+ Image Courtesy of the Institute for Market Transformation The Institute for Market Transformation soon will update its map of building benchmarking and disclosure policies to reflect a change from commercial policy interest to the commercial policy adopted by the city of Cambridge, Mass. The number of U.S. jurisdictions with building energy-use and disclosure laws has gone up for the second time this year. Thanks to a unanimous vote on July 28 by the Cambridge City Council, the Massachusetts city of 105,000 residents joins its larger neighbor, Boston, and 11 other jurisdictions that require disclosure of energy consumption by owners
The original name of the beleaguered 22-acre sports village in Brooklyn—a $4.9-billion development that overcame myriad lawsuits, years of controversy, an architect switch and the recession—has not survived. The controversial mixed-used project formerly known as Atlantic Yards is now called "Pacific Park Brooklyn."The renaming comes two months after the formalization of the sale of 70 percent of the development—exclusive of the nearly two-year-old Barclays Center arena and the B2 Bklyn apartment building under construction—to Greenland USA, a subsidiary of Shanghai-based Greenland Group Co., by Forest City Enterprises Inc., the parent company of the original developer Forest City Ratner Cos.Greenland Forest
PPL Electric Utilities, Allentown, Pa., unveiled plans on July 31 for a 725-mile, 500-kV transmission line that would carry shale-gas-generated power from western Pennsylvania's Marcellus region into New Jersey and New York and south to Maryland. The project could cost between $4 billion to $6 billion in construction, said PPL.The project has a number of potential benefits, including improved reliability, added substation security and reduced congestion in the region, PPL President Gregory Dudkin said during a conference call with analysts.He noted that the project also would reduce the cost to connect potential generation built in the region to the transmission
Photo Courtesy of Kenya Pipeline Co. The 450-km, 20-in.-dia pipeline will link East Africa's trade gateway of Mombasa to Kenyas capital, Nairobi. Related Links: $650-Million Airport Project in Kenya Breaks Ground New Phase for Alaska's Massive LNG Pipeline Project Lebanese family-owned firm Zakhem International Construction is set to build a $490-million multi-product oil pipeline in Kenya after a petition challenging the award of the contract was thrown out in mid-July by a government procurement agency.The 450-kilometer, 20-in.-dia pipeline linking East Africa's trade gateway of Mombasa to Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, will ease transportation of fuel to the land-locked economies of Uganda,
Image courtesy of Frankfurt Zoological Society. Map highlights the proposed highway. Related Links: Court Ruling Endangers Serengeti Road Project Tanzania Drives On With Planned Road Through Serengeti Park A three-year suit challenging the construction of a 53-kilometer highway in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania’s World Heritage site, has ended, and the country has been permanently restrained from proceeding with the project.The First Instance Division of the East African Court of Justice ruled on June 20 that the project would violate the East African Community (EAC) Treaty, to which Tanzania is a signatory, and have a serious negative ecological impact in the
Metro systems are vital circulatory systems for moving large numbers of residents, commuters and tourists around large cities. Metros are mass-transit systems that are generally heavy rail lines that operate on their own rights-of-way, whether underground, at grade or on elevated viaducts. They are distinct from light-rail and commuter rail networks.According to the International Association of Public Transport (UITP), the world's 148 metro systems carry, every day, more than 150 million passengers on 540 lines over 11,000 kilometers to and from 9,000 stations.Since the earliest metro systems were built more than 100 years ago, there have been many advances in
Courtesy AECOM High-speed rail would be built in stages over the next 20 years. Related Links: Calif. High-Speed Rail Moves Forward, Slowly California High-Speed Rail Plan Faces Funding Deadline The money is already starting to move to firms like AECOM and Tutor Perini following a California budget resolution earlier this summer that cleared the way for a continuous, year-over-year, funding stream for the state’s ambitious high-speed rail project. Top engineering and construction firms—likely to be called upon to build, and also finance the project—have been waiting for long-term public funding commitments before risking their own capital and labor, says Stephen
Related Links: Gas-Fired Projects Are Gaining Momentum Fertilizer Plants Popping Up Across Grain Belt Nigeria and Tanzania have approved plans for the construction of fertilizer production plants, now at different stages of development, as they seek private project developers to capitalize on their huge natural gas resources.West-Africa focused consortium Brass Fertilizer Company signed a deal with Engineers India Limited in late May to provide project management services for its upcoming integrated green field gas-based fertilizer complex comprising of urea/methanol plant at Brass Island, Nigeria. The value of the consultancy contract could not be immediately confirmed.Brass Fertilizer Company investors include a
Related Links: Pipeline Opponents Say Project Is No Longer Economically Justifiable PSB halts Vermont Gas pipeline project along VELCO route Vermont Gas's contentious natural-gas pipeline extension to connect service areas in Chittenden and Franklin counties is temporarily on hold. The Vermont Public Service Board (PSB) on July 25 ordered the utility to halt construction until it filed a soil management plan.Opponents allege construction in VELCO's transmission-line corridor could possibly release hazardous chemicals present in the soil. Pentachlorophenol (PCP), a wood preservative used to treat utility poles, has been detected near the pipeline route in a Monkton resident's well, according to
Courtesy of Paresa SpA Refinery upgrade in Algiers, Algeria, is set for completion by year-end under a $908-million contract, awarded in 2010 to Paris-based Technip. Africa is poised to expand its crude refining capacity by an additional 1.6 million barrels per day when refinery projects underway in four countries are completed and operating. Despite competition from cheap fuel imports, viability questions related to small regional refinery projects and unreliable crude-oil supply, Algeria, Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda are proceeding with plans to increase their crude refining capacities to wean themselves off reliance on imports.Algeria’s state-owned oil firm Sonatrach Petroleum has
RSS
