Tag Archives: sustainability

From Server Room to Board Room

Cisco Plus – one of Canada’s leading IT and thought leadership conferences – will be hosted on Wednesday May 16th in Toronto’s Congress Centre. The event is designed for end-user customers and Cisco partners (Value-added Resellers, System Integrators,…) to explore the synergies between business strategy and technology. This year, we have carved out some time to co-host a series of industry break-out sessions for C-Suite business decision makers to make the conversation even more strategic and business relevant.

Gartner (2012) predicts that “by 2015, 35% of IT expenditures will be managed outside IT department’s budgets”. This means that IT is increasingly recognized for the impact it can have on addressing real business issues as opposed to being merely a cost centre and resource for necessity tools and software applications. As companies are looking for strategic ways to stay ahead, take on competition, and innovate their products and services, IT will become increasingly part of the business decision making (moving out of the Server Room and into the Board Room)—as it should be.

With this shift in mind, IDC shows that end-user customers “complain about their technology vendors in relation to their vertical or industry strategy”. Vendors and suppliers lack the industry expertise, a true understanding of the business needs, and don’t have specific industry solutions.

Cisco is moving from the Server Room to the Board Room as we’re embracing business value for industry transformation and are building industry teams with deep vertical industry expertise and matching industry solutions and value-added industry relationships.

The Cisco Plus industry break-out sessions (by invitation only) will gather senior business decision makers in the Education, Healthcare, Energy, Real Estate/Communities, and Financial Services sectors for moderated discussions on trends of change, innovation, and productivity. Each of the parallel session are hosted by one of Cisco’s foremost thought leaders and industry experts in the respective industries, and moderated by our Canadian Industry business development leaders.

Limited executive participation will provide for intimate and open conversations about the real issues that matter most to the representative companies and industries. Though innovation can be found at all levels within these companies and industries; the mandate for it has to be propagated by its executive leadership.

Sustainable and lasting change starts at the top: and the conversation starts … at Cisco Plus.

When you are visiting Cisco Plus, please attend also the Business Session “Managing Unprecedented Change with Business Transformation” by Sandy Hogan (Cisco Vice President of Americas Business Transformation) on Wednesday May 16th at 11am EST.

Cleantech and IT go Hand in Hand.

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Last month, I participated in a panel discussion at Cleantech North on partnering for the establishment and growth of Cleantech applications and investments. Truth to be told: I’m no expert in Cleantech – but am certainly aware of its importance for addressing environmental sustainability while providing positive financial returns for investors and customers. Cleantech refers to new technology and related business models that provide superior performance at lower cost; reduces or eliminates negative environmental impact; and improves the productive and responsible use of natural resources. Cleantech is mostly equated with renewable energy (wind power, solar power, biomass, hydropower, biofuels) but includes many other appliances that are now more energy efficient.

Being part of one of the largest technology companies in the world, I see the unequivocal relevance of IT in Cleantech and the significance of partnerships in the pursuit of economically sustainable innovation that addresses the many environmental challenges we face on Earth.

(1)  IT is Cleantech. Although technology is often accused of being a great contributor to energy consumption and inefficiency, it certainly can have much greater impact on the betterment of our environment (if you pick the right solutions from the right company). With the deployment of virtualization, we centralize the compute power and subsequent energy load—while delivering distributed and improved services and applications. This consolidation of IT functions has a tremendous impact on the overall environmental footprint, while providing greater flexibility and resiliency.

Furthermore, the use of business video (TelePresence) has a tremendous impact on businesses carbon footprint if make it avoid financial and environmental costly business and commuter travel. Ultra-high Definition and easy to use video communications will bring people together virtually without the hardship on the environment. At Cisco alone we have been able to reduce our carbon emissions by 40% thanks to the use of TelePresence and the elimination of business travel. Oh, and by the way, it also saved the company more than $1B in productivity gains and travel expense reduction.

Lastly, IT devices become more intelligent and energy efficient themselves while delivering more powerful capabilities; the IP Network has now the ability to improve energy performance of its connected IT edge devices (with EnergyWise).

(2)  Everything IT touches can be Green. The positive impact IT can have on the environment goes beyond its own components and devices. As we live in a world where everything becomes connected, we now can use the IP Network (the underlying nervous system of all IT) to monitor, measure, control, and optimize the energy consumption of everything we do, everything we use, and everything we touch. Consider the intelligent optimization of the Smart Grid (with renewable energy end-points) as we understand what and how much to deliver when and where, while harmonizing everything that connects to the grid.

