12 essential aspects of green cities by Paul Hewins.

Great article by @Paul Hewins that was posted in Boston.com and Boston Globe today. As a member of the Urban Sustainability group, I have had discussions on green cities and smart cities, which relates to the key points that Hewins listed. As we transform into the digital world, we’re also looking at a greener world with environments that improve our quality of living – Erwin Chiong

Here’s the article by Paul Hewins:

12 essential aspects of green cities

For the first time in world history, more people live in cities than in rural areas. And that trend is not going away. By 2030, the UN expects that 60 percent of the world’s populationwill live in cities, and big cities will only get bigger. The good news is highly dense areas can be far more efficient settings, requiring fewer resources for more people to live. (Think of the reduced energy needed to move each person on a subway than in a car.) The challenge is to maximize the green potential of all elements of the city and its inhabitants.

With that in mind, here are 12 essential aspects of the green city of the not-too-distant future:

1. Infrastructure promoting transit, walking, cycling and other alternatives to car use. The green city will require an extensive system of public transportation, bike lanes and other infrastructure supporting car-free mobility, while also having places to work, live and socialize in close proximity. Offices will be built with green commutes in mind; think bike racks (plus showers and changing rooms), electric car charging stations, prioritized car sharing parking spaces, and easy access to public transportation. In Boston, the Longfellow Bridge is being rebuilt with wider sidewalks for pedestrians, making the walk to work simpler and safer.

2. Highly energy-efficient buildings. Buildings will use little energy, thanks to very good insulation levels in walls, ceilings and floors, and with high-efficiency windows and an optimized building orientation to minimize heating and cooling needs. In Northeast cities, there are huge opportunities to retrofit older buildings that are inefficient. A local example of this is the recent modernization project we completed at the 180-unit Lyndon B. Johnson senior housing apartments in Cambridge. The retrofit resulted in a 50 percent reduction in energy use at the property, as well as onsite renewable energy generation from rooftop solar voltaic panels that provided 18 percent of the electrical needs, as well as a solar collector built into the building’s skin to provide heat. The complex will also save $255,000 per year in energy costs and reduce the Cambridge Housing Authority’s carbon footprint by 2.5 million pounds per year.

3. On-site energy generation from such renewable sources such as solar, wind and geothermal energy. Buildings will capture solar, wind and geothermal energy to satisfy the demands for electric power, heating and cooling. Energy piles – foundation piles laced with tubing to extract geothermal energy – will provide an innovative source of renewable energy achieved by combining the latest piling and geothermal technologies.

4. Renewable off-site energy supply, including low-impact hydropower, wind power and solar power. Energy will be generated from renewable natural resources, such as sunlight, wind, rain and tides – sources that need not cost anything to the planet, and will be distributed through national and local grids to end users. From the wind turbine on top of Boston City Hall to the 500 kW solar farm we built on a former landfill in Lancaster (with another proposed on a closed airport site in that town), unused land and untapped resources will power the cities of the future.

5. Waste recycling. Waste products will be recovered and put to use. This concept goes beyond the daily household and office refuse to include dismantled buildings and construction waste. Our renovation of the Harvard Art Museums has achieved an exceptional 98 percent recycling rate.

6. Green roofs. Roofing systems will use vegetation to absorb rainwater and reduce heat reflection. Vegetated roofs can help regulate building temperatures to reduce energy use. They also create a permeable surface for storm water on a traditionally impervious space. One local example of this is the new Harvard Law School building in Cambridge; the green roof insulates the building and absorbs water to prevent runoff during rainstorms. That rain is collected and used later to irrigate plants.

7. Rainwater harvesting. Rainwater will be collected, stored and used for irrigation – perhaps even for livestock drinking water. While the latter may not be needed in urban areas, rainwater collection is becoming increasing prevalent in suburban construction projects, too, such as the Bancroft Elementary School in Andover, expected to be complete next year.

8. Water recycling. Wastewater will be partially treated and reused, for example, in buildings for flushing toilets, or for agricultural and landscape irrigation. EF Education First is doing this with their North American headquarters building under construction in Cambridge.

9. Regional materials and resources. Buildings will be constructed with locally sourced materials, preferably with recycled content and produced with minimal effect on the environment. These should last the entire lifecycle of the building and be easily recyclable afterwards.

10. Locally processed materials. To contribute zero waste, locally-sourced materials will be produced to consistent quality standards and tagged for inventory control and just-in-time delivery to the construction site. Another approach is using more recycled materials in a renovations or new construction projects, which was the case at the state’s new data center in Springfield, at the site of the former technical high school. The building, which is 50 percent more energy efficient than a typical data center, was constructed using 26 percent recycled content.

