CHALLENGES RELATED TO THE MANAGEMENT OF ENERGY TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURES WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF FUTURE ECO CITIES

摘要

"The 100 years from 1950 to 2050 will be remembered for the greatest social, cultural, economic and environmental transformation in history - the urbanization of humanity. With half of us now occupying urban space, the future of the human species is tied to the city." Anna Tibaijuka, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director UN-HABITAT, in remarks at the third session of the World Urban Forum in Vancouver, Canada, in 2006.The urbanization of humanity is both a fact and a challenge. 3.5 billion people live in cities now, and 6 billion people will live in cities by 2050. Over at least the next 15 years, 95% of that growth will occur in developing and transitional countries of the global South. At the same time the population of other cities will remain nearly constant or even decline.Behind these significant differences there is a common set of challenges, from water sourcing and supply to transport of goods from supporting regions, to energy use and distribution and on to waste handling and resilient infrastructure ready for the consequences of global climate change. Cities need a new plan for facing these problems, and that new plan needs to synergize what areusefully summarized by the United Nations as the 'Green Agenda' and 'Brown Agenda' for cities:1. "The Green Agenda" refers to the natural environment: it is about the natural systems of the local, bioregional and global ecosystems that cities and other settlements use as services for open space, biodiversity, water provision, waste dispersion, health, air, and reliable climate, food and fibre.2. "The Brown Agenda" concerns the human environment. The agenda is essential for making a city work; for a healthy and liveable environment; and for creating the human and economic opportunities that have been driving cities. This agenda is about optimizing land use, engineering of waste systems; minimizing energy consumption and transport; reducing use of materials; and creating an efficient built environment."Key technologies and social innovations needing further development include:1. Distributed renewable energy ressources and water systems integrating multiple inputs -in the case of power, strategies for integration of solar, wind, hydro, geothermal.2. Carbon footprint reduction on a neighbourhood and city-wide basis, aiming for carbon-neutral cities integrated into surrounding eco-systems - neutral carbon should be seen both from an energy and transportation usage prospective3. Planning for compact cities with logistically sophisticated transport systems interacting with intermittent energy systems4. Creation of cities without slums, to overcome the quality of life and productive gaps evident where social inequality prevails.The Energy Management Business of Alstom Power made a first step towards that future establishing with 5 other complementary partners, GDF Suez - SNCF - Italcementi -Saur and ADEME and leading French Universities and Grandes Ecoles, the first International Chaire econoving to work together on eco innovation across these new eco systems.