Pictures of the Future    Spring 2007

Supercity Solutions

Ariane López has only been living in São Paulo for a year. However, the Siemens employee’s chances of finding her way through the vast ocean of buildings aren’t any worse than those of a veteran "Paulistano." Without a good map of the city, almost everyone—including experienced taxi drivers—gets lost sooner or later. "It’s no wonder," says Antônio Arnaldo, former Secretary of Infrastructure of São Paulo’s municipal administration. "São Paulo is the largest city in South America and is up to 80 km across. More than 19 million people live in the metropolitan area." This vast melting pot of concrete and humanity is also the country’s economic powerhouse—contributing about 16 % of Brazil’s gross domestic product. More than 33,000 industrial enterprises and nearly 2,000 banks are established here. That makes this megacity the most important financial and economic center in South America.

"Unfortunately, the challenges we have to contend with here are also massive," says Arnaldo. "Take our drainage system, for instance. After a heavy rainfall, there may be as many as 500 flooded areas throughout the city." Flooding poses a constant threat throughout the rainy Brazilian summers from October to March.

On the other hand, local reservoirs are often empty during the area’s dry winters. "In São Paulo, we simply have too little water for a population of this size," says Arnaldo. "And we also suffer from serious leaks throughout the water delivery infrastructure."

Nevertheless, this sort of incident does not go unnoticed for long at Sabesp, a partly state-run enterprise that is the world’s fourth-largest water supply company. Here, a Siemens’ Power control and monitoring system sounds an alarm whenever a probable leak is detected. "The system has been in operation since late 2006 and is the most modern in South America," says Hélio Luiz Castro, head of water distribution at Sabesp. "It constantly measures pressure in the pipes and monitors water consumption on a neighborhood by neighborhood basis throughout the city."

Digital Water Manager. Castro points to a monitor displaying São Paulo’s entire water grid. "On that screen, we can monitor all of the major systems and data on a single user interface in real time, from the reservoirs all the way to the pumping stations. If we were to have a major leak anywhere in the city, a warning notice would automatically appear in the corresponding location. For example, the system would notify us of an unusually high level of water consumption in that area. Thanks to this technology, we’re able to track down almost any disruption and correct it much faster than before," Castro says. But Siemens technology does more than just locate damage. A digital water manager also collects data such as outdoor temperatures, which can be used to make water-consumption forecasts. "This enables us to adjust the activity of our pumping stations accordingly," says Castro. "That saves energy and reduces our operating costs." In all, Sabesp pumps approximately 67 m³ of potable water per second in Brazil’s megacity.

However, São Paulo isn’t just thirsty; it’s also incredibly mobile. According to the municipal administration, five million cars are registered in this metropolis, and 500 more are added each day—a traffic load that often produces prodigious smog. In addition, the subway system is still far too limited for a city of this size. São Paulo’s four lines comprise a mere 60 km, compared to more than 1,100 km of track in New York City.

"In order to reduce automobile traffic and improve the quality of life, we urgently need new metro lines," says municipal infrastructure expert Arnaldo. "That is why we are working on a new subway line, which is expected to enter service in 2008."

However, the new line will not come close to meeting São Paulo’s demand. Nevertheless, Arnaldo is certain that at present, additional expansion would be too costly. "Even now, we are heavily subsidizing the system. If fares reflected real costs, most people would no longer be able to afford a ticket."

That’s why São Paulo needs solutions that cut costs and make public transportation more efficient. An example is the innovative energy distribution systems with which Siemens has equipped the subway depot and a section of track of the new Line 4 Subway. "Small transformer stations that supply the trains with power are located at regular intervals along the subway line," explains Christiano Oliveira from Siemens Transportation Systems. "We have equipped some of these stations with controlled rectifiers, which prevent voltage losses and save energy. This allows the distance between the transformer stations to be increased by 15 %. As a result, the subway operator can build fewer transformer stations, which means huge savings."

In addition to its contribution to the new Line 4 Subway, Siemens has also helped to improve São Paulo’s old commuter trains. The 1960s-vintage vehicles have been renovated, and bolstered by ten completely new train sets. Together, the renovated and new trains now offer a comfortable alternative to the city’s never-ending traffic jams.

Energy Challenge. The prospects for São Paulo’s inhabitants would be dim indeed without the steel lifelines that supply the city with energy. Around 1,000 km of high-voltage lines criss-cross the metropolis like a safety net, keeping Brazil’s economic heart beating. One of the men responsible for the power supply, José Sidnei Colombo Martini, CEO of CTEEP, an energy distribution company, has his hands full avoiding a collapse. "São Paulo’s energy demand is constantly increasing," he says. "That’s why we frequently need to add new substations that can handle the additional load." But that’s more easily said than done in a city like São Paulo. "You simply have too little space for conventional systems," say Martini.

But there’s a solution. It’s a new substation that Siemens and its partner company Alusa are building in the Anhanguera district of the city. Thanks to gas-insulated switchgear (GIS) from Siemens, the new substation occupies only a fraction of the space required by conventional stations, since GIS encloses its copper lines like tubular capsules. These lines contain SF₆, a special gas that prevents the potential difference of roughly 400 kV from causing a flashover. As a result, the individual current-carrying elements can be spaced very closely. "The Anhanguera substation is the largest of its kind in Brazil and is key for São Paulo because it will primarily supply the city’s financial district with energy," says Martini, who believes that the city could lay its equipment and lines underground. "It would then be possible to use the space made available to improve the quality of life, perhaps by planting more green spaces. And a city without overhead power lines is more people-friendly and attractive," he adds.

The future arrived at the Hospital do Coração about ten years ago. The hospital, which is located in the heart of São Paulo, is South America’s most modern, and started using Siemens medical technology in 1996. Since Siemens supplied the hospital’s radiology department with computer tomographs (CT), and the digital picture archiving and communications system PACS, the hospital has been updating its technology with Siemens equipment.

The new devices include a 16-slice PET/CT scanner, the first of its kind in all of Latin America. "Medical care is becoming increasingly expensive in Brazil, while the insurance companies are paying less and less," says clinic CEO Dr. Antonio Carlos Kfouri. "At the same time, doctors no longer have as much time as they used to. As a result, we have to become more efficient and speed up processes."

According to Kfouri, the number of computed tomography examinations alone has increased by 15 % per year since the new Siemens systems were introduced. "It’s crucial that our patients also benefit from digitization," says Kfouri. "Picture archiving and communications systems, for instance, enable both faster and better treatment. When doctors transfer their patients to a neighboring department, they can now send radiographs to their colleagues with the click of a mouse."

Word of the high quality of Hospital do Coração has spread and demand has grown accordingly. Says Kfouri: "In response, we plan to expand our clinic by about 12,000 m². But even that won’t be enough. As a result, a completely new building complex is also being planned."

In order to improve the quality of life of its residents, São Paulo will also have to invest more. It has made a start by significantly increasing its budgets for education and health. "But we also need creative technical solutions," says Arnaldo. "For instance, we have around 6,000 sets of traffic lights, most of which are not synchronized. With intelligent traffic control, we could accomplish a lot without spending too much."

Despite the challenges, Arnaldo is quite optimistic about the future. "In ten years, São Paulo will still be South America’s most important city. In the long run, though, we’ll remain competitive only if the most important part of our city—our inhabitants—doesn’t get left behind."
                                                                                                                  Florian Martini