TRANSPORT: Tunnel Vision

Posted on March 18, 2025March 17, 2025 by Building The World

“Train Tunnel Anim” by Barbetorte, 2008. Creative Commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.

Fehmarnbelt Tunnel, connecting Denmark and Germany, will be an important advance in transport. In fact, it will set world records. Dual highways, both offering two lanes, as well as two electric rail lines, will transit a tube snaking beneath one of the world’s major shipping lanes. It will become the world’s longest immersed tunnel, and take first place for global rail and road tunnel length. Fehmarnbelt will be constructed by piecing together concrete tube sections prefabricated on land (Solomon’s Temple was one of the earliest uses of prefab technology). The factory where the sections are produced is purpose-built and the biggest tunnel-making facility in history: it is the size of 300 soccer fields. With six reduction lines busy 24/7, turning out one section every nine weeks, it is manufacturing on a macro scale.

**Each tube section is the weight of 10 Eiffel Towers; the Paris landmark is another feat of macro engineering**. Image: “Eiffel Tower” by mikebrice, 2005. Public domain. Included with appreciation.

Each tube section is the weight of 10 Eiffel Towers. Tube sections are pre-fitted with sensors, communication devices, and all manner of monitoring equipment (the Alaska Pipeline was similarly pre-equipped with sensors called “smart pigs”) to give updates on safety status during immersion and then during actual operation. Once complete, tube sections will be deposited onto the sea floor, buckled together, and then the whole tube will be buried. Fehmarnbelt’s water seals are designed to stay tight for 120 years: smart sensors will keep watch.

Fehmarnbelt Tunnel will cut travel time from Denmark to Germany from 5 hours to 2.5. Image by Bowser, 2008. Creative Commons 3.0. Included with appreciation.

Tunnels reduce travel time. The present journey from Hamburg, Germany to Copenhagen, Denmark takes five hours by train: Fehmarnbelt Tunnel will cut that in half. While many environmentalists recommend train trial or air or vehicle, dredging the seabed for the tunnel has prompted protests, court hearings, and applications for halting the project. But Femern A/S declared plans to mitigate environmental impacts by using dredged seabed material to build new reclaimed land with marshes, meadows, and wetlands.

“Marshland green landscape” by Steve Hillebrand, photographer, US Fish and Wildlife Service, 2013. Public domain Included with appreciation.

Comparisons to the Channel Tunnel are attracting interest. One of the world’s most successful macro projects, the Chunnel (a term coined by Frank P. Davidson often called the “Father of the Channel Tunnel”) was dug through solid land, and stretches 31 miles (50 kilometers).

Channel Tunnel is a precedent macro engineering marvel that crosses the waterway between England and France. Image: “Channel Tunnel Geological Profile” by Commander Keane. Creative Commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.

Tunnels like the Mount Blanc, or the Seikan that is part of Shinkansen, bring new kinds of connection, encouraging communication and trading partners. Gotthard Base Tunnel (presently the world’s longest) and Songshan Lake Tunnel may soon be joined by the Sichuan-Tibet railway and the Naples-Foggia railway.

Gotthard Base Tunnel is presently the world’s longest. Photograph by Zacharie Grossen, 2016. Creative Commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.

Moving transport underground has noted environmental benefits as well as cultural opportunities; when Boston, Massachusetts, US placed its Central Artery underground, a greenway extension of Olmsted’s “Emerald Necklace” encircling the city, was fashioned atop that now hosts gardens, art installations, a carousel, highly-acclaimed food trucks, and dance parties in lighted fountains.

**Revelers dance in the Rings Fountain on Boston’s Greenway while cars and trucks zoom through a tunnel below.** Image: “Wharf District Park Rings Fountain” by photographer Newton Court, 2015. Creative Commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.

Brooke, K. Lusk and Zoe G. Quinn. “Channel Tunnel” Building the World Blog. https://blogs.umb.edu/buildingtheworld/tunnels/channel-tunnel-england-and-france/

Davidson, Frank P. and K. Lusk Brooke. “The Channel Tunnel” Chapter 39, pages 761-804, Volume II. Building the World (Westport: Greenwood, 2006). ISBN: 9780313333743.

Femern. https://femern.com

Knight, Matthew. “A vast undersea tunnel is being built that will change the road and rail map of Europe.” 12 March 2025. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/travel/fehmarnbelt-tunnel-germany-denmark-europe

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 U

CITIES: Olympian Innovations and Climate Change

Posted on July 26, 2024 by Building The World

“Eiffel Tower” by photographer Tommie Hansen, 2013. Creative Commons 2.0. Included with appreciation.

Paris opens the Olympics today. One hundred years ago, in 1924, the city of lights last hosted the world’s games. What has changed? Each Olympic city endeavors to introduce innovations: this summer, many will reflect responses and solutions to climate change.

River Seine from Bercy by photographer Mortimer62, 2010: Creative Commons 2.0. Included with appreciation.

Beach volleyball will take place at the foot of the Eiffel Tower ( on a temporary beach of imported sand). Real sand will greet Olympic surfers who will ride the waves in Teahupo’o, Tahiti. For the opening ceremony, athletes will float down the Seine (the city’s mayor swam in the river to prove its cleanliness).

**The 1964 Tokyo Olympics featured the new Shinkansen rail transit system -profitable from day one.** Image: Shinkansen Series N700a at Mt. Fuji by photographer Maeda Akihito, 2021. Creative Commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.

