Extreme weather events risk disrupting access to electricity, transport and water. Cities must strengthen the resilience of utilities, service providers and critical infrastructure against external shocks, and prepare them for changes in resource availability.
Innovation examples
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5. Cities / Infrastructure and services / Innovation examplesAdapting Japanese trains to extreme heat and floods
Getty Images /© JirobkkExtreme heat can cause railroad tracks to buckle, as the steel expands. This puts stress on the ties, ballasts and rail anchors that fix the tracks to the ground. Japan is a global leader in railway infrastructure. In response to climate warming, Japan Railways has raised the standard maximum performance temperature of its railroads from 60°C to 65°C. Japan Railway has also developed maintenance vehicles able to detect openings in joints caused by heat stress.[1] Meanwhile, after recent typhoons, East Japan Railway experienced considerable infrastructure damage, with millions of US dollars worth of rail cars and bullet trains having to be replaced. Steps have now been taken to adapt their infrastructure to climate change. They include lifting transformer substations and holding yards for shinkansen bullet trains by 10 meters to avoid future flood damage.[2]
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5. Cities / Infrastructure and services / Innovation examplesFog computing technologies for water management in Spain
Getty Images /© metamorworksPotable water is a precious resource in southeastern Spain. The city of València has deployed innovative IoT technologies to manage water resources more efficiently. Fog computing is a type of distributed computing that connects a data cloud service to a number of “peripheral devices” which can amass large amounts of raw data via for instance sensors. By processing data where it is generated or used rather than within a central cloud, bandwidth and wireless network infrastructure pressure can be reduced. It also enables operations to continue during network outages. LivingFog is an open source fog computing platform that enables cities to work with smart city solutions. València has used the technology to deploy more than 420,000 smart household water meters that periodically report readings to data centers through wireless networking. EMIVASA, a public–private water utility company, uses the transferred data to detect water leaks or other incidents causing abnormal water usage. This can lead to considerable water resource savings. Through a prototype platform called LivingFog this technology has now been integrated with a so-called LoRaWan software to enable the detection of leaks within minutes of their occurring instead of days so as to optimize water consumption.[1]
Proven technologies
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5. Cities / Infrastructure and services / Proven technologiesAI-based utility risk management
Urbint
Getty Images /© privetikClimate change poses a heightened risk to vital infrastructure such as electricity grids. Extremes of heat or cold may overwhelm capacity and damage equipment. Urbint is a leading AI platform for predicting and stopping threats to critical infrastructure and workers – climate change threats included. Examples include the analysis of wind speed and duration to advise power companies. The company’s risk management software helps customers identify and prioritize safety and reliability threats, by leveraging relevant data and AI. The product is used by many of the largest energy and infrastructure companies in North America.
- Contracting type: Service
- Technology level: High
- Country of origin: United States
- Availability: United States
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5. Cities / Infrastructure and services / Proven technologiesMonitoring and management platform for utilities
Mobi-Water
Getty Images /© Jasmin MerdanMobi-Water manufactures digital monitoring systems for a range of customers, including water utilities and factories. The system provides real-time data on water availability and consumption provided by tank level sensors and smart meters. Tracking is through an app, dashboard or SMS. By gathering data to generate analytics, water usage can be predicted and water shortages mitigated.
- Contracting type: Service
- Technology level: Medium
- Country of origin: Kenya
- Availability: Kenya
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5. Cities / Infrastructure and services / Proven technologiesRemote urban water monitoring system
Develiot
Getty Images /© alvarezDeveliot offers tools for use by water utilities to decrease water loss through the digitalization of water supply networks and tracking of water consumption. By tracking watercourse parameters – such as water level, water velocity, water temperature and environmental data – the company supports utilities and cities in taking proactive decisions in response to floods or drought. Relevant data can be captured remotely and in real-time through pulse meters and water monitoring stations.
