Periodic Reporting for period 4 - Triangulum (Triangulum: The Three Point Project / Demonstrate. Disseminate. Replicate.)
Reporting period: 2019-02-01 to 2020-01-31
From February 2015 to January 2020, Triangulum was one of the first European Smart Cities and Communities Lighthouse Projects (SCC1) set to demonstrate, disseminate and replicate solutions and frameworks for the future of urban development. The project combined interdisciplinary experience and expertise of 22 partners from industry, research and municipalities, committed to develop and implement smart solutions. The Lighthouse Cities Eindhoven (NL), Stavanger (NO) and Manchester (UK) have become test-beds for urban interventions that intersect multiple sectors, achieving significant reductions in energy demand and local GHG emissions, while enhancing life quality and providing a basis for economic growth and development. The project aimed to develop flexible smart city modules, encompassing business models, technologies, and strategies of citizen engagement developed and tested in the Lighthouse Cities and replicated in the Follower Cities Leipzig (DE), Prague (CZ) and Sabadell (ES), ensuring that impacts go far beyond the scope of the project and making significant contributions to the European Smart Cities Initiative.
The main objectives were:
-Reduction in the energy consumption of buildings (>65%) with a total reduction of over 14 Mio kWh/year
-Shift of 75% in energy demand to renewable energy sources
-Increase in the use of electric vehicles and charging infrastructure (100% in Eindhoven and Manchester as from 2014)
-Integration of intelligent energy management technologies to support energy demand and renewable energies
-Integration of energy and mobility supply and demand and smart appliances into an adaptive and dynamic ICT data hub, allowing for a broad range of value-added services and smart city applications
-Fostering of co-creation involving citizens with users and citizens
The main objectives were:
-Reduction in the energy consumption of buildings (>65%) with a total reduction of over 14 Mio kWh/year
-Shift of 75% in energy demand to renewable energy sources
-Increase in the use of electric vehicles and charging infrastructure (100% in Eindhoven and Manchester as from 2014)
-Integration of intelligent energy management technologies to support energy demand and renewable energies
-Integration of energy and mobility supply and demand and smart appliances into an adaptive and dynamic ICT data hub, allowing for a broad range of value-added services and smart city applications
-Fostering of co-creation involving citizens with users and citizens
The successful project implementation was largely related to the development of effective project and partner management structures, including a platform for communication and exchange and the necessary decision-making and coordination bodies. All Lighthouse Cities have developed reference documents and plans for organising timescales, lead partners and budgets and managing the deliverables across tasks, including financial, technical and structural details from the implemented measures. Triangulum has successfully completed its monitoring and evaluation objectives and summarized its outcomes in a dedicated exploitation plan and an impact report.
In Manchester, it has been demonstrated that there is significant potential to make carbon savings and reduce energy demand. The interventions included optimising existing buildings using smart technology, demonstrating the potential to save 42,000t CO2 per year, installing new equipment in the form of solar PV and an energy storage system (saving €34,000 annually). A number of electric vehicles were deployed saving 20T CO2 along with four eCargo bikes, each making three journeys per day across the city. The vehicles have been monitored and the business case evaluated. The open data and service engine was developed by the University of Manchester and allows the connection for a range of data sources. The Manchester-I data platform hosts 13 real-time data feeds. It has four organisational users and 172 users that have downloaded data 189 times. A number of innovation challenges were held to engage local citizens with the data. Going forward, the platform will be further developed under the auspices of an urban observatory for the city.
In Eindhoven, the old heating system has been replaced by Sanergy, a biomass system providing 100% renewable energy for heating, generating 15.43% of all energy produced in Strijp-S. Also, 14 EV charging stations have been implemented and the fibre-optic network has been expanded extensively with 350 home and 7,050 office connections. The iCity tender has brought remarkable results and opportunities with 63 companies applying for the tender: 20 developed further their prototype and 8 got extra financing to bring them closer to the market. 50 Mio estimated additional investment to be secured from partners. In Eckart Vaartbroek, the renovated dwellings have contributed to reduce GHG emissions by 20.43%. A total of 11,200 m2 buildings (74 social housing units) have been refurbished within Triangulum with an estimated energy bill reduction of 55%. 284 people (28.6%) have made use of the digital renovation platform Woonconnect and 174 made a plan/scenario for the renovation of their home. The Eindhoven open data platform has been visited 96,000 and downloaded 4,000 times per month.
In Stavanger, the Central Energy Plant (CEP) prevents yearly 500 tCO2 emissions, an equivalent of 88% reduction and annual savings of €120,000. It also reduces 76% of energy for heating and cooling 20,000m2 having annual savings of € 240 000. The holistic CEP includes all RES, sewage, biogas, solar collectors and greywater recycling system. Stavanger aims to inspire other developers to consider sewage heating in their buildings. Smart gateways have been implemented in 100 homes, 56 successfully transferring data in the required period, reducing energy consumption by 26% and energy costs by 12%. E-buses have been utilised by the bus operator in the city, avoiding 135 tCO2, 250 kg CO and 66 kg NOx per year. The data analytics toolkit accessible through an access-controlled dashboard has six users and hosts four datasets. Blink, an innovative two-layer encryption WebRTC video solution, has the potential to save energy in terms of mobility and has successfully been replicated in the Follower Cities Prague and Sabadell, concentrated around usability in care environments with key elements being simplicity and safety for users.
