By EconMatters Staff
As part of the global sustainability initiative, countries (and cities) around the world are shifting into high gear working towards becoming part of the "smart cities". For example, on 10 July 2012, the European Commission launched the Smart Cities and Communities European Innovation Partnership. The partnership proposes to pool resources to support the demonstration of energy, transport and information and communication technologies in urban areas.
In Asia, Japan is also taking steps to make its cities smarter with research taking place in Yokohama on demand response for large commercial buildings, and other energy harvesting technologies.
In the U.S., San Diego is taking a major step in a similar program. According to Energy Collective, the city is focusing its efforts on educating consumers on how to monitor and manage their energy usage, thus helping California to meet its renewable energy goal of 33% by 2020, and automating the electric grid with two-way communication.
The same article from Energy Collective also cited a report by Pike Research that the number of people living in cities will grow from 3.6 billion to 6.3 billion by 2050. With such a change, major cities must start developing ways to improve efficiency and profitability in all areas from energy consumption to transportation.
The Pike report also predicts that the smart city technology market will increase from $6.1 billion annually to $20.2 billion by 2020. This is certainly something interesting and exciting to look forward to in the future, and the infographic below gives a sneak peek of the future smart city.
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