Smart Solutions are top of mind here at Pennoni. The term “Smart” is becoming more common everywhere you turn, from television commercials to website ads. As innovations continue to evolve, we are dedicating our time to ensuring our clients understand the technologies we now offer. Pennoni is actively submitting proposals for potential opportunities using Smart Solutions. We are also incorporating them into our projects for the benefit of our clients.
An early part of our journey began with a Design Visualization project for the City of Winter Haven, FL South Central Park. Thanks to this video the project is now complete and recently won the “Florida Engineering Society Ridge Chapter Project of the Year”. This project has led to additional videos developed for our clients to help gain public approval and provide stakeholders with a visual context of our proposed plans. OPTICSTM, our Energy Management software, is another one of our Smart Solutions offerings that has led to additional opportunities. Through OPTICSTM and understanding our client’s energy usage, we have completed Design-Build solar installations for various clients. We have produced a design visualization waste-to-energy video featuring Thermolyzer and are proposing to utilize this tire gasification technology at several locations in the United States.
Other recent additional Smart Solutions projects and opportunities have included:
- Various Design Visualization videos for utilities, governmental clients, higher education, and more
- A Transportation Proposal using Structural Health Monitoring and Weigh-in-Motion systems
- A higher education project partnering with a large consulting firm at a southern university featuring our Utilities Watch Software
- A municipal interview on the use of Autonomous Vehicles in New England
- Higher education campus concept plans at various locations using SiteOps
- Smart Pavement using Artificial Intelligence (AI) for municipal clients in various PA, NJ and FL towns
- OPTICSTM for municipalities such as Bethlehem, PA, Summit County, OH and many institutional clients
- A large city proposal for an Energy Project featuring Utilities Watch
- Asset Management for clients with corporate and higher education campuses, transportation departments, and more
- Waste-to-energy BTS bio-gas project, creating energy from food waste
- Deploying rapid electric vehicle charging systems with a channel partner for a town in New England
- A proposal to a healthcare facility with another channel partner, converting sewage waste to usable graywater
It should be noted that none of these projects would have been possible just a few of years back unless we had made the conversion and commitment to provide these technologies to our client base. These projects require our traditional consulting services to execute, but the list shows that the source and types of projects has changed. Smart Solutions are here to stay and will become even more exciting as the technology evolves.
As Thought Leaders in this space, we have had the opportunity to present our Smart Solutions and the Smarter Cities 2025 survey at various conferences across the US, such as:
- Smart Cities Council Readiness Workshops in various locations including Louisville, KY; Cary, NC; Birmingham, AL; the Commonwealth of Virginia; and San Juan, Puerto Rico
- LDDI meeting in Herndon, VA, Presentation with ESI Thoughtlab on the results of the Smarter Cities 2025 Worldwide Study
- Upcoming presentations on Smart Solutions include:
- April 3rd: CityWorks(X)po Florida in Winter Haven, FL on the Smarter Cities 2025 Study
- April 4th: Haines City, FL City Commission and Leadership
- May 30th: Keynote at The Florida City and County Management Association Annual Conference with ESI Thoughtlab
- July: NJ Alliance 5G Conference as part of a Smart Cities panel
- October: PSMJ – Smarter Cities 2025 Study
- And more to come as the year progresses.
We are making tremendous strides introducing Smart Solutions and making it part of our core business offering. This will continue to grow here at Pennoni as we add both technologies and channel partners to our platform. We also know that governments, big and small, will continue to look to Smart Solutions to meet the needs of their constituents.
A few months back, we had a meeting with a prominent architect about our Smart Solutions, and they were surprised to learn all these technologies that are now part of our everyday business. Their comments were that they had no idea Pennoni was involved in so many new initiatives in this space. There is still work to be done, as we continue marketing our capabilities and discovering new ways to use advancing technologies to provide solutions to fit our clients’ needs. Stay tuned.
For more information on our Smart Solutions, contact Joe Viscuso, PE, PLS, ENV SP. Joe serves as Director of Strategic Growth which includes involvement in all new initiatives and technologies. Joe is active in the Smart City Council and is a member of the Urban Mobility Task Force. He has spoken at various industry events on the use of innovative smart solutions.