Friday, May 31, 2013
Is it time for engineering to shift from sustainability to storm resliency?
Is it time for engineering and policy makers to reexamine our priorities in the context of the built environment? Are we placing too much emphasis on the LEED certification of the local school building versus the functional requirement to absorb shocks from increasing extreme storm events while recovering and rebuilding as quickly as possible? How does the Triple Bottom Line interface with the dead elementary school children recently killed in Oklahoma? With no practical way, either economically or politically, to reduce carbon emissions below key threshold values, is it time to focus engineering and innovative resources more toward the idea of the resilient city and the science, engineering, and management associated with recovering from a disaster? Is the carbon footprint of concrete all that important in certain high risk areas if the concrete is under 10-feet of floodwater or has a 2x4 completely blown through it?
The disaster narrative is becoming clearer as the planet warms and more and more moisture embeds in the atmosphere. As we saw recently in the massive tornado in Moore, Oklahoma, the narrative of urban resilience and recovery is becoming a political and economic necessity. Disasters reveal the resilience of governments (and thus engineering and construction) - the very legitimacy of government is at stake in the era of climate change and extreme weather events. Moore will be a good example of urban rebuilding symbolizing human resilience. Engineering needs to provide more leadership by casting the opportunism of our declining infrastructure as an opportunity to set off a chain reaction of urban renewal and reinvention in the era of extreme weather and climate change.
Finally, Geoffrey Parker has a great article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Inevitable Climate Catastrophe. He has several good points we need to be thinking about. From the article:
"Although Katrina was the costliest natural disaster in the history of the United States, it was only one among 484 reported natural disasters of 2005 around the world, causing a total of $176-billion in damage. That figure held the record until 2011, when, although the total of reported natural disasters fell to 352, the damage they caused exceeded $350-billion. This total included $2-billion from a tornado that struck Tuscaloosa, Ala.; $2.5-billion from a tornado that hit Joplin, Mo.; and $210-billion from the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, in Japan. Among them, those three extreme weather events killed more than 16,000 people.
No human intervention could have prevented those natural catastrophes—although a better early-warning system, education about evasive strategies, and faster and more effective emergency responses could have mitigated the consequences. Likewise, no human intervention can prevent volcanic eruptions or a decline in the number of sunspots, despite the certainty that they will affect the climate, reduce harvest yields, and thus cause starvation, economic dislocation, political instability, and death. Instead we convince ourselves that these disasters will not happen just yet (or, at least, not to us).
As the paleontologist Richard Fortey has observed: "There is a kind of optimism built into our species that seems to prefer to live in the comfortable present rather than confront the possibility of destruction," with the result that "human beings are never prepared for natural disasters."
Until recently, the fact that almost all people killed and most people affected by natural disasters lived outside North America and Europe fostered the comforting belief in the West that such things happened only "somewhere else"—an assumption encouraged by terms such as "Typhoon Alley" and "The Ring of Fire." That view is not unfounded—the Philippine archipelago really does experience more natural disasters than any other comparable area of the world, with 220 volcanoes (at least 12 of them active), as many as five earthquakes a day, and up to 30 typhoons a year—but natural disasters now also strike North America and Europe as well. Thus, according to a European Commission report, overall losses caused by weather and climate-related events have increased from a decadal average of about $9-billion (1980-9) to more than $17-billion (1998-2007)."
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
The Connected World of Physical Assets
This is not science fiction. The science fact is that networks of low-cost sensors and actuators for data collection, monitoring, decision making, and process optimization have arrived. These are the "Internet of Things" facts as presented by the McKinsey Global Institute:
Ponder the following paragraph from the May 2013 Disruptive technologies: Advances that will transform life, business, and the global economy by McKinsey Global Institute:
"The Internet of Things - embedding sensors and actuators in machines and other physical objects to bring them into the connected world - is spreading rapidly. From monitoring the flow of products through a factory to measuring the moisture in a field of crops to tracking the flow of water through utility pipes, the Internet of Things allows businesses and public-sector organizations to manage assets, optimize performance, and create new business models. With remote monitoring, the Internet of Things also has great potential to improve the health of patients and chronic illnesses and attack a major cause of rising health-care assets."
Link to the complete report by McKinsey - - add it to your reading list!!
- 300% increase in connected machine-to-machine devices over past 5 years.
- 80-90% price decline in MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) in last 5 years.
- One trillion things that could be connected to the Internet across industries such as manufacturing, health-care, and mining.
- A potential $2.7 trillion to $6.2 trillion annual global impact by 2025 of connecting our physical assets to the Internet.
Ponder the following paragraph from the May 2013 Disruptive technologies: Advances that will transform life, business, and the global economy by McKinsey Global Institute:
"The Internet of Things - embedding sensors and actuators in machines and other physical objects to bring them into the connected world - is spreading rapidly. From monitoring the flow of products through a factory to measuring the moisture in a field of crops to tracking the flow of water through utility pipes, the Internet of Things allows businesses and public-sector organizations to manage assets, optimize performance, and create new business models. With remote monitoring, the Internet of Things also has great potential to improve the health of patients and chronic illnesses and attack a major cause of rising health-care assets."
Link to the complete report by McKinsey - - add it to your reading list!!
Monday, May 27, 2013
Spending for disaster preparedness versus recovery efforts
From the Political Fallout of Natural Disasters - post on Wonkblog. The politics of designing resiliency and preparedness into communities seems to be a daunting challenge.
"So as voters, are we absolved of the charge of responding irrationally to natural disasters? The evidence suggests that the answer is “yes,” at least if the question is about disaster responses. But natural disasters aren’t just about responding —they are also about planning and preparation. And there, the evidence is less sanguine about our capacity as voters to reward politicians for acting in our interests.
In another article, Healy and Malhotra examine whether voters reward spending on disaster preparedness alongside spending on disaster relief. As it turns out, we don’t. We reward spending to respond to disasters by backing incumbents more strongly, but we shrug when it comes to spending to get us ready for a disaster down the road. They also estimate that a dollar spent on disaster preparedness reduces subsequent damage by $15, making such investments highly cost-effective.
Natural disasters capture America’s attention, and understandably so. As voters, we pay attention in the wake of disasters, and we reward or punish incumbents based on their actions. But when the cameras are elsewhere, we’re not nearly as good about rewarding the incumbents who are getting ready for the next disaster."
"So as voters, are we absolved of the charge of responding irrationally to natural disasters? The evidence suggests that the answer is “yes,” at least if the question is about disaster responses. But natural disasters aren’t just about responding —they are also about planning and preparation. And there, the evidence is less sanguine about our capacity as voters to reward politicians for acting in our interests.
In another article, Healy and Malhotra examine whether voters reward spending on disaster preparedness alongside spending on disaster relief. As it turns out, we don’t. We reward spending to respond to disasters by backing incumbents more strongly, but we shrug when it comes to spending to get us ready for a disaster down the road. They also estimate that a dollar spent on disaster preparedness reduces subsequent damage by $15, making such investments highly cost-effective.
Natural disasters capture America’s attention, and understandably so. As voters, we pay attention in the wake of disasters, and we reward or punish incumbents based on their actions. But when the cameras are elsewhere, we’re not nearly as good about rewarding the incumbents who are getting ready for the next disaster."
Very Good News for Engineers
From the most recent column in The New York Times by Tyler Cowen - - link. Very good news for engineers - - (1.) New advances are creating world-class opportunities for low-cast continuing education, (2.) The less health care is as a % of GDP, the more we can spend on bridges that seem to keep falling into rivers, (3.) New advances in natural gas and oil development will create strong opportunities for engineering worldwide for the next half-century, and (4.) Being the destination point for the world's technically bright and creative is the key to our economic future.
From the article:
NEW KNOWLEDGE, LESS COST When it comes to education, an even greater productivity gain may be on the way. This month, for instance, the Georgia Institute of Technology announced a new online master’s degree in computer science, for a price of no more than $7,000.
