Podcasts about portland cement

Everyone who knows me, knows I am fascinated with Ozark Giraffe style homes. I've made note of a few that have fallen to the progress of time in the past few weeks. Here's a bonus episode with my tribute to the peculiar little houses that dot the Ozarks! withinpodcast.com Check out all we have to offer at withinpodcast.com! Want to advertise, sponsor or otherwise support Within The Realm? Visit with us at contact@withinpodcast.com or Support Within The Realm  Our sponsors:  jandjpoolsafety@gmail.com katchakid.com Music: The Right Direction by Shane Ivers Martin Mountain Coffee: Small Batch Roaster for an Artisan Cup of Coffee! Check out Martin Mountain Coffee's signature Within The Realm Blend "Story Teller's Roast!" Contact Us! Facebook: @withintherealm1 X: @realm_within Instagram: within_the_realm contact@withinpodcast.com Within The Realm is a fiercly Independent podcast written and produced by Steve Garrett for the enjoyment of the curious soul. WTR intro: Sweat Shirt (S. Garrett) WTR outro: Baby Boy (S. Garrett) Want to advertise, sponsor or otherwise support Within The Realm? Visit with us at contact@withinpodcast.com or Support Within The Realm 

Techincal Service Engineer, Claude Bergeron with Holcim talks Portland Limestone Cement. We go over short term goals and strategies the cement industry is taking to promote sustainability as well as the long term sustainability strategies and insight into the industry. Visit www.holcim.com for more infomation!

Peter Fiekowsky just visited the Blue Planet plant yesterday and shows photos of its operations to Chris Cheeseman and Michael Cook, British engineers who are working to develop a new component in cement. Blue Planet is producing limestone aggregate for concrete that is so carbon-negative that it offsets the CO2 emissions that inevitably result from the production of Portland Cement. These two innovations might very well combine to increase the negative emission level of concrete enough to capture and sequester 40 or 60 gigatons of carbon from the atmosphere every year -- enough to restore our atmosphere's temperature to a comfortable, sustainable level. For the video, audio podcast, transcript, and comments: https://tosavetheworld.ca/episode-511-lock-up-carbon-in-concrete.

On today's episode of Concrete Logic, we welcome Stephanie Hampton to the show. Stephanie is a Senior Technical Sales Engineer with Lehigh Hanson, one of the largest producers of cement in the world. Lehigh Hanson is pursuing carbon neutrality by 2050 and is a leading proponent of utilizing Portland Limestone Cement (PLC) to achieve this ambitious goal. If you don't know what Portland Limestone Cement (PLC) is, this is the episode for you! Stephanie shares what the difference is between PLC and normal Portland Cement along with the environmental benefits of using PLC. Once you listen to this episode, you'll want to learn more from Stephanie. She can be reached via email at stephanie.hampton@lehighhanson.com or by phone at 443-714-0469. Other resources mentioned in the episode: www.lehighhanson.com www.greenercement.com If there is a topic you want to hear on the Concrete Logic podcast, please email host@concretelogicpodcast.com and give us your show request!