- Contracting type: Service
- Technology level: High
- Country of origin: Bulgaria
- Availability: Bulgaria
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5. Cities / Infrastructure and services / Proven technologiesFlood and fire risk assessments at property level
First Street Foundation
Photo: © First Street FoundationFirst Street Foundation is a non-profit research and technology group. They offer both publicly available and paid for risk information related to floods and fires. The data is backed by peer reviewed models building on open science from decades of published research. One of the tools on offer is Flood Factor. This is a free online tool that shows whether a property has been flooded during any major event in the past, is currently at risk, and how that risk changes over time. It can also help estimate damage costs associated with flooding or highlight infrastructure and community risk. First Street has a wide user-base, including power and utility companies, insurance companies, construction and engineering firms.
- Contracting type: Service/Free
- Technology level: High
- Country of origin: United States
- Availability: United States
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5. Cities / Infrastructure and services / Proven technologiesDistributed renewables
Nayo Tropical Technology Ltd
Getty Images /© BilanolSolar Home Systems, micro-grids and mini-grids are all examples of distributed renewables. Such renewables are increasingly part of a global trend toward resilient power systems. Nayo Tropical Technology is a cleantech company and a mini-grid supplier providing renewable energy-distributed generation projects, including hybrid and solar mini-grids in and around Nigeria.
- Contracting type: For sale
- Technology level: High
- Country of origin: Nigeria
- Availability: Nigeria
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5. Cities / Infrastructure and services / Proven technologiesDecentralized water treatment and storage systems
Fluence Corporation
Photo: © Fluence Corporation LCCResiliency in water infrastructure can be enhanced through decentralized water treatment and storage systems. Treating water at point of use can make water treatment more fit for purpose and effective compared to treating all water to a potable standard. Also decentralized water storage could be used for river flow management, irrigation or in emergency situations. Fluence is a company that provides modular, decentralized water and wastewater treatment solutions for remote locations. Water treatment systems are built into steel shipping containers. Transportation and site preparation is easy and installation quick. The technology has been developed for use in resorts and recreation sites. But similar solutions could potentially be used in emergency situations. For example, storms and hurricanes where central water supplies may be damaged or contaminated.
- Contracting type: For sale
- Technology level: Medium
- Country of origin: United States
- Availability: Worldwide
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5. Cities / Infrastructure and services / Proven technologiesClimate risk analytics
Jupiter
Getty Images /© Laurence DuttonJupiter provides a broad range of climate risk analytics products for both public and private sector organizations. They are intended for activities such as infrastructure resilience engineering. Solutions assess the impact of flooding, wildfires, extreme heat, drought, wind and precipitation through spatial resolutions down to street level. Projections are delivered via geospatial web-based applications, direct data transfer or reports and cover time horizons of up to 80 years. Jupiter’s climate risk analysis is applied in several sectors including water. Climate insights help identify investments needed for pipelines and storage facilities. The products also apply to the energy sector in relation to electricity generation, transmission and distribution systems.
- Contracting type: Service
- Technology level: High
- Country of origin: United States
- Availability: Worldwide
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5. Cities / Infrastructure and services / Proven technologiesNo-dig pipe replacements
NO-DIG
Getty Images /© Daniela White ImagesProper maintenance of water pipes is key to avoiding leaks and loss of non-revenue water. NO-DIG has developed a hydrostatic pipe bursting machinery for underground pipe replacement. The machine replaces the existing pipeline by first pushing a solid steel rod through the pipe via two excavation points. Once the rod has been inserted along the length of pipe between the two excavation points, a bursting head is lowered into one end and connected to the steel rod. A replacement pipe made of polyethylene is then connected to the bursting head. Using static force, the bursting head and new pipe are pulled through the existing pipe, thereby displacing it. This process eliminates the need to dig up the ground along the entire pipe system.
- Contracting type: Service
- Technology level: High
- Country of origin: Denmark
- Availability: Worldwide
Frontier technologies
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5. Cities / Infrastructure and services / Frontier technologiesSmart grids
Sunverge
Getty Images /© Andy A. Widmer / EyeEmStorm-related power outages are happening more often. More fluctuations in supply and grid system instability mean grids need to be smarter. Smart grids and meters can enable for example automatic adaptation to varying demand and power flows. This would support a more balanced network during both normal and emergency situations such as extreme weather events. A smart grid might also enable more dispersed generation sources and local energy storage. This would strengthen overall system resilience by making reliable back-up power available during power outages. Sunverge provides an energy storage system and software. This automatically collects and stores power from renewable energy sources during the day for peak-time use or when the grid goes down. The company also enables utilities to tie distributed energy resource networks into virtual power plants. During storm alerts the battery systems can then jointly be directed to charge up.
