The value of failure
A few weeks ago I met with a student team to coach them on their final report for their senior design project. The students were discouraged because they’d spent two […]
Sustainability
Concrete acceptance testing
Concrete acceptance testing refers to the testing of concrete sampled directly from the ready mixed concrete truck. Its purpose is to verify the compressive strength of the material as delivered […]
Wishcycling
What is wishcycling? As more communities are offering recycling programs, people are finding that it’s complicated. While many items are recyclable, not every facility can recycle them. There’s no universal […]
ASCE Code of ethics
Several previous blogs have cited the NSPE code of ethics to set the ethical context for technical writing. Not surprisingly, the American Society of Civil Engineers also has a code […]
The environmental legacy of coal gas plants
Years ago, I provided litigation support for a consortium of reinsurers of the sites of former coal gas plants. Utilities around the US had inherited these sites. Those in this […]
Q and A: Low-carbon concrete
My project requires low-carbon concrete. What is that, anyway? There’s no universally accepted definition of low-carbon concrete. Typically, though, low-carbon concrete has a lower global warming potential than traditional concrete […]
Extending the life of nuclear power plants
About 20% of Minnesota’s electricity comes from nuclear power plants. Nuclear power provides an important supplement to solar and wind power. Like them, it doesn’t emit CO2, but unlike them […]
Resilient grains could promote food security
Most of the world looks to either wheat or rice as the staff of life. Wheat has been in the news since the Russian invasion of Ukraine disrupted shipments from […]
Supply chain ethics of electric vehicles
Engineering students must demonstrate “an ability to apply engineering design to produce solutions that meet specified needs with consideration of public health, safety, and welfare, as well as global, cultural, social, […]
Prescription to performance
As part of its Prescription to Performance (P2P) initiative, the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association surveyed its members. They wanted to know which prescriptive requirements kept them from optimizing concrete. […]