Hosting the Olympics is both a financial danger and an opportunity for upgraded infrastructure. When Tokyo opened the 1964 Olympics, a new transit system debuted. Shinkansen, Japan’s famed train system, was completed just 10 days before. Timing was ideal: the new train line was profitable from day one, according to financial analysis by Japanese historian of technology Hoshimi Uchida. After the Olympics, Shinkansen expanded its reach: in 2022, there were 16,347 miles (27,245 kilometers) of tracks for trains carrying 382 billion passengers.

When Rio de Janeiro hosted the 2016 Olympics, supermodel Gisele Bündchen graced the opening ceremony. Image: Agéncia Brasil, 2016. Creative Commons 3.0. Included with appreciation.

But past performance is not a guarantee of future profits. When Tokyo opened the 2020 Olympics (held in 2021 due to the global pandemic) there were no tourists to ride the rails. Hosting was heroic but unprofitable, costing $20 billion. Athens hosted in 2004, building a stadium that not only racked up debt but, some economists state, may have ushered in a financial meltdown. Rio 2016 featured Gisele Bündchen strolling the opening ceremony to “The Girl from Ipanema.” But the city later had to sell off the newly-built Olympic Village at a financial loss. Looking at the numbers from past Olympics, Denver, Colorado bowed out of the running for the 1976 winter Games. Is hosting the Olympics worth it?

Barcelona emerged, in 1992, as a model of success through Olympian planning. New beaches, new transport including rail and a new airport, new telecommunications systems were so effective that a new term in architecture and urban planning emerged: “the Barcelona Effect.” London’s 2012 Olympics proved a new environmental technology: the renovated West Ham tube station offered renewable electricity created by movement of people crossing floors that lighted the entire metro station. Laurence Kemball-Cook, then a graduate student at Loughborough University, designed the technology plan and later formed PaveGen to offer electric floors to offices, hospitals, schools, and other buildings (including dance clubs) with ample foot traffic.

Dominque Perrault, chief architect for the new Olympian facility at Seine-Saint-Denis, also designed the above pictured Hippodrome de Longchamp in Paris. Image: Madeira78, 2018. Creative Commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.

Will Paris 2024 be a success? Some see renovations in Seine-Saint-Denis – a cluster of 40 small towns – as a means to improve an area plagued by joblessness and crime. After the Games, the area may emerge reborn as a “mixity” of residential and business activity: 40 architects who worked with central planner Dominique Perrault will see if that vision endures. Some worry displaced residents could return only to be priced out. Sustainability is part of the plan: seats for an aquatic center are made from recycled plastic bottle caps collected by children in Seine-Saint-Denis schools. (Kimmelman 2024)

Among the many innovations Paris will bring to the 2024 Olympics is an underground cooling system that will keep athletes comfortable amid the rising heat levels related to climate change. The water-cooled (recycled) technology, part of the Paris vision to be carbon-neutral by 2050, is based on advanced geothermal technology.

Paris: city of COP21 the “Paris Agreement” and city of the 2024 Olympics. Image: “2015 Climate Conference poster,” public domain. Included with appreciation.

The Paris Olympics 2024 will take place in the same city that achieved the COP21 Paris Agreement; this summer’s Games may set new examples of how cities can respond to climate change for a more sustainable, renewable world.

Brooke, K. Lusk. Renewing the World: WATER, 2022. ISBN: 9798985035919. https://renewingtheworld.com

Davidson, Frank P. and K. Lusk Brooke, “Shinkansen – National High-Speed Railways,” Chapter 35, Building the World, Volume II, pages 669 -680, 2006. ISBN: 9780313333743.

Kimmelman, Michael. “Hosting the Olympics costs billions. What does a city get back?” 22 July 2024. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/22/magazne/olympics-city-redevelopment-paris.html

Pavegen.https://www.pavegen.com

Runnerstribe Admin. “Paris Olympics: A Cool Solution to Summer Heat.” 26 March 2024. https://runnerstribe.com/news/paris-olympics-a-cool-solution-to-summer-heat

Shadbolt, Peter. “Future cities may harvest energy from human footsteps” 2014. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2014/12/30/tech/innovation/tomorrow-transformed-energy-harvesting/index.html

WATER/ENERGY: Deep Seabed Mining – Part 2

Posted on July 13, 2023 by Building The World

**Deep Sea Mining will affect marine life in the largest continuous marine habitat on Earth. What do you think? Make your voice heard now.** Image: “Fluorescent Coral” by Erin Rod, 2019. Creative Commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.

In July 2023, the Legal and Technical Commission of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) will discuss a possible mining code framework. While autonomous bulldozers would not begin to scrape the deep until 2026, it is not too soon to take steps – before it is too late. Which should we value: energy or water? Part 1 of this discussion focused on energy: minerals like copper, cobalt, lithium, manganese, nickel, platinum, and rare earths are needed for batteries to store renewable energy. These minerals are present, in abundance, in the seabed. Part 2 of this topic brings the focus to the water environment in which these minerals are found. It is the largest continuous marine habitat on Earth. Many feel we should not undertake seabed mining too quickly, if at all. Mining disasters on land are evidence of potential damage: what would happen underwater, where currents could expand the problem?

**Dr. Sylvia Earle**, marine scientist, and founder of “Mission Blue” to preserve ocean life. Image: NOAA, 1970. Public domain. Included with appreciation.

