Congressman Earl Blumenauer, Oregon at IBM's Smarter Transportation Forum
Rather than provide only my own recap of the highly insightful sessions at last week’s Smarter Transportation event in Washington D.C., let me simply point you to the recap from Sean Barry, from Transportation For America, and give you direct access to all the videos of the sessions.
Barry points out two session highlights in particular on the T4America blog, the first from Dr. Leo Kroon of the Netherlands Railway and second from Gunnar Soderholm, of the Stockholm. We’ve talked about Stockholm quite a lot here on the blog, so I’ll focus Dr. Kroon’s comments:
“Kroon described the importance of rail in his “tiny country,” whose 16 million people make it extremely dense. According to Kroon, rail market share between some Dutch cities reaches 50 percent, an amount that would be unheard of in the United States. And rather than force anyone onto the train, Kroon says the Netherlands Railways “seduces” them instead, through continued technological improvement that makes travel convenient and a commitment to reliability and affordability.”
The concept of “seducing” travelers into transit is one we could do well to emulate elsewhere. Even here in New York City, where transit is quite effective and ridership is relatively high, I would hardly consider the riding the subway a seductive experience (though, it does have it’s own charm.
Cost and efficiency are critical pieces of creating a public transportation system that seduces ridership. But it’s beyond simple utility.
Think of premium brands: Apple, BMW, etc. They seduce you on a level above pure functionality. You pay more for the experience. I could find mp3 players far cheaper than the iPod with similar (sometimes better) functionality, yet I willingly pay more so I can have an iPod in my pocket.
What if we applied a similar approach to transit? I’m not naive about the realities we face, nor the challenges of this kind of approach. But surely there’s more we can do to entice transit ridership.
Click here for video archives of the entire event, which included remarks from the following:
- * Dr. Robert Bertini, Deputy Administrator, Research & Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), US DOT
- * Dr. Leo Kroon, Logistics Consultant, Netherlands Railways
- * Gunnar Soderholm, Head of Environmental & Health Administration, City of Stockholm
- * Judge Quentin Kopp, Member and Former Chairman, California High Speed Rail Authority
- * Tom Wright, Executive Director, Regional Plan Administration
- * Janet Kavinoky, Director of Transportation Infrastructure, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
- * Michael Replogle, Global Policy Director, Institute for Transportation and Development Policy
- * Congressman Earl Blumenauer, Oregon, 3rd District
Update: As noted in the comments below, I’ve corrected the Netherlands population number to “16″ million in the quote.
13:24
Posted by
Adam Christensen in
As I write this post, I’m simultaneously watching the live video stream (archive forthcoming) of the Smarter Transportation forum in Washington D.C. and following the Twitter stream coming out of the event. What’s impressing me about the forum is the focus on first-hand accounts about what has already been done in many places around the world to solve the big transportation issues facing cities, including congestion pricing, multi-modal transportation planning and high-speed rail. Stay tuned here for a full recap of the event later today.
In the meantime, I want to point readers to two related transportation announcements we made this morning. Here is a bit more background on both:
1. Road pricing trial results in the Netherlands.
Aerial View, Eindhoven
Source: Flickr
Consistent with the themes in this morning’s transportation forum, road pricing is a growing tool being used by cities and states around the world to change behaviors drivers and shift the balance of transportation from car-dependent to a more multi-modal form system. Six month ago, IBM and NXP Semiconductors began a pilot in Eindhoven to implement variable road pricing based on traffic demand, time of day and type of car (i.e., size + environmental impact of vehicle). Following are some insights from the pilot:
- * Seventy percent of drivers improved their driving behavior by avoiding rush-hour traffic and using highways instead of local roads.
- * On average, these drivers in the trial saw an improvement of more than 16 percent in average cost per kilometer.
- * A clear system of incentives is critical to changing driving behavior.
- * Instant feedback provided via an On-Board Unit display on the price of the road chosen and total charges for the trip is essential to maximizing the change in behavior.
