Page 32 - REALCOMM EDGE-Fall 2017-FINAL

SPOTLIGHT: SMART CITIES

Mixed-use Innovation Districts:

The Future of Sustainable Development

Vibrant, human-centric communities can offer low/no carbon footprint

Mike Hess, PE, LEED Fellow George Karayannis, LEED AP
Vice President, Smart & Sustainable Buildings Vice President, CityNOW
Panasonic Panasonic

ities, real estate developers, utilities, and technology The community is currently net power positive, generating
companies are beginning to come together strategically about 6MWh of clean solar power daily. In the spirit of contin-
Cto collectively define their smart community goals, shared uous innovation, Panasonic is working with Xcel Energy and
business models, and high-impact projects to create innovative, the National Renewable Energy Lab to create a Carbon Neutral
integrated and transformational communities. These ‘Mixed-use Energy District plan that will merge distribution network and
Innovation Districts’ (MIDs) range building energy planning with
from smaller than one acre to over integrated stakeholder business
100 acres in size, and typically serve models. This will enable utilities and
as catalysts for sustained regional developers to deploy low/no carbon
innovation and growth. energy infrastructure optimized at
MIDs generally include a rich mosa- the system level, compared to tradi-
ic of live-work-play facilities anchored tional development whereby each
by high-density residential housing. stakeholder makes sub-optimized
MIDs are walkable communities system investments due to typically
thoughtfully infused with human-cen- arms-length business relationships
tric technology to drive economic and models.
development, improve sustainability, Having the utility lever-
increase resiliency and enhance age their balance sheet
overall quality of life. What makes the development of modern to implement distributed
MIDs different from past approaches can be seen with the energy resources, such
stakeholder engagement at Peña Station NEXT, a public-pri- as solar, storage, fuel
vate partnership between the City & County of Denver, Denver cells, and combined heat
International Airport, Xcel Energy, RTD (Regional Transportation and power, provides a
District - Denver), developer L.C. Fulenwider and Panasonic. sustainable business
The key to successful MIDs isn’t technology at all—it’s the stra- model for the utility and minimizes developers’ initial energy
tegic alignment of key stakeholders from the beginning. Perhaps infrastructure build cost for each building. The no/low carbon
obvious and seemingly easy, it is notoriously difficult at city scale. footprint from MIDs is especially valuable to city leaders because
Once key stakeholder executives are aligned, public-private they provide a rare ability to ‘move the needle’ in their quest to
business models can be defined that unlock project financing, achieve the deep carbon reduction goals of the Paris Accord by
which is where most developments fail. With financing secured, 2030.
high-impact projects can be implemented that help all stake- In addition to no/low carbon energy, MIDs can also optimize
holders achieve their goals and result in innovative and deeply other services via intelligent street lights. Cities and utilities gen-
integrated communities. erally own the street lights in real estate developments. However,
Peña Station NEXT is a 382-acre transit oriented mixed use developers are increasingly playing a role in the introduction and
development. The first phase is powered by a solar+storage deployment of smart technology into street lights. Most develop-
microgrid, which includes a 1.6MW solar canopy, 1MW/2MWh ers have to install and pay for street lights and other city infra-
battery storage, and 259kW of backup rooftop solar for sustained structure as they build out their developments. Business-as-usual
off-grid operation. The development serves as a living innovation developers might view this as a necessary evil to be cost-mini-
lab for all stakeholders to evaluate emerging technologies and mized. MID developers, however, when aligned with the city and
vendors, and to create business cases for broad solution deploy- utility stakeholders, increasingly see the benefit of investing in
ment based on real world experience. district-scale smart city technology and infrastructure that adds

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