EuroWire November 2015

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Transatlantic cable
November 2015 29
To ensure a minimum quality of service Mr Burger also called for
the regulation of contracts that BT and others have with the US
telecoms. He noted that, at present, there are no speci c time
frames within which the American companies must rectify an
outage that takes down a BT network.
Cities
‘Smart cities’ in the USA lag their European
counterparts by a fairly wide margin.
Catching up will take an e ort of will
“Is the United States really that far behind Europe?”
The question – posed by Jaclyn Brandt of the electric power
news site SmartGridNews – referred to the speed with which the
USA is creating so-called smart cities: those employing digital
technology to e ect better public service, more e cient use of
resources, and less impact on the environment.
To judge from two well-quali ed respondents who considered
the question, the answer is yes. Although many cities in the
United States are implementing “smart” technology, the country
as a whole continues to fall behind others in terms of smart city
rollouts.
According to Todd Adams, chief of sustainability and innovation
with an Ohio-based marketing communications agency, many
countries with no energy infrastructure are starting from scratch
and moving straight to smart technology. But the USA is forced
to work with existing infrastructure that is decades old.
“In the United States we have so much invested in what we
already have,” Mr Adams told SmartGridNews. In countries with
no electrical infrastructure, he said, they can ’go from zero to 60’
in terms of building their energy systems. The investment in an
electrical grid can yield prompt quality-of-life results in terms of
reducing carbon footprint, enhancing urban planning and water
e ciency, and enabling partnerships.
Steven Collier, director of smart grid strategies for Milsoft
Utility Solutions (Abilene, Texas) and an IEEE technical expert,
advanced an explanation of another kind.
He pointed out that European cities tend to be denser and to
have better public transit, a larger commitment to cycling and
walking, and a stronger focus on sustainability and low-carbon
solutions. Perhaps most important, he said, they have “a culture
and citizenry more engaged in the journey towards more
sustainable and smarter cities” than in the USA. (“Smart Cities:
Why Is The US So Far Behind?,” 25th August)
But most of all, Mr Collier asserts, Europe is moving faster than
the USA because the European Union (EU) has a continent-wide
emphasis on smart cities. This includes signi cant funding
through a large network that includes development and
deployment; “whereas in the US,” he said, “each city is pretty
much on its own.”
Can the gap be narrowed?
Messrs Adams and Collier are in agreement that existing
infrastructures stand in the way of complete rebuilding –
something that many smart cities require. The economic
constraints of such an undertaking thwart many local
governments in the United States.
But Mr Adams noted that the USA has overcome the state
model before, and cited a striking mid-20th Century success: the
Interstate Highway System, inaugurated in 1956 by President
Dwight D Eisenhower who considered it one of his major
achievements. Mr Adams concurs in that judgment.
“That is an incredible feat if you think about it,” he told
Ms Brandt. “To connect every piece of America by road. Crossing
multiple states, counties, everything. And it works.”
† If Americans of the early 21st Century can summon the will
to pursue another vision of connectivity, they can take
example of Europeans whose traditional networks and
services are being made more e cient with the use of digital
and telecom technologies for the bene t of residents and
businesses. To this end, the European Union is investing in
smart information and communications (ICT) research and
innovation, and developing policies in line with its 20/20/20
targets.
Ms Brandt wrote that the 20/20/20 rule is helping the
EU to create more smart cities, either directly or as a
side-e ect. The rule, adopted in 2007, stipulates for the 28
member-states a 20 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas
emissions from 1990 levels; a rise in the share of energy
produced from renewable resources to 20 per cent; and a 20
per cent improvement in energy e ciency.
The European Union plans to reach those goals by 2020.
Dorothy Fabian
USA Editor