Tag: Global warming

How More Extreme Heatwaves will Harm Transportation Infrastructure

How More Extreme Heatwaves will Harm Transportation Infrastructure

10/24/18

“How will transportation infrastructure be harmed by more extreme heat waves?”

With the ascent of more extreme temperatures, heatwaves will more frequent and more deadly. This will affect all sectors of critical infrastructure systems, transportation being one of them. With these new temperatures, railroads will buckle, cement will be deformed, and transit schedules will be vastly transformed. This is How More Extreme Heatwaves will Harm Transportation Infrastructure.

Image credit https://www.ucsusa.org

Why The Grid Needs to be Repaired to Ensure Climate Change Resilience

Why The Grid Needs to be Repaired to Ensure Climate Change Resilience

10/23/18

“Why can’t we truly have a resilient grid until repairs are made?”

With the ascent of global temperature change, the grid will need to adapt to ensure proper resilience. However, to building against higher temperatures and more extreme weather events will require much more than putting more batteries on the main grid. The current components of the grid will also need to be repaired since much of it has already run its life cycle. As a result, The Grid Needs to be Repaired to Ensure Climate Change Resilience.

Image credit spectrum.ieee.org

How Extreme Weather Events Can Cause Energy Prices to Skyrocket

How Extreme Weather Events Can Cause Energy Prices to Skyrocket

10/22/18

“How can extreme weather events cause energy prices to go out of whack?”

When the weather gets too hot or too cold, people will turn on HVAC systems to compensate. This will cause greater demand on the electricity system, which in turn will lead to more constraints and therefore higher costs for everyone. This is How Extreme Weather Events Can Cause Energy Prices to Skyrocket. The advent of climate change will only exacerbate this, as extreme weather events will become far more frequent. So in the end, it will pay in the long term to upgrade critical infrastructure systems to more resilient standards.

Image credit Bigerna, S. (2018). Estimating temperature effects on the Italian electricity market. Energy Policy, 118, 257-269.

Why We Need to Expand Coastal Barriers for Climate Change Resilience

Why We Need to Expand Coastal Barriers for Climate Change Resilience

10/21/18

“Why should we expand coastal barriers to withstand against climate change?”

As the global average temperatures and sea levels continue to rise, the world will need to adapt in response. Part of this will include expanding coastal barriers to prevent against widespread destruction as seen in New Orleans and Houston.

Image credit images.arcadis.com

Stormwater Infrastructure

Stormwater Infrastructure

10/07/18

“How can we deal with stormwater runoff using our infrastructure?”

Stormwater runoff poses a massive problem for communities all around the world. To solve this, these same groups can build Stormwater Infrastructure to equip them with the necessary resilience to deal with it. This can include rainwater collection, green roofs, and vegetation-rich areas.

Photo credit Phillywatersheds

Why Stormwater Infrastructure in the US Needs to be Upgraded for Resiliency

Why Stormwater Infrastructure in the US Needs to be Upgraded for Resiliency

10/06/18

“Why does the US need to upgrade its stormwater infrastructure?”

US stormwater infrastructure is in a state of trouble. Many of the systems in place were designed a hundred years ago, long before the greenhouse effect was even an idea. As a result, with the warming climate, air now can hold more water on average, leading to heavier rainfall that can overwhelm stormwater infrastructure. Since the much of the current infrastructure does not hold up, Stormwater Infrastructure in the US Needs to be Upgraded for Resiliency.

Image credit toccoainc.com

How Global Urbanization will Spread Heat Islands

How Global Urbanization will Spread Heat Islands

10/04/18

“How will greater urbanization lead to more heat islands?”

The world is becoming more urban as time goes on. As this happens, population center densities will increase and urban heat islands will begin to grow. As a result, Global Urbanization will Spread Heat Islands.

How Planting Trees Helps Combat Global Warming

How Planting Trees Helps Combat Global Warming

10/01/18

“How can we combat global warming through trees?”

Global warming is partially caused by having too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Trees absorb carbon dioxide and turn it into breathable air. Therefore Planting Trees Helps Combat Global Warming.

How Climate Change is Making Hurricanes More Dangerous

How Climate Change is Making Hurricanes More Dangerous

09/14/18

“How is Climate Change making Hurricanes more dangerous?”

With the advent of Hurricane Florence in the Eastern U.S, I think I should give a short explanation about how climate change exacerbates hurricanes. When the Earth’s temperatures become warmer than the air will hold more water vapor and the oceans will heat up and expand. When hurricane storms strike through the ocean, they will pick up more rain and move at a much faster pace. This ends up making hurricanes much more powerful and destructive. Reflecting, I think that this is just another reason we should invest in sustainable infrastructure and Climate Change Resilience.