From the article:
NEW KNOWLEDGE, LESS COST When it comes to education, an even greater productivity gain may be on the way. This month, for instance, the Georgia Institute of Technology announced a new online master’s degree in computer science, for a price of no more than $7,000.
It’s part of a trend toward less expensive education and certification. The examples are numerous: the Khan Academy offers free online instruction in mathematics and other topics, and Coursera and other companies have popularized online courses for millions of users.
How far these trends can be pushed is unclear, but it can no longer be argued that the basic technologies of education haven’t changed in decades or even centuries.
LOWER HEALTH CARE INFLATION The growth rate in health care costs has been slowing for the last four years. In some years, in fact, it’s been no higher than the growth rate of the economy as a whole. And much of the change appears driven by efficiencies, rather than by the recent recession. This is documented in a paper by David M. Cutler, an economics professor at Harvard, and Nikhil R. Sahni, a fellow at Harvard Business School; it appeared in the May 2013 issue of Health Affairs.
This cost deceleration isn’t guaranteed to stick, but the danger that sharply rising health care costs, compounding over time, will crash the entire economy is now somewhat reduced.
POWERING AMERICA FOR LESS We appear to be at the start of a new era of cheap energy. Through advances in both oil and natural gas production, the United States is again becoming a leading exporter of fossil fuels.
Many of the nation’s economic troubles, like slow productivity and income growth, began about the same time that America’s first age of cheap energy came to a sudden end, in the early 1970s. The effect of today’s energy boom on broader productivity remains to be seen, but it could prove a source of further gains. Unfortunately, cheap natural gas isn’t the path toward sustainable green energy, although it is cleaner than coal and has helped the nation make some progress in reducing emissions.
MOBILIZING THE CREATIVE This final development, concerning the fate of talent in lesser-developed nations, is perhaps the most fundamental. If you were born a genius in Shanghai in 1960, for example, your chances of making much contribution to the larger world were small, because China was largely isolated back then — and extremely unfree economically. It now does a much better job of mobilizing its considerable natural talent.
While the populations of countries like the United States are aging, the number of innovative young people worldwide has never been higher. Countries like China, India, Brazil and Russia, despite recent slowdowns in growth, still are making progress in improving their educational systems and scientific networks. That increases their ability to supply technological innovations — or scientists and entrepreneurs — to the United States. These gains can be reaped in coming decades.
Getting Shale Gas Working in the U.K.
A report on shale gas opportunities in the U.K. - - link. From the report:
"Shale gas development could create tens of thousands of jobs, reduce imports, generate significant tax revenue and support British manufacturing. The Institute of Directors’ comprehensive new report, Getting shale gas working, studies the lessons of previous energy developments, investigates the economic impacts of potential shale gas production at scale, and sets out the practical steps for both government and industry to overcome the key barriers."
"Shale gas development could create tens of thousands of jobs, reduce imports, generate significant tax revenue and support British manufacturing. The Institute of Directors’ comprehensive new report, Getting shale gas working, studies the lessons of previous energy developments, investigates the economic impacts of potential shale gas production at scale, and sets out the practical steps for both government and industry to overcome the key barriers."
Sunday, May 26, 2013
"What do you think?"
These could be the four most important words in management and leadership. From an interview with Bill Marriott, Jr. in The New York Times today - What Eisenhower Taught Me About Decision-Making:
"In 1954, I had just finished Supply Corps School and came home for Christmas to our farm in Virginia. Dad's best friend at the time was Ezra Taft Benson, who was secretary of agriculture and latter became president of the L.D.S. church (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). And he invited Ike and Mamie Eisenhower. So here's the president and the secretary of agriculture, here's my father, and here I am. They wanted to take Ike to shoot some quail, but it was cold and the wind was blowing like crazy. My dad said, "Should we go shoot quail or should we stand by the fire?"
And Eisenhower turned around and looked at me and he said, "What do you think we should do?"
That made me realize how he go along with de Gaulle, Churchill, Roosevelt and others - by including them in the decision and asking them what they thought. So I tried to adopt that style of management as I progressed in lift, by asking my people, "What do you think?" Now, I didn't always go with what they thought. But I felt that I included them in the decision-making process, and asked them what they thought, and I listened to what they had to say and considered it, they usually got on board because they knew they'd been respected and heard, even if I went in a different direction than what they were recommending."
The decision on hunting? They stayed by the fire.
Saturday, May 25, 2013
Getting Smart About Water
This is a good Q&A on water issues from The Nature Conservancy - - link. From the article:
If the definition of insanity is making the same mistakes over and over, then many cities have taken a certifiable approach to securing their water supplies — and they need some radical therapy before taking the big economic, ecological and human hits that come with a permanent state of thirst.
That’s the conclusion from a new study in the journal Water Policy, whose authors compared the water supply histories of 4 cities — San Diego, Phoenix, San Antonio and Adelaide, Australia. Among the lessons learned? Urban water conservation, recycling and desalination aren’t silver bullets. In fact, the best solution may lie upstream with farmers — saving just 5-10% of agricultural irrigation in upstream watersheds could satisfy a city’s entire water needs.
Also:
Q: Many cities take a similar pattern of water development, according to your research — going from exhausting local surface and groundwater supplies to importing water to implementing water conservation to finally recycling water or desalination. Why do you feel that this pattern is unsustainable?
Brian Richter: When we overuse a freshwater source, we set ourselves up for disaster. Each of the cities we reviewed in our study has contributed to the drying of a major river or important groundwater spring. That has obvious ecological impacts and social consequences — it affects livelihoods and human health by compromising fish production, concentrating pollution, or curtailing recreational activities.
Our research is revealing that water scarcity also causes severe economic losses by limiting or disrupting agricultural, industrial and energy production. Texas lost nearly $8 billion in agriculture last year due to water shortages; electricity generation from hydropower dams on the Colorado River in 2010 dropped by 20% due to water shortages. Some estimates suggest that China may be losing $39 billion each year due to crop damage and lessened industrial production, and hundreds of thousands of people around the globe are being forced to move due to water shortages.
Because these impacts are so pervasive and damaging, we need to begin investing in water supply approaches that don’t just minimize these adverse impacts but instead begin to reverse them.
The abstract to the referenced paper - - Tapped out - how can cities secure their water future?
Cities around the world are struggling to access additional water supplies to support their continued growth because their freshwater sources are becoming exhausted. Half of all cities with populations greater than 100,000 are located in water-scarce basins, and in these basins agricultural water consumption accounts for more than 90% of all freshwater depletions. In this paper we review the water development histories of four major cities: Adelaide, Phoenix, San Antonio and San Diego. We identify a similar pattern of water development in these cities, which begins with the exhaustion of local surface and groundwater supplies, continues with importation of water from other basins, and then turns to recycling of wastewater or stormwater, or desalination of either seawater or brackish groundwater. Demand management through water conservation has mitigated, to varying degrees, the timing of water-system expansions and the extent to which cities rely on new sources of supply. This typical water development pattern in cities is undesirable from a sustainability perspective, as it is usually associated with serious ecological and social impacts as well as sub-optimal cost effectiveness. We highlight case examples and opportunities to invest in water conservation measures, particularly through urban–rural partnerships under which cities work with farmers to implement irrigation conservation measures, thereby freeing up water for ecological restoration and use by cities.
If the definition of insanity is making the same mistakes over and over, then many cities have taken a certifiable approach to securing their water supplies — and they need some radical therapy before taking the big economic, ecological and human hits that come with a permanent state of thirst.
That’s the conclusion from a new study in the journal Water Policy, whose authors compared the water supply histories of 4 cities — San Diego, Phoenix, San Antonio and Adelaide, Australia. Among the lessons learned? Urban water conservation, recycling and desalination aren’t silver bullets. In fact, the best solution may lie upstream with farmers — saving just 5-10% of agricultural irrigation in upstream watersheds could satisfy a city’s entire water needs.