Champions bring issues to life. Enter “Her Deepness”: Sylvia Earle. Earle’ organization Mission Blue has proposed Hope Spots to preserve the ocean environment. Enter Lewis William Gordon Pugh, often called “Sir Edmund Hillary in a Swim Suit,” the first person to swim every ocean including Antarctic waters to promote awareness of the Ross Sea – now largest Marine Protected Area (MPA) in the world. Enter Rena Lee: leader of the Intergovernmental Conference on Marine Biodiversity, who chaired 36 hours of nonstop negotiation that produced the agreement for the High Seas Treaty to protect 30% of Earth’s water and land by 2030. Marine Protected Areas offer a chance to save enough to sustain the ocean environment. Related to that concept is the campaign of 50 Reefs to protect some of the world’s most sustainable coral reefs with the hope of regenerating neighboring reefs over time.

**Global Marine Protected Areas** (as of November 2022). Image from Marine Protection Atlas, Marine Conservation Institute; graphic by Yo. Russmo. CC 4.0. Included with appreciation.

ISA has initiated a few marine protected areas of their own. They call these “Areas of Particular Environmental Interest” or APEI. Recently, ISA approved four new ones in the CCZ totaling 200,000 square miles (518,000 square kilometers). Just as a comparison, the CCZ is 1.7 million square miles (4.5 million sq km). Next to be determined: how will exploited versus protected areas be compared to track environmental changes if or when mining begins?

**Deep Sea Mining may soon begin in the Pacific between Hawaii and Mexico**. Image: “Polymetallic Nodules Exploration Area in the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone” by International Seabed Authority (ISA), 2016. Public Domain. Included with appreciation.

ISA “DeepData” began in 2002 as a way to collect and centralize all data on marine mineral resources. Will the APEIs be included? Comparing and measuring an initial mined area with a protected area could monitor effects before opening permits to other projects.

**Some companies, and countries, have called for a moratorium on deep sea mining. Once it begins, there may be consequences we have not anticipated**. Image: “Mid-ocean ridge topography” graphic by United States Geological Survey, 2011. Public domain. Included with appreciation.

Some business users of minerals like cobalt have declared they will not purchase or use any materials obtained by deep sea mining. Some countries have signed a moratorium including Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Federation States of Micronesia, Fiji, France, Germany, New Zealand, Palau, Panama, Samoa, and Spain, among others. More than 700 scientists joined with the European Academies Science Advisory Council (EASAC) to warn about potential damage. Sir David Attenborough advised a moratorium and the UK offered a opportunity to sign a petition (if you are a UK citizen or resident). Some experts state we can reduce mineral demand by 58%, thereby avoiding a need for deep sea mining. When all ISA members (the USA is not among them) meet in July 2023, a precautionary pause discussion is on the agenda. But there are states, including Nauru, that want to proceed.

**Climate disasters closer to home take our immediate attention.** The Cerberus heatwave of 2023 may be even hotter than that of 2022, shown here from Copernicus Sentinel satellite data. Image: “Surface Air Temperature Anomaly July 2022” by ESA/Copernicus Sentinel. Public Domain. Included with appreciation.

Why don’t we hear more about sea bed mining on the news? Present climate disasters are closer to home. The Cerberus heatwave scorching southern Europe made headlines. Copernicus Sentinel satellite data showed land temperatures in Spain’s Extremadura region climbed to 60C (140F) this week. Across the southern United States, a “heat dome” blanketed states from Texas to Florida. Torrential rains (warmer water retains more moisture) engulfed Vermont. New York State closed sections of the Erie Canal due to severe flooding. Japan’s Shinkansen train system came to a halt as the country coped with a once-in-a-millennium rainfall. Environmental disasters where we live understandably deflect focus from what is out of sight, like the deep sea.

**The ocean is the largest continuous marine habitat on Earth.** Image: “Dumbo Octopus, Opisthoteuthis agassizii” by NOAA, 2019. CC 3.0. Included with appreciation.

The issue of deep sea mining is critical to the future. But, importantly, it has not yet begun. Some say it may be inevitable, but it should not be unnoticed, and certainly must be carefully undertaken. There is time for you to become involved, to offer your ideas and your suggestions. You can find out more, and sign a petition to vote on this issue here.

Brooke, K. Lusk. “Nauru and Deep Sea Mining” 30 June 2023. https://blogs.umb.edu/buildingtheworld/2023/06/30/energy-water-deep-seabed-mining-part-1/

Deep Sea Conservation Coalition. “The Race to Defend the Deep Heats Up in Kingston.” 10 July 2023. https://savethehighseas.org/2023/07/10/the-race-to-defend-the-deep-heats-up-in-kingston/

Greenpeace International. “Petition on Deep Sea Mining.” greenpeace.org/…/act/stop-deep-sea-mining/

Greenpeace International. “Governments leave door open to deep sea mining starting this year.” 31 March 2023. https://www.greenpeace.org/international/press-release/59018/governments-leave-door-open-deep-sea-mining/

Heffernan, Olive. “Seabed mining is coming – bringing minerals, riches, and fears of epic extinctions.” 24 July 2019 Nature. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02242-y

Humphreys, John and Robert W.E. Clark. “A Critical History of Marine Protected Areas.” 2020. Marine Protected Areas: Science, Policy, and Management, pp. 1-12. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780081026984000010