Devin: What do you see as being your personal superpower?Cody: I am a scientist, but I’m also very good at abandoning science that I don’t see a path forward with. And I think that many other folks want to commercialize the science that they’re really passionate about. I’m much more interested in the very, very big picture of greenhouse gas emissions. How do we reduce greenhouse gas emissions? Therefore, if I had to name a superpower related to this, it’s being realistic about whether or not a given chemical process that we’re working on actually has a pathway to being lower cost under an expected or especially current economic system. And under those lower costs, under those scenarios, if it’s also going to be lower emissions and if it’s not that criteria, I’m very good at just abandoning the process and moving on. We had to do that a lot in the early days.Brimstone Energy, Inc. Founder Cody Finke’s persistent refusal to persist may be the key to his success and critical to finding a path to a global net-zero carbon future.Cody has repeatedly made significant changes in his path. We’re not talking about pivots; we’re talking leaps.After being admitted to an extraordinarily prestigious joint MD-PhD program at the University of Southern California and CalTech, he quit. Three months into a program that many would kill to join, he dropped out. “I didn’t really like medicine,” he says, adding, “I wanted to have a large impact on the health of the planet or the health of people.” He observed that if he dropped out, his spot would be taken by someone equally capable of doing the same work. “Whereas I could go work on a problem that maybe has less traction and be more interesting.”So, he went to work at CalTech on wastewater treatment for low-income countries for the next three years. At that point, he performed an economic analysis of his work. He recognized that any technology he developed would have to be affordable. It wasn’t. So, on to the next thing: clean hydrogen. Making hydrogen from water electrolysis is something of a holy grail in cleantech circles. After two years, he began another economic analysis. He concluded that the area he was researching, the catalysts to make hydrogen, was “not a very big lever.” Finally, he observed that “the chances of water electrolysis, in general, being low cost and competing with fossil fuels as an energy source was very remote.”Looking to make yet another significant shift in his young career, he says, “I wanted to work on something that not many other people were working on so that I, as an individual, could have a large marginal impact.”He wanted to leverage his developing chemical skill set and settled on cement, which he notes “is a huge greenhouse gas problem, it’s responsible for about the same amount of greenhouse gases as cars.” Most of that carbon, about 60 percent, results from chemistry—not the use of energy to produce the cement.As Cody set out to develop better Portland Cement (the formal name of the primary ingredient in concrete, which has nothing to do with towns named Portland), he identified three “pillars”:Economics: Cody wanted to create a product that rational, economic actors would choose.Carbon neutrality: He wanted to ensure that the new cement would produce less carbon and, if possible, would be carbon neutral.Identical product: Finally, to avoid needing any regulatory support to make the product work, it had to be demonstrably identical to conventional cement.While still in pre-commercial development, Brimstone Energy is tracking successfully toward meeting all three goals. The critical difference is the rock Brimstone uses as the primary source for the lime in concrete—its essential element. Conventional cement is formed using limestone, which contains large amounts of trapped carbon dioxide. When heated to purify the lime, the carbon is released into the atmosphere. Brimstone Energy starts with a more common rock called calcium silicate—which is much more common than limestone. “We figured out a chemical process to extract the lime from these calcium silicates,” Cody says. “We don’t have any CO2 emissions from the rock, so we’ve totally eliminated that 60 percent of emissions that come from the rock.”Cody’s new technology still requires heating. Today, a purely economic actor would use fossil fuels to produce the heat. Even so, Cody says, the new cement would be carbon neutral. Credit chemistry. He explains, “Our rock also contains a compound or an element called magnesium. We separate that magnesium as an oxide and magnesium oxides passively absorb CO2.” The effect is large enough to offset the carbon emissions from heating.Of course, in years to come, the heat can likely be generated from renewable energy, allowing Brimstone Energy’s magnesium oxides to offset other greenhouse gas emissions.The startup is still operating in the laboratory. The global cement industry produces about 4 billion tons annually. Typical plants make millions of tons. “I would say optimistically we’ll be producing large quantities of cement in five years,” Cody says. “More conservatively, it’ll be ten years or maybe even a little bit longer before we’re producing millions of tons of cement.”Ultimately, Cody sees the plants as his product rather than the cement. “We think that the fastest way to decarbonizing is to work with all of these companies in order to install our plants for them and hopefully decommission their old plants and install new plants using our process,” he says. “So we’re working on a joint venture licensing business model with conventional producers.”Getting to this point with the potential to make a dramatic change for the world, Cody has used his superpower, focusing on the economic viability of his science to guide his career. How You Can Develop Focusing on the Economics of Science As a SuperpowerTo start, it may seem that this superpower is only relevant if you are a scientist. Elon Musk, who didn’t finish college, let alone a Ph.D., leaps to mind as a counterpoint example. Lots of scientists work for his companies, but he has famously used some Cody-Esque thinking to develop SpaceX and Tesla. Cody’s superpower is relevant to a wide range of changemakers.One of the fundamental benefits comes with fundraising. “When you go out to raise money, the reason these people are offering you money is because they want to turn their money into more money,” Cody says.With that framing, Cody has worked to ensure alignment among his investors. Because he is focused on impact and recognizes that scale requires good economics, all his investors are aligned, regardless of whether climate change is a priority or not.Cody learned this idea from a visiting professor early in his academic career who said, “Science is all about drowning your favorite puppies.” Cody interpreted that to mean, “You’re going to really love the science you’re doing, and you’re going to be really excited about it, and the best thing you can do to figure out is actually a good route is to ask the hard questions and be honest with yourself about those answers.”To learn and apply these principles, Cody suggests a simple process. Look as objectively as possible at the current economics. He suggests asking, “Given the energy requirements that I’m measuring in the lab, given the cost of that energy that I look up on the internet (not the cost that I imagine with my crystal ball that energy will be in the future), what are the economics of my process looking like just from an energy, raw material and simple capital cost estimate?”If the numbers don’t look good, Cody concludes, “find a new way to do things.”By applying these principles, you can make focusing on the economics of science a superpower—even if you aren’t a scientist.Thank you for reading Superpowers for Good. This post is public so feel free to share it. Get full access to Superpowers for Good at devinthorpe.substack.com/subscribe

Today's guest is Cody Finke, Co-Founder and CEO of Brimstone Energy.Brimstone Energy's vision is to make ordinary portland cement without carbon dioxide emissions for a lower cost than conventionally produced cement. Brimstone Energy is a venture-backed R&D company with the ambition to reduce global CO2 emissions by a couple of percentage points. The cement/concrete industry is a $1T market opportunity responsible for 5.5% of GHG or approximately 8% of global CO2 emissions, the same emissions as cars. They have developed a process capable of producing carbon-neutral Portland cement and supplementary cementitious materials, regardless of the energy source. Brimstone Energy was founded in 2019 at Caltech and since then moved to the Bay Area thanks to Cyclotron Road and other federal and private grants. Cody holds his Ph.D. in environmental science and engineering under Prof. Michael Hoffmann at Caltech. During Cody's Ph.D., he specialized in electrochemistry and techno-economic modeling, where he attempted to find economically efficient ways to reduce carbon dioxide process emissions.In this episode, Cody explains how Brimstone was founded, why Portland cement is carbon-emitting, and why it's hard to decarbonize cement. We also dive into the pilot plant the company is working on, what sets it apart, and how to scale its technology. Cody is a great guest, and we have a fascinating discussion.Enjoy the show!You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 or @mcjpod and email at info@myclimatejourney.co, where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.Episode recorded October 28th, 2021To learn more about Brimstone Energy, visit: https://www.brimstone.energy/To learn more about this episode, visit: https://myclimatejourney.co/ctss-episodes/brimstone-energy

Paris-based journalist covering labor, culture & politics , Richard Wiles joins Thom to discuss what fossil fuel producers have hidden for profit, irrespective of the damage done to the planet. Channel 4 in the UK has published a startling exposé on an Exxon-Mobil lobbyist who revealed the U.S. senators who he says are key to opposing legislation that might harm the oil industry. Exxon is lying about what they do on climate change. Privacy Policy and California Privacy Notice.

