Economic efficiency and energy security of smart cities

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to provide an analysis of the determinants of economic efficiency and to assess the prerequisites for the energy security of smart cities. The main methods of the paper include an economic analysis of the infrastructure improvements that result in reducing the energy demand of the smart cities represented by the intelligent light-emitting diode (LED) street lighting system. Smart LED streetlights are getting increasingly popular in the world's major metropolises as one of the leading components of the "smart" city. We compare the efficiency of LED street lighting used in smart cities with a commonly used lighting system based on sodium lamps. Our results demonstrate that LED street lighting system can significantly reduce the energy demand of any modern city. Moreover, we show that smart grids might help distribution systems within smart cities to better integrate intermittent renewable energy sources such as wind and solar. The main research novelty of our study compared to previous studies from the literature is the estimation of net profit (NP), Net Discounted Savings (NDS), as well as the total savings (TS) using the example of an average European metropolis. Our findings show that there is a need for better management including strong networks of leaders to drive smart city policies and investments and to cover wider city areas with economically sustainable projects and plans. In addition, our findings yield that smart city projects should aim at finding solution for smart connected local energy storage systems to support more renewable energy sources on the power grids. Our results might be of a special interest for city planners, local government stakeholders, as well as urban policy makers dealing with planning and managing smart cities.

The global economy in technological transformation conditions: A review of modern trends

“…Source: made by authors according to IEA data (IEA, 2018). city itself; its dwellers; and the socio-economic, technological, entrepreneurial, and managerial spheres, one should take into account the interests of all involved parties in general, as well as the interest of society and the individual in particular (Strielkowski et al, 2020). Innovativeness is a dimension of entrepreneurial orientation with the greatest positive impact on this orientation (Hern andez-Perlines et al, 2020).…”

A Comparative Study of MSW to Emery in Oman

“…Overall, the share of GCC countries in the renewable section is almost negligible. At the same, in other parts of the world, research is in progress to explore how to meet the full energy requirement of cities through renewable sources [26,27]. Thus, it is obviously clear that a huge emission could be expected from these countries when all of its energy requirements will be met from fossil fuels.…”

Smart Energy in a Smart City: Utopia or Reality? Evidence from Poland

“…Looking at the number of RES installations alone, it should be noted that the most (more than 10) are in Katowice (18), Warsaw (14), and Szczecin (12) (Figure 3). Szczecin also has the largest number of small renewable energy installations (11). The largest, though among the least numerous, are installations using biomass, including those that are co-fired by fossil fuels.…”

“…The conducted research shows that Polish cities focus first on safe and reliable energy supplies, and then on diversification of energy sources. Large global metropolises are applying a similar energy strategy [11,[142][143][144][145]. It is much easier for city authorities to include only broad statements about increasing the share of renewable energy sources in strategic documents than to indicate specific types of investments in renewable energy sources and timeframes for their implementation.…”

“…Modern cities are therefore currently faced with the challenge of securing energy supplies, on which are founded not only the functioning of the economy as a whole, but also residents' quality of life. The key to solving emerging problems is the concept of the "smart city", which, based on data and technology, supports economic development and improves quality of life while promoting sustainable development in cities [11].…”