Green

San Francisco Gets Smart with Green Technology

Walk down Pier 96 on San Francisco Bay, and you will hear the roar of a great, big, smelly machine. No matter how odd it looks, it organizes close to 750 tons of waste every day, turning them into neat cubes of plastic, paper and metal. This is part of San Francisco’s efforts to use technology and ingenuity to turn the city into one of America’s greenest. This is a move adopted by most innovative companies as well: cut costs, solve problems and improve customers/citizens lives.

Branded as ‘smart cities’ – communities such as this embrace technology in a bid towards achieving efficiency in mobility, construction, energy and transportation via the use of digital or green technology. One such ‘smart city’ is Stockholm, which uses sensors, software and computer networks to monitor peak traffic periods. Another is Shanghai which has the world’s first low-pollution magnetic railway. It transports passengers at more than 100mph. Massachusetts has plans to install 300 wind turbines in its towns and cities.

The use of technology in San Francisco is mainly to address environmental issues. Other initiatives include: low carbon emission busses tracked by a GPS system, the bus wirelessly feeds data to a central computer. Software sends estimated bus arrival times to low-power LED displays at a handful of solar-power bus stops. Emails can be checked at bus stops using free Wi-Fi. Apple iPhone users can obtain information on the closest recycling or trash disposal facility, using a specially built application. San Francisco has extremely tough regulations for recycling, including fines for non-recyclers which rakes in a recycling rate of 72%. The city also will soon introduce smart cars, scooters and motorize bicycles.