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Smart Brick Could Change Energy Storage in Buildings (Thu, 27 Aug 2020)
No matter what city one is in, there is a good chance that many of the homes and other buildings located there are made with bricks. Bricks have been a staple in construction for thousands of years, and researchers at Washington University in St. Louis may have just made bricks even better. In a recent paper, the team unveiled its “smart brick,” which is capable of storing energy. “What we have demonstrated in our paper is sufficient enough for you to light up emergency lighti...
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The Rise, Fall and Rebuild of the Doomed Morandi Bridge (Tue, 25 Aug 2020)
The Genova San Giorgio Bridge in Genoa, Italy, was constructed in under two years to replace the Morandi Bridge, which collapsed on Aug. 14, 2018, and killed 43 people. (Image courtesy of Riccardo Arata/Shutterstock.) The 1960s saw significant growth for many industrialized countries. As automobiles started to become the norm, highway systems were needed to accommodate the increased traffic. Instead of having this traffic meander up mountains, Genoa, Italy, was designated as the location for ...
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Texas & Louisiana Construction News

Texas & Louisiana On the Scene: October 2020 (Mon, 28 Sep 2020)
Reports from key industry events across the Texas and Louisiana region.
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Texas & Louisiana City Scoop: Construction Starts in Fort Worth (Mon, 28 Sep 2020)
Dodge offers data on projected 2020 construction starts in the Houston area.
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Today in Energy

Slightly more U.S. petroleum products were exported in first half of 2020 than in 2019 (Mon, 28 Sep 2020)
In the first half of 2020, the United States exported 5.4 million barrels per day (b/d) of petroleum products, a slight increase of 48,000 b/d (1%) from the first half of 2019. Greater exports of propane and other hydrocarbon gas liquids (HGLs) more than offset declines in U.S. exports of transportation fuels such as gasoline, distillate fuel oil, and jet fuel.
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In 2019, 9 of the 10 highest-generating U.S. power plants were nuclear plants (Fri, 25 Sep 2020)
According to U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data on power plant operations, 9 of the 10 U.S. power plants that generated the most electricity in 2019 were nuclear plants. These 10 plants generated a combined 230 million megawatthours (MWh) of electricity in 2019, accounting for 5.6% of all electricity generation in the United States. The makeup of power plants that generate the most electricity has shifted in the past 10 years from a mix of nuclear and coal plants to almost all nuclear in 2019.
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Business

Dallas-based rideshare service Alto set to launch in Houston (Fri, 25 Sep 2020 15:00:00 UT)
Alto will employ up to 40 salaried drivers. The full-time employees, who will receive benefits and sick leave, will be required to complete a background check and defensive driving program before getting behind the wheel of the 15 to 20 company-owned and -operated vehicles.
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US senators demand action after AP exposes palm oil abuses (Fri, 25 Sep 2020 05:00:00 UT)
Lawmakers said Friday that the U.S. government needs to ban the import of products made with child or forced labor after an Associated Press investigation found widespread exploitation in the palm oil industry, from debt bondage to outright slavery. U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown and Ron Wyden — who spearheaded efforts to close a loophole in a federal law that had allowed the import of products made with forced labor — also called on companies that buy goods tainted by labor abuses to be held accountable. “The federal government needs to enforce this law and investigate all instances of forced labor in supply chains and block imports made with forced labor from coming into the U.S.,” said Brown, an Ohio Democrat. “In addition to strong government enforcement, corporations need to hold themselves accountable.” An Associated Press investigation into the $65 billion palm oil industry found labor abuses among an invisible workforce consisting of millions of men, women and children from some of the poorest corners of Asia, including stateless Rohingya Muslims sold onto plantations after fleeing persecution in their homeland. The fruit they harvest makes its way into the supply chains of the planet’s most iconic food and cosmetics companies like Unilever, L’Oreal, Nestle and Procter & Gamble. Palm oil can be found in roughly half the products on supermarket shelves, from Dove soap and Oreo cookies to instant noodles and hand sanitizer. Reporters interviewed more than 130 current and former workers from two dozen companies across wide swaths of Malaysia and Indonesia, which together produce 85 percent of the global supply. They described various forms of exploitation, with the most serious abuses including child labor, outright...
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