Newsletter #7

When 2020 began, probably no one could have predicted how the first half of the year would look like. What we once thought impossible had suddenly become real. Borders were closed, air travel was banned, and strict curfews were imposed in several countries. And this with no less intention than saving human lives. But how did our mySMARTLife cities actually respond to the challenges posed by COVID-19?

On 6 December 2019, a meeting bringing together stakeholders of the renovation field was hosted in Nantes. The target audience included auditors, architects, engineering consultancies, associations, worksite project managers and people from Nantes Metropole working on the theme of energy renovation and energy transition.

At the ATEC ITS congress for intelligent mobility, Nantes Metropole and Cerema presented the results of an evaluation that was conducted as part of the mySMARTLife project on Nantes‘ autonomous shuttle bus which was operating in general traffic with a specific topic on the social acceptance of this technology.

During February and the beginning of March, Engie teams worked on the implementation of a solar power plant, made with organic, flexible and semi-transparent photovoltaic films. 41m² of these photovoltaic films were installed by simply gluing them onto existing awnings at La Cité des Congrès. The latter is a venue for hosting and producing professional and cultural events, which is thus highly frequented by local, national and international visitors.

Today, 16 Mercedes-Benz eCitaro electric buses were delivered to the transport association Verkehrsbetriebe Hamburg-Holstein (VHH) in typical Hamburg weather. Four more eCitaro solo buses as well as 17 articulated eCitaro G buses are going to be delivered by the end of 2020.

The Hamburg University of Applied Science (HAW) is an academic consortium member of mySMARTLife researching energy as well as resource efficiency of energy, mobility and infrastructure measures.  In the Hamburg demonstration site Bergedorf and the new created quarter “Am Schilfpark”, HAW is involved in the sustainable heat supply of the area.

The first SunZEB building (Sun Zero Energy Building) has been finalized in Kalasatama district of Helsinki. The SunZEB block, planned to contain four apartment buildings, is one of the interventions in mySMARTLife. The first building contains apartments from two room units to five room units. The building is close to the green recreation island Mustikkamaa and centrally located.

The City of Helsinki holds around 1700 service buildings (e.g. schools, libraries and hospitals). The information how these use energies can now be read through the new Nuuka Open API. The aim is to speed up Helsinki on its way to become carbon neutral by 2035. All in all, 96% of the direct emissions of the city organization come from the energy use of the buildings. The data has been collected by the city since 1980s but is now becoming vital to monitor how the carbon neutrality goal is going to be achieved.

The mySMARTLife project aims at making the three Lighthouse Cities of Nantes, Hamburg and Helsinki more environmentally friendly by reducing the CO₂ emissions of cities and increasing the use of renewable energy sources.

Other activities are focusing on "Inclusive cities", offering a high quality of life in the cities. READ MORE