Within buildings we see the converge of HVAC, lighting, and other building systems (that aren’t necessarily IT systems—yet) over the single IP Network which now provides the ability to improve the overall energy footprint. Our mobile devices can consume real-time data of our environmental impact and provide us with strategies to contribute to its reduction.

This latter argument requires partnering….and lots of it. It’s the governments, venture capital world and companies like ours that need to embrace the many innovators out there that are seeking to play a role in the improvement of our environment. If we can spend Billions on bail-outs and Trillions on wars, we certainly should be able to find the capital (financial and intellectual) to spearhead new technologies and business models that can make our world a better (and greener) place. In turn, we would all welcome financial returns and an eco-system that will help us grow greater business opportunities and create new industries and jobs. Cleantech is good for everyone: IT is good for Cleantech and Cleantech can’t do without IT.

Cisco’s Smart + Connected Real Estate ready for ASHRAE 90.1–2010 Standards Energy Goal

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Contributed by Ron Gordon, Business Development Manager, Cisco Canada
rongordo@cisco.com

Effective January 1st, 2012, the Ontario Building Code (OBC) incorporates the ASHRAE 90.1 – 2010 Standards which include a stated goal of achieving a 30% energy savings when compared to the ASHRAE 90.1-2004 Standard.  By all accounts, this is an aggressive target.

While I am the furthest thing from an ASHRAE expert, I cannot help but notice the increased reliance on Controls and Sensors in order to optimize HVAC and Lighting energy usage to help achieve the 30% savings.  The utilization of Occupancy Sensors, Static Pressure Sensors, CO2 Sensors, Temperature Sensors and Daylight Harvesting Sensors provides key control data to ensure the Building Automation Systems (BAS) [for the purpose of this blog we refer to lighting, metering, and HVAC] operate at their peak efficiencies and consume less energy. This also translates into the need for the BAS systems to be more integrated than ever before.

What if all the information and data acquired from a plethora of sensors and systems was served up for all the BAS systems to share, access and utilize.  Do away with duplication and traditionally closed disparate networks and implement a single, secure, converged network for all to use.  The ideal situation would be to incorporate all sensors onto the same network and provide open access to the information they provide.  To do this, the BAS systems would have to move away from their proprietary closed architectures to something more open and share common data and controls between them.

Take this to the next logical step and provide a common dashboard which gives real-time performance metrics and the ability to control the various BAS systems in unison.  Turn down lighting and HVAC systems in unoccupied areas and provide
environmental conditioning on an as required basis similar to the way new inventory systems utilize “just in time” delivery controls.  This is a Smart + Connected Real Estate.

These steps will not only help meet the ASHRAE 90.1 – 2010 Standards, but also lay a solid foundation to meet new ASHRAE standards as they are designed and implemented.  After all, standards are constantly being updated with new
targets and goals and any architecture which future proofs a building, enabling it to adopt new technologies to optimize performance is positive.

In summary and simple terms: future-enable your buildings, and be ready for ASHRAE 90.1 and new building codes with convergence of building systems on one IP network.

Accelerating Sustainability with CIRS

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Today (November 3rd) was the official opening of the Center for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS) at the University of British Columbia (UBC). The CIRS building is one of the most innovative high performance facilities in North America that will embody green building design best practices and foster research and collaboration on sustainability solutions.

The grand opening of CIRS coincided with the inaugural Celebrating CIRS | Accelerating Sustainability conference, with renowned speakers such as David Suzuki and Steve Rayner (Thursday Opening Keynote hosted and sponsored by Cisco).

The conference brought together a wide range of industry experts with a vested interest in the adoption of sustainable practices for the creation of next generation buildings and communities. There were three complimentary themes throughout the conference with in-depth breakout sessions on each of them.

The first theme discussed the notion of regenerative buildings and regeneration at a community scale. Regenerative design follows “cradle-to-cradle” processes that “restore, renew or revitalize their own sources of energy and materials, and therefore creating sustainable systems that integrate the needs of society with the integrity of nature”. The second theme dealt with the notion that we have to engage the public and wider eco-system of  stakeholders to drive optimized results and continues performance improvements. It’s where buildings and their users work in harmony, where we achieve greatest sustainability.

Lastly, the third theme recognized that if we want to accelerate sustainability, we have to build new partnerships and create a platform of innovation. Albert Einstein once said “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”.  If we really want to drive (and accelerate) sustainability, we have to change the way we do things—starting with process, people and behavior.

