The City of San José, known as the Capital of Silicon Valley, has embarked on a smart city pilot project to improve air and water quality, reduce noise pollution, and increase transportation efficiency.
Named Smart Cities USA, the project is public-private partnership with Intel, and is expected to help drive San José’s economic growth, foster 25,000 clean-tech jobs, create environmental sustainability and enhance the quality of life for residents. The project supports San José’s Green Vision, a long-term sustainability initiative adopted by the city in 2007 to protect the environment, stimulate economic growth and achieve sustainability.
The project will involve installing a network of sensors across San Jose to create a “sustainability lens to measure characteristics such as particulates in the air, noise pollution and traffic flow. Such measurement data will produce meaningful insights that will lead to improvements in air quality, noise, transportation efficiency, environmental sustainability, health and energy efficiency”, the announcement said.
“Our city is strongly committed to our Green Vision, which is our roadmap to becoming the clean-tech innovation center of the world,” said San José Mayor Chuck Reed.
The Smart Cities USA pilot project will give San José residents real-time, local data that can inform their personal decisions. For example, the community will better understand how they can help “Spare the Air” on poor air quality days. When there is a local air quality alert, residents can choose to take public transit, bicycle or carpool to get to work or school and thus reduce emissions and improve air quality.
As part of the project, a sensor demonstration platform has been installed based on Intel’s Internet of Things technologies, and using third-party sensors. Each gateway is securely connected to Intel’s Hadoop distribution in the cloud.
The pilot program in San José is Intel’s first smart city implementation in the United States, and will be showcased this week as part of the White House SmartAmerica Challenge.
San Jose’s Green Vision for 2020:
- Create 25,000 Clean Tech Jobs as the World Center of Clean Innovation
- Reduce Per Capita Energy Use by 50%
- Receive 100% of Our Electrical Power from Clean, Renewable Sources
- Build or Retrofit 50 Million Square Feet of Green Buildings
- Divert 100% of waste from Landfill and Convert Waste to Energy
- Recycle or Beneficially Reuse 100% of our Wastewater
- Adopt a General Plan with Measurable Standards for Sustainable Development
- Ensure that 100 Percent of public Fleet Vehicles Run on Alternative Fuels
- Plant 100,000 New Trees and Replace 100 Percent of Our Streetlights with Smart, Zero Emission Lighting
- Create 100 Miles of Trails connecting with 400 miles of on-street bikeways