Continuing Materials March by considering concrete, a humble, utilitarian material that is found with surprising regularity in cemeteries, in a wide variety of forms. Email: tombwithaviewpodcast@gmail.comInstagram: tombwithaviewpodcastFacebook: Tomb with a View Podcast

Dirk Kestner, who is Director of Sustainable Design and a principal at Walter P Moore, came on the program to discuss his firm's recent report Embodied Carbon: A Clearer View of Carbon Emissions and to talk about how the A/E/C community can account for embodied carbon in their design and construction decisions.Click here to view the report.Host:Welcome to the Engineering Influence podcast sponsored by the ACEC Life/Health Trust. Today, we are talking with Dirk Kestner who is Director of Sustainable Design and a principal at Walter P Moore. The firm recently released a comprehensive report titled Embodied Carbon: A Clearer View of Carbon Emissions. Embodied carbon emissions occur before a building opens as opposed to operational emissions that happen over a building's lifespan. They include carbon emissions associated with extracting, processing, shipping, installing, and maintaining the materials used in the building. The UN Environment Global Status Report predicts that during the next 40 years, we will build 2.5 trillion square feet of new building stock, which is equivalent to replicating New York City every month for 40 years. To reach the greenhouse gas targets set by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, we must significantly reduce the embodied carbon of buildings constructed during the next 10 years and reach net-zero embodied and operational carbon soon after. The report outlines how complex getting to net-zero carbon will be, requiring a multi-pronged approach: a combination of design optimization, enabling dematerialization, decarbonization of the electrical grid, material impact optimization, and the inclusion of carbon sequestering structural solutions. So let's dive into it.Host:In your report, you write, "We must transition our design thinking from a linear approach where the end goal is the building to a circular approach where buildings are thought of as material banks for the future. The simplest way to reduce embodied carbon is to use less--either at the building scale or the materials scale. You add, though, that current design practice is to optimize based largely, if not exclusively, on the cost and time of construction. How do we change that mindset?Kestner:Well, thank you. Time and cost, in terms of dollars, will always matter and be very important. But what we're increasingly aware of is that are there these externalities that we need to capture and roll into this. We've seen some of that in the use of third-party rating systems, such as LEED or Envision or Living Building, where these elements that aren't classically captured--the environmental impacts that occur--are baked into the point structure or the part of the rating system, or even in the case of the Living Building rating system, where you actually do quantify your embodied carbon and then have to offset it through a series of pre-vetted offsets and pay a dollar amount to offset it. But we're also seeing some companies that are internally carrying a price for embodied carbon, that are asking for a team to look at the operational and embodied carbon, and then as they make their decision making processes, they're weighing that. And there are a few jurisdictions, and I think increasingly we'll see more that will carry a cost as well. Some of this mindset shift also relates to how we make some of these decisions that we've historically done, where we do think about economy in one way. Something as simple as concrete and formwork, where the labor costs of making different forms may have added more dollar costs historically, but now we could price the difference in terms of carbon of that added material and see how that changes the equation.Host:You address, the incredible complexity of identifying and quantifying embedded carbon in the building process. You write, "We are tackling a diabolical problem in a compressed timeframe. As with many engineering tasks, quantifying embodied carbon involves working with uncertain data. And in the case of embodied carbon uncertainty in these measurements stems from a variety of sources: material volume assumptions, using industry averages and different methodologies for developing impact factors, to name a few." How accurate can you be today? How accurate do you need to be? And looking forward, how accurate do you expect to be?Kestner:Right now? It's very hard to say that an estimate of embodied carbon in terms of kilograms of CO2 is within a certain percentage of "true embodied carbon." However, there are two things that are very important that we can do and where the imperfect assessments are very helpful right now. They can be directional and they will show us where the hotspots in our structures or buildings or infrastructure are. So with these current assessments and we can use comparative analysis and run different data sets through to bound it and come up with ranges, we're able to know enough to be able to take action and to ask questions about how we could optimize. Now in the future, we'll have to be far more accurate and we can prime the pump for that today by working with the ISO standards for life cycle assessment and the product category rules, the environmental product declarations, making sure that suppliers know that we will be asking for this and that we're working to enhance the framework for data consistency and transparency so that we will be able to make better comparisons in the future.Host:On that point there, what role does the engineer in a design team working with an owner have in setting standards for suppliers?Kestner:I guess it depends on how the engineer views their role at some level, the engineer as a specifier. Every engineer will not. But because we understand the importance of making these comparisons, we need to be part of shaping that ecosystem, if you will, of data collection and how to act on the data. But I could see that being debated with an engineer saying, "What's in my scope or what's not."Host:You highlight the strategy of dealing with the biggest embedded emitters first, and the biggest is concrete. You write that "Manufacturing concrete is an extremely carbon-intensive process that accounts for 4.4 billion tons of carbon dioxide annually, or 8% of the world's total global carbon emissions each year, making it the world's second-largest CO2 emitter. The first step to reducing the carbon impact of concrete that should be done on every project, every time is to optimize Portland Cement usage." Another big opportunity though is reducing the amount of cement in concrete. You highlight some current cement alternatives, such as fly ash. Looking into the future, what advances do you expect in this area?Kestner:The area where we see the most advancement is in that binder--the glue that holds the rock together in concrete. And we're seeing some very interesting research right now at the university and academic level related to organic processes that can lead to compounds that can hold the rock together and perhaps even sequester CO2 in the process. While we see that in the long term and in the future, there's a number of steps that should be taken today as far as concrete, as far as optimization, that we don't need to wait for. And some of this relates back to some really basic steps, such as making sure that we are using performance specifications appropriately, minimizing the use of prescriptive specifications, having environmental performance specific specifications for concrete, as well as making sure that we're having deep dialogues with all members of the construction team, including the ready-mix supplier, about what is driving the cement content of the concrete today--whether it's a requirement that's put on by the specifying engineer, one related to achieving construction or pumping or something like that, or something related to the local aggregate that's available. There's also a lot of innovation going on within the manufacture of cement, such, uh, Portland limestone cements, or other cements that are still cement, but are less carbon-intensive.Host:Steel is another primary construction material. And it has a different problem because much of the carbon emissions are due to its high reliance on electricity to transform the raw material into its structural form. You say that we can expect some relief due to the projected increase in renewable resources in our electrical generation, from 18% in 2018 to 31% of generation by 2050. Are there other near-term ways to reduce the impact of the electrical grid on the embedded carbon in our building?Kestner:Yes, there's a great opportunity for materials that consume a lot of electricity in their manufacture. And that is that we know how to make renewable energy, and it can be a matter of incentivizing and understanding how suppliers who have these electrical intensive materials can drive the market to supply more renewable energy. One of the best ways that a specifier could do that is to ask for embodied carbon information in the form of an EPD from suppliers of these materials. If, then, it's the case that a large portion of their impact is tied to the electricity that goes into their product, that gives them a very straightforward, though not necessarily easy, way to reduce the embodied carbon of that material. So as specifiers, we don't have to wait for the grid to decarbonize over time; we can play a part in creating an incentive for that.Host:You dedicate quite a bit of space in the report to reuse. Obviously reusing a building, rather than building a new one, will substantially reduce the embodied carbon--as well as offer opportunities to improve the operational carbon performance of that building. But you also point to reusing materials that have already been made. For example, you report that construction and demolition waste represents approximately 40% of everything thrown away in the U.S. each year, and that most of that material could have been recycled or reused, but many regions don't have the infrastructure--and I might add the incentive--to effectively reuse. How do we get there?Kestner:Some of this comes back to where we started our conversation, with the externalities, and making sure we carry the cost of that material that would go into the landfill and is not reused to show teams and show owners that there can be latent value in those materials. In some ways, as we start to design buildings for deconstruction, and we think about an existing building not just as a building, but as a material bank or something where there is a carried value, that will help. And we can help as we document buildings to show how they are able to be deconstructed and to let the owner understand that there's value there. But the other part is making sure that we have an infrastructure and a supply chain to make those connections for that material that right now goes into the landfill. To show that once you're able to understand what's there, to understand where it might go, that there's a pathway, and that someone who's looking for this material can use it.Kestner:So that creates value in that material. But sometimes it's as simple as having a warehouse or having a space for that material to sit, just because it can take time from when it comes out of the building to when it would go into the next one. A great example of that, that's highlighted in the report, is our involvement in the Life Cycle Building Center in Atlanta, a nonprofit, but where a group of designers came together based on occurrences and shortcomings of future projects and identifying that need in past projects to be able to have a space and make those connections from a material that was coming out of one building and could go into the next.Host:Materials that can store carbon dioxide will be a key to offsetting the emissions from the other materials in buildings. Timber is the most obvious structural material that can sequester carbon dioxide. Although you make the essential point in the report that we must consider not only the carbon sequestration of the wood, but also the impacts that come from harvesting, milling, and shipping this product, given the importance of carbon sequestrating materials for achieving net-zero, do we start using more wood construction? And are there other sequestrating materials available now, or that you expect to come available in the future?Kestner:I do believe that with the advent of technologies like cross-laminated timber, we will continue to see timber construction in ways and locations that we historically had not. But it's also very important to remember, as you correctly mentioned, that even for timber construction, there's a number of steps along the supply chain where we are emitting CO2. So the act of measuring the total CO2 for the project, and then looking at what's causing the CO2 emissions, even in that timber building, and how we can make those reductions is very, very important. When we look at some of the mass timber buildings that we're currently designing, every floor has 2-1/2 to 3 inches of concrete on it. So it's important as we are using the timber to store CO2, that we're also thinking about the emissions from those other materials. There's some very interesting research going on on other living and sequestering materials at the Living Materials Laboratory at CU Boulder, with Wil Srubar. They're looking not only at things like cellulose=based composites, but biopolymers and biogenic cements, so that we could have sequestration, not only in timber, but in all those other materials that we use in construction.Host:Finally, at the beginning of your report, you referenced the World Green Building Council's report, which is called Bringing Embodied Carbon Upfront, in which, and I'm quoting here, "They embraced a bold vision that by 2050 new buildings, infrastructure and renovations will have zero-net embodied carbon, and all buildings, including existing buildings, must be net-zero operational carbon. How optimistic are you about achieving that?Kestner:I'm optimistic. It's a bold vision, and it may seem quite aggressive right now, but I'm also always amazed at what we can accomplish when we get a bunch of smart engineers together, working on an identified problem. It really has only been the past couple of years, perhaps two years, that we've seen broad awareness of embodied carbon in the A/E/C space. And we're seeing a number of different technologies that are emerging to address this. And we're also seeing teams go back, and by studying and measuring embodied carbon and having this as a metric that we're looking at, challenge past assumptions. So I'm optimistic, and I think it will be a combination of both rethinking some very classic things we do, as well as some new technologies that will be developed.Host:Great. That's a happy way to end. Thanks so much for taking the time to talk with us today.Kestner:Thank you for the opportunity. 

