Smart cities – an integrated approach for the smart energy challenge

Published on 25/10/2016

With the mission of feeding business and society with innovation, the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) works with specialised experts with the aim of helping to make our cities smarter.

Smart Cities is rooted in the creation and connection of human capital, social capital and information and Communication technology (ICT) infrastructure in order to generate a more sustainable economic development and a better quality of life. LIST’s researchers work on numerous multidisciplinary projects and develop technologies and tools in order to support cities in the development of innovative strategies and opportunities for sustainable energies transitions. In other words, LIST is committing to build a Smart Nation by harnessing technology, developing solutions, creating more favourable combination of circumstances and building stronger communities.

A LOOK BACK AT LIST AT THE LUXEMBOURG GREEN BUSINESS SUMMIT

LIST participated in the Luxembourg Green Business Summit in Luxembourg-Kirchberg on 4 October 2016. This 6th edition gathered more than 280 CEOs, sustainable development managers and decision-makers from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg on the theme ‘Smart City and Facility Management’. Good practices, knowledge sharing, networking, as well as the Luxembourg Green Business Awards ceremony were the key elements of this conference where Prof. Dr Lucien Hoffmann, director of the Environmental Research and Innovation (ERIN) department at LIST, spoke as a keynote speaker about the institute’s vision and activities focusing on smart energies.

In this context, he presented the Smart City Sensor Model to the participants by using the Formula 1 concept to illustrate the process of collecting, connecting, communicating and controlling. “These four steps that can be adapted to cities with the objective to measure energy resources, to assess pollution, etc., to better manage the city and provide new services to its inhabitants” as Dr Hoffmann said. Taking part in the green business summit was a great opportunity for LIST to present its interdisciplinary and global approach aiming at improving the energy use, as well as integrating renewable energies in an optimal way for an intelligent network.

LIST SMART ENERGY VISION

The goal of smart energy is to address the challenge of energy management and its associated societal challenges (climate change, environment, green mobility, security, low carbon economy, etc.), to support businesses to find, create and secure new business models in a fast changing market, and finally to deploy, at a (near) realtime High Performance Computing (HPC) solutions in application testbeds.

For LIST, Information Technologies (ITs) are an enabling technology for Smart Cities, including Smart Energy. Looking at the global and complex Energy system, ITs simplify the management of complexity and allow fostering sustainable development in an integrated way. LIST is tackling the Smart Energy challenge by developing ITs in a user-centric approach that allows to measure and to analyse complex systems and facilitate real time & life, short and long-term planning and decision-making.

Smart Energy as a main component of the Smart Cities program has the objective to contribute in achieving the global energy and climate targets by improving energy efficiency (find low carbon solutions for new buildings, districts/cities, industry and transportation). Energy supply is integrated and managed with predominant exploitation of local resources (e.g. waste heat, renewables) and consumer integration is considered. Last but not least, network security and cybersecurity are ensured.

WHAT’S NEXT?

LIST will be present at the Smart City Export World Congress on 15-17 November 2016. The institute will also co-organise the Smart & Living City Conference in Luxembourg on 24 November 2016 in Esch-Belval.

To get informed on LIST’s activities in Smart Cities, read also: