Author: Isaac Gendler

How Risk Analysis Can Be Used to Determine an Area’s Proneness to Wildfires

How Risk Analysis Can Be Used to Determine an Area’s Proneness to Wildfires

How Risk Analysis Can Be Used to Determine an Area’s Proneness to Wildfires

09/08/19

“How can we use risk analysis techniques to assess an area’s proneness to wildfires?”

With the ascent of climate change, the natural environment is becoming more unstable. In dry areas with sufficient vegetation, this means that wildfires are becoming more common. As such, people will need to understand what areas of liable to become aflame. This can be accomplished using risk analysis techniques which take into account the dryness, lack of rainfall, and temperatures of a particular area to produce a risk assessment. This is How Risk Analysis Can Be Used to Determine an Area’s Proneness to Wildfires.

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How Probability Distributions Can Help with Risk Assessment

How Probability Distributions Can Help with Risk Assessment

How Probability Distributions Can Help with Risk Assessment

09/07/19

“How can we use probability distributions to create risk assessments?”

One of the most important parts of any engineering project is to analyze the risks involved in any process. However, quantifying these issues can prove to be quite difficult. To solve this, statisticians and engineers have worked together to create methods based upon preexisting probability distributions to help with the risk assessments. For example, an exponential decay distribution can be used to model a reliability function or a binomial distribution can be used to analyze failure of a specific component. This is How Probability Distributions Can Help with Risk Assessments.

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Why International Cooperation will be the Basis of Fighting Climate Change

Why International Cooperation will be the Basis of Fighting Climate Change

Why International Cooperation will be the Basis of Fighting Climate Change

09/06/19

“Why can the world only fight climate change if it works together?”

Out of all of the threats to the world, one stands out in particular, climate change. The very systems that support the industrialized world is causing its demise through this very phenomena. And since these systems span international boundaries, multi-governmental institutions will need to be created and work in tandem to reduce carbon emissions. This is Why International Cooperation will be the Basis of Fighting Climate Change.

Infrastructure Lock-in

Infrastructure Lock-in

Infrastructure Lock-in

09/05/19

“What are the consequences of large-scale investment in outdated infrastructure technologies?”

Institutions are constantly faced with difficult infrastructure decisions. Should they invest in experimental technologies such as renewable energy and distributed battery systems or opt for more traditional oil pipelines? Well, whatever approach is taken, the infrastructure and supply chain created will exist for multiple generations to come and will create heavy inertia to shift. A fine illustration of this is the difficulty of shifting the United States to mass transit due to its car and road dependent paradigm. This Infrastructure Lock-in must be dealt with when making policy decisions. 

Strategic Petroleum Reserves

Strategic Petroleum Reserves

Strategic Petroleum Reserves

09/04/19

“How do nations handle reserves for fuels in case of a national crisis?”

Petroleum drives a substantial portion of the global economy, whether it be for moving cars or making plastics. But if a national crisis breaks out, petroleum supplies can be disrupted, leaving devastating consequences for a nation. For this reason, countries have Strategic Petroleum Reserves which allows them to have access to fuel supplies in case an emergency comes up. 

How Mangroves Can Increase Hurricane Resilience

How Mangroves Can Increase Hurricane Resilience

How Mangroves Can Increase Hurricane Resilience

09/03/19

“How can mangroves provide protection against climate change?”

As the world deals with the changing climate, heavier hurricanes will penetrate the world. One natural way to build hurricane resilience is to rely upon coastal mangrove forests. Mangroves can block the passage of water through them, providing friction against storm surges. This is How Mangroves Can Increase Hurricane Resilience.

Hurricane Resilience

Hurricane Resilience

Hurricane Resilience

09/02/19

“How can we make our infrastructure more resilient against hurricanes?”

With the advent of climate change, hurricanes are becoming more and more powerful. Just by witnessing the devastating aftermath from storms such as Katrina and Marina one can see that infrastructure in storm-prone areas needs to be redeveloped around Hurricane Resilience. Hurricane resilience can take many forms, such as hardening structures against wind to making streets more permeable to an influx of water.

Electrochromic Windows

Electrochromic Windows

Electrochromic Windows

08/31/19

“How can we have windows that darken at command?”

One of the biggest consumers of energy in the built environment are HVAC systems. Although many people try to avoid this by putting blinds over their windows, many times it won’t do the job. So how can we use our engineering mindset to solve this problem? Well, what if we were to have a window that can darken at command? This is the idea behind Electrochromic Windows, whose material becomes darker when voltage is applied to it. Electrochromic windows can save large amounts of energy, but are also quite expensive to implement and have questionable long-term durability.

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