ICT for Societal Challenges - European Commission - Europa

One of the greatest challenges facing the EU is how best to design and adapt
cities into smart intelligent and sustainable environments. Almost three quarters of
Europeans live in cities, consuming 70% of the EU’s energy. Congestion costs Europe
about 1% of its GDP every year; most of it is located in urban areas. Smart urban
technologies can make a major contribution to tackling many urban challenges. This
is why in July 2012 a new European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and
Communities (SCC) was launched to achieve a meaningful large-scale deployment of
smart city solutions in Europe.
Water and waste management are two additional fields where European research
can make a crucial contribution over the next few years. Besides these actions, the
European Commission is also funding a whole series of research and innovation
projects to improve the energy efficiency of data centres.
Changing behaviour at home and at work
Everyone can contribute to lowering our energy consumption. Awareness is the first
step towards the improvement of energy use. This is the base-line of the BeAware
project, which has developed new information
tools and services to help turn citizens into active
energy-saving players. The project has developed
Energy Life, a web-based solution for mobile
phones which makes users become aware of
the power consumption of their home appliances
in real time, with the overall target of reducing
power consumption in households by 15%.
BeAware
Energy Life is equipped with ambient interfaces allowing measurement of energy
consumption of home appliances, helping users to monitor their consumption via mobile
phones and adopt energy-saving behaviours. The solution uses gaming and learning tools,
and provides real-time feedback and advice for energy savings.
http://www.energyawareness.eu/beaware
Funded by the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7)
Duration: 2008 - 2011
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