Infrastructure projects imply considerable investment and have a lifetime of several decades. Their design and make will be influenced by environmental, climatic, technical and societal conditions as well as they influence their natural and societal environment and sometimes the habits of their users. "Infrastructure" comprises buildings, transport infrastructure like roads, bridges, waterways and railway system, urban infrastructure like sewers, network systems like power grids, telecommunication and assets like power plants, waste treatment facilities and private production facilities of any kind.
Owners, developers and operators of infrastructure need to be enabled to assess relevant risks of upcoming climatic conditions, appraise adaptation measures and monitor their implementation and effectiveness in a cost-aware and meaningful way.
Myclimateservices.eu contains
* a digitized standardized workflow for assessing climate risks and appraise adaptation scenarios basing on climate- and location data at the site of the respective infrastructure project and
* a marketplace to match projects with relevant localized data, experts for in-depth and specific counsel and to find projects (already realized or in planning) comparable in terms of hazard profile, elements at risk and type of project in order to share and transfer knowledge.
Access is provided by web services. End users gather relevant information on their project in a structured, comprehensive way and are guided through the process by the digitized workflow.
First action is marking a project´s location on a map. An overview of "data packages" for the selected location is provided - besides climate data in several resolutions these may be land use, topography, census data etc.
At the end of the screening process a report summarizes hazards, risk, impact and adaptation options and the end user can decide to connect with experts for working on most critical risks. The marketplace provides a connection appropriate for the type of project, detected hazards, additional required data in better resolution etc.
Every summer in big cities are reported death cases, discomforts or sicknesses, especially in elder people, because of high temperatures for many days in a row. Statistics show an increase in mortality every year and the predictions show it will be on the rise for the coming 50 years. Cities in southern Europe are most exposed, but these hot days and tropical nights are also in increase in western, central and eastern Europe, where people and towns are less accustomed to heat.
To assist the wide urban population and public institutions, the QoAir system is designed in helping: measuring and detecting UHI – Urban Heat Island; raising awareness in decreasing exposure to hot days and nights; and checking other weather parameters such as humidity and air pressure related to heat waves. The idea of the project is to build a network of sensors spread over an urban area to measure UHI.
One way to achieve accurate measurements is to ideally have fast and decentralized information systems, such as one built on the new emerging technology: the blockchain.