Creating a positive energy city

In 1900, only 14% percent of the world’s population lived in a city. Today, for the first time in history, more than half the planet’s population reside in urban areas. These urban centres are now racing to become the smart cities of the future. Limerick has received a major boost in the race to become a smart city through its designation as Ireland’s first ‘Lighthouse Smart City’ through the +CityxChange Project.

In partnership with Limerick City and County Council, UL leads +CityxChange, a €20 million project putting Limerick and Trondheim in Norway at the forefront of clean technology delivery in Europe. This 3D image showing energy demand distribution in Limerick city centre. This digital twin of the city was developed through the +CityxChange project to enable the co-creation and replication of positive energy blocks and districts and is in use by Limerick City and County Council to plan how the city can decarbonise.  Prof Stephen Kinsella, Kemmy Business School, UL who is a UL Lead on the project said: "The project demonstrates the University’s commitment to the city and to its economic and social future, in partnership with the City and County Council. Limerick is Ireland’s first lighthouse city. The project is an opportunity to show that we can deliver new solutions and actually put them into action in Limerick, first.” 

Find out more about this research Creating a positive energy city | Times Higher Education (THE)