Cisco is a proud partner of UBC and CIRS and we are looking forward to our collaboration in search of improved, optimized, and accelerated sustainability.

Another great ULI — Opportunity Galore

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For the past three years Cisco has been a supporter of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and has actively participated in most of their National events and forums. ULI’s latest  Fall Meeting and Urban Land Expo with more than 6,000 attendees, just came to a close last week in Los Angeles and Cisco joined as Sustaining Member and Anniversary Sponsor. The meetings were as inspiring as they were sobering. Clearly, the U.S. real estate market is leading and responding to the economic anguish. There is very little new development happening and (growing) vacancies taint the existing real estate portfolios and market atmosphere.

Top of mind for the leading real estate professionals were the economic uncertainties in the U.S. and abroad (especially in Europe led by the Greece situation); the continuing  trouble in the housing market; the political instability (in the U.S. and around the world); and the perceived pressure to pay more attention to environmental issues like energy savings and carbon reductions. In these times of ambiguity, real estate owners have become more forceful and resourceful in providing features and functionalities that differentiate their properties over the very large existing (and mostly obsolete) building stock. Although the greening of buildings through LEED certification already was becoming widely accepted before the latest economic downturn, it seems that the pursuit of LEED accreditation is one of those factors that real estate owners and developers use to control the marketability and brand of their product. Many session presenters and panel members were flaunting the pursuit of LEED Gold or even Platinum certification: it appears to have become the new norm.

Here I was sitting with my Cisco hat on, becoming growingly surprised why nobody made any mention of ICT (Information and Communications Technology) as an enabler for their buildings to become leaner, greener, and meaner — except for the few technology-focused breakout sessions, including the well attended opening session with Joe O’Connor (moderator, Cisco Smart + Connected Communities), Stan Gale (Gale International), Anil Menon (Cisco Smart + Connected Communities), Thomas Ike (Lutron Electronics), and Phil Williams (Webcor Builders).

Naturally, the omission of ICT from the real estate buzz did not come as a surprise to me. Compare it to asking the CEO of a leading financial institution or airliner what the top 5 issues are that are on her mind – it rarely is ICT. Considering we clearly have transitioned well into the “information age”, and are increasingly becoming part of a connected world (which nobody denies), it is rather disappointing that ICT does not often enough get called out as a leading enabler and solution (or even concern) for the challenges that we all face. And it certainly is not the lack of proof points by now, which demonstrate that the IT-enablement of buildings (Smart + Connected Real Estate) has a profound impact on the economic sustainability (reduced CAPEX, impact on OPEX, new business opportunities in real estate as we embrace the cloud for building analytics, for instance); environmental sustainability (energy measurement and visualization, energy and carbon reduction); and social sustainability (future-ready places to live, learn, work, and play; the marriage of virtual and physical in the design and planning of spaces and communities). – sorry for sounding like a broken record.

Yes, we can build (and renovate) buildings for less money up front, that cost less to operate, that virtually automatically optimize energy and carbon consumption, and provide innovative and dynamic environments for those that live, learn, and earn in them—with the use of existing information technologies (no more bleeding edge). I understand…it is a journey that we’re part of. Just like only three years ago I was questioned what Cisco was doing at the ULI; this year we seem to have become a household name and participant. I am not asked anymore why we are there…but am asked what we can do for them (the real estate world). We’re glad to be part of the journey. We are already looking forward to our participation at the 2012 ULI Real Estate Summit and the Spring Council Forum in May in Charlotte, North Carolina.

See you there. Hmmm…it’ll be a great opportunity to also check out Envision Charlotte.

Sustainable ROI for an Empathetic Civilization

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Two weeks ago I attended a presentation by Jeremy Rifkin at the Evergreen Brick Works in Toronto. Jeremy talked about transitioning our conscious state to becoming one that is “biospheric”. Rifkin claims that  we are on the cusp of a historic convergence of energy and communication – a third industrial revolution – that could “extend empathic sensibility to the biosphere itself and all of life on Earth”. The distributed Internet revolution is coming together with distributed renewable energies, making a sustainable, post-carbon economy possible that is both globally connected and locally managed. “The new distributed communication revolution not only organizes distributed renewable energies, but also changes human consciousness”. The information communication technologies (ICT) revolution is quickly extending the central nervous system of billions of human beings and connecting the human race across time and space, allowing empathy to flourish on a global scale, for the first time in history. [The Empathetic Civilization is Emerging].  Interesting stuff.

