Believe it or not, it looks like an entire city is about to be built in New Mexico’s Chihuahuan Desert, but no one will live there.
Modeled on a medium-sized American city of about 35,000 people, it will have a city center, suburbs, rural areas and strip malls, along with all the infrastructure – roads, highways, transmission and telecommunications lines, water – all vacant.
The purpose of the Center for Innovation, Testing & Evaluation (CITE) will be to test, evaluate and commercialize next-generation technologies.
This isn’t pie-in-the-sky: Pegasus Global Holdings has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with New Mexico’s Department of Economic Development and has the support of the governor. It’s expected to break ground in June.
Pegasis, an international technology development firm, will own and finance the city, at a cost of over $1 billion.
Paying customers will have quite a unique opportunity – they can test and evaluate technologies in a setting that simulates real-world conditions. Driverless trucks
Some of the technologies expected to be tested are:
- Intelligent Transportation Systems
- Renewable Energy Generation
- Smart Grid Technologies
- Telecommunications
- Resource Development (such as desalinization)
- Security
Pegasus sees it as a proving ground for technologies arising from the federal labs, universities, not-for-profit technology centers, federal departments and agencies, and the private sector.
It will be designed to provide detailed measurable results on the impacts to the economy and its many sectors, such as energy, transportation, telecommunications, security, and agriculture.
Renewable Energy: challenges exist in integrating these technologies in outdated infrastructure. CITE will provide opportunities to drill down into the cost of introducing solar, wind, and Smart Grid technologies in a real world setting to help determine the next steps to success.
Intelligent Transportation Systems: testing and demonstration of new technologies, which are advancing rapidly in Europe and Asia, will be possible at CITE, including unmanned vehicle technologies, traffic management systems, and vehicle-based applications without endangering other drivers.
Next Generation Wireless Infrastructure: terrestrial and satellite wireless will serve CITE, permitting the development, installation, testing and commercialization of high speed broadband technologies across all sectors of the economy, e.g. energy, transportation and security, as well as to underserved communities.
Homeland Security: secure testing for first responder technology with the benefit of proximity to the civil and commercial infrastructure.
Here’s the CITE website:
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I am not against investment to develop and check new technologies, but it just sounds weird to invest 1 billion in a city that will remain vacant in a world as constrained and unfair as today’s world. And, by the way, how much carbon will be emitted by this vacant city construction?
How do you get your technology into this city? We have a solar powered, GPS controlled skylight that tracks the sun with mirrors directing the light into the building for 10 hours per day. You can turn off the lights all day plus gain the EFFECTS OF DAYLIGHTING ON EMPLOYEES AND CUSTOMERS.