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Sustainable Critical Infrastructure Systems: A Framework for Meeting 21st Century Imperatives (2009)
Board on Infrastructure and the Constructed Environment (BICE)

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63
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Sustainable Critical Infrastruture Systems: A Framework for Meeting 21st Century Imperatives - Report of a Workshop

D
Summary of Workshop Outcomes

TOWARD SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE SYSTEMS: WORKSHOP OUTCOMES

The discussions at the May workshop yielded many ideas and themes, or outcomes. The workshop outcomes are summarized below.

  1. Introduction

    1. Many communities are facing challenges in maintaining and upgrading one or more of the basic services for their citizens (water, transportation, power, communications, wastewater).

      1. Reasons for the challenges

        1. Needs are changing.

        2. New approaches are available but not well known.

        3. Existing organizational structures impede coordination.

      1. Result

        1. Each community is “reinventing the wheel.”

        2. There is risk of potential suboptimal solutions across the full set of infrastructure services (e.g., corn as biofuel provides power but threatens water supply and land quality).

 Page
63

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OCR for page 63
Sustainable Critical Infrastruture Systems: A Framework for Meeting 21st Century Imperatives - Report of a Workshop D Summary of Workshop Outcomes TOWARD SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE SYSTEMS: WORKSHOP OUTCOMES The discussions at the May workshop yielded many ideas and themes, or outcomes. The workshop outcomes are summarized below. Introduction Many communities are facing challenges in maintaining and upgrading one or more of the basic services for their citizens (water, transportation, power, communications, wastewater). Reasons for the challenges Needs are changing. New approaches are available but not well known. Existing organizational structures impede coordination. Result Each community is “reinventing the wheel.” There is risk of potential suboptimal solutions across the full set of infrastructure services (e.g., corn as biofuel provides power but threatens water supply and land quality).

OCR for page 64
Sustainable Critical Infrastruture Systems: A Framework for Meeting 21st Century Imperatives - Report of a Workshop Opportunity Leverage current knowledge and experience across communities. Coordinate the development of new approaches. Coordinate implementation across communities, regions, and United States as a whole. New approach: Infrastructure as— Service Provides critical functionality for civil society and commerce. Provides a basis for quality of life, well-being, and safety. Focuses on use rather than means of delivering. Region Reflects actual system aspects of infrastructure (does not stop at community borders). Reflects links among communities for economic development, social equity, and environmental bearing capacity—at local, regional, national levels. Interdependence Reflects functional and locational interdependence among infrastructure systems. For example: Water pumping and treatment requires power. Power often requires water (for cooling, steam, etc.). Power and telecommunications lines and water piping often run along transportation corridors. Reflects opportunities for further developments for sustainable infrastructure that explicitly take advantage of the integration of infrastructure systems to provide critical services. For example: Parking lots that generate electricity through photovoltaic coatings Wastewater treatment plants that use biofuel cells to generate electricity Localized gray water capture, treatment, and reuse with locally generated power

OCR for page 65
Sustainable Critical Infrastruture Systems: A Framework for Meeting 21st Century Imperatives - Report of a Workshop Conditions for Developing Sustainable Infrastructure Solutions Process Policy and planning Process for allocating funding Rational Transparent With respect to regional and national planning Champions for infrastructure services at community, regional, and national levels Flexible and adaptive policies with respect to economic, social, and environmental changes over time Balance of real cost to provide services and public good value (e.g., public health, commerce) Assessment of public “equity” in infrastructure assets—as reflected in property values, market activity, and so on Utilization of demand management (e.g., eliminate waste, increase efficiency) Partnership among private, public, and nonprofit sectors Coordination/leverage of centralized and/or multi-nodal infrastructure systems with respect to Disaster resiliency and Flexibility in demand response Decision making Transparency of infrastructure decision making Community, regional, and national reconciliation of infrastructure service needs and capacity—systemic, geospatial, strategic Decisions and solutions to enhance current infrastructure capacity with respect to community and regional economic development, environmental capacity, and social equity All-sector involvement (public, private, nongovernmental organizations, community)

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Sustainable Critical Infrastruture Systems: A Framework for Meeting 21st Century Imperatives - Report of a Workshop Public dialogue and communication Awareness of current infrastructure service capacity and vulnerabilities Constant user feedback on condition, capacity, use, costs, and benefits of infrastructure systems Recognized link of infrastructure services to economic development, social equity, and environmental regeneration Local and regional dialogue on priorities, resources, and plans for infrastructure services (including resiliency and adaptiveness) K-12 hands-on projects, simulation games, and other activities on the built and natural environments (i.e., infrastructure services and ecosystems) Professional training with respect to current and emerging sustainable infrastructure services—local and regional capacity building Executive sessions on the role of infrastructure services in organizational strategy and tactics Structure Financial Alignment of cost and value of infrastructure services—structure of user, community, regional fees Investment in new capacity to meet emerging and expected needs for infrastructure services Investment in upgrades of existing infrastructure systems to meet current and expected needs Clear designation of responsibilities, authorities, and financial means for delivery, operations, maintenance, and upgrade for infrastructure services over the lives of systems All-sector involvement (public, private, nongovernmental organizations, community) Legal Congruence in planning and operation with respect to the physical distribution of infrastructure systems

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Sustainable Critical Infrastruture Systems: A Framework for Meeting 21st Century Imperatives - Report of a Workshop Regional integration of organizations that manage or oversee infrastructure systems and services Insurance or warranty with respect to resiliency of infrastructure services for community and region Mechanisms for international agreements, collaboration with respect to infrastructure services and ecosystem impacts Performance Technological Investment in current, emerging, and “radical” technological developments Effectiveness Timescale Assessment and strategy for technology readiness International collaboration and information dissemination Modeling and real-time monitoring systems of infrastructure services (condition, capacity, use, cost, benefit, impacts) Scientific Evidence and Metrics Performance criteria Physical Economic Cost Benefit Development Secondary and tertiary impacts Social Environment and ecosystems Life-cycle analysis Timescale to reflect life of asset Multisector impacts Environmental footprint Secondary and tertiary impacts Analysis of systemic risks—especially with respect to interdependencies Reliability Robustness

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Sustainable Critical Infrastruture Systems: A Framework for Meeting 21st Century Imperatives - Report of a Workshop Balance of human needs and bearing capacity of ecosystems Trade-offs and priorities among and between infrastructure services and their underlying systems All-hazards approach (cascading failures, differential vulnerabilities, etc.) with respect to potential disruptions, acceptable risks, climate change, and so on Scale of infrastructure services and systems (e.g., spatial, organizational) Existing Resources and Programs Previous U.S. programs New York Regional Plan Interstate highway system Fragile Foundations report Current national activities and programs Pending congressional bills Regional agreements Local and state activities and programs Local (e.g., Cambridge Energy Alliance: nonprofit foundation, local government, private companies, universities and hospitals, citizens) State (e.g., Hawaii renewable energy investment program) National laboratories Professional associations American Water Works Association and others American Society of Civil Engineers’ infrastructure report card Conclusions/Summary Focus on the future Focus on the possible Focus on starting the journey now, and learning as we go— Leverage current activities and programs and capabilities Marshal knowledge, creativity, and engagement across all regions, sectors, and levels