Breaking up fatbergs, and breaking down plastic with smarter materials. Sewers are a dangerous place, with fat bergs and sulphuric acid, but can they be cleaned up? Portland Cement has helped build the modern world, but does it also cause problems in our sewers? how can we stop our sewers from corroding with better materials? Breaking down plastic takes a long time, but through in a super team of enzymes and it could be done in days. A super team of enzymes helps break down plastic and could lead to a circular economy. Brandon C. Knott, Erika Erickson, Mark D. Allen, Japheth E. Gado, Rosie Graham, Fiona L. Kearns, Isabel Pardo, Ece Topuzlu, Jared J. Anderson, Harry P. Austin, Graham Dominick, Christopher W. Johnson, Nicholas A. Rorrer, Caralyn J. Szostkiewicz, Valérie Copié, Christina M. Payne, H. Lee Woodcock, Bryon S. Donohoe, Gregg T. Beckham, John E. McGeehan. Characterization and engineering of a two-enzyme system for plastics depolymerization. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2020; 202006753 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2006753117 Rajeev Roychand, Jie Li, Saman De Silva, Mohammad Saberian, David Law, Biplob Kumar Pramanik. Development of zero cement composite for the protection of concrete sewage pipes from corrosion and fatbergs. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 2021; 164: 105166 DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2020.105166