It reminded me of a book that I gave to my son and was written by David Suzuki [You are the Earth, 1999]…at a whole different level, David was able to explain my son (and me) that ultimate we are all ONE – with one another and Nature itself. We breath the air that is made up mostly out of nitrogen and oxygen, but also small amounts of carbon dioxide and argon. Each breath we breathe out contains about 30 zillion atoms of argon. Argon atoms never change or die; they stay around forever. Therefore, Suzuki states, we breathe air that includes argon atoms once exhaled by Egyptian slaves building the pyramids, Joan of Arc, Napoleon, his horse, and … yes, even dinosaurs. “Air joins together all of Earth’s creatures – past, present, and future”, says Suzuki (it’s a real nice book; you should get it for your kids, and it is interesting for adults also). If we’re all ONE, it is about time that we find empathetic sensibility to our fellow earthlings, the biosphere itself, and all of life on earth.

I am going to assume here that both David and Jeremy are right (it sounds certainly logical and scientifically sound to me). Then, why do we continue to get drawn in only financial (and political) arguments as we evaluate new and innovative ideas that serve the greater good? [see my blog: “Killing Progress with Financial ROI’s (and Spreadsheets)”]. Why can’t our biospheric consciousness play an important role in the balanced decision making for all aspects of our future ? It’s because our biospheriec consiousness is perceived to have no (monetary?) value. How can you compare a “wellness” or “environment” measure with something else that has all the mathematical reasoning to back it up (= finance)?

This is where the concept of SROI would come in. SROI stands for Sustainable Return on Investment (p. 65). “SROI determines the full value of a project by assigning monetary values to all costs and benefits—economic, social and environmental” says HDR Inc, a design and engineering firm that invented and perfected SROI. The process provides decision support to increase the likelihood of a project going forward by prioritizing all sustainable initiative benefits (not just financial). SROI helps communicate the full value of a sustainable initiative including direct, indirect/non-cash costs and benefits as well as the values of externalities that are generally overlooked in economic assessment and not revealed to stakeholders. It’s where economic, social (and socio-economic), and environmental (with its economic and social characteristics) factors strike a perfect balance that we have all levers considered to define a true return. In other words: we may spend a few extra dollars to build a hospital; but it saves a few extra lives. We may achieve optimum happiness and economic prosperity, but we need a 4-lane highway. Tough decisions to make. But we can only make the decisions appropriately if we consider all aspects of life and use our biospheric consciousness, and think beyond our own financial benefits.

Killing Progress with Financial ROI’s (and Spreadsheets)

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If I received a buck for each time that someone asked me: “Show me the ROI?” – I’d be rich by now. If by “ROI” one would mean “holistic economic sustainability” then it wouldn’t be all that bad. Unfortunately, more often than not, “ROI” just means “lowest first cost, with obvious pay-back times”. By that definition, I wonder if Nikola Tesla and his friends (commercial electricity in 19th Century)  would have had the same experience that I have daily; or if Willis Haviland Carrier (electrical air conditioning in 1902) and Elisha Graves Otis (elevators in 1852) would have sold any of their expensive and unproven innovations.

In those transformative instances, it were often other drivers that pushed for the innovation. Things like comfort; demand and expectations; or the aspiration of doing things differently and pursuing new adjacent opportunities triggered some of the most exciting inventions in the construction and real estate industry. Of course, I am not promoting to forget about financial ROI’s and ignore the importance of economic sound decision-making. All I am asking is that we take on the entrepreneurial attitude of 100 years ago where one was willing to take a leap of faith in accepting new and unproven technologies and methodologies.

How many of us out there still don’t believe that the Internet and the underlying Networks become instrumental for the performance of our built environment. How many of us still don’t believe that our children and their children will expect connectivity, wireless, and access to a personalized environment when the set foot in a home or building. Home many of us still don’t think that mobility, “cloud computing”, and virtualized compute power will change the landscape of the built environment and everything that we do in it, as we know it.

Funnily enough: it is all happening – Corporate real estate professional decide on new leasing space by the number of bars they receive on their mobile phones. Students will come home irritated from their first week in college if it so appeared that there wasn’t any wireless. Building systems in high-end North American properties are monitored and operated from world-class operations centers in India and the Middle East. And oh yes, the ROI has proven to be there – it is cheaper to build a building with one converged building-grade network as opposed to installing multiple silo-ed networks for silo-ed applications. Technology in buildings can simply not be “value-engineered” out of construction anymore in exchange for prettier marble in the lobby areas. Technology in buildings has become the right thing to do; and a critical asset to next generation infrastructure.

