With the increasing number of players entering into the energy market, the complexities of monitoring and tracking will continue to increase. This is not a problem specific to Charlotte, as other cities are grappling with the same challenge and have developed data programs in response. The issue has been incorporated into planning in cities around the world. Further strengthening the City’s relationship with UNCC’s Data Science Initiative (DSI) will be a key component to delivering this.
Step 1: Establish the data collection as part of the RIDs
The RIDs will provide a significant source of data and provide learning outcomes that can be utilized as part of developing jobs within the ‘green economy’. This will serve, in part, as a mechanism through which progress can be measured. The data here will also capture neighborhood related information, so that these areas can be better understood and resilience efforts supported.
Step 2: Identify areas for dynamic data
The RIDs will provide opportunities for a wide-ranging amount of live data. Encompassing traffic flows, street lighting, residential and commercial energy use, energy generation, and similar data can help to inform decision making centrally on such issues as refuse collection, street repair, and lighting repair.
Step 3: Identify specific areas where data is required
Key non-dynamic data sets include workforce performance on projects. This may include time to completion, number of staff, delays due to absence, and similar. The precise data to be collected should be determined between CREDIT and the work packages.
Step 4: Establish requirement for consistent data collection as a step towards resilience.
The CREDIT team will conduct a baseline study of best practices from cities around data collection. A part of this study will look at consistent points of data collected and the frequency in which data is collected. These will be provided as recommendations to City Government Leadership to ultimately become standardized practice.
Step 5: Utilize data visualization techniques for enhanced communication and education opportunities
A member of CREDIT should engage with the IT Department and UNCC students and staff to develop visually pleasing interfaces. This data visualization is something that could be incorporated into online resources.