SIEMENS

The road cuts right through the heart of the dense forest, rising every now and then before curving gently into a deep hollow. Its neatly paved surface might have been laid only last week, were it not for the weeds poking through the gaps. Once this was one of the busiest roads in Europe, but today it is remarkably peaceful. With a little imagination, however, it is almost possible to hear the tramp of hundreds of sandal-shod feet marching over the bare stone. Closer inspection of the paving reveals ruts left by the large wheels of countless oxcarts. The Via Raetia has not seen any serious traffic for more than 1,500 years. Back then, Roman legionaries would march the 400 kilometers from northern Italy to what is now the Bavarian city of Augsburg, crossing the Alps via the Brenner Pass. Hard on their heels came traders, exotic goods, and all the various trappings of civilization from throughout the Roman Empire.

The Via Raetia was just one of many arteries within Rome’s extensive system of roads. Measuring over 80,000 kilometers in length, this elaborate network was the cornerstone of Rome’s imperial power. Yet it also brought prosperity and civilization to many parts of Europe and far beyond. Indeed, what this highly advanced system of roads ultimately delivered was a completely new dimension of mobility – for people, for goods, and for knowledge itself.

Although the Roman Empire has long since vanished in the mists of time, its network of roads survives to this very day. Some of them were so well planned by Rome’s engineers that a number of highways still follow the same routes today. Another thing that has survived is the principle that mobility brings different peoples and continents closer together. Alongside the worldwide flow of data and capital, physical mobility is one of the drivers of globalization.

Moreover, this driver will continue to gain in strength as global population growth and rising prosperity fuel demand for mobility. According to a study by the McKinsey consulting firm, the global market for transport has quadrupled over the past 40 years. In 2010 alone, the amount spent on the movement of people and goods totaled €6.4 trillion. That works out to around €1,000 per capita for the global population. Meanwhile, the World Energy Council (WEC) forecasts that in 2050 the number of cars on the road will be two to three times higher than in 2010. Likewise, global emissions of CO₂ by the transport sector are projected to increase by around 80 percent compared to today’s level – unless, that is, there is significant technological progress and regulatory intervention in this field. WEC experts believe that a combination of both is necessary if the world is to be able to sustain such an increase in mobility. For Holger Dalkmann at the World Resources Institute in Washington D.C., the key to sustainable mobility lies above all in more intelligent use of urban space. “We need to be thinking in the categories of accessibility and proximity,” he says. “People want to get to their destinations without trouble and without the need to make a time-consuming journey. We need to design our cities in a different way, so that we can travel around them by foot, bicycle and public transportation.”

A Ticket for Everything. Engineers from the Siemens Infrastructure & Cities Sector are pursuing a similar approach. Their idea is that people should be able to travel throughout a city with a single chipcard ticket. This would make local public transport more attractive and more efficient. The plastic ticket, which looks a lot like a credit card, is equipped with a radio frequency identification (RFID) chip. It is valid for different types of public transit, different operators, and even different networks, and it automatically calculates the correct fare. When passengers board and disembark, they pass reader units that communicate with the chip. As a result, it is possible to identify each passenger’s route and bill for it accurately. In the future, such a card could also be used to pay for parking, rental cars, or even bike-sharing systems.

In Vienna, Austria, a research project known as „Testfeld Telematik“ in which Siemens is participating is likewise designed to promote rapid mobility in urban areas. Here, sensors have been installed along a 45-kilometer test route. Embedded in the asphalt or fitted in traffic lights, these sensors continuously monitor the traffic situation. The resulting data is automatically communicated to a control center, which then sends the information to test vehicles. These cars are fitted with a special type of navigation device that gathers all the data and converts it into a graphic display. Whenever a car approaches a traffic light, a digital speedometer is displayed onscreen, accompanied by a female voice that says, “Phased green lights at 50 km/h” or “Red light about to switch to green.” By modifying the vehicle’s speed accordingly, the driver is able to pass all the lights on green and thereby enjoy a much faster trip. Another aim of the project is to investigate ways to make traffic safer and more environmentally friendly. One potential development here is a data network for vehicles, in which sensors, cars, and control center all communicate in real time. This would further improve the quality of traffic information, since the greater the number of cars and sensors that communicate with one another, the greater is the accuracy of the overall data picture.

Goods that Travel Underground. In addition to improving the flow of automobile traffic, another goal is to make the transport of goods faster and more efficient. In a joint project, Siemens and logistics company DHL have been looking at this problem in Ningbo, on China’s eastern seaboard. This city of six million inhabitants is growing at a breathtaking pace, and gridlock is a common occurrence. The average speed in downtown Ningbo is less than 20 kilometers an hour – a result that is partly due to the increasing volume of delivery traffic. The solution developed by Siemens and DHL is based on urban consolidation centers These are central warehouses where goods destined for all of the city’s retailers are first collected and then shipped out according to district or even street.

Siemens researchers believe this solution will kill two birds with one stone. It will utilize truck capacity more efficiently and also reduce the volume of traffic without the need to build new roads. Logistics experts have subjected goods transport to a radical rethink as well. One proposal is to use the subway system to move goods around the city. A future option might even be to install refrigerated stations on street corners and in large apartment blocks, where people would be able to collect purchased items such as fresh food.

By the time goods arrive in a city the size of Ningbo, they have generally racked up many kilometers in transit. Increasingly, they will have completed part of their journey by sea in a huge container ship.

According to the International Maritime Organization, the volume of shipping worldwide is expected to increase by 60 percent between now and 2020. As a result, CO₂ emissions could increase by up to 72 percent. To ensure that this growth in the volume of shipping does not excessively burden the environment and the climate, researchers are looking at ways of making cargo vessels more efficient.

For example, the gigantic Triple E class container ships that will soon be introduced by Danish shipping company Maersk and South Korean shipbuilder Daewoo, will be fitted with a particularly efficient propulsion system. Key components of this system come from Siemens, including sophisticated technology to convert the hot engine exhaust gases into electricity. According to Siemens engineers, this will cut fuel consumption by more than 12 percent. In addition, carbon dioxide emissions per shipped container will be only 50 percent of the industry average for the route between Asia and Europe.

Sustainable shipping is a topic that has also drawn the attention of Siemens engineers in Norway. In cooperation with the shipbuilder Fjellstrand, Siemens has developed the world’s first electrically powered car ferry The 80-meter vessel is scheduled to enter service in 2015, serving the Sognefjord route between Lavik and Oppedal. Thanks to its electric propulsion system – and Norway’s green fuel mix – the ferry will produce neither carbon dioxide nor soot emissions. The ferry will recharge its batteries during each stop. As this process would overload the local grid, a large lithium ion battery is to be installed as a buffer in each of ferry port.

The Romans developed similarly inventive and sustainable solutions when they were building their network of roads over 2,000 years ago. Roman roads, which consisted of a layer of coarse rubble topped by a finely tuned mixture of sand and gravel and finished off with paving stones, were incredibly robust. Today the highway over the Brenner pass bears the brunt of globalization in the form of steadily increasing Alpine traffic. Yet the Via Raetia still attracts visitors. Here, if you pause and listen long enough, you can still hear sounds that characterized a bygone age: the tramp of marching feet and the sound of tired walkers gasping for breath – interrupted now and again, however, by the click of a camera.