How infrastructure companies deliver real benefits
The
best projects provide, connect, and produce sustainable outcomes.
Sustainable
infrastructure is a confluence
of ideas. It’s physical, eco-friendly, and smart. It seeks to minimize costs and
maximize the use of resources. It’s also global. The United Nations
specifically mentioned infrastructure in its 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
The role of infrastructure
is to provide essential services to societies and industries, including
transportation networks, energy grids, and wastewater-treatment plants. Such
projects are critical to economic development and to connecting people and
ideas.
Sustainable infrastructure does all this while also reducing,
recycling, and reusing natural resources. The operating premise is both simple
and expansive: infrastructure in the future will need to be smarter, greener,
and more efficient than it has been in the past. That is far from impossible.
In fact, there are already opportunities to optimize sustainability in specific
parts of the system. To succeed requires thinking beyond what infrastructure
does to considering how it is constructed and how one project, or part of it,
can deliver other benefits.
This matters because
several global megatrends are
forcing governments and companies to change the way infrastructure is designed,
constructed, and operated. By 2050, there will be about 9.7 billion people on the planet, with two-thirds living in urban areas. That will
put tremendous stress on existing systems, particularly in developing countries. According to our
estimates, $48 trillion in investment is needed just to meet the world’s energy
needs by 2035. Half the world’s population will be living in areas of high water stress by
2030; many will be vulnerable to actual crises, with critical shortages of
clean water.
The challenge can seem
overwhelming. By deconstructing the idea of an infrastructure system as the sum
of its parts, however, it is possible to identify opportunities, and then to
figure out how to broaden the possible benefits. For example, a Bechtel-led
consortium is working on a rail project in the Middle East. While the primary
task is to build two new rail lines, the system will also reduce pollution by
giving nearly 3.6 million people an alternative to driving. In addition, more
than 230,000 square feet of solar panels will power the depots, and all of the
water needed for landscaping and other exterior uses will be treated municipal
wastewater. This single project, then, promotes sustainability not only in
transport but also in the use of energy and water.
Another example is Crossrail,
which includes more than 26 miles of new tunnels under central London; ten new
stations will connect with subway and commuter-rail services. When completed,
this could eliminate more than 300 million vehicle-miles each year,
significantly easing congestion and reducing air pollution. Crossrail also has
a comprehensive energy and carbon-management plan. Managers are working to
reduce emissions by focusing on design features that improve energy efficiency,
for instance, by reducing the weight of passenger cars, establishing targets to
reduce energy consumption, and installing smart controls for lighting, heating,
and air conditioning. By looking at individual elements, planners found many
different ways to deliver sustainable improvements.
Another promising area
is power generation. In the United States, Bechtel is working to help a number
of power generators to incorporate more sustainable and diversified strategies, including utilizing nonfossil fuels in the form of
large solar projects, as well as clean natural-gas plants, carbon capture, and
nuclear power. Individually and together, they will help to decarbonize the supply of electricity while providing
reliable power.
Developing nations are
also beginning to realize the value of investing in sustainable infrastructure.
Beginning in 2010, with the support of Bechtel, the government of Gabon and
Bechtel started executing a $25 billion national infrastructure master plan,
which placed sustainability front and center. A new government agency, l’Agence
Nationale des Grands Travaux (ANGT), is in charge of implementing the plan. The
goal is ambitious: to build a truly sustainable economy. Part of the support
provided includes working to modernize the construction sector and help it to
perform to international standards. That raises local expertise, enabling
future developments to become self-sustaining.
These examples demonstrate how
investment in specific elements of infrastructure can offer a range of positive
outcomes greater than the sum of their parts. The cumulative impact is a more
livable urban environment and a more productive economy.
By Craig Albert and Tam
Nguyen http://www.mckinsey.com/industries/capital-projects-and-infrastructure/our-insights/how-infrastructure-companies-deliver-real-benefits?cid=other-eml-alt-mip-mck-oth-1610
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