that there would no longer be peaks in consumption that require emergency power utilisation? Interfaces connect the properties into part of a network that enable, for example, the network company to request properties to lower their consumption when the production capacity is about to reach its limit.”, Timo Ruohomäki from Forum Virium Helsinki says regarding the potential of opening interfaces. In the future, there could be gigabytes of data from real time energy measurements per day.

Real-time monitoring of real estate heating and energy consumption will be undertaken. The received data will be used to make new open data sets and to improve data availability for developers of mobile applications.

The newly produced data creates new business opportunities on energy sector. Collected data can be used to improve energy efficiency methods, adjust supply and demand and to make services, which aim to decrease carbon footprint. “Carbon-neutral me” –app is going to be in use by residents and job-goers at all zones.

All collected data by the newly implemented sensors will be in public use for the software developers and researchers as an open data.

mySMARTLife

mySMARTLife is a project funded under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. Under the coordination of CARTIF Technology Centre, 28 partners from 7 countries are collaborating to make sustainable cities with smart people and a smart economy a reality. Activities will take place in the three demonstration cities Nantes, Hamburg and Helsinki. The project was officially launched on 14th December in Nantes.

The mySMARTLife project aims, as one main pillar, at reducing the CO2 emissions of cities, increasing the use of renewable energy sources and making the demonstration cities more environmentally friendly.

Media

Canadian Insider: Helsinki pioneers Smart City solutions in mySMARTLife project

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