the rise of modular infrastructure

TITUS Infrastructure Services Limited

#215 – 737 GOLDSTREAM AVE

VICTORIA, BC, V9B 2X4

TEL. 250 727-8355

Making Renewable Utilities Profitable

OLD WAVE

Onsite built, one-off utility projects require a significant amount of specialized knowledge,

including site specific and technology specific requirements that feed into detailed engineering

before a single shovel hits the ground. Until construction starts, budgets can be extremely

variable, and if challenges occur on site during construction change orders can drive up the cost

and drive outcomes away from what your stakeholders and the public at large was expecting.

That was then…

NEXT WAVE

Modular deployments generate results quickly and avoid large up front capital costs, which

would otherwise distract or derail projects, therefore modular by its very nature creates

numerous benefits to enabling cities to build Climate Smart Cities!

This article explores the rise and benefits of modular infrastructure. Having said that, let me

define Climate Smart Cities:

CLIMATE SMART CITIES

Cities that can actively combat the negative effects of climate

change and help improve the climate in a measurable

and timely manner.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

I have been actively involved in modular infrastructure and modular manufacturing for the last

20 years and have seen it rise from a temporary structure to where modular is becoming core to

making manufacturing ever more competitive enabling urban revitalization that helps cities

combatting climate change and become Climate Smart Cities.

Over that time, people have asked me what got me so excited about modular and I would have to

say that happened when I saw first-hand how modular could massively reduce costs, increase

quality and reduce delivery time. I was working for a custom bus company at the time, and they

were so very proud that they delivered buses that met the unique requirements of their customers.

They were also convinced that to do that meant starting from the ground up. Perhaps the genesis

of what makes modular revolutionary is that the bus company would give precedence to higher

value clients, meaning buses would be pulled off the production line, while the line was

restructured for the higher value customer.

So being young and somewhat naïve to the whole bus building industry, I asked one a couple of

VP’s why they didn’t build a modular bus. They all told me the same thing, because we sell

custom buses to meet the unique needs of our customers. So in a moment of inspiration, I met

with each of the VP’s and asked them to play along and imagine if they could build a modular

bus that met every one of their customers’ expectations, what would that mean to them and the

company. For example, a custom bus, including variable chair configurations, lighting

assemblies, deck heights, etc. So eventually they all agreed to play along.

Perhaps the most important question I asked them was what does it cost to change the production

line from one bus run to another customer bus run? The answer I got floored me, “Production

line changes cost $3-5million.” To the next question, how many times per year do you change

the production line, to hear, “10-12”. To which I exclaimed, “You spend 30-60 million per

year?” Then to hear, “No Mr. Lindquist, we have to change both our Canadian and US

production lines, because we build half the bus in Canada and half the bus in the US.

I said, “Do you think for $120 million dollars you can build a modular bus that meets your

customer’s unique requirements.” To which I was asked to address the board, by each of the

VP’s I met with.

After that, I have always wondered if there was anything a modular approach could not solve.

SETTING THE STAGE

With that backdrop, some may find the following a very disruptive concept in municipal

infrastructure while many others may find it very energizing and full of opportunity. No matter

which camp you may fall into the Rise of Modular Infrastructure attempts to give you a

framework and a set of tools to help you help our communities become climate smart.

The Rise of Modular Infrastructure discusses modular infrastructure as a new urban reality and

essential to building climate smart cities that are able to combat climate change cost effectively

and on a timely basis.

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The purpose of writing this is to engage you, and get you engaged in the dialogue in your

communities, so that you can be a better leader in the social, environmental, and economic health

of your communities. Or perhaps more importantly, give you some tools that can help you help

your community actually combat climate change, in a timely and cost effective manner.

So throughout the article, I am going to ask you questions about what is important, or how this

topic is important to you and to your communities.

THE KEY TO CLIMATE SMART CITIES

As an engineer, I often wonder how many big infrastructure projects there would be if WE as

engineers and municipal leaders had to actually write the checks and be accountable for any cost

over runs ourselves. That means, WE actually put our house on the line and not just the fate of

the taxpayer. My guess is WE would ALL find much more innovative and cost effective ways to

accomplish the very same thing.

It has been my experience that when people actually have to write the checks, like those VP’s

who were accountable to their shareholders, you gain a personal appreciation of the importance

of innovative approaches and the value modular infrastructure very quickly.

Don’t believe me? How many big projects would you be working on right now if you had to

write the check and cover the overages? Or would you find more innovative and cost effective

ways to accomplish the same thing?

