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The World’s Smartest Sandbox in the Heart of Dublin

At Dublin City University (DCU) in Ireland, something very smart is happening. Leading-edge digital innovations are being conceptualized, developed, trialed, and tested in one of the world’s most high-tech sandboxes. The DCU Glasnevin campus has transformed itself into a small-scale smart city through its Smart DCU program (a partnership with Ireland’s national research center for data analytics INSIGHT, DCU, and Dublin City Council). If the term is new to you, a smart city is one where digital information and communications are intimately connected to allow the city to function better in terms of its infrastructure and services. The goal is to create better city outcomes, the key driver for Bentley’s partner Dublin City Council’s award-winning Smart Dublin program which focuses on prioritizing projects and partnerships to make the city more efficient, greener, faster, safer, or simply more attractive for those who live and work there. Piloting Digital Innovation with an Eye Towards Scaling Across Dublin DCU has 17,500 students from 55 countries and because it contains buildings, parks, roads, pubs, sports, shopping, banking, and a lot of people moving around, it is a near-perfect microcosm of a city. It’s ideal to trial and test some extraordinary digital innovations, at a

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A Tale of One City, with Two Extremes

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” is one of literature’s most memorable opening paragraphs which also includes the contrasts of wisdom & incredulity, light & dark, and hope & despair (from Charles Dicken’s, A Tale of Two Cities). My story has just one city, but its variability of water supply is so extreme, I think Mr. Dickens might forgive me for the comparison, especially as the wisdom, light, and hope shines through. Joinville is a colorful city of some 600,000 people of Portuguese, German, Swiss, Norwegian, and Italian descent in one of Brazil’s southernmost states, Santa Catarina. It is known as a major industrial and commercial center, and with high urban development and relatively good infrastructure, Joinville has one of the highest standards of living in Latin America. At first glance, water seems to be everywhere in Joinville. With the Atlantic Ocean forming the eastern border for the State, and with high mountains to the west, major rainfall events are common. River systems cut paths through dense vegetation, with the Piraí River dominating the landscape and providing an essential artery to pulse life into the city and its residents. The landscape is beautiful, rugged,

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Diving into Smart Water Management

Being close to water is something that brings color, peace, and happiness to many. I’ve found that these sentiments are felt not only by those lounging on a beach or strolling on turquoise shores but also by the many stakeholders involved in the successful delivery of potable water and water treatment solutions to communities across the globe. While many may think of a city’s water services as being about pipes and pressure, I have found that the human connections to water run much deeper. These deep human connections to water operations are evident in the smart water platform used in Porto city’s water authority in Northern Portugal. The story of Porto’s digital transformation has been told in a short video produced for Bentley as part of the BBC StoryWorks Commercial Production series ‘Beneath the Surface’. This series explores our connections to water and looks at today’s most pressing challenges. The series sought case studies where technological innovations were applied to safeguard, monitor, and manage water to create a brighter future for those that rely on it. The Porto story ticked all those boxes. A City Shaped by Water Porto is both a coastal city (facing west on the edge of

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It’s About Dam Time: Going Digital Necessary to Support Vital Resource – Water

Aerial view of the Diablo Dam in Washington. It’s one of the three facilities located on the Skagit River listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Courtesy of HDRWe love epic engineering sagas. TV shows like Modern Marvels, Impossible Engineering, or Mysteries of the Abandoned highlight how and why iconic and important structures were built and unfortunately why some failed. Inherent bias aside, stories featured in this genre of television focused on large-scale infrastructure projects, especially dams, follow particularly dramatic story arcs due to their scale and the important role that they play in providing critical services to society. Many claim the ancient Egyptians were the first to build dams. However, with the invention of concrete and other industrial equipment, the type, number, and size of dams increased significantly. According to an article from The Journal of Environment and Earth Science, “By the middle of 19th century, about 5,000 large dams had been built across the globe, three-quarters of them in industrialized countries. This figure has increased to over 45,000 large dams in over 140 countries of the world before the end of last millennium.” Dams aren’t just amazing structures; they play a crucial role in managing a vital

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A Simple Answer to Reducing Your Plant’s GHG Emissions? Avoid Unplanned Downtime!

When energy prices rise, many assume it is a boom time for global operators. They certainly make the most of a high-demand market, but they aren’t getting it their own way. Pressure by governments and the public alike to reduce GHG emissions and the effects on the environment by meeting climate targets are going to be tough to match. Worldwide, the oil and gas industry accounts for 45% of anthropogenic GHG emissions, hence the pressure on oil companies to decarbonize. The goal to achieve net-zero emissions is long-term, but we are already witnessing operators transitioning to renewable or alternative energy sources. You have likely noticed how traditional oil companies have rebranded themselves to focus on integrated energy with new net-zero strategies in place. The global operators are investing in renewable sources, such as solar and wind, to alleviate the burden on oil operations. You could say that their experience working in remote onshore and offshore locations and environments makes this transition easier for them as they have the knowledge, workforce, and financial backing to make it work. The transferable skills they have in construction, installation, and operation also apply to offshore wind resources, such as structural analysis and reliability strategies,

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Can Engineers Save the Planet from Climate Change and its Effects?

Globally, we continue to witness the increasingly destructive impacts of climate change on human and natural systems. The increased frequency and intensity of extreme climatic events such as wildfires, floods, and droughts are costing lives, disrupting infrastructure, economies, and setting back development progress that has taken years to establish. According to research published in the journal Nature Climate Change, at least 85% of the world’s population has been affected by events directly related to climate change and extreme weather events. In January of this year, the Washington Post reported that more than 40 percent of Americans live in counties that were hit by climate-related disasters in 2021.  In 2015, two crucial pathways for a sustainable future were defined. At the Paris Agreement, most of the world committed to a common goal of keeping the increase in global temperatures to below 2°C and confirmed continuing efforts to limit temperature rises to 1.5°C. This international treaty on climate change was signed at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC). As of November 2021, 193 members of the UNFCCC are parties to the agreement. Also in 2015, all UN Member States adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a plan of action

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Providing Clean Water Infrastructure with Digital Workflows

It is unbelievable (a shame really) that by 2025, 3.5 billion people will live in water-scarce regions due to the growing drought issues brought on by climate change and increasing population. This means they have difficulty accessing a clean, safe water supply on a daily basis. And by 2050, more than half the world’s population could be living in water-stressed regions due to the impact of urbanization. Women who live in water-scarce regions often have to walk several kilometers on a daily basis to get water. In India, the water scarcity crisis affects millions of people each year and with the added challenge of the COVID pandemic it has been outright dangerous. The Indian government recognizes how important it is to have clean, potable water available across the country. In the Uttar Pradesh region of India, the Khatan group of nearly four hundred villages has approximately one and a half million people that struggle every day to provide clean water to their families. Many women walk several kilometers to fetch water on a daily basis, and they usually take their children along to help, meaning that the children cannot attend school and get a proper education. Because water is first

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