• Are Buyouts a Viable Tool for Climate Adaptation?

    Sea level rise, and the resulting storm surges and floods, have made managed coastal retreat – the purposeful movement of people, buildings, and other infrastructure away from the coast – an option which more and more communities are considering. The need for adaptive solutions to the growing coastal challenges is clear, but questions remain as to where buyouts by the government of vacated property can and should fit in.

  • Recent Technology Cost Forecasts Underestimate Pace of Technological Change

    A comparison of observed global energy technology costs, with forecasts generated by models and forecasts predicted by human experts, showed that both forecasting methods underestimated cost reductions. This suggests that decisions based on forecasts may be overestimating the cost of climate mitigation and points to the need to further improve forecasting methods.

  • Why “Nuclear Batteries” Offer a New Approach to Carbon-Free Energy

    Much as large, expensive, and centralized computers gave way to the widely distributed PCs of today, a new generation of relatively tiny and inexpensive factory-built reactors, designed for autonomous plug-and-play operation similar to plugging in an oversized battery, is on the horizon. These microreactors, trucked to usage sites, could be a safe, efficient option for decarbonizing electricity systems.

  • Ransomware Cyberattack Hits Hundreds of U.S. Businesses

    U.S. IT company Kaseya urged its customers to shut down their servers after hackers smuggled ransomware onto its network. Such attacks infiltrate widely used software and demand ransom to regain access. The REvil gang, a major Russian-speaking ransomware syndicate, appears to be behind the attack.

  • Better Method to Predict Offshore Wind Power

    Offshore wind is maturing into a major source of renewable energy, and is projected to grow 15-fold by 2040 to become a $1 trillion industry. Researchers have developed a machine learning model using a physics-based simulator and real-world meteorological data to better predict offshore wind power.

  • Physics-Based Instruction Leads to Success for Geothermal Drilling

    Using the earth’s subsurface heat to change water to steam and power generators to produce electricity is not a new idea. The first large-scale geothermal electricity-generating plant opened in the U.S. in 1960 and has grown to become the most significant energy complex of its kind in the world. But while advances in technology have improved energy production efficiency, one aspect of tapping this renewable resource is still highly cost-prohibitive to those wanting to invest in it: Drilling into the earth.

  • Florida Condo Collapse – Searching for Answers about What Went Wrong in Surfside Can Improve Building Regulation

    How does a building stand for 40 years and then collapse, perhaps with little or no warning? Why did it collapse so that part of the building stayed up, sparing many lives? It might take months or longer for engineers to find answers to these questions. But those reports, when they do come, are important because engineers can use them to improve building codes and other safety measures – and hopefully prevent future collapses.

  • Supply Chains Have a Cyber Problem

    If it wasn’t clear before the cyberattacks on, JBS S.A. and Colonial Pipeline, it’s now painfully clear that the intersection of cyberattacks and supply chains creates a wicked new form of risk—and the stakes are as much about national security as they are economics.

  • Colorado River’s Low-Flow Sheds Light on Eventual New Normal for Grand Canyon

    The Colorado River follows a 1,450-mile route generally southwest from north central Colorado to just east of Las Vegas. From there it turns south to form Arizona’s western border with Nevada and California, and then the border between Mexican states Sonora and Baja California before emptying into the Gulf of California. Between the U.S. and Mexico, 40 million people depend on water from the Colorado.As the climate continues to warm and the amount of water available for humans continues to drop, low flows may become the new normal, he added.

  • For Flood-Prone Cities, Seawalls Raise as Many Questions as They Answer

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, whose mission includes maintaining waterways and reducing disaster risks, has recently proposed building large and expensive seawalls to protect a number of U.S. cities, neighborhoods and shorelines from coastal storms and rising seas. As a scientist who studies the evolution and development of coastlines and the impacts of sea level rise, I believe that large-scale seawalls, which cost billions of dollars to build, are almost certainly a short-term strategy that will protect only a few cities, and will protect only selected portions of those cities effectively.

  • Harvesting Fresh Water from Humidity around the Clock

    Fresh water is scarce in many parts of the world and must be obtained at great expense. Communities near the ocean can desalinate sea water for this purpose, but doing so requires a large amount of energy. Further away from the coast, practically often the only remaining option is to condense atmospheric humidity through cooling. Current technologies allow water harvesting only at night, but a new technology, for the first time, allows water harvesting 24 hours around the clock, even under the blazing sun.

  • Why Did the Miami Apartment Building Collapse? And Are Others in Danger?

    It is too early to tell what caused the collapse of the Champlain Towers South Tower, but the following causes are now being examined: a progressive collapse as a result of a failure of a primary structural element, which then causes failure of adjoining members; the building was constructed on reclaimed wetlands, which may have been sinking; there was also construction work ongoing nearby, which could have disturbed the foundations; if there was a reduction in the capacity of the soil to support these loads, such as in the event of a sinkhole, there would be nothing underpinning the building.

  • Military and Defense-Related Supply Chains

    The military services, geographic combatant commanders, the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), and other combat support agencies have different responsibilities and incentives, and their management of their supply chains reflect these differences. These incentives drive behavior that makes individual sense for the organizations, but might not result in overall effectiveness in supporting the needs of operating forces.

  • New Irrigation Tool Promotes Efficient Water Use and Environmental Stewardship

    Irrigation technology has developed to the point where pressurized pipes can deliver water for irrigation while generating in-conduit hydropower that can be used to power electric pumps that currently rely on diesel, and in the future, also power electric tractors and combines.

  • A Simple Simulation Helps Coastal Towns Plan for Rising Sea Levels

    Climate change causes sea level rise and increasingly strong coastal storms. Knowing how water moves through coastal structures can yield important insights for residents and planners.