Wi goose cook!
1:31 pm, Tue August 13, 2024
By Kayon Stokes
I remember growing up in Jamaica and feeling the distinct changes in the seasons. The sun was warm and the cool breeze was always inviting. Today, the perpetual stillness seems eerie as if someone turned up the heat index on the sun that now burns the skin instantly and attacks all exposed body parts mercilessly.
Prognostications about the catch phrases ‘global warming’ and ‘climate change’ have become our reality.
Warning: Brace for Impact
As the first winds of Hurricane Beryl blew, I was out of JPS power. I was not sure if it was turned off, or if the light poles had surrendered so soon. And, yes, my investment in a generator many moons ago kicked in but most of my neighbors’ meats began their impending thaw.
Beryl was predicted to be a direct hit and then it wasn’t, nonetheless, the trees and light poles danced to her beat and again our quality of life was compromised. She passed, swiftly, but left a long-standing reminder by way of massive devastation of homes, livelihoods, not to mention the rebirth of hungry and vicious single-minded female mosquitoes mercilessly pounding into flesh; that will give rise to the various disease outbreaks they are so famously known for. But this was just the beginning….
Predictions
This year, The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration predicts a high likelihood (85% chance) of an above-normal Atlantic hurricane season (2), with 17-25 named storms (average is 14), 8-13 hurricanes (average is 7), and 4-7 major hurricanes (average is 3) (3). Of the 25 systems predicted in this hurricane season, 4 are expected to hit our region with cat 4-5 strength.
Cry For Help
The Prime Minister of Jamaica promises to “build back better” and promises a change in government policy around infrastructure.
What does this really mean? Is it better to continue to erect poles above ground that are waiting to kiss the terrain as soon as the next swift wind blows?
Does it mean continuing with what seems like a short-sighted view of band aiding the glaring need rather than getting to the root of the infrastructure problem?
Perhaps ‘build back better’ can be the genesis for introducing a new way of thinking as it relates to our infrastructure (energy and telecommunications).
I haven’t even mentioned the aesthetics of wires traversing neighborhoods while giving off toxins lethal enough to shred our body parts, to rival any long-term exercise routine. While not spending too much time on this wicket, it may be in our best interest to preserve the aesthetic quality of landscapes and urban areas by undergrounding power transmission and distribution lines.
Power lines and transformers are conduits of electric and magnetic fields that can directly affect one’s health if safe distances are not maintained.
In one study, it is recommended that 200 meters is a good safe distance, which usually ensures values corresponding to the population average. Depending on the loads served by each line you can record normal levels of magnetic fields even 50 meters or less from the cables.
Cost, Strategy and Economic Impact
Trivia: Will it cost more to continuously and repeatedly restore fallen poles and snapped wires as opposed to making the investment in putting the energy transmitting wires in the safety of the underground?
In this regard, while I remain optimistic that we have started this conversation with an open mind, thanks to previously written articles on the subject, I find it prudent to highlight another 2012 study on the cost and reliability comparisons of underground and overhead power lines conducted by Fenrick, S., & Getachew, L. “Holding the effects of other important operating variables constant, our research indicates that undergrounding reduces O&M cost and enhances reliability by reducing power outage durations.
Better quality of life
In this vein, a move to subterranean wires should afford us fewer disruptions to businesses, schools, telecommunications and overall productivity.
Might I invite our political leadership to revisit the energy infrastructure policy and devise a plan to properly and expertly move electronic and communication wires underground on a phased basis.
Allow me to suggest some basic steps:
Borrow from the spectacular highway project plan
Mobilize a team of experts in the field to begin the preliminary conversations
Institute building code adjustments that offer subterranean wires as a requirement rather than an option
Mirror what works: There is an attractively and efficiently designed neighborhood in Spanish Town, for example, built by a US contractor where only solar street lights are visible above ground. During Beryl’s swift visit, this neighborhood did not experience any loss of the basics.
I am pleased to see that we have started the conversation about sustainable infrastructure, particularly as it relates to subterranean wires. Perhaps there is hope. And if enough of our beautiful minds come together to address this obvious issue strategically, I am hopeful that we will as a nation realize the benefits.
Kayon Stokes is an entrepreneur

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