Importantly, based on the success of the pilot, the Netherlands are looking at similar projects across other parts of the country in an attempt to meet some impressive objectives:
- * Fifty-eight percent reduction in delays caused by traffic jams;
- * Fifteen percent reduction in the total number of kilometers driven annually;
- * Ten percent reduction in CO2 emissions;
- * Six percent increase in total passenger kilometers via public transportation;
- * More than 50 percent of Dutch households will pay less than they do currently for the motor vehicle tax and vehicle purchase tax.
2. Using math to reduce traffic.
Scientists in our labs are using mathematical models and data capture to develop advanced predictive models on traffic behaviors to give drivers better information on their daily commutes. The hope is that with better data at the hands of drivers, comes better decisions, all resulting in a net improvement in time spent in traffic, reduced fossil fuel waste and less carbon spent getting people from place to place. This effort is part of a newly formed Center for Smarter Transportation Systems, comprised of IBM Researchers, mathematicians, industry consultants and software developers.
“The point of cities is multiplicity of choice,” said Jane Jacobs, the champion of cities who penned the breakthrough 1961 critique of urban renewal, The Death and Life of Great American Cities. We think it’s a good idea to give a multiplicity of people who are interested in the future of cities opportunities to learn about it and do something about it. That’s why we’re conducting a virtual Smarter Cities event on Feb. 23 (10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., Eastern U.S. Time) as we mentioned here on this blog a few days ago.
This Smarter Cities phenomenon is really taking off. We’ve held major terrestrial events in Berlin and New York, and plan another in Shanghai this summer. We’ve also staged dozens of mini-events in cities throughout the world. So going online is an obvious next step. Anybody who wants to participate is welcome. Register on ibm.com.
The event will start off with a handful of speeches delivered by government and business leaders who are up to their elbows in making cities work better. They include Bev Perdue, governor of North Carolina, and Joseph Rigby, chairman of utility giant Pepco Holdings. Our own Bridget van Kralingen, IBM general manager, North America, will launch the event with an update on our Smarter Planet initiative. (One tidbit: A little more than a year after launching the initiative, we have 1200 partnerships with clients worldwide–a faster uptake than we expected.) Gov. Purdue will talk about a test project in Charlotte aimed at revolutionizing the way highways are built. Using a public-private partnership model, North Carolina is teaming up with developers who will not only perform the design and construction of the new highway sections, but will invest some of their own money, as well. If this approach works in Charlotte, Perdue plans on rolling it out across the state.
After a lunch break (you’re on your own for that), there will be breakout sessions focusing on education, public safety, transportation, government, energy, and healthcare. As somebody who attended university in Pittsburgh, I’m particularly interested in hearing from Dr. Daniel Martich, the chief medical information officer at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. UPMC is reinventing itself as a laboratory for innovations in healthcare technology and new approaches to delivering care.
For participants, there will be plenty of opportunities to weigh in. There will be a question-and-answer session after the major addresses and interactive discussions during each breakout panel. Participants will type their comments and questions on their computers.
Who knows, maybe the next Jane Jacobs will emerge out of one of these events. The pool of brainpower is certainly getting big enough to make that possible.
Technology is supposed to flow to where we humans suffer, so I sometimes wonder why it hasn’t been used more effectively in airports. I was reminded of this today when I read J.D. Power’s newest report on customer satisfaction (or, more properly, dissatisfaction) with airports. There have been some important technology advances in airports, such as near-ubiquitous wi-fi access and plenty of check-in kiosks, but it seems like two of the biggest headaches could use some more technology help. Those frustrations, of course, are baggage handling and security checkpoints. This might be a good topic for discussion at our virtual Smarter Cities event coming up on Feb. 23 or our Smarter Transportation event in DC on Feb. 25. It also might be a good area for tech startups and VCs to press on.
