their energy needs directly to energy producers, enabling them to optimize the
production and distribution of energy (EU 2018). In the framework of this project,
a web and smartphone app to buy and sell energy was tested in Alginet/Valencia,
with 5000 participants in the brokerage system where the authorities tested possible
ways of adapting street lighting to match traffic conditions (EU 2018). The energy
savings by this app were ca. 12% for citizens, up to 58% for large consumers, and
34% for public lighting.
Since at least 2013, more and more municipalities experimented with Smart Grids
for future Smart Cities, but end users have difficulties to grasp the new innovative
energy allocation models (Grenoble-Isère 2013). Some case studies conducted in
Europe revealed that a significant degree of energy savings by Smart Meters and
energy pricings has not yet been achieved as the data provided by Smart Meters
failed to enable consumers to understand them or to take action based on them
regarding energy and cost savings (Bhati et al. 2017). The years ahead will show
whether Smart Grids will regularly incorporate renewable energy sources or whether
they will develop into a hybrid industry consisting of a combination of IT and energy
without necessarily using renewable energies (Grenoble-Isère 2013).
13.3.4.7 Smart Food
Generally, consumers in cities have little knowledge about the origin and quality of
the food sold in super markets. They are used to buy perfectly looking and tasty food,
regardless from its nutritional value and the pesticides and other chemicals used in its
production such as highly dangerous bleachers in cauliflower. Therefore, smart
wrappings and smart supervision of the food supply chain may support food safety
in cities. According to food experts, the “. . .trend towards more natural foods with
fewer preservatives, additives and dyes calls for increasing oxygen sensitivity”
(Moukowa 2016). Innovative “active” package systems can change the condition
of the package product in favor of food safety and quality (Moukowa 2016). The
identification of products progressing toward spoilage can be facilitated by timetemperature color indicator plastics affixed to a package or by wireless smart caps on
bottles indicating spoilage via a small electrical circuit triggering an electrical signal
(Moukowa 2016). Smart Packaging can deploy Big Data and IoT to enable dynamic
interaction with sensor devices on packaging such as Smart Caps, Smart Labels,
NFC (near-field communication), and RFID (radio-frequency identification) “...to
track the quality of food from factory to store...”(Moukowa 2016). Smart logistics by
ICT can help to reduce emissions and to save energy and cost by shortening delivery
ways for food (see Sect. 13.2.1).
Nevertheless, shipping food all over the globe due to ever-increasing globalization and the carbon footprint created by long transportation routes between rural and
urban areas are neither ecologically nor economically sustainable. Therefore, many
Smart City concepts integrate urban farming which includes community-based
agriculture, community farming, garden plots, roof cultivation, greenhouses on
rooftops, cultivation on vertical walls of buildings, as well as interior cultivation
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O. Schwarz-Herion
production and distribution of energy (EU 2018). In the framework of this project,
a web and smartphone app to buy and sell energy was tested in Alginet/Valencia,
with 5000 participants in the brokerage system where the authorities tested possible
ways of adapting street lighting to match traffic conditions (EU 2018). The energy
savings by this app were ca. 12% for citizens, up to 58% for large consumers, and
34% for public lighting.
Since at least 2013, more and more municipalities experimented with Smart Grids
for future Smart Cities, but end users have difficulties to grasp the new innovative
energy allocation models (Grenoble-Isère 2013). Some case studies conducted in
Europe revealed that a significant degree of energy savings by Smart Meters and
energy pricings has not yet been achieved as the data provided by Smart Meters
failed to enable consumers to understand them or to take action based on them
regarding energy and cost savings (Bhati et al. 2017). The years ahead will show
whether Smart Grids will regularly incorporate renewable energy sources or whether
they will develop into a hybrid industry consisting of a combination of IT and energy
without necessarily using renewable energies (Grenoble-Isère 2013).
13.3.4.7 Smart Food
Generally, consumers in cities have little knowledge about the origin and quality of
the food sold in super markets. They are used to buy perfectly looking and tasty food,
regardless from its nutritional value and the pesticides and other chemicals used in its
production such as highly dangerous bleachers in cauliflower. Therefore, smart
wrappings and smart supervision of the food supply chain may support food safety
in cities. According to food experts, the “. . .trend towards more natural foods with
fewer preservatives, additives and dyes calls for increasing oxygen sensitivity”
(Moukowa 2016). Innovative “active” package systems can change the condition
of the package product in favor of food safety and quality (Moukowa 2016). The
identification of products progressing toward spoilage can be facilitated by timetemperature color indicator plastics affixed to a package or by wireless smart caps on
bottles indicating spoilage via a small electrical circuit triggering an electrical signal
(Moukowa 2016). Smart Packaging can deploy Big Data and IoT to enable dynamic
interaction with sensor devices on packaging such as Smart Caps, Smart Labels,
NFC (near-field communication), and RFID (radio-frequency identification) “...to
track the quality of food from factory to store...”(Moukowa 2016). Smart logistics by
ICT can help to reduce emissions and to save energy and cost by shortening delivery
ways for food (see Sect. 13.2.1).
Nevertheless, shipping food all over the globe due to ever-increasing globalization and the carbon footprint created by long transportation routes between rural and
urban areas are neither ecologically nor economically sustainable. Therefore, many
Smart City concepts integrate urban farming which includes community-based
agriculture, community farming, garden plots, roof cultivation, greenhouses on
rooftops, cultivation on vertical walls of buildings, as well as interior cultivation
224
O. Schwarz-Herion