Related Links: PwC Report-Shale Gas: New conventions for unconventional development for the engineering and construction industry IEA World Energy Outlook 2013 Report The U.S. will become the world's biggest oil producer within two years, but rising global supplies of shale and other unconventional oils will not reduce the need for OPEC's oil over the next two decades, the Paris-based International Energy Agency said on Nov. 12.Non-OPEC oil production will rise to 52.9 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2035, up from 49.4 million bpd in 2012 but down from a peak of 55.1 million bpd in 2025, the IEA said
U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Ricardo R. Guzma U.S. Navy helicopter drops relief supplies on Nov. 14 at Tacloban Airfield in the Philippines. View from relief-effort military helicopter shows breadth of damaged area. One week after Typhoon Haiyan hammered the central Philippines, a key road in one of the hardest-hit areas has been cleared and relief aid is starting to flow. But the damage is severe and extensive, and it is likely to be some time before major cleanup and rebuilding can begin.While it was not immediately clear how involved engineering and construction firms would be in
Photo courtesy of ARTBA Automotive manufacturing insiders told TransOvation attendees that smart vehicles will be on the road within the next decade. Related Links: Intelligent Vehicles, Tools and Collaboration Hot Topics At Transportation Meeting http://enr.construction.com/infrastructure/transportation/2013/0128-intelligent-vehicles-tools-and-collaboration-hot-topics-at-meeting.asp Thought leaders in transportation and technology are pondering how to prepare "dumb" U.S. infrastructure for the addition of "smart" automated and automation-assisted vehicles. Cars that can drive themselves and "talk" to other cars may bring big potential benefits in terms of capacity and safety but equally big risks in cyber-security and legal issues.Citing the example of how smart phones have caused a sea change in
Photo by AP Wideworld Typhoon Haiyan slammed into the Visayan Islands in the central Philippines on Nov. 8 with sustained winds in excess of 148 miles per hour and storm surges estimated between 15 ft and 19 ft.It is reported to be one of the strongest storms to make landfall in history and comes on the heels of a magnitude-7.2 earthquake that hit, on Oct. 15, the central Visayan island of Bohol, destroying and weakening many buildings. The typhoon reportedly wiped out the port city of Tacloban on the island of Leyte. Initial estimates put the death toll at 10,000.Damage
Related Links: Arkansas Spill Zone Residents Await Plan to Return Home; New Leak in Missouri Ruptured Section of Arkansas Pipeline Sent for Lab Tests ExxonMobil Corp. violated federal safety regulations while operating the Pegasus pipeline that dumped about 5,000 barrels of oil in a Mayflower, Ark., neighborhood in March and should pay more than $2.6 million in penalties, a federal regulator determined.The U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), in a notice issued Nov. 6, claims ExxonMobil, and its ExxonMobil Pipeline Co., did not pay attention to known problems with pipeline integrity in 1991, 2005 and 2006.“The operator experienced
Photo Courtesy Silverstein Properties After five years of construction, 4 WTC—the first tower on the original 16-acre World Trade Center site—was set to open on Nov. 13.Designed by Fumihiko Maki, the 977-ft-tall office building is the shortest of the four towers planned for the site. Tishman Construction is the construction manager for the 2.3-million-sq-ft structure as well as for 1 WTC, which is set to open early next year, and 3 WTC, a 1,170-ft tower whose eight-story podium is nearly completed. Two WTC has so far been built to street level. The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey
Related Links: The Spanish Conductor Orchestrating Hochtief's Makeover Elbphilharmonie Website Video: Hamburg's White Elephant With shimmering facades and roofs soaring 110 meters above the River Elbe, Hamburg's philharmonic concert center will create a maritime landmark for the city's old-harbor redevelopment when it opens in late 2016. By then, the Elbphilharmonie project will be some six years late and, at $695-million, more than double the original cost.The north German city's officials and the project team agree that hasty procurement led to debilitating hostility between the main parties. Converting the construction contract to design-build project delivery a few months ago put the
Related Links: After Dike Failure, TVA Cleans Area Near Kingston Coal Plant Cleanup from TVA Coal Ash Disaster Breaks New Ground The Tennessee Valley Authority should implement a groundwater protection plan to minimize the degradation of aquifers near its coal-fired plants, the Environmental Integrity Project says in a Nov. 6 report. The group credited the federal power producer for its decision to phase out ash ponds and replace them with landfills, which TVA did after about 5.4 million cu yd of wet ash from the 1,456-MW Kingston, Tenn., plant flowed over about 300 acres and into the Emory River in
Photos Courtesy of Nalcor Energy Sitework at Canada's Muskrat Falls hydropower project got off the ground before investors were lined up to finance the project. Related Links: Red River Flood-Control Scheme Moves One Step Closer to Implementation Old Dams, New Power: Powerplant Owners Swap Turbines, Upgrade Powerhouses British Columbia's $6-Billion Hydropower Fix Will Address Capacity and Seismic Issues Big questions loom now that Nalcor Energy has named Astaldi Canada, a subsidiary of one of Italy's largest construction firms, as contractor for the $1-billion civil-works construction at the Muskrat Falls hydropower development on Canada's Lower Churchill River in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Related Links: Virginia Takes Steps To Propel Two Transportation Projects Proposed Tolls On Existing Road Ignite Lawsuit Public-private partnerships in U.S. transportation got a big legal "treat" on Oct. 31, when the Virginia Supreme Court overruled a lower court's decision against the state's P3 legislation.In May, the Portsmouth circuit court ruled in favor of Danny Meeks, et al, which challenged the Virginia Dept. of Transportation's (VDOT) right to use tolls to fund a $2.1-billion project that would build a new tube parallel to the 50-year-old, 4,300-ft-long Midtown Tunnel. The court ruled that allowing VDOT to set toll rates on the
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