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Outside In: Designing Building Envelopes to Withstand Climate Change (Fri, 28 Jun 2019)
In 2017, Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, devastating the island's infrastructure and killing 2,975 people. In the subsequent investigation, government officials found that while the buildings built according to code largely remained standing, water had still gotten into them and severely damaged the buildings’ interiors. The disaster sheds a light on one of the most important parts of building resilience—the building envelope. Built to keep the outside out, the envelope ensures tha...
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How Machine Learning is Improving Construction (Wed, 26 Jun 2019)
The construction industry is massive. People all around the world need buildings to live in, work in and relax in. As more people join the population, more buildings will be needed. With 8.6 billion people estimated to inhabit this planet by 2030, we’ll need to build an average of 13,000 buildings every single day to accommodate everybody. That’s an order as tall as a skyscraper—or a few thousand of them. Last week, Autodesk held its annual Connect and Construct Summit in...
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Texas & Louisiana Construction News

Tidal Flooding Closing in on Coastal Infrastructure (Thu, 11 Jul 2019)
NOAA report says coastal cities had five days of high tide flooding in 2018, tying the 2015 record. But problem is only growing.
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Houston Imagines a Resilient City (Tue, 09 Jul 2019)
With Hurricane Harvey almost two years in the rearview mirror, Houstonians have started to imagine a future city that is resilient to storms and stressors that can be a model for the nation.
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Today in Energy

The number of electric utility rate cases increased in 2018 (Fri, 19 Jul 2019)
In 2018, 89 utilities—or nearly half of all major U.S. electric utilities—tried to change electricity rates by filing rate cases with state regulatory commissions; this number was the largest number since 1983. U.S. public electric utility companies must obtain permission from their regulators before changing the rates they charge customers. Of the 89 utilities filing rate cases in 2018, 10 proposed to decrease rates, 1 negotiated a rate freeze until 2020, and the other 78 utilities proposed rate increases.
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Summer natural gas prices on track to be the lowest in more than 20 years (Thu, 18 Jul 2019)
In its July 2019 Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts Henry Hub natural gas spot prices for June, July, and August this year will average $2.37 per million British thermal units (MMBtu). If realized, this price would be the lowest summer average Henry Hub natural gas price since 1998. EIA expects Henry Hub natural gas prices will be 55 cents/MMBtu, about 19%, lower than last summer’s average.
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Business

Rice University-led Ion innovation district breaks ground (Fri, 19 Jul 2019 17:00:00 UT)
The Ion innovation district, located in the former Midtown Sears, celebrated its official groundbreaking Friday morning, with officials and local students placing a heavy emphasis on diversity and inclusion.
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Carnival Vista to resume Galveston cruises ahead of schedule (Fri, 19 Jul 2019 11:00:00 UT)
The Carnival Vista cruise ship, which was taken out of service earlier this month for repairs, will return to the Port of Galveston earlier than expected -- offering a special four-day cruise to Cozumel departing July 23.
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