Go Lean Commentary
There is the need to create jobs in the Caribbean. Where and how do we proceed?
First, we must reboot our industrial landscape; and the “art and science” of pipelines can be pivotal, especially in light of the recent eruptions in natural disasters. There were 2 major hurricanes in September 2017 – Irma and Maria – and the devastation in some member-states has been almost complete – i.e. remember Barbuda. A great benefit of over-ground, underground and underwater pipelines is that they can be sustained during hurricanes…and can help to quickly restore power and the systems of commerce.
The movement behind the book Go Lean … Caribbean posits that it is possible to create the required jobs that we need and has presented a roadmap for 2.2 million jobs. But the book warns that for this task to be successful, it is heavy-lifting. The entire industrial landscape must be rebooted. There is now a full catalog for this Industrial Reboot 101 effort and this commentary is 3 of 4 in this occasional series. The full series is as follows:
- Industrial Reboot – Ferries 101
- Industrial Reboot – Prisons 101
- Industrial Reboot – Pipelines 101
- Industrial Reboot – Frozen Foods 101
Continuing with pipelines, a recent blog-commentary detailed how diverse pipeline technologies can help restore post-storm normality in quick order:
- Flood Control drainage pipelines
- Underground-piped and underwater-piped electrical cables – see specifications sample in Appendix A
The book Go Lean … Caribbean details more; it asserts that pipelines can be strategic, tactical and operationally efficient for building community wealth in the Caribbean region. Yes, they can mitigate challenges from Mother Nature, create jobs and grow the economy at the same time. The book purports that a new technology-enhanced industrial revolution is emerging, in which there is more efficiency for installing-monitoring-maintaining pipelines. Caribbean society must participate in these developments, in order to “survive with the fittest”. This point is pronounced early in the book with this Declaration of Interdependence (Page 14), with these statements:
xxvi. Whereas the Caribbean region must have new jobs to empower the engines of the economy and create the income sources for prosperity, and encourage the next generation to forge their dreams right at home, the Federation must therefore foster the development of new industries, like that of … pipelines …
xxvii. Whereas the region has endured a spectator status during the Industrial Revolution, we cannot stand on the sidelines of this new economy, the Information Revolution. Rather, the Federation must embrace all the tenets of Internet Communications Technology (ICT) to serve as an equalizing element in competition with the rest of the world. The Federation must bridge the digital divide and promote the community ethos that research/development is valuable and must be promoted and incentivized for adoption.
This Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) to elevate the 30 Caribbean member-states. This Federation will assume jurisdiction for the 1,063,000 square-mile Caribbean Sea, in an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). This approach allows for cooperation and coordination for pipelines among the member-states, The Go Lean book specifically identifies that pipelines can impact these societal engines (Page 96):
- Economics – Pipelines bring resources from the source to the destination in a steady consistency, thereby fulfilling the economic supply-demand conundrum. This is vital for resources like water, energy elements (oil, gas, & minerals) – see Appendix B – electricity, and telecommunications lines. There are newer innovations planned for pipelines, like Pneumatic Capsules, to allow for the transport of cargo, and even the far-reaching testing for high-speed passenger travel.
- Governance – Administration to include a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.
- Security – This category does not refer to some military application, but rather public safety/security provisions. Pipelines can be erected in web design formations to allow transport from source to destination via alternate routes if ever extraordinary conditions (storms) impact normal flow – see model in Appendix C – this is modeled after the internet’s worldwide-web. There is also an element of economic security with the emergence of pipeline maintenance jobs to engineer, maintain and monitor installations.
- Emergency – Tourism is the region’s primary industry driver so pipeline spills/accidents may have a major impact on the fauna/flora of the islands. But there are “best practices” to apply to mitigate the risks associated with pipelines. The web design approach also facilitates a recovery plan for emergencies. So when a Hurricane Watch is declared anywhere in the region, (normal 3 days from landfall), the mandate is that all pipeline flow must cease.
The subject of pipelines has also been addressed and further elaborated upon in these previous blog/commentaries:
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6867 | Pipelines can address high consumer prices |
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2670 | A Lesson in History – Rockefeller’s Pipeline |
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1817 | Caribbean grapples with intense new cycles of flooding & drought |
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1516 | Floods in Minnesota, Drought in California – Why Not Share? |
The Go Lean book provides 370 pages of details on the economic principles and community ethos to adopt, plus the executions of strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to forge pipelines and industrial growth in the Caribbean:
| Economic Principles – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices | Page 21 |
| Community Ethos – Job Multiplier | Page 22 |
| Community Ethos – “Crap” Happens – So we must be prepared | Page 23 |
| Community Ethos – Lean Operations | Page 24 |
| Community Ethos – Return on Investments (ROI) | Page 24 |
| Community Ethos – Cooperatives | Page 25 |
| Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future | Page 26 |
| Community Ethos – Ways to Help Entrepreneurship | Page 28 |
| Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Intellectual Property | Page 29 |
| Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Research & Development | Page 30 |
| Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Sharing | Page 35 |
| Community Ethos – Impact the Greater Good | Page 37 |
| Anecdote – Pipeline Transport – Strategies, Tactics & Implementations | Page 43 |
| Strategy – Agents of Change – Technology | Page 57 |
| Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy | Page 64 |
| Tactical – Growing Economy – New High Multiplier Industries | Page 68 |
| Separation of Powers – Interstate Commerce Administration | Page 79 |
| Separation of Powers – Interior Department – Exclusive Economic Zone | Page 82 |
| Implementation – Assemble – Pipeline as a Focused Activity | Page 96 |
| Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change | Page 101 |
| Implementation – Benefits from the Exclusive Economic Zone | Page 104 |
| Implementation – Ways to Develop a Pipeline Industry | Page 107 |
| Implementation – Ways to Deliver | Page 109 |
| Planning – 10 Big Ideas – Pipeline Projects | Page 127 |
| Planning – Ways to Improve Interstate Commerce | Page 129 |
| Planning – Lessons from New York City | Page 137 |
| Planning – Lessons from Omaha | Page 138 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy | Page 151 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs | Page 152 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract – Infrastructure | Page 170 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Ways to Impact Public Works – Ideal for Pipelines | Page 175 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Foster Cooperatives | Page 176 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage Natural Resources – Water Resources | Page 183 |
| Anecdote – Caribbean Industrialist & Entrepreneur Role Model | Page 189 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Impact Extractions – Pipeline Strategy Alignment | Page 195 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Improve Emergency Management | Page 196 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Foster Technology | Page 197 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Improve Monopolies – Foster Cooperatives | Page 202 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Improve Transportation – Pipeline Options | Page 205 |
| Appendix – Interstate Compacts – Needed for Pipelines in US Territories | Page 278 |
| Appendix – Pipeline Maintenance Robots | Page 283 |
| Appendix – North Dakota Example – Oil Drilling Economic-Societal Effects | Page 334 |
The economic principles of pipelines are sound.
The Go Lean book details that the Caribbean can create …
2,000 direct jobs building/maintaining pipelines, tunnels, and the regional power grid
These are direct jobs; there is also the reality of indirect jobs – unrelated service and attendant functions – at a 3.75 multiplier rate would add another 7,500 jobs. That makes a total of 9,500 jobs.
Hurricanes are so dire and disruptive that they need to be mitigated. We need pipelines and we need them NOW!
“How” would the Caribbean region reboot, reform and transform their societal engines to develop a Pipeline industry. This is the actual title of one advocacy in the Go Lean book. Consider the specific plans, excerpts and headlines here from Page 107, entitled:
10 Ways to Develop a Pipeline Industry
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1 |
Lean-in for the Caribbean Single Market The CU will allow for the unification of the region into one market, thereby creating a single economy of 30 member-states, 42 million people and a GDP of over $800 Billion. The CU envisions applications to connect the member states with a network of pipelines/tunnels/cables; facilitated at the federal level due to cross-border implications and oversight of the region’s energy/environment missions. Another dimension that aligns with the CU is fostering hi-technology jobs. |
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2 |
Pneumatic Cargo TubesThe CU is ideal for the implementation of PCP systems to handle containers and trailers through underwater, underground and above-ground pipelines powered by magnetic levitation systems (ILM). There are some pre-defined sites well-fitted for PCP: 7 miles between Venezuela & Trinidad; Nassau’s cruise/cargo port to an intermodal exchange site, etc.. |
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3 |
Underwater Tunnels |
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4 |
Underwater Pipes and CablesThe CU will employ the best practices, arts and sciences to install underwater pipelines and underwater cables. (Cables are flexible and can be inserted in/out of pipes). All pipes can be treated with an epoxy to withstand salt-water erosion. |
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5 |
Fresh WaterSome CU islands have water resource challenges (i.e. Antigua). They installed desalination as a solution. An alternate solution is now water pipelines. The CU will install the infrastructure to transport water from source to target via pipelines. |
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6 |
Oil-to-Oil RefineryThere are oil-producing states with the CU. (Plus, a lot of oil explorations engagements). There are also a number of oil refineries. The CU envisions above-ground/undersea pipelines to connect refineries to oil sources/shipping terminals. |
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7 |
High Intensity Power LinesThe CU will deploy a regional power grid, which is now feasible with the unified market. With the reality of island chains, and the reality of new technologies (like HVDC), the high intensity power lines can be mounted underground or underwater, (see Appendix below), in a solo fashion or in other CU built/maintained tunnels/pipelines. |
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8 |
Natural Gas on Land |
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9 |
Emergency ManagementThe CU treaty grants jurisdiction of strategic pipelines to federal governing authorities. The CU will apply the world’s best-in-breed tools, best-practice techniques and systems for ensuring the viability and integrity of pipelines:
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10 |
Tourism / Eco ImpactThe primary economic engine for the Caribbean is tourism. The CU will always promote and protect this industry. But pipelines can co-exist, and the natural/pristine environs can be protected! The CU envisions underground pipeline in urban/suburban areas, above ground pipelines in rural areas and underwater pipeline to connect the islands. |
In summary, we need jobs; our Caribbean job creation dysfunction is acute. Jobs in the Pipeline industry are stable, reliable and providential to facilitate growth in other industries and to assure business continuity. These infrastructural enhancements would help us to make our homeland a better place to live, work and play.
Pipeline = Infrastructure! A region-wide pipeline deployment = Industrial Reboot!
Yes, we can … reboot our industrial landscape and deploy our own web of pipelines; consider the US model in Appendix C. We can create new jobs – and other economic opportunities – that the Caribbean region needs. We urge all Caribbean stakeholders – governments and citizens – to lean-in to this roadmap for economic empowerment. We can make all of the Caribbean homeland better places to live, work and play. 🙂
Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!
Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.
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Appendix A Title: Underwater High Intensity Power Lines
High-Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) Light technology is designed to transmit power over long distances in both underground and under-water settings. HVDC Light technology, offered by ABB – the German Industrial powerhouse, leading in the development and implementation of HVDC technology.
Buried HVDC is a feasible technology for the Caribbean Union Regional Power Grid. Its feasibility is based upon several factors that include it being a time-tested technology, having suitable cable capacity, utilizing efficient and small footprint converter stations.
A classical HVDC transmission has a power of more than 100 Megawatts (MW) and many are in the 1,000 – 3,000 MW range. There are classical HVDC transmissions that use overhead lines (OHL) and some that use undersea (and underground) cables (or combinations of cables and lines). ABB’s HVDC Light technology uses underground or submarine cables with an economical upper power range now reaching 1,200 MW and ±500 kV.