Interestingly, Denver International ranked second behind Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County in the satisfaction index list for large airports. That must mean it got its early baggage handling system glitches worked out.
If Virtual events aren’t your thing, then hopefully this face to face one is more up your alley. On Thursday of next week, IBM will bring together policy makers, transportation operators, metro planners, academics and others to discuss the future of transportation and how new innovations and technology can help build smarter transportation systems to better serve society’s needs in the 21st Century.
The need for progress is clear. There are now more than 475 urban areas with more than 1 million people residing in them. That’s an increase of 573% from 1950 when there were only 83. That translates into more than half the world’s population now living in urban areas. Transportation congestion continues to grow, wasting time and money while creating more pollution. Most of the developed world’s transportation infrastructures were designed decades ago and reflect the available technology, population and requirements at that time. Simply, the infrastructure responsible for moving the world’s people and things is inadequate.
Meanwhile, transportation investment remains a hot topic in Washington due to federal stimulus funding and new surface transportation legislation that Congress is working to pass.
In light of these events, on the morning of February 25 we are hosting a Smarter Transportation forum at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington D.C. to examine society’s need for updated transportation infrastructures. Prominent leaders from government, academia and industry will discuss powerful strategies and solutions to dramatically improve our transportation systems.
Participants will include Congressman Earl Blumenaur from Oregon, Dr. Robert Bertini, Deputy Administrator, US DOT’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration. Janet Kavinocky from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Judge Quentin Kopp, former Chairman of California High Speed Rail Authority, and other distinguished guests.
- When: Thursday, February 25, 2010
- Time: 9:00 – 11:45 a.m.
- Where: The Rayburn House Office Building, Room B-318,
Washington, DC 20005
If you would like to join us, please send email to transprt@us.ibm.com to confirm your attendance. If you can’t join us, you can follow the event live on Twitter and at the event hashtag #ibmtransport. You are also invited to join our Smarter Transportation Linkedin community to continue this important discussion after the event.
Twitter Helps My “Smart Home” Reduce Energy Usage and Trim Electricity Bills by One-Third
by Andy Stanford-Clark
The science of how things work has fascinated me for as long as I can remember. As a young lad, I developed a way for my Mum to dry her washing outside without it getting wet when it rained. I set up a simple buzzer that would go off when a sensor detected falling rain. When Mum heard the signal, it was time to grab the laundry off the line.
Today I’m still trying to “connect the dots” of how my family and I can pursue a lifestyle that reduces our use of natural resources.
Using the same “messaging” software I work on with my development team at IBM’s software lab in Hursley, UK, I’ve made my 16th Century cottage on the Isle of Wight into a modern-day “smart home,” so I know exactly how much electricity and water I’m using, and when I’m using them.
While some might scoff at this, having this knowledge has enabled my family to reduce our personal carbon footprint and slash energy bills by one-third.
Here’s how it works: About a dozen wireless sensors are hooked up to the electricity and water systems and other things in the house. The sensors collect information, which is fed into an analytics system that makes “intelligent” decisions based upon that information. The updates are distributed to a display in my house, and as a stream of messages on Twitter, the social networking communications tool, which I can watch on the web, or on my mobile.
The “tweets,” or brief status messages, talk about how much electricity or water is being used, or even if a mouse has been caught in a trap in the attic. I can see unusual activity: if I’ve left on a heater, my home “talks to me,” via Twitter, and I can go find what’s causing the spike in electricity use.
The information on display has become part of the home’s ambient background, like having a light on in the kitchen. You know it’s there: but unless the light starts flickering, you don’t pay much attention to it. Unless my home “tweets” me that something unusual is happening, such as a window left open on a cold day, the messages blend into the household’s background.
Feeling good about helping the environment can be contagious. What if all of us got involved? According to the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change, 47 percent of the country’s carbon emissions come from the way the nation generates heat. The DECC has set a goal of having “smart meters” in all homes in the UK by 2020 to monitor gas and electricity usage.
If you don’t want to wait until 2020, you don’t need a Ph.D. to install and use the relatively inexpensive gadgets available to monitor your energy use and to begin conserving energy immediately.
Sometimes what we do for ourselves can benefit many others.
Like many commuters, I want to spend the least amount of time on my commute.
Strong winds or fog can delay the ferries running between my home on the Isle of Wight and my workplace near Winchester.
By tapping into data available online about the location of the Red Jet ferries, I began timing my arrival at the dock to when a ferry would actually leave. I began sharing this information via Twitter to other passengers. To its credit, the Red Funnel line saw the value in this information, and now the company provides a constant stream of information about the ferry schedule to their passengers who follow the company on Twitter. This is not ferry personnel posting the information to Twitter manually, it’s a tweetject (an object that twitters!). That’s a tricky idea for some people, but it’s at the core of building a smarter planet.
These are examples of how all of us have the ability to make our entire planet “smarter.” We just need to use sensors that operate individually to instrument the world around us, link together the information streams the sensors provide in a network, and then apply intelligence in the form of an analytics system that can recommend appropriate actions.
I look at my “smart home” and use of social networking tools for commuting as steps that I can take as an individual.
If enough of us take steps at the micro level, momentum will build. Smarter buidlings are coming as we think about structures differently: seeing homes not just as living spaces, but as living systems; seeing offices not just as static structures where work is done, but as manifestations of all the ways the world works.
Posted by
George Faulkner in
As you may have noticed from the last post, IBM’s Sam Palmisano visited the Chatham House stage in London today having delivered a speech titled ‘Welcome to the Decade of Smart.’ Throughout tonight (and over the coming days) we will be posting content and links to images and video from the event here, as they become available.
From the post-event materials being distributed:
On January 12, 2010, Samuel J. Palmisano, IBM Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officers, addressed business and civic leaders at Chatham House in London. In his remarks, he described how forward-thinking leaders in business, government and civil society around the world are capturing the potential of smarter systems to achieve economic growth, near-term efficiency, sustainable development and societal progress.
Links:
Launch a video of the speech: Sam Palmisano at Chatham House
Launch a video of the Q&A from Chatham House: Q&A from Chatham House
Today, Steve Lohr of the New York Times published a brief article about the speech that takes a look at the past year of Smarter Planet work from IBM.
Paul Glader of the Wall Street Journal published an article today as well that examines aspects of IBM’s Smarter Planet initiative.
11:16
Posted by
Adam Christensen in
Buildings that know when they need to be fixed before something breaks; sensors that tell the fire department details of a fire before they receive the emergency phone call; smart water and sewage systems that filter and recycle water. . . . .
It’s that time of year here at IBM – when we look to the future and make five predictions of technological trends that will change the way we live in the next five years. Given the current attention to making our cities smarter, for this year’s we have focused on five innovations that will change our cities in the next five years.
Importantly, the list is intended to serve as a discussion point to discuss – and debate – the prospects for our cities and how progress can be made.
If there’s one common thread in all of the advances we see in the coming years, it’s the ability to monitor our environment with sensors and the application of analytics – complex algorithms baked into software – to make decisions based on all of that data. In reality, it’s what we’ve been talking about for the past year here on this blog, but we are just now beginning to see these efforts implemented at the city level to really change how cities work.
Analytics will predict the patterns of how diseases will spread, will enable buildings to evaluate the relationships between their systems and provide real-time information to management, will enable city smart grids to draw on clean energy during peak and off peak hours, find water leaks and more efficient ways to move water, and predict emergencies before they happen to limit their impact.
While these are predictions for the future, in each case the innovation is rooted in work we are just beginning to see pop up with some of our city clients or in our labs today. We’ll spend some time over the next few weeks to go deeper into each one of these topics, sharing what’s happening now and exploring opportunities for the future.
