innovation Tag

Technology Highlight: Locating Equipment

05 Aug 2021, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

      This blog series Technology Highlight explores some of the ways that investments in innovation lead to better outcomes for infrastructure and public safety. When technology advances, it often becomes cheaper, more widely available and accessible, and helps facilitate faster, safer, and greener projects. This series launched by…

Going Nuclear Without Melting Down

05 Aug 2021, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

Going Nuclear Irradiated landscapes, poisoned water supplies, the ubiquitous gas masks donned by radiation cleaners in the Chernobyl HBO series: these are the images that come to mind for many when hearing about nuclear power. Needless to say, this dramatized picture of Soviet infrastructure is a far cry from the true…

Technology Highlight: One-Call Centers

29 Jul 2021, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

      This blog series Technology Highlight explores some of the ways that investments in innovation lead to better outcomes for infrastructure and public safety. When technology advances, it often becomes cheaper, more widely available and accessible, and helps facilitate faster, safer, and greener projects. This series launched by…

Avoiding Oil Spills and Pipeline Breakdowns

29 Jul 2021, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

While pipeline spills involving toxic crude oil or methane leaks capture the public imagination, they do not represent all pipeline breakdowns. A different segment of the energy industry, handling more than just oil and gas, also encounters incidents. The upstream sector of the energy industry is responsible for exploration and…

Paths to Broaden Broadband Access

28 Jul 2021, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

Broadband and internet access is an increasingly important. While broadband may seem less important than other infrastructure, it has enormous implications. Rather than causing overt damage and harm like potholes or excavation damage do, lack of access to broadband hinders economic growth, access to information, and participation in additional services like…

Technology Highlight: Improving Access

22 Jul 2021, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

      This blog series Technology Highlight will explore some of the ways that investments in innovation lead to better outcomes for infrastructure and public safety. When technology advances, it often becomes cheaper, more widely available and accessible, and helps facilitate faster, safer, and greener projects. While technology is…

Vertical Farming on the Horizon

22 Jul 2021, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

Farming has been around since the dawn of man and has always managed to keep pace with our needs. Technology has changed many aspects of farming, making it quicker, easier, and more efficient. However, when considering limitations on land and growth in population, there is only so much that technology…

Natural Gas Vehicles May Offer Improvements on Climate and Costs

20 Jul 2021, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

In the race for more viable forms of energy, a promising contender is that of natural gas vehicles (NGV). Rather than traditional gasoline-fueled vehicles, NGVs run on alternative forms of power: liquified natural gas (LNG) or compressed natural gas (CNG). Not only has there been a rise in manufacturing of…

Heat Waves Cost to Infrastructure Add Up for State Governments

16 Jul 2021, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

The Pacific Northwest faced several record-breaking days of sweltering weather during the first week of July. Temperatures in Portland, Oregon reached 116 F, while Lytton, British Columbia broke the Canadian record for highest recorded temperature at 121 F. These heat waves have ramifications for both residents and the underlying infrastructure…

How the Space Race Built Today’s Technology

08 Jul 2021, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

Would you be shocked to learn that many technologies in modern society were not designed for today’s needs? It is almost instinctive to presume that most inventions are created as solutions to current demands, but in fact the opposite is often true. Many technologies used today were actually designed over…

Drones Can Take Infrastructure to New Heights

06 Jul 2021, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

When most people think of drones, they usually picture cool aerial shots streamed on YouTube or advanced military technology. But drones have much wider applicability, including for building and maintaining the world around us. Nowadays, drones are becoming more and more commonplace for infrastructure needs. Whether it is inspecting the…

New Report Shows Over 99.999% of U.S. Hazardous Material Is Transported Safely

01 Jul 2021, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts, Press Releases

Washington, D.C, July 1, 2021 — The Alliance for Innovation and Infrastructure (Aii) released its newest report, How the U.S. Moves Hazardous Materials. The report surveys the safety and effectiveness, climate impact, efficiency, and cost of the four available methods for transporting energy resources: pipelines, trains, trucks, and ships. All…