HVDC can be used to span OHL routes with a length of 1,000 km (about 600 miles) or more and undersea routes (submarine cables) from a length of 60 km (about 40 miles) upwards more economically than with alternating current (AC). Direct current has the advantage over alternating current that it does not cause eddy currents and can thus make use of the full cross section of the cable. Heat losses are lower because of the lower resistance for the same cross-section. Incidentally: Power losses with AC voltage are higher under water than in the air or underground because with deep sea cables it is not possible to use compensating elements (coils, capacitors) against inductive and capacitive losses.
The modern form of HVDC transmission uses technology developed extensively in the 1930s in Sweden at ASEA (a founding company of ABB). More specific to this document, buried HVDC has been employed in land and submarine transmission settings for many decades. This technology has been used most extensively in Europe, and is now being proposed for long distance high-voltage transmission lines in the northeast and eastern areas of the USA. The Champlain Hudson Power Express, a 333 mile-long transmission line from the U.S. – Canadian border to New York City, is currently in the EIS preparation stage. The transmission system will consist of two 5 inch diameter cables to be laid under water and on land. The proposed route will start at the U.S. – Canadian border, travel south through Lake Champlain and along railroad right of ways, and then enter the Hudson River south of Albany. The power will ultimately go to a converter station in Astoria Queens.
Working examples of HVDC buried land and underwater lines include: Cross Sound, across 42 kilometers of the Long Island Sound (New York); the Trans-Bay HVDC cable project under construction in California connecting Pittsburg in East Bay to San Francisco; a large number of working HVDC submarine cables transporting power between Europe and Scandinavia, between the UK and France, between the islands of New Zealand, and between Italy and Greece.
HVDC requires terminals, or converter stations, at the line ends. A significant feature of the HVDC Light transmission system is that an HVDC Light converter station has a much smaller size than even a classical HVDC converter station, and certainly is much smaller in size than an AC substation. A significant characteristic of HVDC Light cable is its excellent ability to stabilize AC voltage at the terminals. This is especially important for wind parks, where the variation in wind speed can cause severe voltage fluctuations. Additional technical aspects of this cable include: 1) if the cable is damaged, HVDC protection reduces the current and voltage to zero in a fraction of a second so there is no possibility of damage to persons and infrastructure, 2) the HVDC transmission system uses underwater and underground cables that are solid, are made from non-flammable materials, are well insulated, and contain no liquids or gels.
The burial of HVDC Light cable is similar to that of fiber-optic cables because the equipment used for trenching and the depths at which the cables are laid are comparable (1 to 1.5 m below the surface). In some relevant projects, underground cables are installed using modified pipeline installation equipment. The strength and flexibility of HVDC Light cables make them suitable for submarine use. They can be laid in deeper waters and on rough bottoms.
Source: ABB Technical Specification documents
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Appendix B VIDEO – Key US gasoline pipeline now ready to carry more fuel, just days after Harvey – https://youtu.be/NOG4j6PHv10
CBS North Carolina
Published on Aug 31, 2017 – Key US gasoline pipeline aims to carry more fuel by Sunday; Cooper urges caution.
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Appendix C VIDEO – Animated map of the major oil and gas pipelines in the US – https://youtu.be/MEIerHQ9IAw
Business Insider
Published on Dec 31, 2015 – The United States is the world’s largest consumer of oil, using over 19 million barrels a day in 2014. This high level of consumption wouldn’t be possible without the 2.5 million mile network of pipeline used to transport the fuel from its source to the market.
Business Insider is the fastest growing business news site in the US. Our mission: to tell you all you need to know about the big world around you. The BI Video team focuses on technology, strategy and science with an emphasis on unique storytelling and data that appeals to the next generation of leaders – the digital generation.
- Category: Science & Technology
- License: Standard YouTube License
See a related VIDEO here at https://youtu.be/JXRFIqtCMzM that showcases pipeline safety, disaster and recovery dimensions.