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It is no secret that America’s worn out interstate highway infrastructure has surpassed its intended shelf life. Our current highway system can’t keep up with increasing severe weather events and rising levels of congestion. Infrastructure investment is necessary, yet Congress still struggles to find a sustainable funding mechanism despite the astronomical cost to the economy in the event of system failure.On this episode, Neil Pedersen, Executive Director of the Transportation Research Board, shares the details of TRB’s The Future Interstate Report: 10 Big Ideas for the 21st Century.Links:interstate.trb.org

Engineering Influence welcomed Rep. Bruce Westerman (Arkansas-4) to the program to discuss his career in engineering and in Congress.Transcript:Host: Welcome to another edition of Engineering Influence, a podcast from the American Council of Engineering Companies. It's a pleasure to welcome Congressman Bruce Westerman to the show. Congressman Westerman hails from Hot Springs, Arkansas and represents the state's fourth congressional district in the House of Representatives. He currently serves on the Natural Resources Committee and as Ranking Member on the Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in the House. Congressman Westerman graduated from the University of Arkansas with a bachelor of science degree in biological and agricultural engineering. He is also a graduate of Yale University earning a master of forestry service degree or I guess master of forestry degree forestry. Yeah. which makes him doubly unique in Congress. He's not only an engineer, but he's also a Forester of which there are not many serving in the house right now. Pretty much just yourself, I believe. Just one. Thank you very much for coming onto the program.Rep. Westerman:  Jeff, it's great to be with you and a real honor to get to be on an ACEC podcast and talk about engineering and how that's benefited me with my service in Congress. You know, I had a nearly a two and a half decade career in engineering before I came to Congress and really enjoyed that. I always tell people I like my job in Congress, but I could go back in and be an engineer tomorrow and be perfectly content.Host:  Actually, I was here when you spoke to members of our senior executive Institute class last month here in DC about your background in engineering and how you've applied that to your work in Congress. And I think you made the comment of pretty much saying that, you know, members come up to you because you're an engineer and expect you to have answers on just about anything related to engineering. How has your professional work in the field of engineering helped you in your roles, both in your committee work and then also in the general work that you do as a member? And I believe you're also on the science committee previously how has that impacted your ability to be an effective Member?Rep. Westerman: Being an engineer in Congress is you know, it's a, it's a small group of us that are up here. There's not many engineers and like we already said, there's only one Forester in the, in the House. So if you've got a particular area of expertise, people really want to seek that out, especially your, your colleagues because you know, they, they generally feel like they can trust you if you want to give them, give them information. But also being an engineer probably has some drawbacks because of things like our code of professional conduct where we're not expected or we're expected not to comment on things we don't have expertise in, whereas a member of Congress, you're expected to comment on everything. So I after my freshman term, I got voted the quietest member of our freshman class, and I always told them this because you've got two ears to listen and one mouth to speak with.Rep. Westerman: So I'll try to try to be measured in what I say and try to be accurate in what I say. And of course Congress touches, touches everything from foreign policy to healthcare tax policy. And you really have to study and read a lot just to stay on top of the issues. But when those things come along, that engineering directly impacts it's great to have some history and background and the, the education and experience to be able to make pertinent comments on those those issues and add to the conversation. But I'll get asked to speak to a lot of engineering students around the country and I'll always tell them that the thing they probably don't realize now, but they'll will realize someday is that engineering is, is really glorified problem solving. You're learning a lot of science, a lot of math.Rep. Westerman: You're getting all the tools in the toolbox to go out and solve problems. But what you really learn going through an engineering curriculum and what you learned doing engineering on the job is how to analyze issues, define the problem, come up with a plan implement that plan and solve a problem. That's beneficial. Whether you're in Congress, whether you're working in a corporation, working in your own business or whatever you do. Those problem solving abilities are very valuable to have. And I think that's the best thing that engineering gave me and prepared me for to come here and serve in Congress.Host: That's really interesting point because one of the things that we talk about at ACEC and we're going to be doing a lot more with a new strategic plan that we just adopted on the role of engineering in society and engineer's not just as math side, the science side, but also the problem solving, the trusted advisor to clients of looking at a challenge and finding ways to innovative ways to solve those challenges and, and to apply their background and experience to, to those challenges. So that's a really interesting point. I do want to bring up the forestry side of things cause I'm a Penn State grad. We had a forestry program at Penn State. Not exactly Yale as far as, in terms of school, but I wanted to ask the question of how you got into and interested in forestry and where that kinda stems from.Rep. Westerman: Yeah, it's kind of a unique combination, I guess having an undergraduate in engineering and a graduate degree in forestry. But I grew up in, in Arkansas, in Hot Springs, Arkansas, where I still live today, beautiful area, lots of national forest, a lot of private forest. And the career that I had for two decades was working for an ACEC member engineering firm. And we specialize in the forest products area. So when people asked me about my engineering career, I basically say that if there's some process that takes a tree and make something out of it, then I got the opportunity to design one of those facilities during my career. So getting a forestry degree was very natural and beneficial in the the business that I was in because you always started with what's the resource, what, what resources available and, and what's the most valuable product we can make out of that resource and what kind of equipment and machinery best fits the resource to convert that resource into a product that can be sold in the marketplace. And plus, I've always loved the outdoors.Rep. Westerman: My Sunday School teacher was a world war II veteran. He, he flew in the bloody 100th bomb bombing squadron and he was just a fantastic guy, but he was, he was in the first forestry graduating class at the university of Arkansas at Monticello where our forestry school is. And I think Mr. Colepepper inspired a love for the forest and the outdoors and always wanted to go to graduate school. So it just, it worked out very well from a career and a personal goal standpoint to go study about trees. And another example of how being here in Congress and being the only, only person in the house where a forestry education and background, I work a lot on forest policy. And you know, the federal government owns a 193 million acres of timberland that's just in the Forest Service, but you throw in the BLM and the park service and you're between 250 and 300 million acres of public forest land.Rep. Westerman: You know, today we're seeing the extreme forest fires in California and there's a lot of work that could be just be done just on the forestry side. And I'm really excited about it because forests are the link between clean air and clean water, which gets into a lot of the things that we as engineers work on. And you know, forests are the natural carbon sequesters. They're the most - good forest trees, the most pragmatic approach we can have to clean environment. And it's the best offensive tool that we've got. So I'm doing a lot of work in the forestry side of things here in Congress. And you know, one thing that we're really looking at is this new concept of mass timber and it's a new building system that's been done in Europe for quite some time, but we can now build buildings up to 18 stories tall.Rep. Westerman: At my alma mater, the University of Arkansas, they just completed two five story mass timber dormitories. They had already built a mass timber library storage building. So it, it does a lot of, lot of things for you. Number one, it uses you can use locally sourced materials. These materials. Wood is on a dry basis, is 45 to 50% carbon, so it creates a huge carbon sink. It's a great insulating product, so you can build these buildings where they're sustainable and they don't use as much energy to operate and maintain. So a lot of positives with things like, wood, but then there's a lot of more research that can be done. We could use wood as feed stocks for chemicals. That's good feedstock for nanoparticles. I just saw something the other day where they've come up with a nano material made from wood cellulous that can be put into concrete that reduces the amount of Portland Cement and actually increases the strength and durability of the, of concrete. So the, I think the sky's the limit on what we can do with wood, which is a good renewable resource. And again, it, it's the lungs of the earth and the kidneys of the earth that cleans the air and cleans the water.Host:  And that's really an interesting point. And actually we covered the mass timber issue in our most recent private industry brief that Erin McLaughlin in our office puts together. And again, that was the change in December of 2019. The ICC loosened the restrictions to allow buildings up to 18 stories in