Phil DeLaine, President and Bob MacKnight, Vice President of United Barrier Technologies, Inc.

Climate change has changed to a climate crisis, increasing the need to innovate solutions to protect communities and their inhabitants against the destructive forces of extreme weather. Phil DeLaine and Bob MacKnight founded United Barrier Technologies (UBT), a small company with big and important ideas. Their patented AI-controlled railcar barriers help prevent flooding and minimize the costly destruction of property and the likelihood of deaths caused by hurricanes, tropical storms, and river overflowing. Their solution is a cost-effective, mobile, and highly reliable alternative to traditional technologies like levees and floodwalls.

Market Opportunity and Current Problems

The prevailing market is dominated by two technologies: levees and floodwalls. However, these permanent structures are not only cost-prohibitive, with costs reaching $86 million per linear mile, but also pose many other challenges. First, levees and floodwalls often obstruct the waterfront views and limit water access, which significantly minimizes the appeal of coastal areas and riverfront communities. Secondly, the levees and floodwalls are unreliable and tend to fail catastrophically at critical times, as witnessed in disasters like Hurricane Katrina.

Bob adds, "They also fail due to a lack of adaptability and flexibility. Once you build a Levee 10ft high, you cannot make it taller very easily. You must rebuild it because it has to be wider to get taller. Our solution is a rail car. You swap it out and get a taller rail car if needed. Communities can have a taller wall in 48 hours instead of ten years."

Phil adds, "Levees and floodwalls will always fail over time. We don't know when they're going to fail. Well, we know approximately when, but they will fail at some point over the next 20, 30, 40, 50 years, they're going to fail. And when they fail, they're going to cause damage to precious property and to people that they are supposed to protect."

With more severe weather occurrences like hurricanes, tropical storms, and hefty rains increasing every year and billions upon billions of dollars needed for disaster relief, the time for an effective solution like United Barrier Technologies is now.

UBT's Solution

Phil and Bob's innovation has it all: mobility, adaptability, affordability and reliability in an industry where change and innovation are nonexistent. "Levees have been around for 5,000 years. The Hittites and the Egyptians used dirt walls to stop water. It's an ancient pre-industrial solution. Our solution is manufactured. It's a modern solution, and it's built out of steel. It's technology. It's the first major innovation in this space ever."

Unlike static/permanent levees and floodwalls, UBT's railcar-based barrier can be deployed on demand, offering a scalable and efficient solution to the increasing threat of flooding. UBT also ensures a timely response to varying flood scenarios with its ability to deploy specialized railcars, and assemble and disassemble them into a water barrier using AI-enabled software.

The best feature? UTB’s barriers cannot breach or fail, thereby providing a level of reliability that traditional technologies lack. Phil adds, "Our solution can't be breached. It cannot fail. And that alone should be a reason why everybody should, you be like, 'Wow, let's do this.'"

Future Vision

Looking ahead, Bob and Phil envision a future where their technology becomes a standard in flood control. The scalability of their solution, combined with the prospect of environmentally friendly, electric self-propelled railcar versions, positions UBT as a global player in addressing flooding challenges worldwide. As climate change accelerates, the affordability, adaptability and effectiveness of UBT's solution become increasingly crucial and offers a proactive approach to protecting communities worldwide.

United Barrier Technologies stands at the forefront of climate resilience by offering a transformative solution to the global climate crisis. As hurricanes, river flooding, and extreme weather events become more prevalent, the need for adaptive and reliable flood protection like United Barrier Technologies has never been more urgent.