11. Healthy indoor air quality. No harmful compounds will be allowed in, including particulates, combustion gases, outdoor pollution, mold, microbial contaminants and compounds released by materials.

12. Old buildings made energy efficient. Through renovation and by using updated green technology, old buildings will be retrofitted to reduce their impacts on the environment.

Every day, improvements are being made to our cities to make them more energy efficient, less wasteful and healthier for all inhabitants. As these twelve points illustrate, the completely green city will take a multifaceted effort on behalf of the government, consumers, builders and designers. It’s a lot to take in, but with some careful consideration and thoughtful preparation, the reward will be so much greater than the work.

Paul Hewins is executive vice president and area general manager at Skanska USA Building Inc.

My Top 10 Android App Pick

I finally caved in and decided to get an Android phone. It was about time I did. My Treo 750 was getting obsolete and I managed to avoid the whole iPhone craze. Of course, I did give in to the iPad, which I believe is the game changer for this next technology wave. For those who remember when the first Apple came out and the rest was history. Here we are again.

My Top 10 Android Apps that I currently use and recommend:

1. IMO.IM: (Free) Any Android app that provides instant messaging is extremely useful. I found IMO.IM particularly useful because it let’s me combined multiple instant messaging accounts at the same time. In today’s cloud age, I constantly interact with multiple people globally in all time zones. Being able to go to one App to access all my contacts and be alerted for messages from any of my IMs is nirvana for people who are constantly on the road. The only problem I have with this app is the missing group discussions. In any group discussions occurring from your PC will be shown as individual discussions. I am positive though that they will provide this feature soon. IMO.IM supports Skype, Yahoo IM, Google talk, MSN, Facebook, and AIM. With IMO.IM I am able to work from anywhere that has cell connection.
2. QuickOffice (free with some phones) A real great App for opening and reviewing Office documents. I’m able to review but not edit the documents. I am also not able to pinch-in (zoom in) and pinch-out (zoom out) to view my documents. The app has a magnifying + and – symbol to handle zooming in. Due to the legal hold of the pinch-in and pinch-out by Apple against the Android, makes it a challenge to read documents in these types of Apps.
3. PDF Viewer: (Free) I use a lot of PDF files and books in PDF. Plus email attachments are usually PDF documents that I need to review even when I am on the road.
4. Seesmic: (Free) I use Seesmic even on my iPad, PC, and now on my Android phone to allow me access my multiple Twitter accounts.
5. Android Tethering: (free) I’m still testing this one. There are several tethering Apps available today. I would like to make sure I get the right App even if it’s not free. If someone can give me a suggestion for the Mytouch Android, I would like to try it out. For those who are not familiar with tethering, it allows your phone to be the internet connector to your PC , iTouc, or even iPad.
6. App Killer: (Free) One of the most important App for the Android. Unlike the iPhone and the iPad, theAndroid has a very poor way of handling inactive Apps that run in the background. It some cases it would make sense to keep your Apps like Mail, Instance Messaging, Calendar, Alarm Clock, texting, and others working simultaneously. Sure, if you have a battery that never dies or if you intent to be connected to your owe cord the whole time. Unfortunately, phone batteries have a life to handle short calls and few text messages per day before it runs out of power. It has not caught up with the Smart Phone. With the Android,most Apps just stay open even after you stop using them. You’ll notice that you’re phone in most cases can only run for 3-4 hours if you open a lot of Apps or even if you simply switch your phone on. With the App Killer, you can see all the Apps that run in the background and you can decide to deactivate those that you don’t use. It will not remove the App and you can always start the App anytime. What happens when you deactivate it from the App Killer is that it will have it stop running until the next time you use it. In the case of the calendar, if the system is designed to alert you on your schedule it will activate automatically. So you’ll have to constantly run this Killer App to make sure you do not have unwanted Apps running in the background.
7. Real Player: The nice think about this App is it’s ability to run music, videos, and photos. Since it supports MP3 and MP4, I can run my songs and movies that I have in my ITouch and iPad on it. Of course, with so much capability comes in the consequence of too much power being absorbed. If you have a battery backup or are plugged in to a power source, it makes sense to use. Otherwise, use it for short movies, playing music, or viewing photos. For movies, use an iTouch or an iPad for entertainment.
8. Built in Smart Phone Apps (clock, calendar, texting, Internet, radio, news, email, camera, video, contacts): (Free) While these apps are basic Apps you expect from any smart phone today, each phone offers different features. In the case of Android phones, I like how it’s designed for today’s busy person that needs to access their email, calendar, contacts, and internet from their phone. For someone like me, I don’t have to be in front of the computer to get my work done. It’s basically my 24 hour assistant making sure I keep up with my personal and work life activities.
9. Maps and Places: (Free) Who does not use their Smart phone as a GPS today. I guess I’m only learning to use it now. With my Treo, this was not even an option unless I paid a monthly fee. With the Android map Apps like Google Maps, I can get point by point directions and locate for point interest. It’s not quite like my Tomtom GPS but I’m sure I find one that comes close it soon..
10. Facebook: (Free) I said it my iPad blog, and I’ll repeat it here again, who does not use Facebook today? If you’re not, you’re behind the technology times. Any Facebook App on the Android would be good..