height effective in 2021 compared to the limit of six stories and commercial structures currently. So that's, that's an interesting, that's an interesting nexus between the forestry side and the engineering side.Rep. Westerman: As a result of those projects they're in, in Northwest Arkansas on the University of Arkansas campus, a company just up the road, Walmart, announced they're building a new corporate headquarters. Now you think about you know, the largest company in the world building a corporate headquarters, 15,000 people, there'll be housing. So it'll be like a small college campus. I think they told me three and a half million square feet, but they're going to build the whole facility out of Southern Pine mass timber grown and manufactured in Arkansas. So that's a great story to tell, not only from the environmental stewardship side, but these local economies for timber has grown or in rural areas. And it's a, it's a good story about how we can help the autonomy in rural areas and do something good for the environment at the same time. And there's a lot of other, I've been told that Microsoft, Adidas I think Google, there's a lot of major corporations that are looking to use more of this mass timber in there Buildings.Host: You know, buildings like that would fit in perfectly in Seattle and, and a lot of the Pacific Northwest especially. I do want to stay with the whole idea of economic development, but shifting over to infrastructure. You serve as the Ranking Member on the Water Subcommittee and of course WRDA is probably the most, the big bill that subcommittee is going to be working on for the Congress. That's a critical bill for our ports, harbors, inland waterways, locks, dams, just all of that, not just the, the seaside ports like Charleston or Savannah, but also the interior - moving goods around the country. Now with a lot of the members who listen to the podcast, they're getting a lot of their news from CNN. They're getting it from Fox and they're not hearing everything that's going on. You know, at the granular level. Where does the WRDA bill stand right now and where do you see when you see as the prospects of getting that through?Rep. Westerman: So we've got a good track record going on WRDA and we certainly don't want to disrupt that. I believe we've the past six years or maybe eight years, we've got a WRDA bill through Congress. I know the whole time that I've been here, we've got WRDA bills passed on a two year cycle and there seems to be bipartisan support to get a WRDA bill out next year. And I will say serving on T&I, and actually being the ranking member on water and environment subcommittee. I was very fortunate in this Congress, which seems to be highly partisan with, you know, the impeachment issues and everything else going on. We've got a pretty good track record so far on the water and environment subcommittee. We just got a bill passed off the floor to use the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund to actually develop and improve harbors as it was set in place to do you know, nearly, you know, nine to $10 billion in that fund.Rep. Westerman: But it wasn't getting used to maintain harbors and it was put strictly put in place for that purpose. So I'm glad to see we pass it off the House Floor in a bipartisan manner. I hope the Senate will take it up and get that signed into law. We also just out of Committee this week we passed the the, the loan fund for wastewater systems. And I think that's a great opportunity to go in and you know, have the funding mechanisms so that cities can, can borrow the money to repair these wastewater systems, which the, I believe it was American Society of Civil Engineers gave our wastewater infrastructure a D plus grade. And I know as I travel around in my district there's a lot of work that needs to be done on both wastewater.Rep. Westerman: And potable water system. So we're, we're getting bills passed out of committee off the floor. Those, you know, it doesn't usually make Fox or CNN when you pass a water bill out of the House, but it makes a lot of difference across the country. And I feel very fortunate to be working on that. I'm really looking forward to working with the, the Subcommittee Chairman Grace Napalitano from California, Peter DeFazio, now the Democratic Chairman, and then Sam Graves who is the Ranking Member. We've got a commitment to, to get this word of bill done. And as you mentioned, it's very important to many parts of the country. You know, our navigable waterways took a beating in the flooding this past past spring and summer in my district and in many other places in the country. We've got a lot of work to do on that.Rep. Westerman: There's a lot of work that needs to be done on again ports and harbors deepening channels and that sort of thing. So there's, there's no end of, of opportunities and good things that we can spend money on that are, that are good for the country. And I think part of the reason we have a federal government, you know, provide for the common defense and, and take care of interstate transportation systems and that's what T&I does. So those are the things we should be prioritizing and putting our funds towards because it helps grow the economy and and helps, you know, the country grow, which helps us be able to provide nice things and, and people to have jobs and find, make their own way through life. So excited about what we're doing on the, on the water subcommittee.Host: And then I guess just to kind of wrap it up, I mean it, with everything going on in Washington, you know, it's so dominated the headlines by intrigue and pretty much inside the beltway, kind of partisan squabbles because it, you know, gets ratings. But you know, for your constituents and for members in the engineering profession out there who are listening and saying, okay, what's Congress doing? I mean, what, what message would you leave them with? As far as what Washington is doing and, and how things are, are looking at the end of the year and may shape up for for 2020?Rep. Westerman: Well, right now I would, I wouldn't give Congress a very good grade on what we're doing. I mean, we're operating under a Continuing Resolution, which is been a huge pet peeve of mine since I've got here. If there's, if there's one thing I would, if I could change it and I've worked hard to try to change it that's to get us back to what I call regular order, where we do appropriation bills. We debate those bills in the open, we offer amendments on the floor, pass all 12 of them out of the House. And if the Senate would take those up and go through the same process, we know our fiscal year ends on September 30th every year. And we need a new budget by then. We know the timeline, we know what needs to be done. We're just not getting it done.Rep. Westerman:  And that causes all kinds of problems. When you look at, we don't even have a Defense Authorization bill done this year. And, and that's one of the primary reasons to have a federal government is provide for the common defense. If, if we can't get that done, if we can't get a budget done we really should be ashamed of the job that we're doing here. Now we can talk about some positive things on T&I. There's some small things that we agree on and they're getting done. And in the big picture, the politics are getting way too much in the way. And with the 2020 presidential election coming up with all the talk about impeachment it's really taken the focus off for the job of Congress. We've still got a huge, huge issue with healthcare in this country.Rep. Westerman: We've got huge issues with immigration we need to be addressing. But there are a lot of us that are working on those policies and we've got bills drafted and we're ready to go. But you just can't get it in committee. You can't get time on the floor. The USMCA, a trade agreement that would be great for our country has got bipartisan support. You know, Mexico is now our largest trading partner. So you'd have your first and second largest trading partners with a new agreement that would benefit farmers, benefit the whole country. And we can't get it on the floor for a vote. It could've passed two months ago with bipartisan support. So that's frustrating. But again, engineers are problem solvers and I keep looking at it, you know, how can I make a difference? How can we change this?Rep. Westerman: And it, a lot of times it's a slow change. And a lot of times it takes changes in leadership. It takes changes in which party is in control. But I see light at the end of the tunnel and you know, in on the positive side of things is the economy's doing quite well. We could do, we could be doing better and we see pathways to make that happen and I want to continue working on that and using hopefully what I learned studying engineering and doing engineering for a couple of decades and applying that here in the United States House of Representatives.Host: Well, Congressman, thank you very much. There's still a lot of work to do, but like you said, engineers are problem solvers and you're going to be here to help solve those problems. So really appreciate your time this morning and coming on the show and, and, and hope to have you on the future. And I guess today you have some votes and then you're out, right? The this is, this is the end of the week legislatively.Rep. Westerman: Yeah. This is a fly out day. It's a you know, I love my job, but the happiest day of the week are when I'm heading back to Arkansas, back to the real world. And the people I grew up with, the people I love and the people I get to represent here in this this great job in the U S so we do have a vote today actually a vote on the impeachment inquiry. So I wish we were voting on a WRDA bill or something like that, but it is what it is. And you know, I look forward to continuing to work is a lot of the things that people don't see that are here in DC is that when most members of Congress are back in our districts, we're working as much there as we are up here in DC. It's a different kind of work. And with, I've got a large rural district, so I spend a lot of time on the road, but always enjoy getting back.Host: Well, Congressman Bruce Westerman, thank you very much for being on the show. Again, this has been another episode of Engineering Influence from the American Council of Engineering Companies. 

