Low-carbon concrete placed at UW Stout
Dr. Kevin MacDonald’s students at the University of Wisconsin Stout placed an experimental low-carbon concrete sidewalk on their campus. The concrete used no portland cement, which generates nearly a ton […]
Sustainability
Sustaining the commons
We’ve discussed the tragedy of the commons, an economic theory that dates back to Aristotle: “What is common to the greatest number has the least care bestowed upon it.” It […]
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 […]
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 […]