I look forward to more Apps on my Android. With my Android phone, I am able to work from almost anywhere. Even when I go cycling, I can still continue working while in a remote location.

Erwin Chiong
President & Practice Consultant, Trends Global LLC

My Top 10 iPad Apps for Productivity, Lifestyle, Utilities, and More

I have to admit that I was skeptical when I first got my iPad. I was hoping that it was not just an iTouch with a larger screen. I did not want to be one of those people who just wanted to look cool using the latest toy in the market. Then again, I justified getting it for work-related reasons with the possibility of creating my own iPad/iPhone apps.

After using my iPad for more than 2 weeks now, I can’t live without it. Just like my cell phone, which I’m planning to replace soon with an Android MyTouch slide phone, it’s now an extension of me. It almost feels like being a kid in a candy store wanting to taste test all the different flavors of chocolates. Well, in the case of the iPad, I wanted to test everything free and then work my way up to the low-priced apps that I need for my business and personal lifestyle.

My Top 10 iPad Productivity Apps that  I currently use and recommend:

1. Skype, Yahoo IM, MS Live: (Free) Since I interact with different people that use different instant messaging tools, I need to have all these IMs running simultaneously. With these iPad IM Apps, I can automatically see if there are new messages and it lets me easily jump from one messenger to another. Skype lets me run the app in my iPad, iTouch, and PC at the same time. Yahoo IM only allows it to run at one location, which makes it a challenge. And MS Live constantly reports that there are more than 1 instance of the messenger. Perhaps one day there will be an iPad app that mashes these IMs in a logical manner.
2. Documents To Go Premium: ($14.99) Anyone doing business and interacting with Office documents will need this App. I’m able to review, edit, and even create new office documents from my iPad/ For a small price, I am able to work on my business documents using MS Office. Now that I’m also able to run my Powerpoint presentations from my iPad, I will buy the Brookstone ipad/ipod hand held projector for my business presentations as well as gotomeeting and conferences.
3. iRead PDF: (Free) I use a lot PDF documents at work including books that I download from different subscription sites. With this application, it makes it so much easier to read PDFs in a portrait view with pinch-in and pinch-out capabilities in the iPad. This is how documents should be reviewed.
4. Seesmic: (Free) I use Seesmic even on my PC to allow me access my multiple Twitter and Facebook accounts. On the iPad, it works well with Twitter but I’m still running into bugs with Facebook and Ping.fm. I assume they are working out to fix the quirks.
5. Gotomeeting: (Free) I use gotomeeting all the time in my business. Since I interact with customers and resources globally, this SaaS application has proven to be an essential tool to running my business successfully. Having this valuable tool in my iPad allows me to be more versatile and productive.
6. Mail: (Built in on the iPad) We all use email and if you’re like me, you have multiple accounts from various tools. In my case, I maintain several accounts using different email providers. The iPad Mail app allows me to easily jump from one account to another as well as manage unread email easily. This feature is in the iPhone and iTouch, but having it in the iPad, makes email management so much more efficient. With Mail, I’m twice more productive with my iPad than when I’m on my PC.
7. DocViewer HD: (Free) It’s a free, secured, remote access tool to access any PC remotely from my iPad. Thanks to the tool, I’m able to access all my software and files from my PC through my iPad. An excellent way to be on the road with my iPad. Iknow this can also be done through my mobile device but there is no way I can run my applications on a tiny screen versus the iPad screen size. The only setback on the iPad is the absence of a mouse and tactile keyboard to work more efficiently. Then again, the iPad was not meant to be a PC replacement. It’s a remote tool that extends what our mobile phone cannot do because of the size of the screen. For now, DocViewer exceeds my expectations. I’m sure I will eventually demand more and look forward to the app that will meet my requirements.
8. FileApp: (Free on the iPad + $9.99 for desktop partner) Since the iPad lacks the ability for desktops to automatically access it as an external drive, FileApp or similar tools are needed. With this tool, the iPad becomes a node in the desktop file system and I can easily drag n drop files to and from my desktop. I might look for other applications that can handle this feature in a much more efficient way.
9. Paperdesk Lite: (Free) On my laptop, I use MS OneNote all the time to capture my notes. For the iPad, I found Paperdesk to be the best note pad application. In addition to the typing capability, I can scribble diagrams with my fingers, and even record voice discussions, which is extremely helpful during lectures and meetings.
10. WordPress and Wikihood: (Free) I would not have been able to write this blog without this app.

