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Tackling The Smart City Challenges

Humankind has accomplished the goal of creating smart devices and created an ecosystem for most of them. But what more can we do to help our planet through these smart devices? Atin Chhabra of Schneider Electric shares more.

Tackling The Smart City Challenges

Humankind has accomplished the goal of creating smart devices and created an ecosystem for most of them. But the question is: what more can we do to help our planet through these smart devices?

A total of 70 per cent of our resources are being utilised by cities and it is estimated that 66 per cent of the world population will be living in cities by 2050.

Looking at this number, we can predict that the consumption of resources will increase drastically.

The Indian Government recently announced a smart city mission through which it will build 100 sustainable cities in the country to tackle this problem. But while the government has started their part, private organisations still hesitate to invest in such projects. This is due to the smart city challenges which can incur an unreasonably high cost and high energy consumption.

Another thing to keep in mind is cybersecurity.

How well protected are the servers in the smart cities? Can they accomplish the goal of not compromising the safety of the inhabitants of these cities?

The incredible investment and effort needed to accommodate such needs might deter some private organisations, not Schneider Electric. The company’s Exo Struxture project has all the right ingredients to turn buildings into smart buildings. 

Smart buildings are a big leap forward in the advancement of building management and will help the city in manage its resources. Most of these building management systems come equipped with smart panels which are connected to the ethernet 24/7.

The smart panel will tell you about any overload in the building and any other inefficiencies. It also helps to distribute equal power to all parts of the building, level-out operational efficient and assist electricity saving. Most buildings in these smart cities will be equipped with solar panels that will help produce electricity for day-to-day operations and decrease their carbon footprint.

We are building a strong foundation for smart cities and smart building, but what about the existing cities?

To make the existing cities more productive and sustainable, home automation is the answer. The system monitors electricity usage, water usage and helps to minimise them when they are not needed. KNX home automation, a brand owned by Schneider Electric, provides efficient and advanced home automation systems.

All these small efforts by organisations make way smart cities and a greener, more sustainable future. 

If organisations like Schneider Electric keep coming up with new and innovative ideas of how they can make our growth sustainable, then we might end making our planet go green again.

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