23 November 2016: "Smart Living" Conference

Conference in the form of a debate:

„Smart Living”

The event is the second part of the "Integrated block of conferences on low-emission transformation
of the Polish economy as the key to determining the country’s energy mix"

23 November 2016, 10:30 - 15:00 hrs

Polityka weekly magazine’s head office, ul. Słupecka 6, Warsaw

The Conference Patrons: the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of the Environment, the Sobieski Institute, the Polish Bank Association, the Secretariat for the Mining and Power Industry of the Solidarność trade union

The success of low-emission transformation of the economy depends, to a great extent, on the broadly understood behaviours of the society. Even the best technical and technological solutions will not bring about the desired effect of emission reduction if we remain oriented at unlimited consumption and thoughtless use of the available resources. The change in people’s approach is by no means aimed at lowering the standards of living. On the contrary, it is a direction towards new values, more attractive forms of living and self-fulfilment through achieving new challenges and objectives.

For example, instead of driving a car to get to a gym, we may walk there which will be a good warm-up for further exercises. At home, we may significantly reduce power consumption by optimizing room temperature, ensuring appropriate room ventilation and using smart meters to follow power consumption in real time. Moreover, instead of being passive consumers of energy we may actively participate in the process of its generation by becoming prosumers. Using public transport is, in turn, a good opportunity to learn about a given city and to build a closer community than when we drive our private cars in separation from each other; we can also use the commuting time e.g. for reading a book. When we follow the principles of sustainable energy consumption while shopping in a store, we spend less money e.g. on food in order to limit food wastage and to prevent large amounts of food from being thrown out to the bin.

This approach is in line with the broad concept called Smart Living. In many cases, in order to achieve the change of behaviours in practice, we need new smart technologies which also come within the Smart Living concept.

The conference will attempt to identify and measure the impact of Smart Living activities on the low-emission transformation of our economy. Such a discussion is of extreme importance as it may indicate the need for actions which are often cost-free but bring significant measurable results. The participants of the debate will discuss, among others, on the following issues:

Smart Living - just a fashion, or measurable benefits for the environment and the economy?
Smart Living - not only a technology, but also a lifestyle and social behaviour pattern
How to stimulate the interest in Smart Living?

Keynote address:

Anna Streżyńska, Minister of Digitization,

Discussion panel with the participation of the following experts:

Halina Bownik-Trymucha, Chairperson of the Programme Board, Procesy Inwestycyjne (to be confirmed),
Katarzyna Kacpura, Deputy Director, Infrastructure Department, Warsaw Municipal Office (to be confirmed),
Tomasz Wilczak, Deputy President of the Board for Technology, PGNiG Termika,
Karol Zarajczyk, President of the Board, URSUS SA (to be confirmed),
Michał Ajchel, Vice-President of the Board for the Power Market, Schneider Electric,
Artur Michalski, Vice-President of the Board, National Fund for Water Management and Environmental Protection,
Robert Zasina, President of the Board, Tauron Dystrybucja S.A.,
Michał Ramczykowski, President of the Board, the European Copper Institute, (to be confirmed),
Roman Szwed, President of the Board, Atende (to be confirmed).