Also:
Q: Many cities take a similar pattern of water development, according to your research — going from exhausting local surface and groundwater supplies to importing water to implementing water conservation to finally recycling water or desalination. Why do you feel that this pattern is unsustainable?
Brian Richter: When we overuse a freshwater source, we set ourselves up for disaster. Each of the cities we reviewed in our study has contributed to the drying of a major river or important groundwater spring. That has obvious ecological impacts and social consequences — it affects livelihoods and human health by compromising fish production, concentrating pollution, or curtailing recreational activities.
Our research is revealing that water scarcity also causes severe economic losses by limiting or disrupting agricultural, industrial and energy production. Texas lost nearly $8 billion in agriculture last year due to water shortages; electricity generation from hydropower dams on the Colorado River in 2010 dropped by 20% due to water shortages. Some estimates suggest that China may be losing $39 billion each year due to crop damage and lessened industrial production, and hundreds of thousands of people around the globe are being forced to move due to water shortages.
Because these impacts are so pervasive and damaging, we need to begin investing in water supply approaches that don’t just minimize these adverse impacts but instead begin to reverse them.
The abstract to the referenced paper - - Tapped out - how can cities secure their water future?
Cities around the world are struggling to access additional water supplies to support their continued growth because their freshwater sources are becoming exhausted. Half of all cities with populations greater than 100,000 are located in water-scarce basins, and in these basins agricultural water consumption accounts for more than 90% of all freshwater depletions. In this paper we review the water development histories of four major cities: Adelaide, Phoenix, San Antonio and San Diego. We identify a similar pattern of water development in these cities, which begins with the exhaustion of local surface and groundwater supplies, continues with importation of water from other basins, and then turns to recycling of wastewater or stormwater, or desalination of either seawater or brackish groundwater. Demand management through water conservation has mitigated, to varying degrees, the timing of water-system expansions and the extent to which cities rely on new sources of supply. This typical water development pattern in cities is undesirable from a sustainability perspective, as it is usually associated with serious ecological and social impacts as well as sub-optimal cost effectiveness. We highlight case examples and opportunities to invest in water conservation measures, particularly through urban–rural partnerships under which cities work with farmers to implement irrigation conservation measures, thereby freeing up water for ecological restoration and use by cities.
Friday, May 24, 2013
Engineering Doesn't Have to Look Boring
The Arup Journal is a first-class example of what happens when great engineering/architectural projects are presented with the aid of excellent photography, graphics, and visualization.
Link to the June issue.
Link to the June issue.
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Texas Natural Gas Industry - Data Breakdown
Texas by the numbers:
- The amount of U.S. natural gas production that comes from Texas - 30%
- The amount of U.S. natural gas reserves held by the Lone Star State - 23%
- The average cubic feet of natural gas produced per day in Texas, the largest amount in the nation - 19.7 billion.
- The amount of value-added economic output from Texas natural gas industry - $133 billion.
- 75% of natural gas pipeline shipments (exports) from the U.S. to Mexico come from Texas.
- The largest natural gas producing county in Texas - Tarrant.
- The largest natural gas producer in Texas - XTO Energy located in Fort Worth.
- Number of natural gas jobs in Texas - 1.3 million.
- Average salary of a natural gas and oil worker - $107,000.
- Area of the Eagle Ford shale formation - 11 million acres.
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Engineering and Tornadoes
Open and Machine-Readable
Engineering needs to watch this trend line - - making official data public could spur lots of innovation, especially in urban environments. A paragraph to ponder from the May 18, 2013 issue of The Economist (A New Goldmine):
On May 9th Barack Obama ordered that all data created or collected by America's federal government must be made free to the public, unless this would violate privacy, confidentiality or security. "Open and machine-readable", the president said, is "the new default for government information."
This is a big moment for Big Data and engineering. Experts are speculating that all private companies will utilize and profit from some form of public sector information. Look for engineers to excel at the art of synthesis (combining multiple sources and forms of public information) for improved analytics and better decision making.
On May 9th Barack Obama ordered that all data created or collected by America's federal government must be made free to the public, unless this would violate privacy, confidentiality or security. "Open and machine-readable", the president said, is "the new default for government information."
This is a big moment for Big Data and engineering. Experts are speculating that all private companies will utilize and profit from some form of public sector information. Look for engineers to excel at the art of synthesis (combining multiple sources and forms of public information) for improved analytics and better decision making.
Monday, May 20, 2013
SmartSantander
A good example of a "Sensing City" is Santander, Spain. Some 12,000 sensors are currently tracking everything from traffic to noise. The future seems clear to civil engineering and municipal planners - - using real-time data in an effort to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of our urban environments while reducing the stress of city life.
More informarion on SmartSantander at this link.
Compare Hospital Charges
Very interesting data at this site. Why the price for the same procedure varies by factors over 100% is amazing. The ultimate goal of the Era of Big Data - - getting old, inefficient and closed systems (such as our medical industry) to become more transparent, market driven, and open. One would hope that more useful information in the hands of consumers produces an environment of better market-based decision making.
Sunday, May 19, 2013
When Smart Meters Meet Dumb People
Step by step, device by device, we are moving toward a more programmable world in which we're surrounded by devices that capture data about how we live and what we do. Imagine the house in the Southwest where the sprinklers take orders from moisture sensors. Reducing lawn overwatering is smart and efficient. Or the house with an A/C system that is alerted to power up when you depart the office and head home. Energy conservation is smart and efficient. Imagine a business trip where the hotel room adjusts, the lights, stereo, and the window shade are not just controlled from a central station bu adjust to you preferences before you even walk in. A simple link from the world of senses to the physical is smart and efficient.
A sensored and programmable world is a smarter and more efficient world. The rise of the smartphone is a clear example of this. From maps to traffic apps, better real-time information clearly makes our lives smarter and more efficient. In a resource constrained world, especially in the areas of water and energy, being smarter is key to a more efficient, sustainable, and resilient future.
Smart metering of energy and water resources provides the backbone of smarter world. Taking a "dumb" water or electric metering and making it "smart" represents a future where the intelligence once locked in our meters and devices flows into the real world of everyday decision making. A key to smart and more efficient is greater real-time information from devices and meters that allows for more efficient and effective decision making.
Wanting to be smarter is never easy. The status quo and dumb are extremely powerful forces. The New York Times points this out today in an article by Chris Hooks - As Towns Say No, Signs of Rising Resistance to Smart Meters. A paragraph to ponder on the world of smart meters and dumb people:
"Critics have raised concerns about health and privacy. They say they fear the cumulative effect of the meters' radiation emissions. The Public Utility Commission [Texas] found no health risks in a 2012 study that blamed social media for spreading inaccurate information. Some critics have concerns about sovereignty; Texas, unlike other states, controls its own electricity interconnections."
A sensored and programmable world is a smarter and more efficient world. The rise of the smartphone is a clear example of this. From maps to traffic apps, better real-time information clearly makes our lives smarter and more efficient. In a resource constrained world, especially in the areas of water and energy, being smarter is key to a more efficient, sustainable, and resilient future.
Smart metering of energy and water resources provides the backbone of smarter world. Taking a "dumb" water or electric metering and making it "smart" represents a future where the intelligence once locked in our meters and devices flows into the real world of everyday decision making. A key to smart and more efficient is greater real-time information from devices and meters that allows for more efficient and effective decision making.
Wanting to be smarter is never easy. The status quo and dumb are extremely powerful forces. The New York Times points this out today in an article by Chris Hooks - As Towns Say No, Signs of Rising Resistance to Smart Meters. A paragraph to ponder on the world of smart meters and dumb people:
"Critics have raised concerns about health and privacy. They say they fear the cumulative effect of the meters' radiation emissions. The Public Utility Commission [Texas] found no health risks in a 2012 study that blamed social media for spreading inaccurate information. Some critics have concerns about sovereignty; Texas, unlike other states, controls its own electricity interconnections."
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Innovation at the Grocery Store
From the Los Angeles Times - - A powerful use for spoiled food:
What happens to the 40% of food produced but never eaten in the U.S. each year, the mounds of perfect fruit passed over by grocery store shoppers, the tons of meat and milk left to expire?
What happens to the 40% of food produced but never eaten in the U.S. each year, the mounds of perfect fruit passed over by grocery store shoppers, the tons of meat and milk left to expire?
At Ralphs, one of the oldest and largest supermarket chains on the West Coast, it helps keep the power on.
In a sprawling Compton distribution center that the company shares with its fellow Kroger Co. subsidiary Food 4 Less, organic matter otherwise destined for a landfill is rerouted instead into the facility's energy grid. Though many grocery stores have tried to cut down on food waste and experiment with alternative energy, Kroger says it's the first supermarket company in the country to do both simultaneously.
The technology that helps transform moldy chicken and stale bread into clean electricity is known as an anaerobic digester system. At the 59-acre Compton site, which serves 359 Southern California stores, more than 100 onlookers gathered Wednesday to watch the system go to work.
Several chest-high trash bins containing a feast of limp waffles, wilting flowers, bruised mangoes and plastic-wrapped steak sat in an airy space laced with piping. Stores send food unable to be donated or sold to the facility, where it is dumped into a massive grinder — cardboard and plastic packaging included.
After being pulverized, the mass is sent to a pulping machine, which filters out inorganic materials such as glass and metal and mixes in hot wastewater from a nearby dairy creamery to create a sludgy substance.
Mike Vriens, Ralphs vice president of industrial engineering, describes the goop as a "juicy milkshake" of trash.
From there, the mulch is piped into a 250,000-gallon staging tank before being steadily fed into a 2-million-gallon silo. The contraption essentially functions as a multi-story stomach.
Inside, devoid of oxygen, bacteria munch away on the liquid refuse, naturally converting it into methane gas. The gas, which floats to the top of the tank, is siphoned out to power three on-site turbine engines.
The 13 million kilowatt-hours of electricity they produce per year could power more than 2,000 California homes over the period, according to Kroger.
Excess water from the digester is pumped out, purified and sent into the industrial sewer. Leftover sludge becomes nutrient-rich organic fertilizer, enough to nourish 8,000 acres of soil.
The so-called closed-loop system was developed by Boston start-up Feed Resource Recovery and offsets more than 20% of the distribution center's energy demands — all without producing any pungent odors.
The program helps Kroger reduce its waste by 150 tons a day. The trash otherwise would have been sent to Bakersfield to be composted, hauled away six times a day by diesel trucks traveling 500,000 miles a year.
Kroger won't say exactly how much it spent on the anaerobic digester but estimates that it will offer an 18.5% return on the company's investment. The project, over its lifetime, could help the grocer save $110 million. The supermarket giant is considering similar technologies for its La Habra and Riverside facilities and other Kroger locations nationwide.
The grocery chain's move, some four years in the making, comes amid heated debate over the nation's food and energy supply.
In August, the Natural Resources Defense Council reported that 40% of food in the U.S. goes uneaten — the equivalent of 20 pounds of food per person per month. The waste is shuttled to landfills, where it contributes to 25% of the country's methane emissions.
Some grocers have tried to cut back on garbage by putting less food out on display and even composting leftover products. Northern California chain Andronico's Community Market sells aesthetically marred but still edible produce at a discount. The Austin, Tex., store In.gredients says it sends less than a pound of waste to landfills each month by offering reusable and compostable containers in-house.
Other chains try to reduce their environmental footprint through clean-electricity projects. Whole Foods Market said solar energy helps power stores in Berkeley, Brentwood and elsewhere. Wal-Mart is testing wind turbines, installing solar panels and fuel cells and says three-quarters of its California facilities use some form of green energy.
But in recent years, amid high waste disposal costs and uncertain energy prices, anaerobic digesters have gained favor. The technology has been proposed as a fuel source for data centers, farms, government buildings and other sites.
Nick Whitman, president of Feed Resource Recovery, said Kroger's new anaerobic digester in Compton may help encourage future installations in more urban areas.
"We've had to solve some really critical problems — sanitation, efficiency and reliability issues — that have plagued anaerobic digestion and prevented its wider adoption in the U.S.," he said Wednesday.
"We've been able to bring digestion out of the farms and off the composters and into cities and industrial centers."
tiffany.hsu@latimes.com
In a sprawling Compton distribution center that the company shares with its fellow Kroger Co. subsidiary Food 4 Less, organic matter otherwise destined for a landfill is rerouted instead into the facility's energy grid. Though many grocery stores have tried to cut down on food waste and experiment with alternative energy, Kroger says it's the first supermarket company in the country to do both simultaneously.
The technology that helps transform moldy chicken and stale bread into clean electricity is known as an anaerobic digester system. At the 59-acre Compton site, which serves 359 Southern California stores, more than 100 onlookers gathered Wednesday to watch the system go to work.
Several chest-high trash bins containing a feast of limp waffles, wilting flowers, bruised mangoes and plastic-wrapped steak sat in an airy space laced with piping. Stores send food unable to be donated or sold to the facility, where it is dumped into a massive grinder — cardboard and plastic packaging included.
After being pulverized, the mass is sent to a pulping machine, which filters out inorganic materials such as glass and metal and mixes in hot wastewater from a nearby dairy creamery to create a sludgy substance.
Mike Vriens, Ralphs vice president of industrial engineering, describes the goop as a "juicy milkshake" of trash.
From there, the mulch is piped into a 250,000-gallon staging tank before being steadily fed into a 2-million-gallon silo. The contraption essentially functions as a multi-story stomach.
Inside, devoid of oxygen, bacteria munch away on the liquid refuse, naturally converting it into methane gas. The gas, which floats to the top of the tank, is siphoned out to power three on-site turbine engines.
The 13 million kilowatt-hours of electricity they produce per year could power more than 2,000 California homes over the period, according to Kroger.
Excess water from the digester is pumped out, purified and sent into the industrial sewer. Leftover sludge becomes nutrient-rich organic fertilizer, enough to nourish 8,000 acres of soil.
The so-called closed-loop system was developed by Boston start-up Feed Resource Recovery and offsets more than 20% of the distribution center's energy demands — all without producing any pungent odors.
The program helps Kroger reduce its waste by 150 tons a day. The trash otherwise would have been sent to Bakersfield to be composted, hauled away six times a day by diesel trucks traveling 500,000 miles a year.
Kroger won't say exactly how much it spent on the anaerobic digester but estimates that it will offer an 18.5% return on the company's investment. The project, over its lifetime, could help the grocer save $110 million. The supermarket giant is considering similar technologies for its La Habra and Riverside facilities and other Kroger locations nationwide.
The grocery chain's move, some four years in the making, comes amid heated debate over the nation's food and energy supply.
In August, the Natural Resources Defense Council reported that 40% of food in the U.S. goes uneaten — the equivalent of 20 pounds of food per person per month. The waste is shuttled to landfills, where it contributes to 25% of the country's methane emissions.
Some grocers have tried to cut back on garbage by putting less food out on display and even composting leftover products. Northern California chain Andronico's Community Market sells aesthetically marred but still edible produce at a discount. The Austin, Tex., store In.gredients says it sends less than a pound of waste to landfills each month by offering reusable and compostable containers in-house.
Other chains try to reduce their environmental footprint through clean-electricity projects. Whole Foods Market said solar energy helps power stores in Berkeley, Brentwood and elsewhere. Wal-Mart is testing wind turbines, installing solar panels and fuel cells and says three-quarters of its California facilities use some form of green energy.
But in recent years, amid high waste disposal costs and uncertain energy prices, anaerobic digesters have gained favor. The technology has been proposed as a fuel source for data centers, farms, government buildings and other sites.
Nick Whitman, president of Feed Resource Recovery, said Kroger's new anaerobic digester in Compton may help encourage future installations in more urban areas.