My Top 10 iPad Lifestyle Apps that  I currently use and recommend:

1. Facebook: (Free) Who does not use Facebook today? If you’re not, you’re behind the technology times. I would rate Facebook as 2nd to the most used application next to Email. Even in offices where the firewall restricts the use of it or countries like China that prohibit the use of it, end-users find a way… For the iPad, it’s part of my lifestyle to keep using it almost just about the same time I spend on my email, twitter, and IMs.
2. LinkedIn: (Free) I don’t typically login to LinkedIn to check what’s the latest on my associates in LinkedIn. However, with the iPad, I spend 5 mins per day on this application, which also helps my business at the same time.
3. Video: (Built into the iPad) On my iTouch, I normally use it for watching movies when I’m on the road or when I use a stationary exercise machine. So it makes sense that I use the same feature on a larger screen when traveling or just wanting to watch a movie while resting. Although, it would be nice to multi-task by reducing the video size and working on a blog or business document. For now, the combination of an iTouch and iPad makes more sense to me.
4. iPod/iTunes: ((Built into the iPad) Just like the Video app, it’s also on my iTouch.  However, unlike the Video app, I can keep it running while working on another application like writing this blog or reading a blog.
5. Pictures: (Built into the iPad) Also in my iTouch but letting me show off pictures with a larger image to friends and family.
6. iBooks: (Free) Free but not the books. I remember a conference I attended once when the first 20GB iPod was just released. The speaker said something odd that stuck in my mind. He said, welcome to the $20,000 walkman. At first I said to myself that he probably meant $200 walkman. It was not until he explained that the 20GB iPod can store 20,000 songs at $1 each that it all made sense to me. Well, if you translate this to the iPad, that means, we are talking about a $100,000 computer that allows us to keep buying $0.99-$30 apps, $10 books, $10-$30 movies, $10/mo subscriptions, and $1 songs. For the iBooks, it just makes it easier to download and read books. I guess, I will eventually need an app to monitor how much I spend on my iPad 🙂
7. Reuters News: (Free) It’s free to read the latest International news. I can get that from the browsers anyway. The nice thing about this app, it let’s me go straight to the specific news I want to read and be more productive. I hope they will eventually provide a marker when a new set of news or event is available.
8. Forbes: (Free) Some articles are free. For my purposes, I like reading Forbes’ articles even after they have been released a few months before. With the iPad, it makes it so much easier to catch up with Forbes’ articles.
9. Freebooks: (Free) Now we’re talking about free books. Apple did get some agreements with publishers to provide free books online. The Freebooks app automatically let’s you access the free books from the iPad. The app will not have the latest best sellers but it has some classical books that are worth reading if you have not read them yet.
10. Pandora and Radio Stations: (Free) In addition to my collection of soundtracks, there is always the need to listen to your favorite radio station or listen to the latest hit songs. With Pandora and Radio stations’ iPad apps, it makes it easy to switch from one station to another.

My Top 10 iPad Utilities that  I currently use:

1. Flashlight (Free)
2. Batterybox (Free)
3. Calendar (Built in on the iPad)
4. Dictionary (Free)
5. Maps (Built in on the iPad)
6. TextFree Unlimited (Free)
7. Free App Tracker (Free)
8. Free Translator (Free)
9. World Clock ($0.99)
10. All-in-1 Alarm Clock ($2.99)

My Top 10 iPad Apps that I might consider and look forward to having:

1. Bento for iPad ($4.99)
2. Converter Plus for iPad ($1.99)
3. Citrix Receiver (Free)
4. iStorage for iPad ($5.99)
5. Database Application (none available)
6. Air Sharing HD ($9.99)
7. Electronic signature or Sign myPad ($3.99)
8. HTML, Javscript, Java, .NET, XML IDE for development purposes
9. Camera adapter application
10. Hulu like app without the monthly subscription

I look forward to more apps on my iPad. For now, it’s increased my productivity even if I have only used it for more than 2 weeks. Unlike my laptop, I can quickly switch my iPad on without waiting for a 5-15min boot time. I can also work on email, collaborate on my IM tools, and even write a tweet, small blog, review facebook & linkedin updates all through out the day without spending too much time on them. I can then switch to working on my business documents at any time. Bottom line, the iPad is no longer an expensive toy for me. It has increased my productivity. Perhaps if there was a way to add a mouse, keyboard, and monitor adapter, I might just be able to do much more like code :-).

Erwin Chiong
President & Practice Consultant, Trends Global LLC