International Seabed Authority (ISA). https://www.isa.org.jm

Khan, Yusuf. “Deep-Sea Mining Is Close to Reality Despite Environmental Concerns” 22 August 2022. The Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/articles/deep-sea-mining-is-close-to-reality-despite-environmental-concerns-11661162400

Mission Blue. VIDEO. Netflix. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1wp2MQCsfQ

MIT. “Deep Sea Mining.” https://youtu.be/Lwq1j3nOODA

Rabone, M., et al., “A review of the International Seabed Authority database DeepData from a biological perspective,” 30 March 2023. DATABASE: The Journal of Biological Databases and Curation, Volume 2023. https://doi.org/10.1093/database/baad013

Simas, Moana, Fabian Aponte, Kirsten Wiebe. “The Future is Circular: Circular Economy and Critical Minerals for the Green Transition.” 15 November 2022. Project number 102027433. SINTEF. https://wwfint.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/the_future_is_circular_sintefmineralsfinalreport_nov_2022_1_1_pdf

United Nations. “High Seas Treaty.” https://www.un.org/bbnj/sites/www.un.org.bbnj/files/draft_agreement_advanced_unedited_for_posting_v1.pdf

World Wildlife Fund. “Future mineral demand can be met without deep seabed mining as innovative technology can cut mineral use by 58%.” 28 November 2022. https://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/?7087466/Future-mineral-demand-can-be-met-without-deep-seabed-mining-as-innovative-technology-can-cut-mineral-use-by-58

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 U

CITIES: Wildfires, Fireworks, and A New Sky

Posted on July 4, 2023 by Building The World

**Will drones replace fireworks?** Image: Nagaoka Festival 2006 by ZorroIII. Creative Commons 3.0. Included with appreciation.

Many cities light up the sky during festive occasions. In the United States, today marks a holiday often celebrated with fireworks. But with drought plaguing some areas, the risk of igniting wildfires is causing an innovation: sky art with drones. Instead of traditional fireworks, the city of Boulder, Colorado will feature a drone show (the Marshall Fire of 2021/22 killed two people and devastated 6000 acres/2,428 hectares). Galveston, Texas will also illumine the holiday with a drone display. California towns of La Jolla and Ocean Beach will flash the night sky with animations. It’s a new idea for La Jolla: the city has forgone any fireworks for five years.

**Drone aerial display during coronation of King Charles III.** Image: Department for Culture, Media and Sport, by SkyMagic Drone Shows, May 2023. Creative Commons 1.0 Public Domain. Included with appreciation.

Drones replacing fireworks on this holiday will not be a first. Tokyo used drones during their most recent Olympics; during their first Olympian experience, the city launched the innovation of Shinkansen. And, in 2023, the coronation of King Charles III featured an artistic drone light display.

**Drones are an innovation that has grown to a $1 billion market in the past decade.** Image: Drone Flying Eye, 2011 by Drone Flying Eye. Creative Commons 3.0. Included with appreciation.

For sky art, drones have advantages over fireworks: no smoke, no falling particles, and a quieter display. Drones are an innovation that has grown impressively over the past ten years from almost nothing to a $1 billion market in 2021.

Has your city used drones instead of fireworks? What do you think of this new trend? For a sample of drone light shows, click here.

Hirsch, Lauren and Michael J. de la Merced. “Fireworks Have a New Competitor: Drones.”1 July 2023. The New York Times.

O’Connell, Brian. “7 Best Drone Stocks to Watch in 2023.” U.S. News & World Report. https://money.usnews.com/investing/stock-market-news/slideshows/drone-stocks-to-consider-as-the-technology-soars

Williams, Ashley R. “Some US cities are replacing 4th of July fireworks with environmentally friendly drones.” 2 July 2023. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/02/us/drones-replace-july-fourth-fireworks-trnd

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 U

CITIES: Earthquake response and rebuilding

Posted on February 9, 2023February 10, 2023 by Building The World

“Turkey-Syria Earthquake Damage 2023” by VOA (Voice of America). Image: Public Domain, wikimedia. Included with appreciation.

More than 21,000 people in southern Turkey and northern Syria have perished in this week’s tragic earthquake. While a newborn baby was rescued from the rubble, her mother who had just gone into labor when the quake struck but managed to deliver her baby, her father, and four siblings, did not survive the 7.9 magnitude temblor. Fatalities and injuries are still climbing. As the world races to rescue those still pinned beneath tumbled buildings, questions arise: how can such disasters made less dangerous in the future, how can we rebuild better, and how can we respond now to help?

“Earthquake Severity on the Richter Scale” by Webber 2007. Dedicated by the artist to the public domain, wikimedia. Included with appreciation.

Seismic science is relatively recent. It was in 1941 when Beno Gutenberg and Charles Richter, professors at the California Institute of Technology, defined what is known as the Gutenberg-Richter law that describes the magnitude of earthquakes – it is commonly referred to as the Richter Scale. The scale is logarithmic, meaning that each magnitude level is ten times stronger than the preceding one: a 7.0 earthquake is ten times stronger than a 6.0. temblor.

“Anatolian Plate” by Mike Norton, 2011. Wikimedia, creative commons 3.0. Included with appreciation.