"We've had to solve some really critical problems — sanitation, efficiency and reliability issues — that have plagued anaerobic digestion and prevented its wider adoption in the U.S.," he said Wednesday.
"We've been able to bring digestion out of the farms and off the composters and into cities and industrial centers."
tiffany.hsu@latimes.com
Copyright © 2013, Los Angeles Times
Friday, May 17, 2013
COAST - Coastal Adaptation to Sea Level Rise Tool
Link to additional information regarding the COAST software - -
Presentation on the Coastal Adaptation to Sea Level Rise Tool (COAST) by Sam Merrill of the New England Environmental Finance Center (April 21, 2011). Most GIS tools developed to respond to the challenges of climate change focus on the damage caused by sea level rise (SLR) or increased storm surges and do not calculate or visualize the economic benefits of the adaptive actions municipalities could take in response to different levels of SLR and storm surge. The Coastal Adaptation to Sea Level Rise Tool (COAST) approach assesses costs and benefits of adaptations to SLR scenarios by incorporating a variety of existing tools and datasets, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' depth-damage functions; NOAA's Sea, Lake, and Overland Surges from Hurricanes (SLOSH) model; and other flood methods, as well as projected SLR scenarios over time, property values, and infrastructure costs, into a comprehensive GIS-based picture of potential economic damage. COAST displays the location-specific avoided costs associated with particular adaptive actions, along with the costs incurred by implementing those actions, to assist coastal municipalities in selecting appropriate strategies. COAST also has applications for inland areas that include analyzing and displaying the economic impacts of any potential hazard event that can be mapped (e.g., extreme rainfall, fire) as well as the social and environmental impacts of those events. COAST bundles processes in Excel and the ArcGIS ArcGlobe application in the ArcGIS 3D Analyst extension. It has been designed to eventually become a stand-alone ArcGIS Desktop extension. Learn more about COAST at http://efc.muskie.usm.maine.edu/docs/coast.arcuser.pdf. Download Financial Adaptation to Sea Level Rise and Storm Surge: The COAST Approach and Potential Applications
Presentation on the Coastal Adaptation to Sea Level Rise Tool (COAST) by Sam Merrill of the New England Environmental Finance Center (April 21, 2011). Most GIS tools developed to respond to the challenges of climate change focus on the damage caused by sea level rise (SLR) or increased storm surges and do not calculate or visualize the economic benefits of the adaptive actions municipalities could take in response to different levels of SLR and storm surge. The Coastal Adaptation to Sea Level Rise Tool (COAST) approach assesses costs and benefits of adaptations to SLR scenarios by incorporating a variety of existing tools and datasets, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' depth-damage functions; NOAA's Sea, Lake, and Overland Surges from Hurricanes (SLOSH) model; and other flood methods, as well as projected SLR scenarios over time, property values, and infrastructure costs, into a comprehensive GIS-based picture of potential economic damage. COAST displays the location-specific avoided costs associated with particular adaptive actions, along with the costs incurred by implementing those actions, to assist coastal municipalities in selecting appropriate strategies. COAST also has applications for inland areas that include analyzing and displaying the economic impacts of any potential hazard event that can be mapped (e.g., extreme rainfall, fire) as well as the social and environmental impacts of those events. COAST bundles processes in Excel and the ArcGIS ArcGlobe application in the ArcGIS 3D Analyst extension. It has been designed to eventually become a stand-alone ArcGIS Desktop extension. Learn more about COAST at http://efc.muskie.usm.maine.edu/docs/coast.arcuser.pdf. Download Financial Adaptation to Sea Level Rise and Storm Surge: The COAST Approach and Potential Applications
Thursday, May 16, 2013
A Guide to Castrophe Modeling
The Download Center for Statistics on Natural Disasters
Operated by Geo Risks Research of Munich Re - - the go-to link for the natural disaster world. From the site:
"Comprising some 30,000 data records, NatCatSERVICE is the most comprehensive natural catastrophe loss database in the world. Approximately 1,000 events are recorded and analysed every year. The information collated can be used to document and perform risk and trend analyses on the extent and intensity of individual natural hazard events in various parts of the world. A selection of analyses can be accessed here. You can find annual statistics from 2004 onwards, informative maps, Focus Analyses and comprehensive basic knowledge in Touch Natural Hazards. Registration is free of charge."
"Comprising some 30,000 data records, NatCatSERVICE is the most comprehensive natural catastrophe loss database in the world. Approximately 1,000 events are recorded and analysed every year. The information collated can be used to document and perform risk and trend analyses on the extent and intensity of individual natural hazard events in various parts of the world. A selection of analyses can be accessed here. You can find annual statistics from 2004 onwards, informative maps, Focus Analyses and comprehensive basic knowledge in Touch Natural Hazards. Registration is free of charge."
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Unlocking Innovation in the Water Industry
Good white paper by Black & Veatch - - Unlocking Innovation - Advancing the Water Industry through Policy-Making, Portfolio Planning and Project Delivery.
Lean Project Management Principles
In the age of the letter "i" and the word "Smart" in front of almost everything, the word 'Lean" runs a close third.
Check the following slide show for a great introduction to the integration of lean thinking with classic project management principles.
Check the following slide show for a great introduction to the integration of lean thinking with classic project management principles.
100 Resilient Cities and $100 Million
Link to the Rockefeller Foundation 100 Resilient Cities Centennial Challenge. A three-year, $100 million prize for the era of "How quickly can your city bounce back?"
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
The Conference Room Wall for Civil Engineering
What about 160 acres of virtual space displayed across 15 linked 55-inch flat-screened monitors with sensors to read an engineer's hand movements? Digital sticky notes, digital pens, finger sliding, open and close documents - - the old-fashioned vertical surfaces are dead or dying.
Civil engineering is a "large canvas profession" - - big and complex problems that require big and interactive surfaces that allow for global collaboration.
Civil engineering is a "large canvas profession" - - big and complex problems that require big and interactive surfaces that allow for global collaboration.
The National Interagency Fire Center Summer 2013 Outlook
The summer outlook for forest fires from the NITC - - link.
Know Your Choke Points
From the Financial Times yesterday - - Oil tanker trade soars on back of US boom:
"The increase in US production is changing trade flows and causing increased pressure on some of the world's major choke points," said consultant David Goldwin, who was previously the US state department's top diplomat for oil affairs. "For global energy security, that means increased vulnerability to piracy."
The choke points? Pull out a map and locate these:
- Panama Canal
- Danish Straits
- Suez Canal
- Turkish Straits
- Bab el-Mandab (this earns your extra credit)
- Strait of Hormuz
- Strait of Malacca
A Paragraph to Ponder
From A Wild New Way to Make Money Off of Urban Trees - -
"So where are the most tree-loving cities in the US? Texas. The state’s street trees are storing 49.8 million tons of carbon, according to the Forest Service survey. Surprisingly, tree-hugging California comes in seventh place, capturing 34,600 tons of carbon."
"So where are the most tree-loving cities in the US? Texas. The state’s street trees are storing 49.8 million tons of carbon, according to the Forest Service survey. Surprisingly, tree-hugging California comes in seventh place, capturing 34,600 tons of carbon."
Monday, May 13, 2013
The Future of Project Management
This is a very good summary from the PSMJ website - - link. Note the comment regarding sustainability in the context of project management.
"Predicting the future is an activity usually best left to crystal balls and fortune cookies. Yet there is no shortage of pundits predicting the future of project management. A recent Google search of “future of project management” yielded over 60,000 results! I will now take my place among these soothsayers and predict for you what the future will be for project managers in the A/E/C industry.
"Predicting the future is an activity usually best left to crystal balls and fortune cookies. Yet there is no shortage of pundits predicting the future of project management. A recent Google search of “future of project management” yielded over 60,000 results! I will now take my place among these soothsayers and predict for you what the future will be for project managers in the A/E/C industry.
