This is the first in a series of posts.
Steven CF Anderson, Managing Director of InfrastructureUSA speaks with several engineers attending the American Society of Civil Engineers 141st Annual Civil Engineering Conference held last month in Memphis, Tennessee:
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CERES
Increasing water demand by the power and energy sectors is another growing competitive pressure. Many forms of electric power require massive amounts of water for cooling, with the sector accounting for 41 percent of total water withdrawals in the United States and 44 percent in the European Union. The water intensity of fuel production is also on the rise. In 2009, only five percent of the world’s liquid fuels came from water-intensive “unconventional” sources such as biofuels, oil sands and shale oil. By 2035, the U.S. Energy Information Administration predicts, that number could double or even triple, depending on global oil prices.
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From PEI: Investors in infrastructure are looking for more sophisticated investments, many exploring a direct platform, co-investments or secondary positions. Entering into these large scale investments can be intimidating, particularly in the Americas where the opportunities are great but the deal flow is sluggish. In response to this, Infrastructure Investor: Americas returns to New York [...]
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SPHERE CONSULTING
-Jointly public and private investment in infrastructure can create millions of jobs. The private sector is already largely responsible for designing, building, and financing our nation’s infrastructure and can do more.
-Over $250 bn of private capital has been raised, and some additional legislative and administrative changes could accelerate infrastructure projects and enhance funding.
-Private investment in infrastructure frees government dollars for allocation to other troubled areas of the economy and transfers risk away from the public partner to the private entity.
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THE CENTER FOR AN URBAN FUTURE
On April 25, 2011, the Center for an Urban Future and the Rockefeller Foundation convened a small, private roundtable discussion with more than a dozen of the nation’s thought leaders to discuss the key trends, opportunities and challenges that U.S. cities face over the next two decades—with a particular focus on the critical issues expected to impact the most vulnerable urban residents. The purpose of the conversation was to help the Rockefeller Foundation, and the larger philanthropic community, identify the key megatrends, challenges and opportunities that will affect those living in U.S. cities over the next 20 years.
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“Imagine sitting in a rural health clinic, streaming three-dimensional medical imaging over the web and discussing a unique condition with a specialist in New York. Or downloading a high-definition, full-length feature film in less than five minutes. Or collaborating with classmates around the world while watching live 3-D video of a university lecture. Universal, ultra [...]
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Kathleen Mulligan-Hansel is the Deputy Director of The Partnership for Working Families. She has deep roots in accountable development work, having served as a founding co-chair and primary staff lead for the Good Jobs & Livable Neighborhoods coalition in Milwaukee while a coordinator of the Working Families Project at the Institute for Wisconsin’s Future. Under [...]
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PEDESTRIAN OBSERVATIONS
House Transportation Committee Chair John Mica (R-FL) has finally come out explicitly in favor of privatizing the Northeast Corridor and letting private consortia bid for high-speed rail construction. Mica’s rationale is that Amtrak is an inefficient government provider, and its proposal for spending $117 billion over 30 years to build high-speed rail in the Northeast is deficient…Not mentioned anywhere in the article is the FRA, which is the real obstacle to modern rail operations. Mica has to my knowledge said nothing about the FRA, which is too bad, since it could feed into the Republican narrative of bad government and the need for privatization and deregulation.
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SOLAR ENERGY INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION
For concentrating solar, which includes both concentrating solar power (CSP) and concentrating photovoltaics (CPV), the U.S. is poised to become the global market leader in installations. After 20 years of near-dormancy in the industry, many large-scale concentrating solar projects are set to continue their expected ramp-up over the next few years including the expected completion of the world’s largest CPV facility (at 30 MW) expected before December.
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SOLAR ELECTRIC POWER ASSOCIATION
In addition to continued growth, the new report shows two dramatic changes taking place in utilities‘ use of solar power. 1) The report demonstrates that more and more growth came from areas outside the traditionally strong solar regions of California and the Southwest. Many utilities in other parts of the country now have sizeable solar portfolios, and tens of thousands of photovoltaic (PV) systems were installed in nationwide. 2) With a growing trend toward more utility-owned solar projects and third-party power purchase agreements (PPA), the industry is no longer based solely on customer-owned, net-metered systems.
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