Many ancient cities and settlements were established long before scientific knowledge revealed the locations of tectonic fault lines. Earth is composed of a series of plates that are wedged alongside each other, and are slowing moving and readjusting. The area affected in Turkey and Syria was caused by the Arabian plate shifting against the Anatolian plate. The East Anatolian Fault is another area trouble spot under watch, according to Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute at Bogazici University in Istanbul. It should be noted that some scientists also watch the San Andreas fault in California. One of the world’s destructive earthquakes in recent history was the 2004 9.1 magnitude off the coast of Indonesia that initiated a tsunami sweeping away whole communities along the Indian Ocean, taking 228,000 lives. In 2011, a 9.0 magnitude temblor struck off the coast of Japan, causing a tsunami that led to the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster.

An earthquake in Japan triggered a tsunami that caused the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Image: “Tohoku (Sendai) earthquake observed tsunami height” by Pekachu, 2011. Donated into the public domain by the artist, included with appreciation.

We know where the danger zones are, but what can be done? Certainly, building safety codes can and must be strengthened. Turkey instituted seismic building codes but some older structures are vulnerable because they were built before these regulations existed; retrofitting is difficult. Also to be considered, alternate access routes when roads and bridges suffer damage: there are proposals worth exploring. Another approach to earthquake preparedness and disaster prevention is identifying dense cities built on seismic ground. Some of these cities include national capitals:

“Tokyo Skyline” by Nryate 2021. Creative commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.

Cities that are earthquake prone – and their populations in greater metro area:

Tokyo, Japan – 37, 468,000

Shanghai, China – 23,019,000

Mexico City, Mexico – 21,804,500

Istanbul, Turkey – 15,455,000

Los Angeles, California – 15,250,000

Cities that contain the center of government are especially problematic when damaged by earthquakes or other disasters. When Haiti suffered a 2010 earthquake, the Presidential Palace in Port-au-Prince was damaged: government relief response was severely affected.

**When earthquakes hit capital cities, government response is severely affected**. Image: “Haitian National Palace in Earthquake of 2010” by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Public domain image included with appreciation.

Some countries vulnerable to earthquake are building “spare-battery” capitals. Japan has already redesigned its train system, Shinkansen, with earthquakes in mind. But after the 2011 quake and tsunami, Japan began plans to develop Itami Airport, Osaka’s older airfield, to become a National Emergency Management International City. Should other capital cities develop alternate sites?

Agora of Smyrna, rebuilt by Marcus Aurelius after the 178 ce earthquake in Izmir, Turkey. Photograph by Carole Raddato, 2015. Creative commons 2.0. Included with appreciation.

Earthquakes demand rebuilding: this post-disaster recovery can be an opportunity to rebuild with a more sustainable view of the future. Working in partnership and research worldwide, the Center for Rebuilding Sustainable Communities after Disasters, founded by Adenrele Awotona and located at the University of Massachusetts Boston, offers guidance through a community-based approach. Earthquakes, and other catastrophic disasters, demand a unique form of rebuilding: everything all at once. Water systems, electricity generation and distribution, the built environment from residences and businesses to hospitals and schools, food supply, roads – all must be rebuilt at the same time. It is a significant opportunity.

**Sign language for “Help.”** Developed for those threatened by violence, this gesture can signal a need for help in any perilous situation. Image by Lord Belbury, 2021. Donated by the artist to the public domain, Creative Commons 1.0. Included with appreciation.

The most urgent question – how can we help now? To offer help to those affected by the Turkey/Syria earthquake, here are three sources:

Charity Navigator

Center for Disaster Philanthropy

Charity Watch

How can you help? Image: “Helping hands icon, working together” by AlphaZeta, 2014. Dedicated by the artist to the public domain, Creative Commons 1.0. Included with appreciation.

Awotona, Adenrele. Planning for Community-based Disaster Resilience Worldwide: Learning from case studies in six continents. Routledge, 2017. ISBN: 9781472468154.

Center for Rebuilding Sustainable Communities After Disasters. https://www.umb.edu/crscad/

Davidson, Frank and K. Lusk Brooke. “Sportsways – possible access routes after earthquake damage.” Building the Future. Cambridge, MA 2012.

Ghosh, Pallab. “Turkey earthquake: Where did it hit and why was it so deadly?” 8 February 2023. BBC. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-64540696

Hernandez, Joe and G. Brumfiel. “Here’s what we know about what caused the Turkey earthquake” 7 February 2023. National Public Radio (NPR). https://www.npr.org/2023/02/07/11549131148/turkey-earthquake-fault-lines-syria

Zhai, David and Simon McGown. “Hypercapital: A backup city for Tokyo.” ARPA Journal. http://www.arpajournal.net/hypercapital/

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Un

TRANSPORT: Tunnel Visionaries

Posted on August 26, 2022 by Building The World

Underwater tunnels like the Channel Tunnel, and Japan’s new tunnel under the Tsugaru Strait, are engineering feats. Here, “Underwater tunnel in Mandalay Bay Aquarium” photo by Daniel Ramirez, 2014. Creative Commons 2.0. Included with appreciation.

Walking on water takes a miracle, but walking through water requires excellent planning. When the Channel Tunnel was first designed, over a luncheon meeting in New York City hosted by Frank P. Davidson, Thomas Lamont, and representatives of Bechtel, Brown & Root, and Morrison Knudsen Company, a 1959 decision saved lives in 2022. The group engaged Charles Dunn of International Engineering Company of San Francisco, CA, to design the project. Dunn added a service tunnel. It was not mandatory, but it proved prescient.

