Breaking News: National Infrastructure

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The Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA) has partnered with Wayne State University to develop its Workforce Development and Pipe Management Program, which will help recruit, teach and graduate the next generation of water pipeline managers. The two-year program will begin July 1, 2024, and will be supported by a contract totaling more than $480,000.

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New research in the journal Risk Analysis has confirmed that longer freight trains bring with them a higher risk of derailment.

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In the aftermath of the collapse of Baltimore’s Frances Scott Key Bridge, authorities are trying to figure out what went wrong and how the collision of the heavily traveled structure with a container cargo ship brought it crumbling down into the Patapsco River. Video shows the massive bridge buckling and tumbling into the water in a matter of seconds. Erin Bell, chair and professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of New Hampshire, is an expert on bridge construction and points to the structure of the bridge as a possible weakness. She can provide insight into how such a large span could come down so easily—sharing details on how bridges are made, what needs to happen to cause such a devastating collapse and if this could happen with other major bridges.

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An interdisciplinary team of experts from the University of Notre Dame, in collaboration with the University of Maryland and University of Utah, have found a way to use artificial intelligence to analyze a household’s passive design characteristics and predict its energy expenses with more than 74 percent accuracy. By combining their findings with demographic data including poverty levels, the researchers have created a comprehensive model for predicting energy burden across 1,402 census tracts and nearly 300,000 households in Chicago.

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Historically "redlined" areas – neighborhoods with primarily Black or immigrant communities – are exposed to more air pollution than other urban neighborhoods. According to research published in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology, the cause could relate to nearby highways or industrial parks.

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We’re all about finding new ways to save energy and money at the Department of Energy (DOE), especially when it comes to our facilities.

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Leading scientists are today calling for an urgent step change in global governance to save the future of worldwide cities and the planet at large.

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The software tool sorts through messy data to reveal what’s really going on with solar panels on cloudy and sunny days.

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Researchers from Osaka University and their collaborating partners improve the efficiency of thermoelectric conversion from a semiconductor, which could help optimize the efficiency and sustainability of the global digital transformation.

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Conserving water won’t be enough to restore the depleted Great Salt Lake, the signature Utah landscape whose existence as a functioning ecosystem remains seriously imperiled from low water levels and rising salinity. Much of the water saved by Utah cities and farms through various conservation measures will have to be allowed to flow into the terminal lake if its levels are to rebound and remain at a safe level, according to Utah’s Great Salt Lake Strike Team. The panel of university and agency experts has released its latest data analysis just ahead of Utah’s upcoming legislative session.

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A new report from the Schatz Energy Research Center at Cal Poly Humboldt evaluates potential scenarios for electric grid transmission development to support floating offshore wind along the northern coast of California and the southern coast of Oregon.