In Manchester, it has been demonstrated that there is significant potential to make carbon savings and reduce energy demand. The interventions included optimising existing buildings using smart technology, demonstrating the potential to save 42,000t CO2 per year, installing new equipment in the form of solar PV and an energy storage system (saving €34,000 annually). A number of electric vehicles were deployed saving 20T CO2 along with four eCargo bikes, each making three journeys per day across the city. The vehicles have been monitored and the business case evaluated. The open data and service engine was developed by the University of Manchester and allows the connection for a range of data sources. The Manchester-I data platform hosts 13 real-time data feeds. It has four organisational users and 172 users that have downloaded data 189 times. A number of innovation challenges were held to engage local citizens with the data. Going forward, the platform will be further developed under the auspices of an urban observatory for the city.
In Eindhoven, the old heating system has been replaced by Sanergy, a biomass system providing 100% renewable energy for heating, generating 15.43% of all energy produced in Strijp-S. Also, 14 EV charging stations have been implemented and the fibre-optic network has been expanded extensively with 350 home and 7,050 office connections. The iCity tender has brought remarkable results and opportunities with 63 companies applying for the tender: 20 developed further their prototype and 8 got extra financing to bring them closer to the market. 50 Mio estimated additional investment to be secured from partners. In Eckart Vaartbroek, the renovated dwellings have contributed to reduce GHG emissions by 20.43%. A total of 11,200 m2 buildings (74 social housing units) have been refurbished within Triangulum with an estimated energy bill reduction of 55%. 284 people (28.6%) have made use of the digital renovation platform Woonconnect and 174 made a plan/scenario for the renovation of their home. The Eindhoven open data platform has been visited 96,000 and downloaded 4,000 times per month.
In Stavanger, the Central Energy Plant (CEP) prevents yearly 500 tCO2 emissions, an equivalent of 88% reduction and annual savings of €120,000. It also reduces 76% of energy for heating and cooling 20,000m2 having annual savings of € 240 000. The holistic CEP includes all RES, sewage, biogas, solar collectors and greywater recycling system. Stavanger aims to inspire other developers to consider sewage heating in their buildings. Smart gateways have been implemented in 100 homes, 56 successfully transferring data in the required period, reducing energy consumption by 26% and energy costs by 12%. E-buses have been utilised by the bus operator in the city, avoiding 135 tCO2, 250 kg CO and 66 kg NOx per year. The data analytics toolkit accessible through an access-controlled dashboard has six users and hosts four datasets. Blink, an innovative two-layer encryption WebRTC video solution, has the potential to save energy in terms of mobility and has successfully been replicated in the Follower Cities Prague and Sabadell, concentrated around usability in care environments with key elements being simplicity and safety for users.
Triangulum has been influencing the strategic and governance processes in the Lighthouse- and Follower Cities alike. In the cities of Eindhoven, Prague, Leipzig and Sabadell in particular, Triangulum helped create new actor constellations and shape strategic developments.
Some Triangulum spin-offs are the Fraunhofer Smart Society Academy, a training course on smart city strategies and design or the Nordic Edge Expo Event in Stavanger, growing from 500 in 2015 to 5,000 participants from 39 countries in 2019, and a national Smart City Cluster.
Triangulum has been a stepping stone for new projects (>50 Mio. €), such as City Verve in Manchester, a programme that demonstrates the application of IoT technologies to the city. Leipzig successfully turned from Follower- to Lighthouse City as part of the SCC1 project SPARCs. Several cooperation initiatives between project partners have arisen after working together for five years.
Data gained from monitoring and impact assessment significantly helped to put results and outcomes into context and to backup replication within and beyond the scope of the project. In Manchester, the results are informing actions to become a zero-carbon city by 2038, while Stavanger and Eindhoven have established smart city data platforms.
The Smart City Framework developed within Triangulum, including workshops, city assessments, on-site visits, implementation strategies for the Follower Cities and a replication tool, provided the chance for cities to embark on the smart city world. Furthermore, the project also contributed to standardization activities both on national as well as European level through the development of an ICT Reference Architecture.
Some Triangulum spin-offs are the Fraunhofer Smart Society Academy, a training course on smart city strategies and design or the Nordic Edge Expo Event in Stavanger, growing from 500 in 2015 to 5,000 participants from 39 countries in 2019, and a national Smart City Cluster.
Triangulum has been a stepping stone for new projects (>50 Mio. €), such as City Verve in Manchester, a programme that demonstrates the application of IoT technologies to the city. Leipzig successfully turned from Follower- to Lighthouse City as part of the SCC1 project SPARCs. Several cooperation initiatives between project partners have arisen after working together for five years.
Data gained from monitoring and impact assessment significantly helped to put results and outcomes into context and to backup replication within and beyond the scope of the project. In Manchester, the results are informing actions to become a zero-carbon city by 2038, while Stavanger and Eindhoven have established smart city data platforms.
The Smart City Framework developed within Triangulum, including workshops, city assessments, on-site visits, implementation strategies for the Follower Cities and a replication tool, provided the chance for cities to embark on the smart city world. Furthermore, the project also contributed to standardization activities both on national as well as European level through the development of an ICT Reference Architecture.