City of Pittsburgh Partners with Siemens to Plan for Energy Resilience

Photo credit: Green Building Alliance

The City of Pittsburgh has partnered with Siemens to implement the “City Performance Tool,” a data-driven software platform that helps cities calculate the environmental and economic impacts of infrastructure technologies. Through the partnership (announced at an event hosted by Harvard Business Review, Siemens, and 100RC on energy resilience) Pittsburgh will utilize the Siemens planning tool to analyze the economic and environmental impacts of Pittsburgh’s proposed energy districts, an initiative to implement on-site power systems as part of the city’s ONEPGH Resilience Strategy.

“We’re proud to partner with Siemens and 100RC as the City of Pittsburgh continues to develop and investigate stronger energy infrastructure investments,” said Mayor William Peduto. “Cities serve as the key to solving issues like climate change, but we also need to recognize that cutting emissions does not mean impeding economic opportunity or healthier communities, but rather they go hand-in-hand and are mutually beneficial. We’re trying to plan for everyone in mind as we bring new energy solutions to Pittsburgh.”

“The City of Pittsburgh is already an example of urban resilience having rebounded in a post-industrial world and reinvented itself as a city home to leading research universities, technology companies, and industry,” said Matthew Walters, head of Siemens US Distributed Energy Systems Center of Competence.  “With resilience already part of their way of thinking, Pittsburgh’s use of the Siemens City Performance Tool will further their goal to embrace technologies that improve every aspect of their city’s operation and quality of life for their residents.”

Pittsburgh’s ONEPGH resilience strategy, developed by the City of Pittsburgh in conjunction with 100RC, highlights the city’s resilience framework, p4, focusing on People, Place, Planet and Performance. Pittsburgh has identified challenges within each of these key areas and identified potential partner organizations that have the capacity to support the city in delivering on these goals.

Siemens, a 100RC platform partner, will continue to engage with the city to better understand the possible impacts of delivering green and efficient technologies across the region spanning a range of options from technologies to improving the local electricity grid performance to delivering a city-wide electric car charging network and improving traditional home wall insulation.

“The City Performance Tool will help Pittsburgh pinpoint and target specific initiatives, based on research and actions, cultivated through the ONEPGH Resilience Strategy,” said Pittsburgh Chief Resilience Officer Grant Ervin. “This tool will take and amplify the existing work we have planned in the city – bringing distributed energy to the foreground of Pittsburgh’s energy future.”

The Siemens City Performance Tool is designed to reduce environmental impact of everyday activities, evaluate job creation in installing, operating, and maintaining city solutions. The tool offers city managers and planners a unique look at their city infrastructure and can be used in a variety of different decision-making scenarios. It can measure and compare technologies that provide win-win solutions for unique urban challenges, and works on pre-existing infrastructure. The CyPT has been informing city governments from New Bedford, MA and Minneapolis, MN to San Francisco, CA and Copenhagen, Denmark.

For further information on Siemens City Performance Tool, please visit www.siemens.com/global/en/home/company/topic-areas/intelligent-infrastructure/city-performance-tool.html.

Media Contacts:

Siemens: Annie Satow — Phone: 202-316-0219; E-mail: annie.seiple@siemens.com

100RC: Andrew Brenner – Phone: 646-612-7236; E-mail: abrenner@100rc.org

Siemens Corporation is a U.S. subsidiary of Siemens AG, a global powerhouse focusing on the areas of electrification, automation and digitalization. One of the world’s largest producers of energy-efficient, resource-saving technologies, Siemens is a leading supplier of systems for power generation and transmission as well as medical diagnosis. With approximately 351,000 employees in 190 countries, Siemens reported worldwide revenue of $88.1 billion in fiscal 2016. Siemens in the USA reported revenue of $23.7 billion, including $5.4 billion in exports, and employs approximately 50,000 people throughout all 50 states and Puerto Rico.

100 Resilient Cities—Pioneered by The Rockefeller Foundation

100 Resilient Cities – Pioneered by The Rockefeller Foundation (100RC) helps cities around the world become more resilient to social, economic, and physical challenges that are a growing part of the 21stcentury. 100RC provides this assistance through: funding for a Chief Resilience Officer in each of our cities who will lead the resilience efforts; resources for drafting a Resilience Strategy; access to private sector, public sector, academic, and NGO resilience tools; and membership in a global network of peer cities to share best practices and challenges. For more information, visit: www.100ResilientCities.org.