But in the meantime, and without further ado, below is this year’s “Next 5 in 5”:
- Cities will have healthier immune systems
Given their population density, cities will remain hotbeds of communicable diseases. But in the future, public health officials will know precisely when, where and how diseases are spreading – even which neighborhoods will be affected next. Scientists will give city officials, hospitals, schools and workplaces the tools to better detect, track, prepare for and prevent infections, such as the H1N1 virus or seasonal influenza. We will see a “health Internet” emerge, where anonymous medical information, contained in electronic health records, will be securely shared to curtail the spread of disease and keep people healthier. - City buildings will sense and respond like living organisms
As people move into city buildings at record rates, buildings will be built smartly. Today, many of the systems that constitute a building – heat, water, sewage, electricity, etc. – are managed independently. In the future, the technology that manages facilities will operate like a living organism that can sense and respond quickly, in order to protect citizens, save resources and reduce carbon emissions. Thousands of sensors inside buildings will monitor everything from motion and temperature to humidity, occupancy and light. The building won’t just coexist with nature – it will harness it. This system will enable repairs before something breaks, emergency units to respond quickly with the necessary resources, and consumers and business owners to monitor their energy consumption and carbon emission in real-time and take action to reduce them. Some buildings are already showing signs of intelligence by reducing energy use, improving operational efficiency, and improving comfort and safety for occupants. - Cars and city buses will run on empty
For the first time, the “E” on gas gauges will mean “enough.” Increasingly, cars and city buses no longer will rely on fossil fuels. Vehicles will begin to run on new battery technology that won’t need to be recharged for days or months at a time, depending on how often you drive. IBM scientists and partners are working to design new batteries that will make it possible for electric vehicles to travel 300 to 500 miles on a single charge, up from 50 to 100 miles currently. Also, smart grids in cities could enable cars to be charged in public places and use renewable energy, such as wind power, for charging so they no longer rely on coal-powered plants. This will lower emissions as well as minimize noise pollution. (see the Battery 500 and Bornholm electric vehicle posts for hints at what is to come) - Smarter systems will quench cities’ thirst for water and save energy
Today, one in five people lack access to safe drinking water, and municipalities lose an alarming amount of precious water — up to 50 percent through leaky infrastructure. On top of that, human demand for water is expected to increase sixfold in the next 50 years. To deal with this challenge, cities will install smarter water systems to reduce water waste by up to 50 percent. Cities also will install smart sewer systems that not only prevent run-off pollution in rivers and lakes, but purify water to make it drinkable. Advanced water purification technologies will help cities recycle and reuse water locally, reducing energy used to transport water by up to 20 percent. Interactive meters and sensors will be integrated into water and energy systems, providing you with real time, accurate information about your water consumption so you will be able to make better decisions about how and when you use this valuable resource. - Cities will respond to a crisis — even before receiving an emergency phone call
Cities will be able to reduce and even prevent emergencies, such as crime and disasters. Law enforcement agencies will turn to mathematics and analytics to analyze the right information at the right time, so that public servants can take proactive measures to head off crime. Fire departments will begin using software to potentially prevent fires from happening in the first place. Even today, scientists are beginning to look at past fires, smoke patterns and climate fluctuations to developing models that predict wildfires, to prevent fires and speed public evacuations when they happen.
Adam Christensen and Susanne Dirks talked with me about a question being posed by Dana Blankenhorn.
Dana asks an interesting question: are IBM’s “smarter traffic” ideas an homage to Moses or Jacobs?
He immediately answers his own question with the statement:
“Looking at IBM’s highly-advertised ideas on smarter traffic, much of it is built on the idea Robert Moses called flow.”
To answer simply, IBM’s work in this area is not “built” on Moses’ notions. Our work on helping cities build smarter transportation systems is built on three simple observations on some aspects of how society and technology are changing. Readers of this blog will know them as instrumentation, interconnection and intelligence. The people and systems of the world are becoming increasingly able to be more aware, of many more things, in many more places, much faster, and to analyse and derive timely insight and action from that. That’s it.
