Infrastructure Tag

A National Comparison to Washington D.C.’s Infrastructure

17 Oct 2023, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

When our Founding Fathers picked ten square miles of swampland on the Northern bank of the Potomac River to house the budding nation’s capital, none of them could imagine what it would look like today. Washington D.C. currently sits as an urban jewel that for some marks the border between…

Why Renewables Will Fail, Unless…

02 Oct 2023, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

“For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.” -H. L. Mencken   The popular level discussion of climate and energy policy often oversimplifies renewables to the point of parody. Many well-meaning, educated, and intelligent people believe renewables will solve global climate issues, power the…

New Nationwide Student Scholarship Competition

24 Aug 2023, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts, Press Releases

For Immediate Release August 24, 2023 RE: Student Scholarship Competition   Hi Education Boosters, Would you mind sharing this opportunity with your students and network? I appreciate your help getting the word out! The Alliance for Innovation and Infrastructure (Aii) is hosting a nationwide OpEd Contest for enrolled college students:…

An NTSB for Natural Disasters?

23 Aug 2023, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has become one of the most trusted organizations in the wake of both national tragedies and lesser known transportation incidents. The fact-focused agency investigates transportation-related incidents to uncover root causes and offer recommendations to industry and policymakers to hopefully prevent future accidents from occurring….

How Excavation Damage Harms the Vulnerable

09 Aug 2023, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

The world beneath our feet is vibrant and complex. Although we cannot see it and often do not think about it, tens of millions of miles of pipelines, cables, and wires run across the country just underfoot. Every time a shovel or power tool makes contact with the dirt to…

Preparing Infrastructure for a New Kind of Natural Disaster: Solar Storms

31 Jul 2023, Posted by Andrew Jefferis in All Posts, Blog Posts

Severe natural disasters are increasing in frequency –at least as measured by cost impact – in the United States, costing billions of dollars to infrastructure and property every year. Roads in the U.S. need more investment to stand up to floods and earthquakes, and insurance for natural disasters are becoming unaffordable…

Federal Government Push Away from Diesel Buses

07 Jul 2023, Posted by Andrew Jefferis in All Posts, Blog Posts

The Department of Transportation under the Biden administration recently announced $1.7 billion in federal grants will be awarded to regional transit agencies so that they can improve their local public transportation services. The grants are coming from programs established by Biden’s 2021 Infrastructure Law that are meant for assisting local…

How 3D Printing Can Change Infrastructure Construction

06 Jul 2023, Posted by Andrew Jefferis in All Posts, Blog Posts

3D printing has come a long way over the past few decades, with the first iterations patented in the 1980s. Since then, the technology has evolved to be useful in a variety of industries including furniture, toys, tools, and more. But one of the most intriguing of the modern uses…

The Infrastructure of the Physical Internet

27 Jun 2023, Posted by Andrew Jefferis in All Posts, Blog Posts

The Internet has become so entrenched in our daily lives that most people never reflect on the technological feats that allow it to happen. Around 85 percent of Americans report using the Internet daily, and millions of people rely on internet functions for their livelihood. Our economy is dependent upon…

America’s Attitude Towards Nuclear Energy

26 Jun 2023, Posted by Andrew Jefferis in All Posts, Blog Posts

Nuclear energy tends to get a bad rap in modern politics. Past accidents such as Chernobyl and Fukushima have scarred the minds of those who were alive to witness the catastrophes and have made it difficult for even newer generations to trust nuclear capabilities. Much of the fear surrounding nuclear…

How the I-95 Collapse Could Affect Passenger Rail

16 Jun 2023, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

On Sunday, June 11th, 2023, at 6:20am a tanker truck carrying 8,500 gallons of gasoline crashed underneath a raised portion of I-95 in Northern Philadelphia, sparking a fire and explosion that caused the bridge to collapse. While the incident is still being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB),…

South Carolina’s Energy Future

09 Jun 2023, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

As temperatures rise and the summer power demand begins to take form, policy makers and industry leaders gathered in Columbia, South Carolina to discuss the state’s energy future. From economic competitiveness to new manufacturing, the need for new and resilient energy to meet current and future demand is essential. The…

What is Decarbonization?

11 May 2023, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

In the United States, the conversation around decarbonization generally centers around the same handful of options. In large part, the policy approaches include tax, subsidy, grants, or favorable regulatory emphasis. The technological and industrial tools for decarbonization often include wind and solar as the popular energy generators, batteries as the…

A Longer View on Longer Trains: Part 3 Climate Impact

08 May 2023, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Analysis, Blog Posts

This is the third and final policy blog in the series investigating train length. The purpose is to survey the impacts and implications of longer trains to the U.S. economy, public safety, and the world. Because railroads are so central to the nation’s supply chain and transportation network, it is…

Differences in Decarbonization

02 May 2023, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

When it comes to decarbonizing the U.S. economy, one could be forgiven for thinking the answer is as simple as ramping up wind and solar. While that is an option – albeit one that on its own would take decades – a more realistic approach is to identify what the…