Infra Views

End-of-Life Management: Solar Photovoltaic Panels

Wednesday, July 13th, 2016
Overview of global PV panel waste projections, 2016-2050

INTERNATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY AGENCY (IRENA)
Growing PV panel waste presents a new environmental challenge, but also unprecedented opportunities to create value and pursue new economic avenues. These include recovery of raw material and the emergence of new solar PV end-of-life industries. Sectors like PV recycling will be essential in the world’s transition to a sustainable, economically viable and increasingly renewables-based energy future. To unlock the benefits of such industries, the institutional groundwork must be laid in time to meet the expected surge in panel waste.

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NACTO Policy Statement on Automated Vehicles

Tuesday, July 12th, 2016

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CITY TRANSPORTATION OFFICIALS (NACTO)
Positioning new mobility services to provide access and mobility to all, and to buttress rather than undermine the successful transit lines at the heart of our cities, is vital to realizing the value of fully automated vehicles for mobility. At the same time, policy at every level of government should address head-on the destructive potential for increased traffic, emissions from additional driving, and on-street congestion that could easily result from automated vehicle technology.

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Using Data to Foster Biking and Walking to School

Monday, July 11th, 2016
Safe Routes to School

SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL NATIONAL PARTNERSHIP

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Germs On Mass Transit

Friday, July 8th, 2016
FIG 1 Collection of samples from MBTA trains and stations.

AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR MICROBIOLOGY
In conjunction with other published investigations, this work helps to characterize the “urban microbiome” and, in doing so, adds to our understanding of how these microbial communities are formed, maintained, and transferred. Such studies fall in a critical space between the categories of environmental and human-associated microbial ecology and as such must address the challenges of both. Improved approaches to such studies should include designing studies with rich metadata, including architectural features, human contact, environmental exposure, surface type, and surface material; accounting for a wide range of potential biochemical environments, contaminants, and biomass levels; and involving institutional review boards, city officials, and engineers as appropriate.

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Shaping the Future of Construction: A Breakthrough in Mindset and Technology

Thursday, July 7th, 2016
Figure 1: Industry Transformation Framework

WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
The Engineering & Construction (E&C) industry strongly affects the economy, the environment and society as a whole. It touches the daily lives of everyone, as quality of life is heavily influenced by the built environment surrounding people. The construction industry serves almost all other industries, as all economic value creation occurs within or by means of buildings or other “constructed assets”. As an industry, moreover, it accounts for 6% of global GDP. It is also the largest global consumer of raw materials, and constructed objects account for 25-40% of the world’s total carbon emissions.

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Exposed: How America’s Electric Grids Are Becoming Greener, Smarter — and More Vulnerable

Wednesday, July 6th, 2016
U.S. GDP Associated with America’s Transportation and Information Sectors

MANHATTAN INSTITUTE
Electric grids have always been vulnerable to natural hazards and malicious physical attacks. Now the U.S. faces a new risk—cyberattacks—that could threaten public safety and greatly disrupt daily life.

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Philadelphia, PA: Transit, Density and Opportunity

Tuesday, July 5th, 2016
FIGURE 1: REGIONAL JOBS AND TRANSIT LINES BY PHILADEPHIA AREA AND SUBURBAN MUNICIPALITY

CENTER CITY DISTRICT
Transit is not just a convenience; it is essential to the density that enables Center City to provide 42% of all jobs in Philadelphia. If downtown workers relied on cars to the same degree as commuters across the region, then 295,000 workers would arrive each day in 227,150 cars. At 330 square feet per parking space, we would need a giant, surface parking lot of 2.6 square miles – larger than William Penn’s original plan for the city (2.2 square miles river to river, Vine to South) – leaving little room for the office buildings, hotels, hospitals, universities, residences, cultural institutions, historic destinations, restaurants, retail shops and parks that define the diversity and create employment opportunities downtown.

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What’s In Your Water? Flint and Beyond

Monday, July 4th, 2016
NRDC - Drinking Water Pipes

NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL (NRDC)
While Flint represents a clear case of extreme lead contamination, it does not have a monopoly on serious lead problems. In order to evaluate the national extent of violations of the Lead and Copper Rule, NRDC has obtained official EPA violation and enforcement records. We have conducted extensive data analysis, using geographic information system (GIS) mapping software to highlight and map the scope of lead-related issues in drinking water systems across the United States.

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Global Infrastructure Spending Outlook

Friday, July 1st, 2016
Figure 1. Seven regional groupings

PWC
OXFORD ECONOMICS
Oxford Economics estimates that if conditions stay as they are – what we are calling the baseline projection – capital project and infrastructure spending growth will likely remain low, hovering at about 2%, over the coming year, before inching up in 2017 and reaching about 5% in 2020. The improvement would be driven mainly by higher oil. However, even at 5% growth, infrastructure spending growth would be well below its double-digit levels before the global financial crisis.

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The Interstate Highway System turns 60: Challenges to Its Ability to Continue to Save Lives, Time and Money

Thursday, June 30th, 2016
Percent Urban Interstates Congested

TRIP
In this report, TRIP looks at the history and benefits of the Interstate Highway System, its current use and condition, and the future needs of the nation’s most critical transportation system. Sources of data for the report include the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and the U.S. Census Bureau.

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