Channel Tunnel has three tunnels – two rail lines and a service tunnel between. The design by Charles Dunn has saved lives. Image: “Cross section with service tunnel in between two rail lines,’ by Commander Keane and Arz. Wikimedia commons. Public domain. Included with appreciation.

The three tunnels under the Channel (in French, “La Manche”) are a north-running tunnel, a south-running tunnel, and – between them – a service tunnel. During an August 2022 incident, a train experienced an alarm warning, stopped, and held for assessment. Passengers walked for 15 minutes from the rail shuttle to a freight train that conveyed them through and out of the service tunnel. That freight train did not have the usual accommodation for passengers: no elegant meal service, not even seats. But with Dunn’s design, the service tunnel, and its freight train did provide safety. When passengers arrived in Folkestone, terminal restaurants welcomed them with free food and beverages.

Strait of Dover between England and France. Image: NASA, 2000. Public Domain. Included with appreciation.

The service tunnel in the Channel Tunnel has proven its worth before. In 1996, a fire broke out in the Channel Tunnel when a train carrying heavy goods vehicles (there are passenger trains as well as freight trains carrying trucks) sparked a fire. The train was brought to a controlled stop adjacent to an entrance to the service tunnel. While there were no reported fatalities, some people suffered from smoke inhalation. The fire was fought by English and French teams who extinguished the flames after considerable effort. Tunnel repair was carried out by Freyssinet, a French engineering firm. Bi-national Channel Tunnel Safety Authority (CTSA) chaired one of three inquiries: the result was regular bi-national team practice exercises and shared operational procedures. In 2008, a fire in the Chunnel, started by a truck that spread to other vehicles, caused damage but no fatalities or serious injuries. It is worth noting that when the Channel Tunnel project began, the service tunnel was the first built.

“Tsugaru Srait” by Kyoyaku, adapted by Bourrichon, 2019. Creative Commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.

How can the Channel Tunnel’s design inspire the future? Japan, home to many tunnels that connect the nation composed of four main islands – Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu, and Shikoku – is currently planning a new tunnel across the Tsugaru Strait for automobile traffic between Honshu and Hokkaido. The tunnel would span 31 kilometers (19. 26 miles) and cost about $7 billion (720 billion yen). In the new Tsugaru Strait tunnel, there will be two decks: the top for autonomous vehicles like self-driving cars; the lower for freight trains. Economic benefits include increased ability to transport agricultural produce from Hokkaido, estimated at 34 billion yen ($249 million). The project will take 15 years to build; construction costs would be recouped in 32 years. Tolls are estimated to be 9,000 yen for cars ($65).

**“Platooning” is a method for linking controls of lines and groups of autonomous vehicles. Could this be used in the new Tsugaru Strait Tunnel?** Image: “Platooning Back” by U.S. Department of Transportation, 2019. Public Domain. Included with appreciation.

Tsugaru Strait is also the location of Japan’s Seikan Tunnel, serving only trains; it was not built with a separate escape or service tunnel, but with two emergency escape points in the system, Tappi-Kaitei station and Toshioka-Kaitei station. Shinkansen trains in Japan’s high speed rail network use the Seikan system. Fifty trains traverse the Seikan Tunnel every day, and night trains offer sleeping accommodation. Seikan suffered inundation accidents during construction but no fatalities.

“Cross-Harbour Tunnel Bridge Fire,” in Hong Kong, 2019. Photograph by Studio Incendo. Wikimedia. Included with appreciation.

Other tunnels around the world have experienced accidents, fires, and floods. In Hong Kong, the Cross-Harbour Tunnel was the first built there for underwater transit; in 2019, protestors set fire to tollbooths, causing the tunnel to close but avoiding any fatalities. In 1991, two trains collided in the Severn Tunnel joining England and Wales; 185 passengers were injured but none fatally. In 1999, a fire in the Mont Blanc Tunnel joining France, Italy, and Switzerland, caused 39 deaths and 14 non-fatal injuries. These examples point out the wisdom of Dunn’s design of an extra service tunnel for the Channel Tunnel.

“Shadertoy Tunnel Example,” by Inigo Quilez, 2016. Creative Commons, wikimedia. Included with appreciation.

In a time of budget cuts, along with an increased focus on transportation infrastructure, this week’s Channel Tunnel problem and its successful rescue solution may serve to underscore the importance of safety, and its support by budget and planning. In a new era when safety measures for autonomous vehicles and driverless cars are forefront, Japan’s new tunnel may set an important example for tunnel transport infrastructure for autonomous vehicles. What safety measures should be included?

Bove, Tristan. “Passengers forced to walk through ‘terrifying’ emergency tunnel under the sea after France-England train breaks down.” 24 August 2022. Fortune. https://fortune.com/2022/08/24/eurotunnl-evacuation-passengers-walk-terrifying-service-tunnel-between-france-england/

Davidson, Frank P. and K. Lusk Brooke. “The Channel Tunnel,” pages 761-804, Building the World (2006) ISBN: 0313333742.