Don’t know how – keep reading!

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1. UNDERSTANDING BENEFITS OF MODULAR SYSTEMS

Before we get caught up in

infrastructure and

infrastructure questions, I want

to get you focused on WHAT

is important and WHY, and

YES I want you to be engaged,

and I would like to get that

going right away by asking a

very important question.

QUESTION 1: What’s an

early 1900’s Model T got to do

with urban infrastructure?

No seriously?!?

Ok let me help you

What benefits did Henry Ford bring to the auto industry?

How about:

Standard components?

Standard maintenance?

Improved quality?

Lower costs?

Greater availability?

Less Variability

What about “Reduced Skill Set”, because components are standardized with standard

maintenance requirements the automobile became much simpler to assemble and maintain.

What Other Benefits?

Ok, while you are thinking about that….

Did you know that up until Henry Ford a chauffeur was required to pilot a vehicle and that a

chauffeur had to be part:

Craftsman: able to craft the specialty parts

Scientist: with knowledge of internal combustion, steam or electric motors

Engineer: and mechanic to make things work and keep them working

Other Specialties: And many other areas of specialized knowledge

Question 2: Does that sound like municipal infrastructure in your community?

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Last chance, any other ideas on what Henry Ford brought to the table?

The relevance of Henry Ford to urban infrastructure really comes down to the following:

Why Is Infrastructure Still Hand Crafted, Highly Variable,

Requiring Expensive Highly Skilled Designers & Operators?

While I have you thinking about the relevance of Henry Ford’s Model T to infrastructure, let me

put forward two critical premises:

PREMISE ONE: When you go modular, you have a great opportunity to maximize the

value of your highly skilled labour force, by getting them focused on what they do best,

just like Henry Ford did, with the whole supply chain from the raw materials to the

service stations.

PREMISE TWO: Modular deployments generate results quickly and avoid large up

front capital costs, which would otherwise distract or derail projects, therefore modular

by its very nature creates numerous benefits to enabling cities to build Climate Smart

Cities!

Having said that, let me define Climate Smart Cities:

CLIMATE SMART CITIES

Cities that can actively combat the negative effects of climate

change and help improve the climate in a measurable

and timely manner.

2. CAUSE AND EFFECT OF MODULAR INFRASTRUCTURE

If you remember nothing else from this article, remember, most importantly:

Modular Infrastructure Generates Results!

For example, because modular infrastructure is manufactured, equipment is standardized with

standard maintenance requirements, the assembly and maintenance of infrastructure is equally

less complex, simplifying the deployment and maintenance requirements, which in turn reduces

the risk to the owner, municipality and taxpayer.

Or alternatively, because modules are standardized, they can be manufactured all over the world,

improving the quality and availability and reducing the deployment time.

Perhaps the greatest benefit of modular technologies that has been demonstrated in the auto

industry, and many other industries; modular enables Just-in-Time delivery, which reduces

carrying costs, reduces risk, while allowing for new technologies to be plugged in. For industry,

the latter means greater competitiveness, for municipalities, it means they can be more resilient

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to change and more progressive (competitive) when it comes to the social, environmental and

economic needs of their communities.

MODULAR INFRASTRUCTURE GENREATES RESULTS

Reduce Complexities

▼

Simplifying Deployment and Maintenance

▼

Reducing Risk to Municipalities & Taxpayers

▼

Improving Quality of Results

▼

Improving Return on Investment

Modules Can be Manufactured Globally

▼

Improving Quality & Availability

▼

Reducing Deployment Time

▼

Enabling Just-in-Time Delivery

▼

Reducing Time to Getting Results

ENABLE CLIMATE SMART CITIES

QUESTION 3: Any other cause and effects related to modular infrastructure?

QUESTION 4: Are there any negative cause and effects of Modular Infrastructure?

A DEEPER LOOK AT THE BENEFITS OF MODULAR

The following is a list of benefits, which I have been compiling over the last few months, and

trying to establish the top 10 benefits.

What we have been finding, although numerous, the benefits of modular depend on your context.

Feel free to rank them yourself, or Click Here

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/6Y72785




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QUESTION 5: Can anyone give me their top 2 or 3 from the list or even better from their own

experience?

QUESTION 6: Can anyone give me 2 or 3 things that could not be done with modular

technologies?

Let me help you out, one answer, used to be, “We are a custom bus builder and if we build

modular we will lose our competitive advantage…” until I showed tem how modular could save

them $120 million per year, reduce time, and make customizations easier.