- The “Professionalization” of Project Management. The skills needed to provide technical services are not the same as those needed for effective project management. Effective PMs need “soft” leadership skills as well as strong communication and planning skills. Our industry is recognizing that project management is a profession of its own and that we must recognize and reward project managers for the unique skills they bring to the table. Specialized training courses, project management degrees, and certifications such as the Project Management Professional (PMP) lend credibility to project management as a separate skill set from technical project delivery.
- Virtual work teams. As the A/E/C industry consolidates with high merger and acquisition activity, we are seeing more project teams spread among various geographic locations. We are also seeing more Gen Y’ers and Millennials demanding a level of work/ life balance that involves less travel and more time at home with family. Both of these trends mean that increasingly, our project teams may be spread among various locations and even time zones. The successful project manager will need to know how to use project collaboration tools and effectively manage virtual teams.
- Sustainability in the projects we deliver and how we deliver them. Whether it is a decrease in carbon footprint, water footprint, or cradle-to-grave waste minimization, our clients will ask us to evaluate ways to deliver sustainable projects. As PMs, we will be asked to measure the risk to natural resources against the costs to protect those resources. Even our project delivery methods will be scrutinized to ensure sustainable practices in our project delivery methodology.
- The Only Constant will be Change. Successful project managers will need to adapt to new technologies and methods of communication. Social media, cloud computing, new hardware form factors, and new project management software will change the way we manage people, projects, clients, and data. The rate of change will only increase and those who embrace the changes, adapt to new approaches, and are willing to take risks will reap the benefits of success.
Smart Grids in Search of Smart Money
Infrastructure improvements will always (and they should) go back to the economics - - link to a good story on the Smart Electric Grid.
The Smart XYZ Infrastructure Whatever will always require Smart $$$ - - the benefits must out way the costs, the payback period should be appropriate, and the rate of return should be greater than the cost of capital.
The Smart XYZ Infrastructure Whatever will always require Smart $$$ - - the benefits must out way the costs, the payback period should be appropriate, and the rate of return should be greater than the cost of capital.
WaterMatch
WaterMatch is a goodwill grassroots initiative to promote the beneficial reuse of municipal effluent by industrial and agricultural users. Water users can locate municipal wastewater treatment plants in their area. Municipal wastewater organizations can provide information in their profile.
The link to WaterMatch.
The link to WaterMatch.
The 80/8 Paradox
From Roger Martin's column (Secret Sauce) in the current issue of Rotman Management:
"Chris Zook, co-head of Bain & Company's Strategy practice, recently told a packed audience in our brand-new Event Hall that "Differentiation is the vessel that holds the crown jewels of a business." What is the unique value-add that justifies someone purchasing your product or service? This might sound like a simple question, but it isn't: Zook and his colleagues have found that while 80 per cent of executives believe that their offering is highly differentiated, only eight per cent of customers agree with them."
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Engineering and the Science of the City
Urban research
The laws of the city
A deluge of data makes cities laboratories for those seeking to run them better
NO FACE looks alike, but human bodies and their genetic make-up are almost identical. Cities too have distinctive charms—but are surprisingly alike behind their façades. Regardless of size, their populations grow at the same average rate everywhere in the world. A city twice as large as its neighbour is likely to be 15% richer. The mix of green space and built-up areas tends to be equal everywhere.
Such findings reflect a recent shift in urban research. Better technology has turned cities into fountains of data that confirm known regularities and reveal striking new patterns. This could transform how cities are regarded, built and managed. Attempts to contain urban sprawl, long the prevailing paradigm of urban planning, for instance, could fall out of favour. Cities could be run with the sort of finely tuned mix of technology and performance associated with Formula 1 racing cars.
Back in the 1940s, George Zipf, an American researcher, noted that a city's population is inversely proportional to its rank in a country. His law holds that the largest city is always about twice as big as the second largest, three times as big as the third largest, and so on. Other regularities have emerged since. Big cities decentralise as they grow, creating more jobs outside the centre. Urban population density in all industrialised countries declines slowly as you move away from the centre. (Moscow, exceptionally, is the other way round.)
The lack of good numbers used to limit such studies. Now data abound. The United Nations and other organisations make most of their statistics freely available. Data have also become more comparable between cities and even between countries. Most important, transport and telecoms networks, and social media, are spawning new data as a free by-product.
This has triggered new research. For instance Geoffrey West and Luis Bettencourt, both of the Santa Fe Institute, found that cities scale much like organisms. Just as an elephant is, roughly speaking, a larger but more energy-efficient version of a gorilla, big cities are thrifty versions of small ones. For a metropolis twice the size of another, the length of electric cables, number of gas stations and other bits of infrastructure decrease by about 15% per inhabitant. But beasts do not enjoy the cities' rising returns to scale. Income, patents, savings and other signs of wealth rise by around 15% when a city's size doubles. In short, urbanites consume less but produce more.
Shlomo Angel, an urban planning expert at New York University, gathered historical and census data from hundreds of cities, digitised thousands of maps and had computers count millions of pixels on satellite pictures. Between 1990 and 2000 the surfaces of each of the 120 cities he and his team studied grew on average more than twice as fast as their populations. These rates, he says, are unlikely to change. That means that the amount of urban land will double in only 19 years, whereas the urban population will double in 43 years.
Carlo Ratti, who heads the Senseable City Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was one of the first to sift through the data produced by telecoms networks. One aim was to find out how a country's internal borders reflect human connections. In Britain the English and the Scots hardly talk, at least on landlines; west of London, where many of Britain's high-tech firms are based, a new region is developing. American states such as Georgia and Alabama belong together, whereas California splits three ways. In Portugal, if a city is twice the size of another, people make 12% more phone calls per head. This gives weight to what urban theorists such as the late Jane Jacobs have long argued: that cities foster the exchange of ideas.
The Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA) at University College London, another research hotbed, uses data from London's Oyster cards—used to pay for public transport—and Twitter messages. Tube-travel patterns are regular: entering the system at one station tends to mean leaving it at a particular other one. Twitter messages reveal a city's structure and its activity. London has one centre, near Piccadilly Circus; New York has several, including near Times Square, City Hall and in Brooklyn. Tweeting correlates negatively with greenery, particularly in Central Park.
Some in the field are ambivalent about such research. Practitioners of urban planning don't quite know what to do with the results—particularly regularities of the sort found by Mr West. Others worry that urban research could, just like other fields of study, start to put number-crunching ahead of other important questions. “A green pixel on a satellite image doesn't tell you whether it's a park or a private garden,” argues Philipp Rode, of LSE Cities, a research centre at the London School of Economics.
Still, the deluge of urban data is likely to have a big impact. Some academics such as Michael Batty, the director of CASA, see a real prospect of synthesising these patterns and regularities into a “science of the city”, much like physics or biology. That will be the subject of a conference at the Santa Fe Institute in July.
City planners, too, may have to rethink their work. If cities indeed develop organically along certain lines, pushing them onto another track may be futile. Instead of trying to limit growth, planners should “make room”, says Mr Angel: be realistic when projecting urban land needs, set generous metropolitan limits, protect some open space and provide an arterial grid of roads. This is pretty much what New York did in the early 18th century. It is what some Chinese cities are doing now.
Yet the most immediate impact of urban data will be on how cities are managed. In a second research lab in Singapore, Mr Ratti and his colleagues are developing software to turn cities into what he calls “real-time control systems”. These combine all kinds of data feeds, including information about the location of taxis and rainfall. The city state's transport system would benefit from being better able to match the demand and supply of taxis, particularly when it rains, which tends to happen suddenly in Singapore.
Such examples raise one question: how will data change cities? To get an idea, look at how racing cars have changed. Mechanics used to do all the fine-tuning on their vehicle before a race. Now they sit in front of big screens, monitoring the data that comes in from the hundreds of sensors attached to the car—and make adjustments in real-time. One day city hall may be as packed with screens as a Formula 1 pit.
From a recent column in the Economist. The Santa Fe Institute and the "web way of thinking" should be an area that engineers follow closely.