Failure Knowledge Database. “Train Fie in Hokuriku Tunnel.” http://www.shippai.org/fkd/en/cfen/CA1000605.html

Rosenberg, Jennifer. “How the Channel Tunnel Was Built and Designed.” 12 August 2019. ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/the-channel-tunnel-1779429

Takahashi, Toru. “$7bn plan for new Japan undersea tunnel warms up after years on ice: Project would allow auto traffic between Honshu and Hokkaido.” 3 January 2021. Nikkei Asia. https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Engineering-Construction/7bn-plan-for-new-Japan-undersea-tunnel-warms-up-after-years-on-ice

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Un

TRANSPORT: Sugar High

Posted on December 7, 2021December 6, 2021 by Building The World

“United Boeing 767-300ER taking off from London Healthrow” by photographer and aerospace engineer Adrian Pingstone, 2007. Public Domain wikimedia commons.

Air transport, first achieved in December 1903, reached an important milestone in December 2021. United Airlines flew a commercial jet with a full complement of guest passengers entirely on renewable, non-fossil, fuel derived from sugar and corn. The flight Chicago ORD to Washington DCA flight carried 100 passengers using 100% sustainable fuel (SAF). The achievement followed United’s 2019 Flight for the Planet demonstrating biofuel blend energy, zero cabin waste, and carbon offsetting. The 2021 United success also announced new partners in the Eco-Skies-Alliance, and a pledge to purchase non-petroleum feedstocks to deliver the same performance of petroleum-based jet fuel but with a much smaller environmental effect.

“Sugarcane” by photographer Biswarup Ganguly, 2010. GNU Free/CC3.0 wikimedia.

Sugarcane ethanol is produced by fermenting sugarcane juice and molasses. Brazil and the USA are among the world areas engaged in biofuel production from sugar and corn, with scientific innovations on fermentative processes. There are concerns about land use for biofuel, and deforestation, but SAF remains an important element in new energy options. Brazil is a leader in sugar-based fuel, while U.S. expertise is mainly in corn. (Kang and Lee 2015). The U.S. biofuel industry has created 68,000 jobs, produced 17 billion gallons of sustainable fuel, and saved 544 million metric tons of Co2 from entering the atmosphere. (Minos 2021)

“Refueling a plane in Athens.” by photographer Jebulon. Wikimedia CC1.0 Public Domain.

While biofuels are arguably not as clean and green as electric or solar flight (achieved by small commuter planes such as eGenius), sustainable fuel is a practical step because it works with existing flight infrastructure like aircraft engines, refueling equipment, maintenance, and airport design.”SAF can be 100% compatible with our current aviation fleet and infrastructure,” observed Dave Kettner of Virent, among the partners who flew on the historic occasion, joined by World Energy biofuel producer and distributor, Boeing, CFM International, and U.S. Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office. Electric vehicles may be the answer for automobiles, buses, and trucks: the U.S. Federal Highway System and other major roads of the world will be rebuilt with charging stations and lanes for autonomous vehicles. The Canadian Pacific Railway or Japan’s Shinkansen can be adapted for maglev, electric, or hyperloop trains. But maritime shipping and aviation are not as easily converted from fossil fuels. Air transport has just taken an important step toward a more sustainable future.

Kang, Aram and Taek Sooon Lee. “Converting sugars to biofuels: ethanol and beyond.” 27 October 2015. Bioengineering. doi: 10.3390/bioengineering2040184.

Lewandowski, Jan. “Building the Evidence on Corn Ethanol’s Greenhouse Gas Profile.” 29 July 2021. U.S. Department of Agriculture. https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2019/04/02/building-evidence-corn-ethanols-greenhouse-gas-profile

McCue, Dan “United Airlines makes history flying the most eco-friendly commercial flight of its kind.” 11 June 2019. Renewable Energy Magazine. https://www.renewableenergymagazine.com/biofuels/united-airlines-makes-history-flying-the-most-20190611

Minos, Scott. “United Airlines first passenger flight using 100% sustainable aviation fuel is officially off the ground!” 1 December 2021. U.S. Department of Energy. https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/articles/united-airlines-first-passenger-flight-using-100-sustainable-aviation-fuel

Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. “Inventing a flying machine.” https://airandspace.si.edu/exhibitions/wright-brothers-online/fly/1903/

United Airlines. “United to become first in aviation history to fly aircraft full of passengers using 100$ sustainable fuel.” 1 December 2021. United Airlines News Release. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/united-to-become-first-in-aviation-history-to-fly-aircraft-full-of-passengers-using-100-sustainable-fuel-301435009.html

World Energy. https://www.worldenergy.net

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Un

TRANSPORT: Trains as Mobile Medical System

Posted on April 13, 2020 by Building The World

India is rebuilding trains as rolling hospital wards, refitting coaches into care facilities with 16 beds. Indian Railways is modifying 20,000 carriage coaches, for a total of 320,000 new isolation pods, announcing the program on the same week COVID-19 cases increased by 1,637 infections and 38 deaths. Sports stadiums are also being deployed: Assam’s Sarusajai stadium will hold 1,000 patients, while Chandigarth’s complex will become a temporary jail to impound those who violate lockdown policy. (Singh 2020).

Using trains for public health and education is not a new idea. When the Canadian Pacific Railway opened, special purpose carriages were a regular part of the route. Trains brought health care and education to previously unreachable places. Children saw a teacher once-a-week in a classroom car, then homeschooled until the next whistle stop. The Trans-Siberian railway and Russia’s rail system offered options like mobile therapy.

FIVE REASONS FOR USING TRAINS AS MOBILE MEDICAL SYSTEM

Trains, with their flexible number of carriages, can be configured to custom purposes.

