Clean Water Crisis: Solar Power Microgrids and Water Desalination Address Global Concerns
Indirect desalination uses electricity generated by solar cells to power a membrane process. Collectively, humans are using Earth’s natural resources at a greater rate than it takes for nature to replenish them. This contention has been widely observed and confirmed by leading environmental scientists and authorities. Fresh water, one of the natural resources indispensable for us to stay alive, is drying up. A sizable number of communities currently don’t have access to clean drink...
Grand Paris Requires Grand Surveying
Advanced surveying solutions for tunneling and monitoring help speed construction of the largest regional transportation expansion in Europe. One of the most visited and beloved cities in the world, “The City of Light” began the Grand Paris initiative in 2007 with the goal of keeping Paris competitive with the world’s greatest cities into the 21st century. The Grand Paris project aims to improve quality of life, social and economic sustainability, strategic development, and enviro...
Sensitively Restoring Historic Structures to Meet Today’s Engineering Standards
Built in 1901 and located on the original Montgomery County Fairgrounds in Dayton, Ohio, Barn No. 17 has been completely disassembled and rebuilt a little more than a mile away at its new location in Carillon Historical Park. (Woolpert) Restoring the integrity, significance and character of a historic building—while bringing modern-day efficiencies and comfort—can be a lengthy process fraught with challenges, but a completed project is always worth the effort. Repurposing an old, abando...
Getting Around Riyadh: A New Transit System Takes Shape
A new metro line in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, will span 109 miles and include 85 stations and six rail lines. (Métro_de_Riyad_©_Avant_Première) The 100-mile-plus metro line will help ease congestion in the fast-growing capital of Saudi Arabia. Beginning in 2021, traveling in the city of Riyadh will never be the same. A new rapid transit system spanning 176 kilometers (109 miles) will help ease traffic congestion in the capital of Saudi Arabia. The $22.5 billion project will inc...
Erosion-Control Success Stories: Position Your Business to Best Serve Client Needs
A HydroGrass Technologies worker applies GeoEarth erosion control with TerraMax equipment. (Hydrograss Technologies) California’s wildfire season is looming. Hurricane season begins June 1. Climate-change concerns are leading to strengthening infrastructure. Federal and state infrastructure spending is taking shape. People are heading back to work as pandemic-related restrictions ease up. These factors present opportunities for new infrastructure projects as well as rehabilitating...
How to Manage Routine Maintenance Work on a Busy Construction Site
With multiple contractors and disciplines working separately yet simultaneously, a construction site can be a hectic place. It can be difficult for a construction manager to keep up with everything that’s happening, including budget, schedule adherence, safety hazards, material inventory, labor availability and more. Maintenance may not always be at the forefront of a manager’s mind, but a poor maintenance program can sink a construction project. In fact, each of the worries previously listed...
Dubai: Mapping the Smart Path to Happiness
The city of Dubai takes its smartness and its happiness very seriously. In fact, happiness is the stated end goal of all the ambitious and clever initiatives the city launched since the start of its Smart Dubai program in 2013. The all-encompassing strategy influenced the creation of the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) first-ever Minister for Happiness and Wellbeing, and it’s ultimate aim is to transform Dubai into the smartest and happiest city on Earth. A significant part of Smart Dubai has bee...
Automation Is Coming to Your CMT Lab
In the field, technicians sample fresh concrete and cast cylinders to cure in the testing lab. Specimens tagged by hand. Results written on clipboards. Data entered, line by painstaking line. Materials testing has always been overly manual. Then COVID-19 happened. The traditional construction materials testing (CMT) workflow is, unequivocally, a human-dependent process. Humans write things down. Humans hand things off. Humans read what’s been recorded by other humans. Pretty much every...
Digital Twins: Cutting Through the Hype From Concept to Operations
A digital twin of a pump room and its operations dashboard. (KCI Technologies, Inc.) The Future, Now In a brand-new highrise office building in the heart of Chicago, a facility-maintenance manager gets a notice on her cellphone that a pump is operating outside its normal parameters. After reviewing the pump specs on the mobile dashboard, she notes a failure is imminent and shuts down the pump. Viewing a 3D model of the pump room, she notes the location, model number and warranty inform...
Video Interviews: 2021 IECA Award Winners
The International Erosion Control Association (IECA) announced winners or a variety of awards during the virtual IECA Annual Conference and Expo held in February 2021. The IECA awards program recognizes outstanding achievements in the erosion and sediment control and stormwater industries. This year’s awards recognized young professionals under 30 and under 40, sustained partners, outstanding professional, sustained contributor and the environmental excellence award. Todd Danielson, the ed...
Video: Crashes Drop Measurably After Rural Road Safety Improvement Project on US 521 in Lancaster County
AdventHealth Weaverville Hospital
June Issue 2026
.jpg?width=225)