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Climate change and the defend versus retreat decision
The unpredictability of extreme weather and rising sea levels will change the cost of living in certain parts of the planet. Skyrocketing flood insurance premiums and stricter building standards will require homeowners and governments to make very difficult decisions that fundamentally ask - - "Do we continue to defend certain areas at increasing risk in the era of climate change or do we move into an abandon and retreat mode?"
The New York Times addresses this today in Rebuilding After Sandy, But to Costly New Rules. A paragraph to ponder:
"So in the most devastated communities, families are being forced to make difficult financial calculations: can they afford the new flood insurance premiums, which, at worst, can reach as high as $30,000 a year? Do they have the money to rebuild their homes to the government's new specifications? Does it even pay to stay?"
Flooding since Noah has always been about the X, Y, and Z axis in a geographical context. Rising sea levels and increased flooding potential, especially in coastal areas, requires communities, homeowners, and businesses to focus more sharply on the Z axis. Consider the following from the same article:
"The insurance premiums are determined, in part, by where your home stands relative to that base. The higher you go, of course, the less you pay. Consider a single-family home in a zone with a moderate to high risk of a flood, that has a flood policy with $250,000 of coverage. If the home is four feet below the base flood elevation, the homeowner would pay an annual premium of about $9,500 according to FEMA. But if the home was elevated to the base, the premium would cost $1,410. Hoist the home three feet higher, and the premium would drop $427."
This was the example provided in the article - - annual flood increase goes to $31,000 per year. If you raise the house 5 1/2 feet, the insurance drops to $7,500. If you can raise the house a total of 7 1/2 feet, the rate drops to $3,500 per year. So staying at your current X and Y location requires very difficult decisions in the Z axis - - especially if a 5 1/2/ foot movement costs you $150,000.
Defend versus retreat. Defend, with increased public liabilities, much higher flood insurance, and engineers focused on the Z axis versus retreat, with huge economic costs, unpredictable social change, and mass relocations that might result in foreclosures and bankruptcy. Defend versus retreat - - and don't overlook the local, state, and national politics associated with all of this.
We are heading toward a century filled with very difficult and complex defend versus retreat decisions.
The New York Times addresses this today in Rebuilding After Sandy, But to Costly New Rules. A paragraph to ponder:
"So in the most devastated communities, families are being forced to make difficult financial calculations: can they afford the new flood insurance premiums, which, at worst, can reach as high as $30,000 a year? Do they have the money to rebuild their homes to the government's new specifications? Does it even pay to stay?"
Flooding since Noah has always been about the X, Y, and Z axis in a geographical context. Rising sea levels and increased flooding potential, especially in coastal areas, requires communities, homeowners, and businesses to focus more sharply on the Z axis. Consider the following from the same article:
"The insurance premiums are determined, in part, by where your home stands relative to that base. The higher you go, of course, the less you pay. Consider a single-family home in a zone with a moderate to high risk of a flood, that has a flood policy with $250,000 of coverage. If the home is four feet below the base flood elevation, the homeowner would pay an annual premium of about $9,500 according to FEMA. But if the home was elevated to the base, the premium would cost $1,410. Hoist the home three feet higher, and the premium would drop $427."
This was the example provided in the article - - annual flood increase goes to $31,000 per year. If you raise the house 5 1/2 feet, the insurance drops to $7,500. If you can raise the house a total of 7 1/2 feet, the rate drops to $3,500 per year. So staying at your current X and Y location requires very difficult decisions in the Z axis - - especially if a 5 1/2/ foot movement costs you $150,000.
Defend versus retreat. Defend, with increased public liabilities, much higher flood insurance, and engineers focused on the Z axis versus retreat, with huge economic costs, unpredictable social change, and mass relocations that might result in foreclosures and bankruptcy. Defend versus retreat - - and don't overlook the local, state, and national politics associated with all of this.
We are heading toward a century filled with very difficult and complex defend versus retreat decisions.
Friday, May 10, 2013
The Lean Construction Institute
From the Lean Construction Institute:
Lean Design and Construction is a production management-based approach to project delivery -- a new way to design and build capital facilities. Lean production management has caused a revolution in manufacturing design, supply and assembly. Applied to project design and delivery, Lean changes the way work is done throughout the delivery process. Lean Construction extends from the objectives of a lean production system - maximize value and minimize waste - to specific techniques, and applies them in a new project delivery process. As a result:
Lean Design and Construction is a production management-based approach to project delivery -- a new way to design and build capital facilities. Lean production management has caused a revolution in manufacturing design, supply and assembly. Applied to project design and delivery, Lean changes the way work is done throughout the delivery process. Lean Construction extends from the objectives of a lean production system - maximize value and minimize waste - to specific techniques, and applies them in a new project delivery process. As a result:
- The facility and its delivery process are designed together to better reveal and support customer purposes.
- Work is structured throughout the process to maximize value and to reduce waste-at the project delivery level.
- Efforts to manage and improve performance are aimed at improving total project performance, because this is more important than reducing the cost or increasing the speed of any particular activity.
- "Control" is redefined from "monitoring results" to "making things happen." The performance of the planning and control systems are measured and improved.
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Wanted - A United States Secretary of Infrastructure
Time has come for new and bold thinking on the infrastructure investment front. But first, let's drop the terms "public infrastructure" and "privatization" and "public-private partnerships." Let's make it simple - - we need a national plan and strategy to ramp up investment in our "economic infrastructure." From runways to power lines to subways to navigation locks to freeways to water pump stations to natural gas transmission lines - - economic infrastructure is all the physical stuff behind the GPD numbers. He are talking about investment in fixed assets. Both the public and private physical stuff - - energy, telecommunications, transport, waste and water must all be featured.
What we need are less infrastructure report cards and more of a National Infrastructure Plan. Show me a list of our top 500 projects for both the public and private sectors relating to economic infrastructure. Show me the investment plan, investors, and the schedule for completion - - show me the benefits (economic, environmental, and social) of why Project XYZ is on the national strategic infrastructure list. The plan must outline our overarching investment strategy. Report cards are about the past and a little of the present - - we need a focus on the strategic future.
A Department of Infrastructure should be created. Eliminate the Departments of Transportation and Energy and move parts of the E.PA. and Corps of Engineers to the new department. Consolidation of infrastructure resources and enhancing talent spread thin in halls of Congress is critical - - our national problems require knocking heads together and ensuring execution of strategic plans. Find 250 people for the new department - - not one single person above 250.
The Department of Infrastructure needs to establish a real sense of urgency to get things done and join them up with local government. Local government is a key - - see the following graph:
A key goal of the new department would be improving the leadership around economic infrastructure. Leadership is critical. In the age of austerity and a long-term desire to reduce the size of the state's take of national income, the new Secretary of Infrastructure needs to focus on pension funds, banks, and other private investors as a funding source of our economic infrastructure investment requirements. What about this as a national goal - - two thirds of our requirements should come from non-government sources.
Start thinking systematically. We need to have greater individual investment for retirement. Make it mandatory that you have to have a 401(k) account for your retirement. Social Security is in long-term trouble - - let's fix it and also fund infrastructure investment at the same time. Have 1% of the 401(k) money go toward funding an investment fund in the Department of Infrastructure. Set a target return of 5% - - make people accountable and transparent.
Consider what Australia has developed to deal with their infrastructure needs. Infrastructure Australia is a statutory body, established under the Infrastructure Australia Act 2008 which came into effect on 9 April 2008.
Infrastructure Australia advises governments, investors and infrastructure owners on a wide range of issues. These include:
Infrastructure Australia reports regularly to the Council of Australian Governments through the Federal Minister for Infrastructure and Transport.
Our first Secretary of Infrastructure? My vote would be Riley Bechtel of Bechtel.
What we need are less infrastructure report cards and more of a National Infrastructure Plan. Show me a list of our top 500 projects for both the public and private sectors relating to economic infrastructure. Show me the investment plan, investors, and the schedule for completion - - show me the benefits (economic, environmental, and social) of why Project XYZ is on the national strategic infrastructure list. The plan must outline our overarching investment strategy. Report cards are about the past and a little of the present - - we need a focus on the strategic future.
