The EPN Consulting Newsletter - 078 - February 2017
Editorial
Dear Colleague,

Last week I read about an experiment being made in Singapore with "robo-taxis" (self-driving cars) where on a 6-km road stretch people can hail them through a ride-sharing app.
The vehicles are equipped with nuTonomy technology, hundreds of sensors and powerful algorithms. 

Singapore plans to run a range of trials of autonomous cars, autonomous lorries, autonomous buses to understand how residents use autonomous vehicle technology in their daily lives.

Many researchers are thinking of future cities where one day light and heavy vehicles traffic will be made of self-driving vehicles, which should make travelling safer and make parking areas useless. They also push the idea forward: cities' structural designs could also be revolutionised and foresee narrower streets.

Certainly the use of driverless vehicles could be welcomed in some areas and in some newly designed cities, but I see hard applying this excessive automation to historical cities, where most of them are part of the UNESCO heritage programme.

While it is good to make our vehicles and cities safer thanks to the development and adoption of Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) technologies, I  wouldn't like to live in a city where everything is fully automated, when the taxi previously hailed arrives empty and alights me in front of a fully automated restaurant where I order my food on a tablet and then a robot comes to serve my dishes...

What if one day a geomagnetic storm interfered with this huge amount of Artificial Intelligence?
I don't even want to imagine!  Oh, by the way, keeping ourselves human: Happy Valentine!


EPN Consulting Ltd.
Founder, CEO


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EU
Horizon 2020 & other calls close to deadline


16 Feb 2017 -  Deadline to submit proposals to the H2020-LCE-35-2017 call (Joint Action to foster innovative energy solutions in renewable energy technologies) - Stage 1
16 Feb 2017 -  Deadline to submit proposals to the H2020-LCE-36-2016-2017 call (Support to the energy stakeholders to contribute to the SET-Plan)
16 Feb 2017 -  Deadline to submit proposals to the H2020-LCE-37-2017 call (ERA-NET Co-Fund Enhanced cooperation in Smart Local and Regional Energy Networks of the European Energy Systems) - Stage 1
01 Mar 2017 -  Deadline to submit proposals to No.3  H2020-EO-2017 calls (Earth Observation)
01 Mar 2017 -  Deadline to submit proposals to No.7  H2020-COMPET-2017 calls (Competitiveness of the European Space Sector: Technology and Science)
01 Mar 2017 -  Deadline to submit proposals to No.4  H2020-GALILEO-GSA-2017 calls (Applications in Satellite Navigation - Galileo)
Uber will offer trip data to Transport Planner

16 Jan 2017 -  The ride hailing company Uber is providing access to anonymised data from more than billion trips it has made, which it says will help improve urban planning around the world. 

It says the data will be useful to a number of different types of people, such as city officials where detailed historical insights make it possible to measure the impact of road improvements, major events, new transit lines, and more, planners and policymakers who can conduct complex analysis on transport patterns to allow for better decision making around future infrastructure investments.


Autonomous Vehicles could increase private cars traffic   

26 Jan 2017 - Autonomous  Vehicles (AVs) will lead to even more private car traffic on the road unless they are put to use in shared fleets and integrated with traditional public transport services, according to a new position paper from UITP (the International Association of Public Transport).

The paper "Autonomous vehicles: a potential game changer for urban mobility" demonstrates that, despite the risk of increased congestion due to car travel becoming even more comfortable and attractive, an alternative exists: i f AVs are used in shared fleets as 'robo-taxis,' mini-buses or in car-sharing fleets, they could dramatically reduce the number of cars on the road in cities. According to this report,  public authorities must take an active role in the roll-out of AVs to ensure their shared use with measures to encourage shared mobility and limit single car occupancy (road pricing or taxation).

Dutch Railways now runs entirely on Wind Power

27 Jan 2017 -  The Netherlands has been harnessing wind power since the 11th century. It was appropriate then that Roger van Boxtel, CEO of Dutch Railways (Nederlandse Spoorwegen, NS), attached himself to a windmill while announcing that the company is now completely powered by Wind Energy.

NS runs most of the trains in the Netherlands. In 2015, the company teamed up with energy supplier Eneco to cut emissions from train journeys. Their goal was to achieve 100% renewable energy by October 2018. However, Eneco completed some of its wind-farm construction ahead of time. That's why, as of Jan. 1, 2017, all NS trains are now powered by the wind.

