Last week, 22nd of April, the Adão Barata Park (PAB) in Loures presented to the community the various innovative technological solutions that have been installed over three years to reduce carbon emissions and make the territory more resilient, and which are now available to the thousands of visitors to this urban park.

The innovations were developed as part of the project “PAB_LivingLab - Vive a Descarbonização no Parque Adão Barata” (Environment Programme, EEA Grants), promoted by AIDGLOBAL, in partnership with Loures City Council, Instituto Superior Técnico, bim+, dstsolar and innovationpoint.

In summary, the following results have been achieved with this project:

On the Circular Economy and Environment axis, an intelligent irrigation system has been installed that uses water from a deactivated well and is powered by photovoltaic panels, achieving a reduction of at least 628 m³ per month and 7.5 tons of CO2. In the park, there is a container for collecting used cooking oil which, in just three months, has collected 240 kg of oil. By planting 80 trees and 2,460 native shrubs and herbaceous plants, 8.75 tons of carbon dioxide will be sequestered every year. 18 of these trees, of the Freixo Comum species, were sponsored by primary and secondary schools in the borough of Loures.

Children can now play in the Theme Playground, where during the day the movement of the little ones (kinetic energy) makes the equipment light up at night.

In this garden, which is now a Living Decarbonization Laboratory, there is an Air Quality monitoring system that analyses parameters such as CO, NO2, O3, particles, noise, temperature and humidity. One of the uses is to know the best time of day or week to exercise. The data is visible via a multimedia kiosk.

As part of Sustainable Mobility, a Smart Parking system was created, where electromagnetic sensors were installed to detect the presence of vehicles per parking space and infrastructures were installed to provide information on traffic and car parking, with the aim of reducing the number of cars in the PAB in order to promote smooth mobility. Also under this pillar, a dock was installed with equipment for counting and sensing bicycles parked in the park.

Then, on the Energy axis, an intelligent energy community was built, which allows solar energy to be stored and shared through a photovoltaic production plant. A total of 60 kW of power has been installed, with an expected annual production of 72 MWh. At an early stage of the installation (even before the energy was shared), a reduction of 19 tons of CO2 had already been achieved in just a few months. Naturally, this also means big savings in terms of energy consumption costs.

The PAB has the first intelligent public building in Portugal. The Palace of the Marquises of Praia and Monforte has a BIM (Building Information Modeling) system, which is the first interaction between the construction sector and the digitalization era. It is based on a new preventive maintenance methodology for buildings, aimed at a smaller carbon footprint and greater energy efficiency.

More than 6,000 people, including students, educators, local business leaders, municipal employees and the general public, were involved in actions to raise awareness and mobilize people to reduce their carbon footprint, in terms of environmental education and the installation of innovative technological solutions.

This project highlights Loures' role as a smart city. Smart cities are territories that use technology to create solutions for decarbonization. The strategies implemented in Adão Barata Park allow for better management of already scarce natural resources.

A number of strategic and educational documents are now accessible to the public via the Internet at https://pablivinglab.com/en_GB/plans-and-guides/, for example the “Sustainable Waste Management Plan”, the “Measures for good Air Quality”, the “Good Practices Guide: Sustainable Purchasing in Catering” and the ‘Living Laboratory - Environmental Education in Adão Barata Park’ Pedagogical Guide. (only available in Portuguese).

Watch the video about the Innovations implemented in Adão Barata Park, here.

The “PAB_LivingLab - decarbonization in Adão Barata Park” project was funded by the EEA Grants Environment Programme, its promoter was AIDGLOBAL - Action and Integration for Global Development - and its partners were Loures City Council, the Instituto Superior Técnico of the University of Lisbon, bim+, dstsolar and Innovation Point.

“Working together for a green Europe” is the slogan of “PAB_LivingLab”, as it is a project under the EEA Grants Environment Program, which is a multi-annual financial mechanism established through the European Economic Area Agreement. Through the EEA Grants, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway provide financial support to European Union member states with the greatest deviations from the European average in GDP per capita, including Portugal.