Who is Sam Palmisano, you ask?
He is the Chairman and CEO of IBM, and the following are excerpt from his speech at today's Council on Foreign Relations in NY City:
...
How gridlocked our cities are: Congested roadways in the U.S. cost $78 billion annually, in the form of 4.2 billion lost hours and 2.9 billion gallons of wasted gas—and that's not even counting the impact on our air quality.
...
Stockholm's smart traffic system has resulted in 20 percent less traffic, a 12 percent drop in emissions and a reported 40,000 additional daily users of public transport. Smart traffic systems are strengthening the competitive positions of cities from London to Brisbane to Singapore—with many more being planned.
...
He bottom-lines his remarks with this...
"The importance of this moment, I believe, is that the key precondition for real change now exists: People want it. But this moment will not last forever."
See the complete text of this 'efficiency speech here. I hope that we will be thinking about these cutting-edge ways of thinking as we focus on our long-range plans. Transportation, land use, park land and natural resource protection all deserve a state-of-the-art approach towards protection, maintenance and increased levels of service.
Are you on board?
This is a great topic. I think there's a lot we can do with making the planet (and our communities) a little smarter and more efficient.
ReplyDelete