Desert Mountain, a golf and residential community in Arizona, is using IBM analytics software to help reallocate and reduce water usage, save energy and cut operating costs, the company has announced. The 4,500-resident community will install IBM Intelligent Operations Center software for Smarter Cities, with UgMO Technologies' Wireless Soil Moisture Sensor Solution, to manage irrigation of all six of its championship-grade golf courses. It expects the installation to reduce its water use by 10 percent and generate an additional 10 percent savings in energy costs related to water pumping and distribution.Desert Mountain already uses 26 million gallons of reclaimed water per year, making it the largest reclaimed water user in metro Phoenix-Scottsdale, Ariz. Using the analytics software, site managers will have in-depth access to key data including turf conditions, soil moisture, volume and frequency of watering, fertilizer application, distribution costs and weather forecasts.
The new capabilities should also reduce the amount of energy used to transport and treat irrigation water, as well as reduce the costs of these processes, and should also moves the labor force from reactive to more proactive duties, IBM says.
Earlier this month, IBM partnered with CUNY Ventures, a City University of New York Economic Development Corporation entity, to develop an intelligent operations platform that will help the city analyze and understand key market indicators to make solar system development more cost-competitive.
