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Archive for the ‘Sustainability’ Category

AASHTO Video: Transportation Sustainability in Hawaii

Monday, May 9th, 2016

Transportation plays a key role in the economy and in the challenges and opportunities associated with sustainable development. Sustainable transportation addresses local, regional and national priorities and requires considerable coordination. Transportation Sustainability: Hawaii illustrates the holistic approach being taken in that island paradise to meet current and future mobility and accessibility needs while protecting environmental resources.

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CEMAC: 2015 Research Highlights

Friday, May 6th, 2016
Figure 1. Increase in global power generation, by source (1971–2013).

CLEAN ENERGY MANUFACTURING ANALYSIS CENTER
In 2015, CEMAC focused on four technologies: solar photovoltaic modules, wind turbines, automotive lithium-ion batteries, and carbon fiber. The studies on these technologies are summarized in the following section. During these more detailed analyses of our inaugural year, we gained preliminary insights into clean energy manufacturing overall; specifically related to its adaptation to global economic dynamics and the factors influencing the location of manufacturing facilities in a global world.

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Guest on The Infra Blog: Bill Peduto, Mayor of Pittsburgh

Wednesday, May 4th, 2016
Bill Peduto

William Peduto was elected to the office of Mayor of the City of Pittsburgh in the General Election on November 5, 2013. He has worked for 19 years on Pittsburgh City Council, as a staffer and Member of Council representing District 8, and resides in the Point Breeze neighborhood of the city.

“So there’s always been a partnership between the ability to create and innovate and the ability to build—that’s in our DNA. We went through a thirty-year recession/depression, and now we have re-emerged where we were before, which is with a new 21st-century model. When we look at our infrastructure, we have the opportunity to be innovative once again.”

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Grand Challenges for Engineering: Imperatives, Prospects, and Priorities

Monday, May 2nd, 2016
 Wesley Harris

NATIONAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING
Robert Socolow observed that the 14 Grand Challenges fall into four categories. The first is sustainability—maintaining air and water quality, protecting freshwater quantity, preventing sea level rise, keeping forests and other ecosystems in good condition, and minimizing artificially triggered climate change. Next is personal and community health, because, he pointed out, “as individuals we can live fulfilling lives only if we are healthy.” But, he added, “people have a record of being dangerous to each other,” hence the third category, vulnerability and security.

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How Arizona DOT Mitigates its Impact on Wildlife

Monday, May 2nd, 2016

Wildlife crossings are not only for the safety of wildlife. ADOT wants to keep the driving public safe as well. A wildlife strike can be fatal and cause significant property damage. In this video, we focus on the Sonoran Desert Tortoise-and ADOT’s first-ever multi-agency Candidate Conservation Agreement.

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GOOD Magazine: What Would it Take to Power the United States with Solar Energy?

Wednesday, April 27th, 2016

We calculated the land area needed to supply the entire United States with solar power.

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Analytic Research Foundations for the Next-Generation Electric Grid

Tuesday, April 26th, 2016
FIGURE 1.2 U.S. transmission grid.

NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
Mathematical modeling and control of the electric grid has been an active area of research for decades. However, in 1996 a major outage that affected 11 Western states and 2 Canadian provinces—coupled with emerging concerns that computers would malfunction after December 31, 1999—increased awareness of a lack of complete understanding of the overall system and its frailties. For several decades the Electric Power Research Institute funded a program of research to develop tools for recognizing early signs of instability and means to counter them. That research was largely of a mathematical nature.

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The State of the Air 2016

Monday, April 25th, 2016
Figure 1: Air pollution emissions have dropped steadily since 1970 thanks to the Clean Air Act

AMERICAN LUNG ASSOCIATION
The “State of the Air 2016” found continued improvement in air quality in 2012–2014, showing lower levels of year-round particle pollution and ozone. Still, more than half of all Americans—166 million people—live in counties where they are exposed to unhealthful levels of these pollutants.

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Infographic: It Ain’t Easy Bein’ GREEN

Friday, April 22nd, 2016
Infographic: Who

The good news is that 79% of Americans agree that they consider themselves an environmentally conscious person, and only 6% strongly disagree with that statement. But as it turns out, it ain’t easy bein’ green. Only 26% of Americans say that they actually consider the environment in their daily actions beyond recycling and turning off the lights. Moreover, people have widely varying opinions on what’s the best way to reduce their home’s carbon footprint. When they do agree, it’s not always on the highest impact methods.

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Consumer Impacts of California’s Low-Carbon Transportation Policies

Tuesday, April 19th, 2016
Consumer Impacts of California’s Low Carbon Transportation Policies by 2030

CONSUMERS UNION
California is a global leader in developing and implementing clean transportation policies. The State’s regulatory approach is multifold, using various policy instruments to improve the efficiency of vehicles, reduce the carbon intensity of fuels, and increase options for mobility. These policies are a mix of market-based approaches, direct regulation approaches, and planning opportunities. These policies will have impacts on the pricing of consumer goods such as automobiles and fuels– both of which represent a significant share of consumer expenditures.

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