To keep the conversation meaningful, we have to redirect our attention from pure financial ROI’s to the balance of economic, environmental, and social ROI’s. And that means that “soft” factors will end up weighing as much into the equation as those financial metrics that have become some comfortable with. The financial pro-forma’s need to change to reflect the true value and return of 21st Century infrastructure assets. If we had Excel 100 years ago, we would still be analyzing spreadsheets and be debating with Willis over the financial returns for electrical air conditioning.

Thus now: let’s just do it.

Islands of Automation…Still ?

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Today we received three powerful presentations of cloud-based application providers in the Smart + Connected space. One is an up-and-coming star in automated fault detection and energy management. Another is leading in dashboards and process optimization through data visualization. The last one showed some impressive analytics for carbon measurement and reporting. All three are nothing but impressive and I look forward doing business with all of them – but they’re also not the first nor alone. I truthfully don’t remember how many cloud-based application providers we have met and whose solutions we have reviewed. One is better than the other, and we may have to see eventually how this market will shake itself down.

Naturally, there is nothing wrong with all this. It’s the new way. This is where the future lies for all businesses; and so also for the construction and real estate industry (who by and large – with few exceptions – does not quite understand the impact this will have on business as we know it).

Flashback. 18 years ago. In my first conversation with my Harvard professor, I was introduced to the concept of “Islands of Automation”. Interesting concept: there is all this wealth of facility and operational data sitting in many disparate systems and software that seem not able to communicate with one another in an effort to optimize building performance and the eventual experience in the environment. The result is: multiple screens, multiple interfaces, multiple control…lots of cost and inefficiency. There must and shall be ways with which we can better utilize all this silo-ed information and create higher performance buildings.

Now, back to today. Yes. We did it. Indeed, a standardized foundational infrastructure is deployed to tap into all these disparate systems and free up the wealth of building data that finds itself locked in proprietary silos: introducing the Network as the Platform for Building Transformation (shameless plug). IP has become the standard to moving bits and bites around to power up these valuable and up and coming cloud-based applications.

However….if we (simplistically) break their services down in three layers; we recognize that this new industry is fighting over at least two layers that they all have in common. (1) access to the data and the ownership of the data warehouse. All deploy many (sometimes proprietary or customized) ways to extract the data from the building. (2) the visualization of data through sexy and easy-to-use dashboards. One is prettier than the other. As a customer, do I now still have many different websites to go to in order to access my data (energy, carbon, maintenance, fault detection, etc…..mind you; there is probably not ONE perfect app out there; we’re going for “best of breed”).

(3) the actual meat and potatoes—the analytics. It is this 3rd (architecturally considered the middle layer) that really sets the vendors apart. Where the real value is added.

If a building owner can’t “standardize” on data collection, aggregation, and warehousing (call it the back-end);  as well as the front end access (dashboards) of the information; and naturally one Network that connects the two together….aren’t we still building Islands of Automation, yet now they’re in the cloud? Different tentacles reach in the building to grab what they need, yet ignoring the possible value of the aggregate? Various data warehouses on different databases around the world capturing bits and pieces of building performance data that is required for the specific service or function? We still may need bridges between the islands of automation. They now have become virtual. Who is going to capitalize on the new bridge construction…and tolls?

Power to the Network

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Last month Cisco launched its UPoE (Universal Power over Ethernet), delivering up to 60W to networked end-devices. Now, I am not very technical myself to understand how this all works, but I certainly can see the business implications (for every IT professional and business, but also the developers of buildings and communities) as the journey of PoE continues to develop.

Power over Ethernet (PoE)  is a technique that delivers electrical power over Local Area Network cabling to networked devices. PoE itself isn’t new (but not old either). In 2000 we were able to deliver 7W over the network, called “Inline Power”. The term PoE was coined in 2003 when the IEEE approved a standard (IEEE 802.3af) for PoE up to 15.4W. Only 4 years ago PoE was able to deliver 30W to networked devices, enough to power IP Phones, wireless access points, but also video surveillance cameras and access controllers. Last year, Delta Controls was the first building automation company to launch its PoE IP HVAC controller to the market which was premiered at Carleton University in Ottawa. This year, Universal Power over Ethernet (UPoE) leapfrogged the industry to provide 60W per switch port to enable new deployment options in next-generation infrastructure.

So, how is all this relevant for those outside of IT (especially for those that build buildings and communities)? UPoE will cut capital and operational cost; simplify facilities maintenance and management; reduce environmental footprint; and provide for future-ready physical environments.