We use these observations to build things to help achieve people’s goals. If those goals are Moses-like, or Jacobs-like, that’s fine. The community that sets them is the judge of what they are or should be.
That isn’t to say we don’t have a strong point of view, though, because we do. Our approach is about leveraging technology for the sake of a city’s citizens. We don’t advocate tolls. Or not advocate them. We don’t advocate city centre cameras. Or not advocate them. We do advocate, say, holistic multi-modal solutions for transport, leveraging technology where and when applicable (this is where my son says, Dad, you sound like Dilbert). We want progress through making the overall systems smarter. And that approach has many facets, completely dependent on the community, city or nation in question.
In the end, Dana’s answers his own question with exactly the right answer:
The smartest city will find ways to support both. People and goods have to get around. But they also need destinations. Getting off the freeway and into the crowd is the challenge.
I believe – and many of the people I work with believe – that the Moses vs. Jacob is a false dichotomy. It isn’t about one or the other. The world has moved beyond that – our problems are too complex and interconnected.
14:51
Posted by
Adam Christensen in
While it seems everyone is focused on Copenhagen starting next week, we thought it was a good time to shed some light on a real-life project underway to use renewable wind energy to power electric vehicles. On the small Danish island of Bornholm, a coalition of government, academia and industry are working on an innovative pilot program – the EDISON Project — that could provide some unique technical insights to help address the challenges of combining renewable energy with EVs.
[Side note: for more on our thoughts about electric vehicles, see this prior post on The Battery 500 project and this information about EVs on ibm.com]
Copenhagen utility DONG Energy is working with regional energy company of Oestkraft, the Technical University of Denmark, Siemens, Eurisco and the Danish Energy Association, and IBM to develop the system. To the extent allowed by consumer preferences, electric vehicles using the system will be charged when wind is generating excess power. Conversely, the vehicle charging will be slowed or delayed when the wind stops and energy production is diminished.
The goal is to use this small pilot of only about 15 electric vehicles to develop a model for deploying roughly 200,000 wind-powered EVs nationwide by 2020.
Denmark is already a leader in wind power – it produces more than 20 percent of the country’s electric power, with a goal to double it. And roughly half the wind turbines produced worldwide come from Danish manufacturers. The EDISON Project will create a model for letting eco-minded consumers charge their cars with renewable energy while allowing utilities to better absorb and manage wind-generated power.
And Bornholm provides a perfect environment for testing the wind power/electric vehicle project. As an island, its electric power grid is self-contained and isolated, making it easier to manage the project and measure the results.
Developing this project requires more than simply delivering a fleet of electric vehicles to the island and plugging them in. Public and personal charging stations must be installed and integrated into the local grid, and a variety of technologies must be integrated and evaluated.
The first step of the consortium is to develop smart technologies to be implemented on Bornholm. The island has 40,000 inhabitants and an energy infrastructure characterized by a large proportion of wind energy. Creating a test bed on the island will allow researchers to study how the energy system functions as the number of electric vehicles increases. The studies will be simulation-based and will not impact security of supply on the island.
Within the project, researchers from IBM Denmark and from IBM Research – Zurich will develop specialized analytics software to synchronize the charging of the electric vehicles with the availability of wind power in the grid. This includes tasks like governing when and where the EVs can recharge, based on available power and peak demand, and how to bill drivers when they use public recharging stations.
The technology must also address complexities such as balancing load on the grid, eventually allowing the electrical distribution system to use the EVs as supplementary power storage that can contribute electricity back to the grid as needed.
IBM has also contributed a Bladecenter server to the Technical University of Denmark that will be used for large-scale real-time simulations of the energy system and the impact of electric vehicles.
System design for the pilot project began this year, with the first test EVs slated for delivery before year-end. System test and evaluation will proceed in 2010, with a full rollout of EVs and charging stations on Borhholm scheduled for 2011.
