GreenCityZen’s solution and Sigfox 0G network provide the Marseille Metropole sanitation department (Seramm) with an economical and ecological connected storm drain network
Paris, France – November 23, 2021 – Eco-startup GreenCityZen, a greentech pioneer in IoT for industry and smart city, has selected Sigfox to connect 5,000 drains (entry points into the river network) on the Marseille sewerage network. The technology from Sigfox, one of the world’s leading providers of IoT communication services and the pioneer of the 0G network, allows Seramm to retrieve data from sensor-equipped gutters to improve their performance and reduce the number of interventions.
Although drains are designed to collect rainwater, they also collect waste abandoned in the streets, which causes operational problems and pollution. Drains clogged by waste can no longer fulfill their primary purpose, and there is also an ecological impact as waste accumulated in the drains transfer into the natural environment during rainfall.
To address these issues, GreenCityZen is providing the HummBox platform for the continuous monitoring of stormwater drains in sewerage networks. The application detects waste levels and can therefore “decarbonize” operation and cleaning of storm drains, as it is no longer necessary to travel to check if they are full. The startup called on Sigfox France and its 0G network to collect the data sent back by the sensors placed in drains in a real-time, simple and sustainable way.
Self-powered sensors connect directly to the Internet via the Sigfox network, and each drain is fully described into the application, including: size, shape, brand, images, instrumentation status, filling rate and cleaning status. Before this collaboration began, the city of Marseille carried out 50,000 inspection visits per year, only to clean 50% of the drains, while others lay empty.
Deploying IoT has transformed Seramm operators’ jobs by providing better data on the drains across the city and therefore immediate visibility of the assets requiring maintenance, as well as a better insight into the type of maintenance required without needing an initial site visit. In addition, the data collected provides useful statistics to the sanitation department and ultimately improves its performance.
“The IoT, the latest technology in the digital transformation of our economies, has had a considerable impact. At GreenCityZen we see it as an opportunity for the environment and, with the support of Sigfox, we have been able to implement new use cases to improve the performance of the Seramm while helping to preserve our planet,” said Alexandre Boudonne, Director of Operations at GreenCityZen.
“Sigfox’s mission is to digitize the physical world while committing to harnessing and delivering the benefits of IoT in ways that sustain and respect our environment. This collaboration with GreenCityZen is particularly well suited to this mission and allows us to support a high-potential “made in France” startup,” adds Patrick Cason, General Manager of Sigfox France.
By September 2021, in Marseille, 2,000 drains were already equipped with the HummBox solution and connected to the Sigfox network. Another 3,000 should follow by 2022.
These intelligent solutions should soon be rolled out nationally and then exported internationally. SUEZ has also called on GreenCityZen to install other types of sensors in vacuum sewer networks. The objective is to monitor the frequency of valve opening and report any problems to the operator. The Sigfox 0G network allows the sensors to communicate, even though they are sometimes buried or under a cast iron plate.
Use cases
About Sigfox
Sigfox is a world’s leading IoT (Internet of Things) communication service provider and 0G network pioneer. Sigfox offers a unique combination of ultra-low cost and ultra-low power solutions enabled by a single global network, owned and operated by 75 Sigfox Operators, enabling businesses to gain visibility and track their assets worldwide. With more than 19 million connected devices and 75 million messages sent a day, Sigfox helps its customers to extract data at the lowest cost of production and accelerate their digital transformation in key areas such as asset tracking and monitoring.
ISO 9001 certified and supported by a strong partner ecosystem, Sigfox was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in Labège, France, with offices in Boston, Dallas, Dubai, Madrid, Paris, Sao Paulo, Singapore, and Tokyo.
About GreenCityZen
GreenCityZen, a pioneering environmental IoT and AI (Artificial Intelligence) eco-startup was founded in 2015 and provides solutions to drive sustainable water resource management. GreenCityZen’s mission is the re-enchantment of technology by making it simple and frugal, at the service of the environment.
GreenCityZen has been awarded as Greentech label by the French Ministry of the Environment and is now listed in the French impact startup mapping, according to BPI France.
GreenCityZen’s clients include international water companies (SUEZ, Veolia, SAUR, …), local authorities with a “smart city” approach (Florence, Lyon, Marseille, Paris, Cahors…) and the UNHCR (United Nations).
Several thousands of sensors and actuators have been deployed around the world, on use cases related to water: monitoring of sewage / rainwater networks and intelligent watering.
These lightweight and easy-to-deploy solutions allow a significant increase in the number of measurement points and a high return on investment. GreenCityZen products are entirely designed and manufactured in France for a strong reactivity towards its customers. GreenCityZen is committed to an eco-design approach that has led it to develop technologies to reduce the energy footprint of its sensors and its cloud platform.