Groups come from all over America to ask Congress and the Administration for more money. The needs are many and the dollars few, so the push, often times, is intense. The federal government plays a key role in so many initiatives across all 50 states, but there aren’t many that are greater than the lead Uncle Sam takes when it comes to funding transportation.The lagging condition of our infrastructure is well known. Perhaps it’s the magnitude of the need that makes one transportation non-profit’s message so unique.Transportation for America has made a break from conventional thinking, and while others are saying “more,” its leaders have energetically declared “no more.”T4’s Director, Beth Osborne, joins us week to explain her organization’s funding message heard ‘round the transportation world.Link:Advocacy Group: Stop Spending on New Roads

Climate and resiliency are hot topics in Washington and New York this week, with a second hearing on the subject in D.C. tomorrow and world leaders discussing the issue, among others, at United Nations meetings through Friday. Last week’s House congressional panel addressed steps needed to reduce indutrial emissions. The topic is similar at tomorrow’s hearing of the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis. In this episode, we examine resiliency and the legislative agenda impacting the cement and concrete industries with the Select Committee’s ranking member, Congressman Garret Graves, Republican from Louisiana.

Mr Nkeri was fired due to poor financial performance of the company

Credit title: Subject Matter Expert: Putri Arumsari, ST., MT. Dokumenter: Binus University Uploaded by: Knowledge Management and Innovation Binus University

