Smarter cities demand for smarter services. As ailing post offices around the world make headlines with difficulties in covering cost of service and a vastly different ecosystem of communications, we can ponder the post office of the future.
Can you imagine a world without mailing of paper communications? Will we receive virtual mail "pieces" electronically on our personal electronic surfaces or virtual reality mail box?
Can you imagine a world without mailing of packages? This is more difficult to foresee. Will we be able to print complex objects remotely or will we eventually figure out teleportation? This seems very, very far off into the future. Hence, we will continue to require postal service - whether privately run like FedEx, DHL, UPS or government-run like the U.S. Postal Service. Will it cost more to post to or from more remote or sparely populated places? Or will we be able to maintain a more homogeneous and frequent service across the board?
One innovation, using existing technologies, that we could see in the world of postal service is the development of postal mail aliases akin to email addresses or account user names for services like Twitter or YouTube. What would be the advantages? I could have different Mail-ID's (aliases) that I could share with different groups of people, related to the Google+ concept of sharing certain types of information with specific "circles." In other words, I could have a Mail-ID for my company's customers, one for my family and intimate friends, one for companies that might mail me products or information like NetFlix or Amazon.
One advantage would be the ability to provide someone with a way to mail me without having to necessarily share where I live, as a measure of safety and privacy. If I happen to move my personal or business address, people do not need to do anything different. The postal service would have been notified and the very same alias could be re-directed to the new physical address or P.O. box. Companies that have P.O. boxes would prefer to give their potential customers a Mail-ID, instead. This system could result in significant savings related to change of address and mail forwarding and could provide a valuable service for the post office.
For faster, more accurate service, one could program an RFID tag with the from and to Mail-ID information. This could be done with a standalone postal service device, an RFID writter plugged in to a computer or a mobile or tablet device. These tags would speed up sorting or mail and packages and could be re-programmed and re-used. We could imagine encrypted tags that we could give or mail to someone so that they could mail us back without even having to know our Mail-ID.
In an age where privacy has eroded significantly, could technology improve privacy in a sector of our lives and could this be a value-add service that the U.S. Postal Service could implement to help improve its precarious situation?
Would you use Mail-ID if it were made available to you? Why? What ideas do you have to improve services, reduce costs? What does your future tech crystal ball reveal?
You will be hard-pressed to find a fairly objective individual who can assert that our American representative, two-party form of government has been effective in energy policy.
From Texas to Tokyo, however, communities have successfully engaged in the kind of intelligent and democratic dialogue that is sorely lacking in our increasingly polarized world.
Our article on Deliberative Democracy and Utility Modernization produced the greatest response, so we follow up with sharing this series of reports from Stanford University's Center for Deliberative Democracy.
In the wake of the Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein's arrest for attempting to merely attend the latest debate, and the fact few people know Gov. Gary Johnson will be on all 50 ballots, we can see that more voices can only enrich a debate and that everyday people can make wise, lasting choices given the right conditions.
With the world-wide economic belt tightening, municipalities are looking to reduce operating costs more than ever. An even bigger concern is the scarcity of the very substance that is the ultimate requisite for our lives: water. Though industries like farming and energy generation need to innovate to utilize less water, municipalities already have the technology required to reduce operating costs and conserve water.
The same way that Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) or "smart meters" are a key component of the electrical smart grid, similar technology can be applied to other utilities like gas and water. In the case of water metering, remote connect/disconnect switching and more accurate, hourly interval reads can provide great savings and an enhanced customer experience. Applications can include:
Significant reduction in truck rolls
Automatic detection of costly and wasteful water leaks
Conservation-encouraging customer usage and bill estimation web portals with hourly interval data
Besides water metering data itself, the water AMI communications network wireless mesh systems can also monitor other end points:
Continuous monitoring of sensitive ecological areas (condition-based versus periodic monitoring)
Selective End-Point Monitoring of Water Quality
Combined water, gas, and electric metering for an even better financial and social business case
Substation, distribution, and demand-side automation
Further value can be obtained through the develop a municipality-wide network (which can include wireless, fiber, cellular, powerline carrier and other technologies) for other municipal
functions for a more complete Smart City concept. Such applications can include a municipal mobile workforce network to assist building inspectors, police, safety and other employees to exercise their duties on the go with greater ease thanks to mobile connectivity. Citizens and visitors could benefit from a public layer of wi-fi to increase accessibility to online education, government e-services, and much more.
However, starting with a more limited scope, such as water meter automation, we see can find success cases like Kansas City. Whenever we hear of states like Florida and Texas struggling with droughts, we see that such measures could save much-needed water as well as reduce public costs, which could help alleviate public budget shortfalls. When it comes to financing these projects, if the cash-flow is challenging, despite a favorable business case, there are investors looking for the more predictable returns associated with resource conservation upgrades like this one.
Rooftops in cities all across the United States and around the world are getting a green makeover, not limited to solar generation (unsightly solar panels or costly solar shingles or solar thin-film). Green-roofing is a paradigm for reducing the carbon footprint of a building through a number of roof interventions. These range from applying modern materials that improve thermal performance to painting a roof white in sun-lit places to reflect more sunlight and reduce air conditioning energy use.
Though much touted about, green roofing construction and maintenance can cost considerable "green," and loading issues require additional engineering review and could make retrofits impractical. However, the extra layer of insulation and extended life of the roof and building could increase the value of the building. It could also double as a vegetable garden, which improves the livability and value of the property.
This trend in re-thinking roofs is also going commercial into full fledged rooftop farming. One startup, Bright Farms, is working with groceries to grow tomatoes, for instance, right on the roof of these establishments. This ensures very fresh, seasonal, and price-reliable produce with significant financial and environmental savings, given the reduction of transportation. It is akin to the distributed generation paradigm for the electric industry. Among cities, New York City has emerged as a leader in rooftop farming.