EU
Renewable Energy Sources: Europe on track to reach its 20% target by 2020

01 Feb 2017 - H aving achieved a share of 16% renewables in its final energy consumption in 2014 and an estimated share of close to 16.4% in 2015, the EU as a whole is well on track to reach its 20% target by 2020.  However, Member States will have to keep up their efforts in order to reach their national goals.

Europe as a whole is performing well in its deployment of renewables. In 2011, renewables generated 21.7% of the EU's electricity; three years later, this figure has reached 27.5%, and it is expected to climb to 50% by 2030. The EU's initial efforts in promoting the use of renewables facilitated this continued growth which resulted in lowered renewable costs: the prices of PhotoVoltaic (PV) modules fell by 80% between the end of 2009 and the end of 2015. Renewables have now become cost-competitive, and sometimes even cheaper than fossil fuels
 
Read more
Europe to lead world's Smart Cities by 2040

08 Feb 2017 -  European Smart Cities could transform the continent's urban landscape in less than three decades, speakers gathered at the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) in Brussels recently said.

Jeremy Rifkin, President of The Foundation on Economic Trends, told attendees at a press briefing that Europe's role in history's "third industrial revolution" would see cities transition from fossil fuels to full implementation of the circular economy as early as 2040.
" My belief is that we can move this infrastructure in place in less than three decades ", he said. 

" We laid out the first industrial revolution in Britain in four decades. We laid out the second industrial revolution in the United States in four decades. We can easily beat that target of four decades on this third industrial revolution. This is smart Europe ".

Around 78% of Europeans live in cities, which make up around 85% of the EU's GDP.

Read more
The
most under utilised source of data for Smart Cities

10 Feb 2017 -  The value of data and analytics to improve efficiency is well understood. What resource manager doesn't want to do more with what he or she has, especially if it's funded with public money?

For city planners, traffic and transport managers, and retail shopkeepers alike, making the best use of assets is not only a necessity; it's a competitive advantage.

Many cities are deploying many different types of sensors to generate information, but an often-overlooked yet ubiquitous source of data can provide a wealth of alerts and insights from a single sensor -the humble video camera.

Read more
EPN Consulting Limited

EPN Consulting News  



EPN Consulting has been quite active in the last few weeks by taking part in some interesting and inspirational events. 

In Brussels on 24 Jan many analyses of the future of Europe where discussed in the " What does Europe mean to Europe?" conference.

The following day, still in Brussels, we learnt a lot on Cities In Transition where the role of digital in shaping future cities was discussed with a number of examples, study cases and workshops, thanks to a one-day conference organised by Eurocities and the Green Digital Charter.

Finally, on 01-02 Feb in London the concept of smart towns and cities was discussed with regard to the UK. Good speeches helped understand the strategies designed and currently being executed.
people_at_conference.jpg
Upcoming Professional Events in Europe

22-25 Feb 2017 - Verona (IT) -  TRA  -  TRANSPOTEC 2017 - Transport and Logistics Exhibition
23-24 Feb 2017 - London (UK) -  FIN+ENE -  2nd ANNUAL EUROPEAN RENEWABLE ENERGY PROJECT FINANCE Conference 2017
23-24 Feb 2017 - Bristol (UK) -  TRA -  SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT & HEALTH SUMMIT 2017    
27 Feb 2017 - Brussels (BE) -  EUP+TRA -  CEF (Connecting Europe Facility) TRANSPORT BLENDING INFO DAY
27 Feb - 02 Mar 2017 - Barcelona (ES) -  BIZ+ICT+INN -  MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS 2017
28 Feb 2017 - Edinburgh (UK) - TEC+TRA -  TRANSPORT-LED DEVELOPMENT IN SCOTLAND 2017
28 Feb - 01 Mar 2017 - London (UK) -  ENE -  ENERGY STORAGE SUMMIT 2017
The Website of the Month:

ETNO - European Telecommunications Network Operators' association  

ETNO has been the voice of Europe's telecommunication network operators since 1992 and has become the principal policy group for European electronic communications network operators.

Its 41 members and observers from Europe and beyond are the backbone of Europe's digital progress. They are the main drivers of broadband and are committed to its continual growth in Europe. ETNO members are pan-European operators that also hold new entrant positions outside their national markets.

ETNO brings together the main investors in innovative and high-quality e-communications platforms and services, representing 60% of total sector investment.

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