In 1905 Winchester Cathedral was in danger of collapsing as its eastern end sank into marshy ground. The surprising solution was to hire a diver, who worked underwater for five years to build a firmer foundation for the medieval structure. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll tell the story of William Walker and his curious contribution to saving a British landmark. We'll also contemplate a misplaced fire captain and puzzle over a shackled woman. Intro: Anthony Trollope became a prolific author by simply demanding it of himself. Wyoming's North Two Ocean Creek drains into both the Atlantic and the Pacific. Sources for our feature on William Walker: Ian T. Henderson and John Crook, The Winchester Diver, 1984. Barry Shurlock, The Winchester Story, 1986. Frederick Bussby, William Walker, 1970. John Crook and Yoshio Kusaba, "The Transepts of Winchester Cathedral: Archaeological Evidence, Problems of Design, and Sequence of Construction," Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 50:3 (September 1991), 293-310. Gwilym Roberts, "How a Diver Saved Winchester Cathedral, UK: And Today's Solution?" Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers -- Engineering History and Heritage 166:3 (August 2013), 164-176. "William Walker: The Diver Who Saved the Cathedral," Winchester Cathedral (accessed Feb. 25, 2018). "Images of History," Journal of Diving History 21:2 (Spring 2013), 40. John Crook, "William Robert Walker," Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Sept. 23, 2004. "How a Diver Saved a Cathedral," Ohio Architect, Engineer and Builder 20:4 (October 1912), 61. "Foundations: The Use of Divers and the Grouting Machine," American Architect and Building News 93:1689 (May 6, 1908), 147. "Portland Cement in the Restoration of Winchester Cathedral," Cement 13:3 (July 1912), 84. "Winchester Cathedral," Journal of the Society of Estate Clerks of Works 19:222 (Dec. 1, 1906), 182. "Diving at Winchester Cathedral," American Architect 90:1607 (Oct. 13, 1906), 120. Charles William Domville-Fife, Submarine Engineering of To-Day, 1914. J.W. Overend, "Saving a Cathedral With a Diver," Scientific American 108:19 (May 10, 1913), 428. "Toilers Beneath the Sea," Popular Science 3 (1912), 1580. "Hidden Service," Expositor and Current Anecdotes 13:5 (February 1912), 302. "A Great Feat," Advance 62:2392 (Sept. 7, 1911), 303. David Newnham, "Statuesque Mistake," Times Educational Supplement, May 30, 2003, 5. Jonathan Petre and Hazel Southam, "Cathedral to Replace Statue of 'Wrong Man'," Telegraph, May 27, 2001. "Another Statue in Aid of Cathedral Hero," [Southampton] Southern Daily Echo, Dec. 21, 2001. "Croydon Man Helped to Save a Gothic Cathedral," Croydon Advertiser, May 15, 2014, 32. Andrew John Davies, "Site Unseen: 'Diver Bill', Winchester Cathedral," Independent, Oct. 4, 1996, L2. Sally A. Fall, "Winchester Cathedral Owes Debt to Diver," San Diego Union, June 26, 1988 G-3. "Diver Who Saved a Cathedral," New Zealand Herald, Nov. 1, 2011, C.4.   In this diagram, from Popular Science, 1912, two men operate a large pump at ground level. Below them, standing on a platform just above the water level, the diver's assistant pulls in and pays out the diver's air and signal lines as he moves about the trench. Walker, at the bottom, holds a bag of concrete that's just been lowered to him. The trenches were generally longer and narrower than depicted here, and the water would have been impenetrably clouded with sediment. Listener mail: "Police Want Anyone Who May Have Seen Toronto Firefighter on His Journey Across U.S. to Come Forward," CBC News, Feb. 14, 2018. Jeff Farrell, "Skier Who Went Missing From New York Mountain Slopes Ends Up Six Days Later in California Still Wearing Ski Clothes," Independent, Feb. 15, 2018. "Skier Lost in New York Doesn't Know How He Got to California," Associated Press, Feb. 14, 2018. "Toronto Firefighter Who Disappeared in New York and Wound Up in California, May Have Travelled Across U.S. Thanks to Friendly Truck Driver," Toronto Star, Feb. 14, 2018. Sofia Tancredi, "Anorexia Through the Ages: From Sainthood to Psychiatry," E/I Balance, March 3, 2013. Muriel Darmon, Becoming Anorexic: A Sociological Study, 2016. Jane E. Brody, "HEALTH; Personal Health," New York Times, May 19, 1988. Fernando Espi Forcen, "Anorexia Mirabilis: The Practice of Fasting by Saint Catherine of Siena in the Late Middle Ages," American Journal of Psychiatry, April 1, 2013. Wikipedia, "Fasting Girl" (accessed March 10, 2018). "Sarah Jacobs: The Fasting Girl," BBC Wales, March 14, 2011. This week's lateral thinking puzzle was contributed by listener Steven Jones. Here are two corroborating links (warning -- these spoil the puzzle). You can listen using the player above, download this episode directly, or subscribe on iTunes or Google Play Music or via the RSS feed at http://feedpress.me/futilitycloset. Please consider becoming a patron of Futility Closet -- on our Patreon page you can pledge any amount per episode, and we've set up some rewards to help thank you for your support. You can also make a one-time donation on the Support Us page of the Futility Closet website. Many thanks to Doug Ross for the music in this episode. If you have any questions or comments you can reach us at podcast@futilitycloset.com. Thanks for listening!

Portland Cement | cskonopka https://soundcloud.com/cskonopka/portlandcement https://schwwaaa.bandcamp.com/ https://vimeo.com/cskonopka

Portland Cement is a material that helped build much of the world in the 1800s and still continues to be a major component of construction to this day. Early Portland Cement Works were unsafe places to work, as was the case with most fields of manufacturing. Dismemberment, burns and death were a real concern. Three of these plants not only had injuries and deaths, but they are now reputedly haunted. Two are abandoned ruins and another is a world class haunted attraction today. We will explore the history and hauntings of the Portland Cement Works in Salt Lake City, Utah, Mahurangi Cement Works in Warkworth, New Zealand and Kansas Portland Cement Works in LeHunt, Kansas. The Moment in Oddity features Phantom Dragoon of the Delaware River and This Day in History features the discovery of the Peking Man. Our location was suggested by Atticus Wolfgramm. Check out the website: http://historygoesbump.com Show notes can be found here: http://historygoesbump.blogspot.com/2016/12/hgb-ep-167-portland-cement-works.html Become an Executive Producer: http://patreon.com/historygoesbump