- Contracting type: Service
- Technology level: High
- Country of origin: United States
- Availability: Worldwide
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5. Cities / Infrastructure and services / Frontier technologiesReduced thermal conductivity and temperature of asphalt pavements
PLATIO
Getty Images /© rtyree1Extreme temperatures can cause asphalt cracking, rutting or even melting. Asphalt pavement temperature depends among other things on the material’s thermal properties. Adaptation measures to hot temperatures include using cool paving materials with low thermal conductivity or high specific heat capacity, or increasing thermal resistance through thick pavement layer design. Researchers in Malaysia have reviewed the state-of-art in different cooling strategies for asphalt pavements. Approaches such as air void content and using low-density materials were found to potentially have a considerable positive effect on the thermal properties of asphalt. Open void structures and exposed surfaces allow air currents to flow through the pavement and reduce heat pressure on the pavement. However, for smaller surfaces more advanced approaches such as photovoltaic pavements and water-filled or air-filled pipes placed within pavements could reduce surface temperature by up to 5.5oC.[1] A few companies, including start-up PLATIO, are now producing solar pavements. They are an expensive option but could have both climate mitigation and adaptation benefits.
- Contracting type: For sale
- Technology level: High
- Country of origin: Hungary
- Availability: Worldwide
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5. Cities / Infrastructure and services / Frontier technologiesMesh messaging: emergency communication during internet blackouts
Briar
Getty Images /© Elena Pemkute / EyeEmMesh-based apps help people connect to nearby contacts without internet access in the event of an internet blackout. This could happen for example if internet infrastructure is affected by floods. Briar, Bridgefy and Signal Offline are three such mesh-based apps. Mesh messaging, also called “off-the-grid-messaging,” enables data to be transmitted between devices over a short range (typically 50–100 meters) without needing an internet connection. By using a device’s Bluetooth or Wifi as a transport medium, the message travels between devices until it reaches its intended recipient. Briar is one such peer-to-peer technology which enables mobile devices to connect directly to each other via WiFi without any intermediate access points. Messages are encrypted for high-level privacy, which is why the app was originally intended for activists and journalists. However, the technology has potential for use in emergency situations as well.
- Contracting type: Free
- Technology level: High
- Country of origin: United Kingdom
- Availability: Worldwide
Horizon technologies
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5. Cities / Infrastructure and services / Horizon technologiesUnderwater robots for off-shore wind farms
Danish Technical University
Getty Images /© Humberto RamirezRising sea levels and increased storm frequencies pose risks for offshore wind farms and turbine efficiency. This is due to a reliance on structural stability within the seabed. Through the use of sub-sea robots for turbine platforms, underwater monitoring can help inspect and detect reparation needs. Researchers at the Danish Technical University (DTU) have worked on a modular robot for use in offshore wind-turbine platforms. The robot can be used for inspection and also carry out underwater repair and maintenance on foundations and rigs. Because the robot is modular, each individual part of the robot can work alone or in unison with other parts. It can also be permanently installed on an underwater foundation where it can monitor and operate irrespective of weather conditions.
- Contracting type: N/A
- Technology level: High
- Country of origin: Denmark
- Availability: N/A
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5. Cities / Infrastructure and services / Horizon technologiesTyphoon-proof wind turbines
Challenergy
Getty Images /© Jason Jones Travel PhotographyA Japanese startup, Challenergy, has developed typhoon-proof wind turbines. These are uniquely shaped in order to withstand powerful winds and abrupt changes in wind direction. Built as a vertical axis wind turbine, turbines have three vertical cylinders instead of a propeller. The turbines are intended for use in remote areas, such as remote Philippine islands, that often lack sufficient power infrastructure while also being exposed to extreme weather events.
- Contracting type: N/A
- Technology level: High
- Country of origin: Japan
- Availability: N/A
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