IBM Conserves Water with Cloud Computing
Cloud computing can also conserve water as proved by IBM which reduced water utilization by 6.6 percent and increased leak detection and response eightfold for the City of Dubuque.
Dubuque deployed IBM’s analytics and cloud computing technology in 2010 as part of its Smarter Sustainable research program.
Through this research program, both IBM and Dubuque empowered 151 households with information, analysis, insights and social computing around their water consumption for nine weeks.
Smarter meter system was used for this research project, which collected and communicated water consumption to the IBM Research Cloud. This activity was done every 15 minutes and according to IBM its cloud computing helped analysis of data and subsequently sent notification of potential leaks and anomalies to volunteers.
An integrated view of water consumption helped the city officials to conserve water and encourage behavior changes amongst the resident of the city of Dubuque.
“Sustainable Dubuque began in 2006 as a holistic, grass-roots effort to make our community more sustainable and to create a model for cities across the country with populations under 200, 000,” said Roy D. Buol, mayor of Dubuque. “In 2009, we chose IBM as our partner to develop the tools our residents need to make better decisions about how they use resources like water, electricity, and natural gas. We are very encouraged by the results of the water pilot study and the community-wide benefits they offer.” He added that the study will soon include transportation through vehicle miles traveled and wellness.
“Today, municipalities and citizens more than ever need to understand their patterns of behavior and how to change them,” said Milind Naphade, program director, smarter city services, IBM Research. “Whether it is in water consumption, traffic patterns or energy use, they need new technologies to enable the change. Our sustainability initiatives in Dubuque prove that, by using advanced analytics, community engagement, and cloud computing, government officials and citizens will have access to real-time data to alter their patterns of behavior, which will save them money. This water sustainability pilot case is a template for communities worldwide that seek to conserve various types of resources.”
By Anuradha Shukla