We can also seen entire abandoned buildings or parts of active structures turn into gardens and farms -- the California Science Center in San Francisco is a prime example of vertical farming. The reclamation of water through rooftop collection for gray water applications is also becoming more common, as water scarcity hits hard across the world, including U.S. states like Florida and Texas.
Have great examples of this trend in your town or communities you have visited?
You are invited to share in our comments section!
A more reliable power system that facilitates 21st century services and reduces economical inefficiency and emissions that are harmful to health and the environment hardly seems like a divisive idea. However, lack of consumer education, consumer distrust of certain policies or technologies and an uncertain, constantly-shifting energy policy in a highly-polarized socio-political environment are some of the dogged issues that challenge a more swift and comprehensive modernization of our aging, mostly-unchanged 18th century power model in this age of the iPhone.
Every day, energy consumers from individuals, colleges, hospitals, government and commercial-industrial facilities are wasting obscene amounts of money, when there is, in my view, a clear business and ethical case for modernization and investors ready to cash in on a secure return in face of nervous stock markets. Why aren't more power users seizing the opportunities (see, for example, lighting)?
Utilities implement new technology like advanced metering infrastructure as part of an overall infrastructure upgrade to improve the quality and availability of existing service and opening the doors to new options for consumers, but misinformation, confusion, and distrust prevail in a number of communities. How can we address this situation?
We look forward to your opinion and insights.
This set of issues can be seen, however, in a greater context. How are communities and organizations supposed to make smarter decisions if they are mis-informed? How can a relative consensus be reached if there is little, effective conversation, in this increasingly distracted and polarized society? Who has the time to become an expert in energy, healthcare, fiscal, foreign, environmental, and myriads of other policies? It's difficult to understand the big issues between the daily responsibilities, email jail, sitting in traffic, constant electronic stimuli, and the few things people try to squeeze in to remain human (enjoy time with family, friends, nature, community, and creative endeavors, and oh yes, sleep). Most people, as demonstrated by low participation level is elections, see their singular vote as relatively insignificant in the big picture. How do we overcome this so-called "rational ignorance"?
Unfortunately, the majority of our paid, elected officials don't seem very successful in the advancement of civilization, either. How can we have smarter cities and countries without smarter policies? The solution is apparent: we need more educated citizens. Education is the first thing to get cut by politicians, so no luck there. How about the Internet and its repository of knowledge and news media from multiple perspectives, including analysis by more independent journalists. Unfortunately, misperceptions are resilient as humans aren't typically motivated to change their views, so we have a tendency to find media and information that re-enforces our current biases and paradigms. This problem is looking more intractable by the minute.
Deliberative Polling
The problem is not that "the masses," the "common people" are stupid, inept, or unwise. In fact, recent experiments with a more direct form of democracy prove quite the contrary. We do not have a shortage of intelligence. What we lack is effective dialogue.
It is also not enough to ask people for their "opinion." Mere opinion polls or the common notion of internet direct democracy do not reflect the wisest answers a people can provide, because they do not reflect what people think. People hardly think when answering polls. Ask most people about "microgrids" and you will likely draw stares. However, if you simply poll them about it with a yes, no, or don't know question, you will magically have strong opinions (apparently). The most scientific and inclusive poll is rendered useless unless respondants are minimally qualified to answer. Who gets to decide who is sufficiently lucid in a matter?
"Asked for their opinion of the [fictious "Public Affairs Act of 1975"], large percentages of the public either supported or opposed it, even though no such act was ever passed. In 1995, The Washington Post celebrated the "twentieth unanniversary" of the nonexistent act by asking respondents about its "repeal." Half the respondents were told that President Clinton wanted to repeal the act; the other half were informed that the "Republican Congress" favored its repeal. The respondents apparently used these cues to guide their answers, without recognizing the fictional character of the entire endeavor." - Fishkin/Akerman
Enter the Deliberative Polling(R) method. A statistically-significant and demographically and attitudinally representative sample of a population is invited to deliberate on a policy issue: how to address an aging, costly electric infrastructure? Experts representing different opinions and relevant areas of expertise are also invited. Deliberative Polling, developed by Dr. Fishkin from Stanford University's Center for Deliberative Democracy, engages a microcosm of society in discussion and gives them a chance to listen to and question experts. The results have been applied toward conflict resolution, energy policy, governance, health policy and other areas from municipalities to states and even at an event at the European Parliament with representatives of 27 nations who spoke 23 different languages.
The case of Texas is particularly interesting. A conventional fuel industry stronghold, which was 49th in the U.S. in wind energy production, became a leader in renewable energy generation, with the support of electric energy consumers. It is an example of how decision-making and policies are more intelligent and resilient for the long-term when we help enough people to take the time from their busy lives to really learn and debate issues.
With deliberative polls, on the other hand, people actually have the chance to think and, golly, even change their mind. It also brings people closer together because they get to see other people's points of view and it is harder to demonize people you actually get to know a little. Northern Ireland Catholics and Protestants agreeing that their children should spend more time together. Chinese villagers contributing to the discussion of budget priorities. Americans agreeing on specific, smarter energy policies. Would there have been less resistance to smart meters based on misinformation regarding RF, security, and other issues and a better understanding of why they are needed to begin with, if there had been deliberative polling activities so customers have a chance to educate themselves and reach their own conclusions and consensus?
Deliberative Polling
Stanford University Dr. Fishkin's Deliberative Polling Process
Bobby Fishkin, son of the proponent of Deliberative Polling, takes the concept to the next level