A Department of Infrastructure should be created. Eliminate the Departments of Transportation and Energy and move parts of the E.PA. and Corps of Engineers to the new department. Consolidation of infrastructure resources and enhancing talent spread thin in halls of Congress is critical - - our national problems require knocking heads together and ensuring execution of strategic plans. Find 250 people for the new department - - not one single person above 250.
The Department of Infrastructure needs to establish a real sense of urgency to get things done and join them up with local government. Local government is a key - - see the following graph:
A key goal of the new department would be improving the leadership around economic infrastructure. Leadership is critical. In the age of austerity and a long-term desire to reduce the size of the state's take of national income, the new Secretary of Infrastructure needs to focus on pension funds, banks, and other private investors as a funding source of our economic infrastructure investment requirements. What about this as a national goal - - two thirds of our requirements should come from non-government sources.
Start thinking systematically. We need to have greater individual investment for retirement. Make it mandatory that you have to have a 401(k) account for your retirement. Social Security is in long-term trouble - - let's fix it and also fund infrastructure investment at the same time. Have 1% of the 401(k) money go toward funding an investment fund in the Department of Infrastructure. Set a target return of 5% - - make people accountable and transparent.
Consider what Australia has developed to deal with their infrastructure needs. Infrastructure Australia is a statutory body, established under the Infrastructure Australia Act 2008 which came into effect on 9 April 2008.
Infrastructure Australia advises governments, investors and infrastructure owners on a wide range of issues. These include:
- Australia's current and future infrastructure needs
- mechanisms for financing infrastructure investments, and
- policy, pricing and regulation and their impacts on investment and on the efficiency of the delivery, operation and use of national infrastructure networks.
Infrastructure Australia reports regularly to the Council of Australian Governments through the Federal Minister for Infrastructure and Transport.
Our first Secretary of Infrastructure? My vote would be Riley Bechtel of Bechtel.
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
The Alerian Index of Energy Infrastructure MLPs
Keep an eye on the Alerian Index. Total demand for energy is expected to grow by as much as a third over the next 25 years. New flows of oil and natural gas from the United States and around the world will need infrastructure and pipelines.
The Alerian MLP Infrastructure Index is comprised of 25 energy infrastructure Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs) that earn the majority of their cash flow from the transportation, storage, and processing of energy commodities. The index is calculated using a capped, float-adjusted, capitalization-weighted methodology and disseminated real-time on a price-return and total-return basis.
The Alerian MLP Infrastructure Index is comprised of 25 energy infrastructure Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs) that earn the majority of their cash flow from the transportation, storage, and processing of energy commodities. The index is calculated using a capped, float-adjusted, capitalization-weighted methodology and disseminated real-time on a price-return and total-return basis.
1/16 of a Nuclear Bomb
From the Engineering Ethics Blog - - The Disaster in West. This is a great article and the blog covers an important topic (ethics) that gets overlooked (except once a year for one hour as part of P.E. CEU requirements). Remember a key point in the Age of New Media Outlets - engineers have a great deal to say regarding disasters like West and Hurricane Sandy - we need to start taking the opportunity to add to the public debate. We have a responsibility to write, speak, and inform the public on issues relating to the health, safety, and welfare of the public. If we want a place at the table regarding important issues like public safety, climate change, and infrastructure investment, we had better get much better at the art of communication and public debate.
A
back-of-the-envelope calculation of the power of the resulting blast can be done
by beginning with an aerial view of the fertilizer plant before the explosion,
which is still available on Google Maps.
Comparison with views of the devastated explosion site indicate that the
explosion was probably centered in a large, flat warehouse building that
appeared to be one story high and measured about 60 feet by 110 feet. If we assume it was packed to a height of
eight feet with ammonium nitrate (not an unreasonable assumption as distributors
stock up for the summer growing season), the total mass of chemical in that
building could have been as much as two thousand tons. Pure ammonium nitrate has about a fourth of
the energy content per pound as TNT.
Still, given these rough assumptions, if the whole mass went off at once,
which it appears to have done, the force of the explosion could have been as
great as a thousand tons of TNT, or one kiloton.
You
may have run across the word “kiloton” in reference to nuclear explosions. While there were fortunately no nuclear
weapons or radioactive materials involved in the West explosion, the nuclear
weapon dropped on Hiroshima at the end of World War II had a yield of only about
16 kilotons of TNT. So what happened in
West was one-sixteenth of a small nuclear bomb, in terms of destructive
power. No wonder it showed up on
seismographs as a magnitude-2 earthquake.
Taking the Road to Private
This is a good summary of the current state of highway privatization in the United States in The Atlantic blog from yesterday - - The Uncertain Future of Public Roads.
As with most online articles, the comments are insightful. One such comment on the article:
"Sounds like government officials are too incompetent to maintain the roads and too incompetent to negotiate deals for somebody else to do it for them."
As with most online articles, the comments are insightful. One such comment on the article:
"Sounds like government officials are too incompetent to maintain the roads and too incompetent to negotiate deals for somebody else to do it for them."
Monday, May 6, 2013
Thinking About Poop
New book on the history and culture of feces - - The Origin of Feces. From the book summary on Amazon:
Also, in the current issue of ENR regarding rebuilding wastewater treatment plants after Hurricane Sandy:
Several wastewater treatment plants lost power or were flooded in the aftermath of Sandy. As a result, some facilities lost their ability to treat sewage, and raw sewage came up through manholes and flowed into waterways.
EPA Regional Administrator Judith Enck told reporters on May 2 that funding-eligible projects will be those that can increase the resiliency of water facilities to withstand the effects of future storms similar to Sandy.
Such projects could involve installing backup power or submersible pumps, developing green infrastructure to mitigate a storm surge and building barriers to prevent flooding, she said.
“In the future, we believe this funding will make it possible to keep clean drinking water flowing and raw sewage contained, during major storms,” Enck said.
“These funds will allow localities across the state to repair vital infrastructure damaged by Superstorm Sandy – as well as to build back smarter and stronger to better withstand future natural disasters and flooding,” New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) said in a statement.
“It is absolutely crucial that we fortify our drinking water and wastewater systems with equipment and features to ensure plants are operational during and after major storms and that the water flowing to the businesses and homes of New Yorkers is safe and protected.”
An entertaining and enlightening exploration of why waste matters, this
cultural history explores an often ignored subject matter and makes a compelling
argument for a deeper understanding of human and animal waste. Approaching the
subject from a variety of perspectives—evolutionary, ecological, and
cultural—this examination shows how integral excrement is to biodiversity,
agriculture, public health, food production and distribution, and global
ecosystems. From primordial ooze, dung beetles, bug frass, cat scats, and flush
toilets to global trade, pandemics, and energy, this is the awesome, troubled,
uncensored story of feces.
Several wastewater treatment plants lost power or were flooded in the aftermath of Sandy. As a result, some facilities lost their ability to treat sewage, and raw sewage came up through manholes and flowed into waterways.
EPA Regional Administrator Judith Enck told reporters on May 2 that funding-eligible projects will be those that can increase the resiliency of water facilities to withstand the effects of future storms similar to Sandy.
Such projects could involve installing backup power or submersible pumps, developing green infrastructure to mitigate a storm surge and building barriers to prevent flooding, she said.
“In the future, we believe this funding will make it possible to keep clean drinking water flowing and raw sewage contained, during major storms,” Enck said.
“These funds will allow localities across the state to repair vital infrastructure damaged by Superstorm Sandy – as well as to build back smarter and stronger to better withstand future natural disasters and flooding,” New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) said in a statement.
“It is absolutely crucial that we fortify our drinking water and wastewater systems with equipment and features to ensure plants are operational during and after major storms and that the water flowing to the businesses and homes of New Yorkers is safe and protected.”