REDUCE COST & RISK FOR INNOVATORS & COMMUNITIES

One of my favorite stories comes from a group that was trying to get their modular, agricultural

biomass pyrolysis system to market. They had a pilot ready system for the last 10 years, but they

were always shooting for a 200 tonne facility, and never entered the market. Yet, farmers across

North America need a way to dispose of their chaff and dead livestock. I told them my favourite

two words from innovators, is I have a pilot ready technology, because quite often it is the

perfect size for a modular, scalable, cash flow deployment.

One of my favourite communities for demonstrating the benefits of modular is Manhattan.

Manhattan has been solving problems with modular systems for 20 years.

For example, although Manhattan does not have a drought they have been working on putting

water reclamation plants and energy recovery systems in the basement of buildings to reduce the

water supply requirements and equally importantly the downstream load on centralized treatment

plants.

What we have discovered with our partners is the optimum deployment seems to be on a 2-4

block square. This also allows for ease of reuse of energy and water, while having a meaningful

impact on the upstream and downstream utility infrastructure.

1. Reduce Water Supply Requirements

Recover and reuse water within one or more buildings

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2. Reduce Downstream Loading

Reduce the burden on downstream centralized plants

3. Reuse Energy and Water Within the Community

Related to #1 – optimal deployment seems to be 2-4block square

From a logistics standpoint the benefit of modules is implicit, modules can be built offsite in one

or more manufacturing facilities and shipped to site as required, improving quality and speed of

deployment, while reducing costs and disruptions within the community.

One of our partners, has also recently got approval to put modular water reclamation plants into

existing buildings and tap into the building fire suppression systems to deliver reclaimed water to

the different floors, by tapping off the fire suppression systems with pressure isolation valves and

flexible purple PEX to deliver reclaimed water to toilets and washing machines on the different

floors.

Another consideration that was recently brought to my attention by a

very senior UK architect as we have been evaluating a number of

projects across the UK is the discussion around modular as

temporary infrastructure or modular as permanent infrastructure.

However, what has been proving out time and time again, and

gaining momentum across Europe is modular infrastructure as

permanent structures, like the building above, because buildings can

be built quicker, with higher quality, at less cost than conventional.

The above building was delivered more than a year ahead of

schedule when compared to conventional vertical construction,

providing the owner with an additional year of rent, as this building

is part of Victoria Hall a dormitory for one of the London

Universities.

25 Story Modular Highrise

Built in 27 Weeks

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3. MAKING RECOVERY AND REUSE PAY FOR ITSELF

One very exciting thing that I have found over the last ten years is the more you modularize the

more you can give what used to be a waste product a purposes.

AND BY DOING THAT

You can turn a cost centre

into a revenue centre,

because waste costs money.

When you see it this way it

is easy to see infrastructure

as LEGO

We can build what we need,

where we need it, at the size

we need it to be at that

moment in time. Space

efficient, cost efficient and

time efficient. Each module

can be built off site and

dropped into place where

and when we need it.

Further, what I have found over the last 10 years is the more you integrate modular renewable

utility components together and the waste from one component becomes the resource for anther

the more competitive you can be with conventional utility rates for their consumers.

Perhaps the simplest and most overlooked resource within a community is the effluent from a

waste water treatment plant, and as a result we throw it away. The excuses are always, the plant

is too far from the city and its too expensive to get the water back into the community, so it is

thrown into a lake, river or ocean. Yet, communities all over the world continue to spend 100’s

of millions of dollars on treatment facilities, only to throw out the product.

What industry would do that? Can you imagine Ford or GM building a billion dollar facility to

have the new Ford Focus or GMC Denali roll off the end of the production line directly into a

land fill?

Yet that is what we do time and time again in municipal infrastructure.

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MAKING YOUR COMMUNITIES CLIMATE SMART

One of the beautiful things about a modular approach is you can pretty much start with any need

in a community, and if done properly incrementally move towards a net zero energy, water and

waste community that can pay for itself.

All you need to do is build a Resource Matrix, like the one below, to turn waste into a resource

and start generating cash flow to pay down the costs of the infrastructure.

As I mentioned earlier, we have found the more you modularize the more you can turn a waste

into a resource. Together, this minimizes the capital and operating costs of the utility and its

utility rates, and turns cost centres into revenue centres which maximizes the return to the utility

or municipality you are working with.

This above image may look complicated, however, it comes down to two simple business

principle.

1. Waste costs money.

2. Waste is merely a resource without a purpose.

The secret, is once you give waste a purpose, you create value and reduce cost. These two

drivers are what enables renewable utilities to be profitable.

