The city of Dubuque has created a new partnership with I.B.M. to use technology to monitor a number of things including how people use electricity, water, and natural gas. I.B.M. currently uses computer systems to help other cities, including London and Amsterdam, become more environmentally friendly. Dubuque project manager David Lyons
Smarter Sustainable Dubuque is the project where a city and I.B.M. are partnering to increase the use of technology instrumentation and data to transform the community by creating new jobs, new industries, reducing the impact on the environment, preserving resources, lowering costs, and creating better environmental outcomes,” Lyons says. He says this is the first program to include multiple energy uses.
Lyons says Dubuque will be the model for the I.B.M. “sustainable cities” program worldwide and will create the opportunity for “living laboratory” in Dubuque. One example of how the program will work is with new water meters that allow customers to see how and when they’re using water and identify ways to cut back.
He says when the city makes changes in its water system they will know not only how much money can be saved in water usage, they will also know how much it impacts electric use and greenhouse gas emissions, and the community”s carbon footprint.
The administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Secretaries of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development were in Dubuque Thursday for the announcement of the program.