(1) As “the Internet of Things” becomes part of the DNA of an infrastructure project (as the 4th Utility), we’ll see more and more devices connect natively to the Network (from IP Phones to LED lighting, HVAC controllers, TelePresence, LCD displays, etc.). Once connected to the Network, many of these devices can, should, and will be able to be powered through this same network. The elimination (or reduction) of electrical cabling and the labor related to it will have a significant positive impact on the capital cost of a networked building. How many power plugs do you need at a desk if your phone, TelePresence unit, and your laptop are going to be powered through the same network that operates them? Consider $300 per door (or more) savings for eliminating the electrical provisioning for each access controller above your ceiling panels.

(2) Operational maintenance and management (including Moves, Adds, and Changes or MACs) of networked devices that are powered over Ethernet become much more efficient and cost effective. Especially if you extend the PoE infrastructure with available kinetic technologies (i.e. a kinetic light switch does not need ANY wiring as its kinetic energy communicates over a PoE wireless network) the possibilities of quick customization and change of our physical environments becomes more effortless and instant. One would not need an electrician (as we know them) anymore to add or rewire electrical infrastructure to accommodate new locations for networked devices. A video surveillance camera, LCD display, or LED light fixture can be placed (and powered) in places where no electrical wiring is provided.

(3) It is a well established fact that much of our energy loss is due to the many up and down conversions that are needed to move electrons from the power plant to the low-voltage end devices in your building (consider how hot the power plug for your laptop can get). If you add the possibility of adding solar energy or other alternative energy sources, you now can leverage the network to generate in DC and deliver in DC, thus eliminating energy loss due to conversions. Also, the Network is optimized to monitor, manage and control the power delivery and consumption to all its networked devices (see: EnergyWise). UPoE makes energy optimization and reduction part of the buildings DNA.

(4) Lastly (yet, there are many more benefits that I’ll discuss in future blogs), UPoE adds to the future-readiness of a networked building. We don’t know what systems and devices will be required for the performance and operation of our physical environments. What we do know is that the Network is the new lifeline of such environments; and end devices will consume less and less energy (maybe 60W or less—wouldn’t that be interesting)?

This means that the networks we are building today are able to power, enhance, and enable the features and functionalities of tomorrow.

Maybe it’s time to re-write MasterFormat Division 26? (and consequently also 23, 25, 27, 28, 33).

Sometimes it’s okay to Follow.

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Sometimes you need to look elsewhere to realize how far behind we are. I just returned from my vacation back to the motherland: the Netherlands. I have left Europe more than 15 years ago and somehow have little inclination to return [never say never]. Nonetheless, it was the little virtues in Dutch/Northern European life that made me realize once again in what a different world [North America] we live.

Cars have carbon labels. The better the label, the lower taxes (or no taxes) you pay. You want to drive a big car? You pay for it. On top of that, a litter of fuel will cost Euro 1.50 (almost double that in Canada). I saw the same labels in the windows of residential brokers: if you are looking for a home or condo, you can compare their energy and carbon efficiency before you make a sustainable choice. Nils Kok (see my “performance” blog) predicts this is coming to North America also.

Even though the Dutch do complain about their public transportation system – it’s awesome. Trains and busses are everywhere. They are relatively clean, fast, and…on time. The high speed rail network has made travel faster and more comfortable since I left the Netherlands 15 years ago. It is only with such comprehensive availability of alternatives to driving a car, that would allow a country to seriously tackle congestion issues (by the way: there is still plenty of a traffic issue on the main Dutch highway system).

Recycling seems to have become part of everyday life. Collection is easy and frequent, and not participating will be fined. It all certainly isn’t perfect: but somehow they seem to be seriously ahead with environmental sustainability; and have dealt with issues that North America can’t seem to get its hands around.

Now, that only seems to cover one of the three sustainability pillars. In my observations while roaming the Netherlands and Northern Europe, and reading the locals news papers, I think they are not necessary leading from a social sustainability (lots of political unrest and extremism) or economic sustainability (led by countries such as Greece and Italy yet with significant impact in Northern Europe also).  

If we all together only could more realize the strengths and weaknesses in delivering true sustainability to our communities, cities, and countries—and had the ability to learn and adopt from one another; would we be able to jointly leapfrog head? And naturally, this is not only true between countries and continents. This holds true also for communities and businesses as well in the same continent and countries. So much to learn. Lead, Follow, or get Out of the Way.