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A third business principle is to build a sustainable profitable renewable utility, you need to match

your capital and operating costs with the revenues.

3. Match Capital and Operating Costs to Revenues

This can be done by making every step in the process modular, and by deploying modules in a

just in time process, as the capacity is required, very similar to just-in-time parts supply for

Ford or GM to reduce their warehousing and logistics costs and allows them to release new

models and new features much quicker and more competitively than ever before.

What gets really exciting is when you realize that you can modularize every component of the

infrastructure down to the size of a shipping container (gray boxes or Lego pieces above). This

helps reduce the supply requirements and enables the right sizing of the just-in-time capability of

modular systems, allowing you to provide what is required, when it is required, minimizing the

capital and operating costs of the utility and its utility rates, while maximizing the profit to the

utility and your community.

Don’t believe me, here are just a few examples:

Once you have built your Resource Matrix and work your way through it you come out the

other side with usable commodities some with very high value.

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CONCLUSION

When it comes down to it, just think of Lego.

We can build what we need, where we need it, at the size we need it to be at that moment in

time. If a better mousetrap is developed, we can replace it and put the new one in.

Space efficient, cost efficient and time efficient. Each module can be built off site and dropped

into place where and when we need it.

To help you help your communities improve

their environmental, social and economic

health here are five quick steps for becoming

Climate Smart:

1. Start Small Start Modular

2. Control Critical Success Factors

3. Avoid High First Cost and anything that

distracts from maximizing the value of your

project

4. Manage Incremental, Sustainable Growth

5. Repeat what works, improve what can be

improved and drop what doesn’t.

One of my friends was a gold medal athlete in the 2012 Olympics in the 8 man skulls. He said

that is very similar to his regime.

This is the same regiment a professional athlete takes to their training regimen. They

didn’t wake up one morning and run the Iron Man, probably the best comparison to a city

contemplating a massive central treatment plant or power plant. They started small, they

controlled what was critical to their success, they avoided issues that would distract them

from their goal, they worked on incrementally growing their ability and managing their

success factors. And they repeated what worked and dropped what didn’t to further

improve their results.

You are also correct if you said it looks like the basis of a continuous improvement approach.

My challenge to you is make the above your regime. Or if you are contemplating something

else, consider what you would do if you had to write the checks and carry any over runs….

If you do that, I believe we will all be able to help our communities become climate smart.

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Future Proofing Your Community

TITUS makes it simple, fast and cost effective to

make your communities Climate Smart.

TITUS has found that the more you modularize

infrastructure the more you are able to repurpose and

reuse resources that were otherwise wasted turning

cost centres into revenue centres.

By recovering, repurposing and reselling resources

that were otherwise wasted within a community.

TITUS substantially reduces the amount of energy,

water and other resources that a community needs to

supply.

Let us help you put together a solution to help your community become Climate Smart - Today!

Let us help you get started today!

For more information contact:

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @TITUSrenewables

Web: www.TITUSinfrastructure.com

Make Your City/Development Climate Smart!

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.titusinfrastructure.com/

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Additional Reading

Building Modular Clean Energy and Water Systems

Building Modular District Energy Sharing Systems - Integrating energy and water

reclamation

Building Modular Gasification Systems - Start small and build to meet your needs.

Transforming how Renewable Infrastructure is Built - A new way to fund

infrastructure.

Building Renewable Infrastructure

Building World Class Sustainable Cities - Building sustainable cities is easier than you

think.

Chapter 1: Getting Things Done – Know where you are going and why

Chapter 2: Do Your Homework – Gets you 96% of the way to a successful project

Chapter 3: Know Where to Start – Once your homework is done – then what?

Chapter 4: Keeping Things Small Enough – The key to Getting Things Done!

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/benefits-modular-district-energy-sharing-erik-lindquist-p-eng-

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/benefits-modular-gasification-waste-energy-erik-lindquist-p-eng-

http://www.slideshare.net/ErikLindquistPEng/volume-1-water-reclamation-reuse-and-heat-recovery

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/building-world-class-sustainable-communities-erik-lindquist-p-eng-

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/building-renewable-program-gets-things-done-chapter-erik

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/building-renewable-program-doing-your-homework-lindquist-p-eng-

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/building-renewable-program-chapter-3-getting-erik-lindquist-p-eng-

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/building-renewable-program-chapter-4-keep-things-lindquist-p-eng-

the rise of modular infrastructure

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