ENGINEERING.com RSS Feeds

How 3D Scanning Improves Virtual Design and Construction (Sat, 15 Feb 2020)
A FARO Focus 3 3D Scanner. (Image courtesy of Faro Technologies.) 3D scanning has advanced dramatically in recent years, and the breadth of fields where the technology has found an application has grown. Reverse engineering is no longer the only player in the 3D scanning market. Today, museums are using 3D scanning for archiving, and even Hollywood studios are implementing the technology for this purpose. Architects have started to use 3D scanners to capture data for remodels, and the constru...
>> Read more

America’s Worst Nuclear Disaster Was in California. Who Knew? (Fri, 14 Feb 2020)
.auto-style1 { margin-left: 40px; } Don’t feel bad if you think America’s worst nuclear disaster was Three Mile Island. Everybody does. But a nuclear accident up to a thousand times worse than Three Mile Island occurred 20 years earlier, just over the sandstone formations of the Simi Hills northwest of Los Angeles. On top of a hill was the most secretive Area IV of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory, a lab that meant to prove nuclear power was not just for bombs and missiles, but t...
>> Read more

Texas & Louisiana Construction News

Why Atlas Technical Consultants Bested AECOM for Initial Contract on Big Mississippi River Bridge (Sat, 08 Feb 2020)
State transportation secretary says he rejected AECOM appeal of design award on project worth up to $2.8B partly due to firm's existing workload.
>> Read more

Stantec-Jacobs Team Wins $1.9B Corps Levee and Floodwall Project to Protect Texas Coast (Thu, 06 Feb 2020)
Joint venture will design 26.7-mile-long coastal system near Galveston in a two-year effort, with construction to finish by 2026.
>> Read more

Today in Energy

Natural gas prices fall to lowest level since 2016, the lowest February prices in 20 years (Fri, 14 Feb 2020)
This winter, natural gas prices have been at their lowest levels in decades. On Monday, February 10, the near-month natural gas futures price at the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) closed at $1.77 per million British thermal units (MMBtu). This price was the lowest February closing price for the near-month contract since at least 2001, in real terms, and the lowest near-month futures price in any month since March 8, 2016, according to Bloomberg, L.P. and FRED data.
>> Read more

U.S. natural gas consumption has both winter and summer peaks (Thu, 13 Feb 2020)
Natural gas consumption in the United States has two seasonal peaks, largely reflecting weather-related fluctuations in energy demand. In the winter months, cold weather leads to more demand for heating in the residential and commercial sectors. In the summer months, warm weather leads to more demand for air conditioning and, in turn, more demand for electricity. Because natural gas continues to account for an increasing share of the fuels used to generate electricity in the United States, natural gas consumption by the electric power sector has increased throughout the year.
>> Read more

Business

'The lows may be behind us': Oil set for weekly gain (Fri, 14 Feb 2020 17:51:03 UT)
(Bloomberg) -- Oil rallied for a fourth day on signs the worst economic impacts of the lethal viral outbreak have been accounted for, easing concern about free-falling demand for crude. Futures climbed as much as 1.8% in New York on Friday. China reassured the international community that a huge spike in new coronavirus cases was a one-off event. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. slashed its 2020 crude-demand growth forecast almost in half and lowered its first-quarter oil-price estimate by 16%. “Oil markets are crawling out of a bottom” said Walter Zimmermann, chief technical strategist at ICAP Technical Analysis. “The lows may be behind us.” Oil prices have tumbled 15% this year as the coronavirus wreaked havoc on the world’s second-largest economy and beyond. Chinese independent refiners have seized on the recent slump in oil prices to bulk up on cheap cargoes in a sign that they may be positioning for an eventual rebound in demand. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery gained 46 cents to $51.88 at 10:53 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent for April settlement rose 1.2% to $57.01 on the ICE Futures Europe exchange. The structure of the Brent futures market also flipped into a backwardation, signaling that some of the oversupply may have eased. See also: Coronavirus Will Hit Oil Hard. That’s Where the Consensus Ends Meanwhile, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia will resume oil production from their shared fields this month, more than five years after a dispute halted supply. The projects will bring additional production capacity to an oil market that’s already dealing with excess supply. --With assistance from James Thornhill, Elizabeth Low, Alex Longley and Grant Smith. ©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
>> Read more

Credit where credit is due. Reliant tries to sell ‘green’ (Thu, 13 Feb 2020 23:41:05 UT)
There may be other ways that customers can spend $7 a month and better serve the Earth.
>> Read more