Cities are home to 50 per cent of the world’s population.
The bedrock of each city is its buildings, which include commercial, industrial and residential premises.
More cities are adding smart city features like the Internet of Things (IoT) to improve the lives of citizens and visitors.
According to Schneider Electric Malaysia country president Soo Pow Leong, a smart city is one which is efficient, comfortable and sustainable.
Efficient refers to an improved efficiency of a city’s infrastructure — be it the water, gas or electricity network, transportation, buildings and data centres.
“Comfortable means a city becoming more efficient and enjoyable to live in or commute to, while sustainable means reducing the environmental consequences of urban living such as carbon emission and utilising less of the energy resources,” said Soo.
Based on the company’s projects from around the world, improving the system’s efficiency brings tangible benefits to a city.
“It brings up to 30 per cent energy saving, at least 15 per cent reduction in water losses and up to 20 per cent reduction of travel time and traffic delays,” said Soo.
“Buildings are the greatest guzzlers of electricity, consuming 48 per cent of all energy generated in Malaysia. This is by the virtue of the fact that we spend close to 90 per cent of our lives in some building.
“We believe that the greatest efficiency gains will come from the integration of operational technology and information technology. This is why we are introducing the EcoStruxure platform,” he said.
Soo said the platform would specifically help customers in commercial buildings, grid, industry and data centres implement large-scale, robust and integrated IoT-enabled solutions for sustainable, safe, reliable and efficient operations.
Currently, there is strong demand for this. Malaysian property developers and building designers are looking to implement such energy-efficient solutions.
Soo said they were aware that IoT was emerging as a major disrupting technology that not only enabled great efficiencies, but completely new revenue streams and business models.
He said Schneider Electric had been working together with property developers and building designers to retrofit existing buildings and new buildings to optimise building performance and increase energy savings while creating a healthy and sustainable environment.