One Monday morning in the not-too-distant future, quiet music gently rouses Anna from her dreams. The blinds open silently, slowly bathing the room in soft morning light. The mayoress of Greentown breathes in the aroma of freshly brewed coffee. No sooner has Anna heard her husband and twins laughing than all three of them rush into the bedroom and join her on the bed. It’s time for their family morning exercise session – naturally accompanied by Alex and Uli’s favorite music, which is already playing through the speakers as if by magic.
Anna next takes a quick breather in the bathroom. While brushing her teeth, she watches the news on the display integrated into the bathroom mirror.
Having freshened up, Anna heads for the kitchen. Breakfast is already on the table. The electricity powering the toaster, coffee machine, and fridge comes from wind and solar installations. The energy transition is long since complete and a reliable supply of green electricity is always available, even if millions of people are having breakfast at the same time, there’s not a breath of wind, and the sun is hidden behind thick clouds.
Thanks to smart thermostats, the family home is always pleasantly warm when it’s time to get up each morning. It’s not just the heating that is controlled automatically, though, but also the lights and all electrical equipment. That means breakfast is ready quickly and, most importantly of all, it saves energy.
After breakfasting together, there’s a brief but tight hug at the front door and then the children are gone. Anna’s husband is taking them to the school bus today. She grabs a rental bike to cycle to the town hall. To unlock the bike, she just needs to quickly scan the QR code on it and confirm the booking.
On her way to the town hall, Anna meets her friend Marie, who is also on a rental bike. “Are you cycling all the way to work today?” asks Anna incredulously. “No,” laughs Marie. “There’s a hire car already waiting for me at the marketplace, so I can edit my article on the way,” she explains. “Yes, there’s something reassuring about being chauffeured and getting a bit of work done,” replies Anna. “These self-driving vehicles are definitely a great invention. It wasn’t all that long ago that 5G was developed and made the whole thing possible. Being able to transmit data in real time is the height of luxury,” she adds.
For example, the Internet of Things includes household appliances in smart homes, smart power grids, connected bikes and cars, and connected machinery in industrial and agricultural applications. The Internet of Things – or IoT for short – is based on 5G. This technology makes it possible to transfer huge volumes of data in real time.
Screeching tires and a loud honk startle the two women. A cyclist has ignored the red light and crossed the road. The car driver was just able to brake in time. “That could have ended up very nastily. The cyclist obviously has a good guardian angel,” says Marie. “A digital guardian angel, you mean!” replies Anna.
Having arrived at the town hall, Anna meets two colleagues from the health and welfare office. The head of the hospital joins them via video link. He shows them the advanced features of the IoT infrastructure. Besides making life easier for nursing staff, they are also intended to help GPs and patients.
The mayoress has quite a distance to cover to get to her next appointment. She uses an electric car from the municipal fleet. Thanks to charging stations with IoT technology, the vehicles are always charged when the price for green electricity is particularly low – good for a stable power grid and for the municipal coffers!
Having arrived at the site where the new kindergarten is being built, Anna finds the doors are locked. Within seconds, she sees a lady approaching hurriedly. “Digital access control – that’s how we protect the site against thieves,” says the site manager apologetically. The mayoress nods in acknowledgement.
As Anna watches the self-driving transportation units moving materials from A to B, the site manager tells her that the machinery can be controlled remotely using IoT technology. This is extremely practical, because it means specialists can work on several construction sites at once and there is no need to travel to the actual location. Besides making building work more efficient, this also cuts costs and carbon emissions. Last but not least, building work runs on schedule thanks to this smart technology.
Back at the town hall, Anna phones her colleague Alberto. He is the mayor of Pueblo Verde, Greentown’s twin town in Spain. They share a commitment to using water sparingly in agriculture.
Just like Greentown, Pueblo Verde has long been using digitalization for agricultural applications – also referred to as smart farming. For example, the water consumption of plants is recorded in real time using sensors and the Internet of Things. On this basis, autonomous irrigation vehicles take the necessary amount of water directly to the relevant field so as not to waste this valuable commodity.
That’s not all, though. Thanks to IoT solutions, farmers can also make targeted use of fertilizers and crop protection products. Moreover, precise positioning technology helps self-driving tractors stay on track and avoid passing over the same area several times.
Water is also on the agenda at Anna’s last appointment of the day, with her colleagues from the municipal crisis team. A lack of water in summer can quickly move to the other extreme in spring and fall. Flooding due to heavy rainfall can become a real danger – and it has rained a great deal in recent weeks in Greentown, with the result that water levels have risen.
The crisis team reassures Anna, though, telling her that water levels are not yet critical. For some years now, an IoT-based real-time warning system has been reliably monitoring reservoir and river levels, which enables highly precise predictions. What’s more, the infrastructure has been given a future-proof makeover. It is now better able to withstand both heavy rainfall and lengthy heatwaves. Among other things, Anna has advocated creating water storage facilities beneath green spaces.
The end of the working day has finally arrived – time for Anna to head home. Uli and Alex rush to greet her. “A package has arrived for you,” shouts Alex. Anna isn’t surprised, even though she only ordered the new cycle helmet the previous evening. Ever since the logistics sector has started using IoT solutions in many areas, goods are transported in next to no time. Drivers obtain all important information about everything from congestion to a change of loading terminal on their tablets in real time. That avoids any diversions during delivery, thereby also cutting carbon emissions.
“Come on, we’re going to see grandpa,” says Anna. “Yes!” is the delighted response from the twins. Anna’s father lives just a few doors away and recently had heart surgery. His new pacemaker has a smart radio chip that permanently monitors his condition as well as that of the implant. If something isn’t right, the chip immediately sends an alert to his doctor. That means he can continue to live at home with Timmy, his cat, and Anna doesn’t need to worry.
Her father has been expecting the three of them. “Hello, where have you left your pa?” he asks, greeting them with a hug. “He’s coming a bit later. He still needs to meet a customer,” replies Anna. “What’s that lovely smell?” she asks curiously. “Wait and see, the table is already set,” says her father with a smile. He loves cooking and is always coming up with something new.
“And where’s Timmy?,” Uli wants to know. Grandpa takes his cell phone out of his pocket. “It looks like he’s in the tree house,” he replies. Timmy has a tiny GPS tracker that can be used to follow the cat on the prowl in real time. That means grandpa doesn’t need to worry when Timmy is out and about until late at night. Anna smiles at her father and thinks to herself: “What would we do without IoT technology?!”
