The idea of a 15-minute city – one where everyone’s essential needs can be met within walking distance – is within reach for Vancouver, but more needs to be done to provide access in neighbourhoods with higher proportions of children, older adults, and racialized populations.
A new control system shows promise in making millions of homes contributors to improved power grid operations, reaping cost and environmental benefits.
By: Bill Wellock | Published: May 2, 2022 | 4:03 pm | SHARE: Florida State University faculty are leaders in the study of hurricanes and the effects of these destructive storms.Their scholarship has led to research on infrastructure challenges, evacuation routes, sustainable tools and mental health challenges for those affected by hurricanes.
Agricultural efforts in downstream countries in Central Asia would be significantly boosted with a “dual water and energy storage scheme”, which also paves the way for high shares of renewable energy generation in the region.
An expert in underground construction and trenchless technologies, ASU's Samuel Ariaratnam will serve on the U.S. DOT's Technical Pipeline Safety Standards Committee.
Partnerships between water utilities, irrigation districts and other stakeholders in California will play a critical role in funding new infrastructure under the Water Resilience Portfolio Initiative announced in 2020 by Gov. Gavin Newsom, but a new study warns that benefits might not be evenly distributed without proper structure to the agreements.
Scientists have created a battery designed for the electric grid that locks in energy for months without losing much storage capacity. It’s a step toward batteries that can be used for seasonal storage: saving renewable energy in one season, such as the spring, and spending it in another, like autumn.
The penetration of power electronics into power generation and distribution systems has deepened in recent years, as prompted by the increasing use of renewable sources, the quest for higher performance in the control of power conversion, as well as the increasing influence of economic plans that necessitate power trading among different regions or clusters of power distribution.
Cold spells, wildfires, hurricanes and other events are happening with increasing intensity. As the share of weather-dependent energy sources grows, electricity markets and power systems have the opportunity to improve short- and long-term plans.
During a press conference, a reporter asked Senate Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY, “What do you make of Senator Manchin’s proposal to have more domestic oil production?” Schumer answered, "the U.S. is a major oil producer; we only get one percent of any imports from Russia.” We find this claim to be mostly false. Although it fluctuates month to month, about 8% of the oil imported to the U.S. is from Russia.
One year after winter storms crippled Texas’ electricity grid, contributing to more than 200 deaths, a Cornell University-led analysis recommends contracting improvements to reduce decentralized energy markets’ vulnerability to rare events.
A new PNNL study quantifies hydropower's contribution to grid stability. When other power sources go out, hydropower can ramp up, recoup shortfalls, and stabilize the grid nearly instantaneously.
The Laboratory is using systems science to reimagine urban planning, providing decision-makers with analyses and tools to develop the cities of the future.
Dr. Kurt Kosbar, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at Missouri University of Science and Technology, works in the area of communication, signal processing and telemetry and can offer insight on commercial carriers' concerns with 5G telephone communication.
The researchers developed a new analytical model that simulates economic losses caused by disruptions of varying lengths and severity on the 10 most impacted critical infrastructure sectors.
Climate change is fueling more floods, droughts, wildfires, and extreme storms across the United States. As a result, aging power grids are being pushed beyond their limits, sometimes with deadly impacts. (In 2020, a series of unusual winter storms knocked the power out in Texas for days -- leading to shortages of water and heat and more than 100 deaths.)
With an eye on renewable, accessible, and resilient power, PNNL researchers show hyper-local microgrids are a viable option, if designed with the right mix of sources.
Developed by scientists from Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Idaho National Laboratory in the Department of Energy’s Critical Materials Institute, the technology provides insight into how to cost-effectively separate in-demand rare-earth elements.
A "macrogrid" that increases the electricity moving between America's Eastern and Western interconnections, two of the biggest power grids on the planet, would more than pay for itself, according to research papers published this summer and fall by the Interconnections Seam Study.
Cybersecurity experts from Iowa State University and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign are working to build a coalition that will train and educate a workforce capable of defending critical infrastructure, including energy providers, from computer attacks.
The 30 gigawatts of offshore wind farms that is proposed under a new Biden administration plan will be essential for curbing climate change, said Tufts expert Eric Hines. It will also be a key step in modernizing the national power grid toward more reliable, sustainable energy.
In the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy National Renewable Energy Laboratory describe results from a techno-economic analysis aimed at identifying pathways to 100% renewable power systems. By analyzing readily available supply and demand strategies within specific U.S. regions, the team found a combination of resource diversification, excess generation, building efficiency, and demand flexibility improvements could reduce or even eliminate the need for long-duration energy storage in some regions.
The Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) reports that a large number of cyber-attacks occur on cyber-physical systems for which a computer and ancillary sensors are used to control the infrastructure. An industrial control system strategy is required to improve grid resiliency, secure operations and better manage potential cyber risks.
New research shows how to make offshore wind farms more efficient in the face of impending rapid expansion – crucial information as the U.S. Department of the Interior affirmed White House plans to lease federal waters for several giant arrays of wind turbines along the waters of the East Coast.
Debra Laefer of NYU Tandon and Rae Zimmerman of NYU Wagner have received a $1 million Civic Innovation Challenge (CIC) Award supporting community-based solutions to mobility and disaster resilience by creating a digitized, open, underground infrastructure road map.
Two scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory took top prizes in a national competition for developing algorithms to help improve the resiliency and efficiency of the electrical grid.
New research based on transportation data Brad Humphreys and Alexander Cardazzi, economists at West Virginia University, shows that rough roads reduce traffic speeds and safety.
Studying major hurricanes Notre Dame researcher, Sisi Meng, found that the fate of hurricane victims depends on a number of factors including how well-prepared they are, whether they have weathered a hurricane before and how quickly their utility services are restored.
After a summer of high heat, steady sea level rise and devastating hurricanes, coastal roads have continued to take a severe beating resulting in endless wear and tear. Because these roadways have become increasingly vulnerable, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has awarded a $1.8 million grant to researchers at the University of New Hampshire to study how and why coastal hazards like excessive flooding are causing roads to crack and crumble and find ways to protect them.