Another factor? Speed and access. Amtrak is the only railroad in North America that holds right-of-way service speed: many stretches of track are certified and maintained for speeds up to 100+ miles per hour (160+ kph) on routes with no other traffic.

A third factor? Idle. With the advent of air travel and the building of the United States Federal Highway System, trains were already second class. Add stay-at-home lockdowns and social distancing for those few who must travel, and you’ve got a lot of idle equipment.

A fourth factor? Expensive to maintain idle. Planes, buses, and trains are all idle. Planes can be parked, buses can use roads already serviced for general vehicles. But trains require tracks and that means specialized maintenance.

A fifth factor? Subsidized, anyway.

“Red Cross Train, France” by Harold Septimus Power, 1918. Imperial War Museum, Art.IWM.ART 1031 Wikimedia

Proposal: use Amtrak train network as a mobile medical system. India shows that trains can easily be retrofitted as hospital wards, isolation units. And why not rolling ventilator-ready beds with the respiratory equipment already installed? Governor Andrew Cuomo announced New York will send medical equipment to the next peak place. The virus is a rolling phenomenon: a rolling response is a good option.

The United States Transcontinental Railroad once transformed and united a country. Now, can rails help address the virus crisis? Afterwards, American rail needs rebuilding, anyway; repurposing medical cars will offer a chance to rethink Amtrak. Will Japan’s Shinkansen, upgraded with maglev trains reaching 374 mph for the Tokyo Olympics, be an inspiration? One hopeful step is Amtrak’s strategic agreement with Alstom (2016) to produce 28 next-gen equipment to replace the Acela Express now entering 20 years of service. The new transit format is due to roll out in 2022, a timeframe parallel with virus response needed now. Many countries have train systems; this idea is scalable. But at the moment, the United States is experiencing an urgent medical crisis. We need every idea and every option. Let’s use sections of Amtrak as a mobile medical system.

Alstom. “Alstom to provide Amtrak with its new generation of high-speed train.” 26 August 2016. https://www.alstom.com/press-releases-news/2016/8/alstom-to-provide-amtrak-with-its-new-generation-of-high-speed-train/

Amtrak.https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/projects/dotcom/english/public/documents/corporate/nationalfactsheets/National-Fact-Sheet-FY2016-0717.pdf

Congressional Budget Office. “Federal Subsidies for Rail Passenger Service: An Assessment of Amtrak.” https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2018-10/41955-Amtrak.pdf

Japan Rail. “New Maglev Trains for Debut at Tokyo Olympics” Tokyo Summer Olympics Guide. https://www.jrailpass.com/blog/tokyo-2020-olympics.

Singh, Charanjit. “India turns trains into isolation wards as COVID-19 cases rise.” Charanjit Singh, quoted in the article, explains that Chandigarh’s temporary jail is a day’s sentence to education on sanitation and public health, before being released that evening to go home and stay there. 2 April 2020. Al Jazeera. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/04/india-turns-trains-isolation-wards-covid-19-cases-rise-200402071515155.html

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unpo

CITIES: Reuse and redesign

Posted on March 1, 2020 by Building The World

1.5 billion chopsticks are discarded every week. Could these elegant materials be repurposed? Japanese chopsticks. Image: wikimedia

Vancouver, Canada is taking reuse and redesign to an artistic new level. The many excellent restaurants serving cuisine with chopsticks cannot re-use these wooden implements. But ChopValue can. Collecting 350,000 chopsticks – every week – from Vancouver restaurants, the company cleans and repurposes the bamboo utensils to make tabletops and wooden kitchenware. It’s an idea that has potential far beyond Vancouver: worldwide 1.5 billion chopsticks are discarded every week. How it works: chopsticks are collected from restaurants and taken to local micro-factories where they are fashioned into home products. ChopValue was conceived over a sushi dinner when friends discussed the problem, and opportunity, of construction waste. Suddenly one said: what about chopsticks? Four years later, there are ChopValue programs in Canada and the United States. Will the land of Shinkansen, hosting the Tokyo Olympics, take up the torch during the 2020 Games?

BBC.com. “Making chopsticks into house furnishings.” 28 February 2020.

ChopValue. https:chopvalue.com

I, Florence. “CHOPVALUE: A Movement to Extend the Life Cycle of Chopsticks.” 13 January 2019. Pendulum Magazine. https://pendulummag.com/business/2019/1/13/chop-value-creating-multiple-cycles-of-value/

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unpo

TRANSPORT: frequent flier programs

Posted on October 25, 2019 by Building The World

First, it was Greta Thunberg who traveled throughout Europe to speak to, among others, the French National Assembly; the teen climate activist, nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, declared the transport decision as a preference for lower-emissions travel. A new word came into common parlance: Flygskam (Swedish) or “Flight Shame.”

Greta Thunberg who traveled by train in Europe and by sailboat to the United Nations in New York, USA, in 2019. Image: wikimedia

Next, Imperial College London and Richard Carmichael reported to the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), an independent advisory agency of the UK government, that the nation’s goal of carbon neutrality by 2050, to meet the Paris Agreement of COP21, must address air travel: “Flying is a uniquely high-impact activity and is the quickest and cheapest way for a consumer to increase their carbon footprint.”

As a result, frequent flier programs, both of airlines and of credit cards, might have to go. Citing data that just 15% of the UK population takes 70% of the flights, CCC report states: “Given the scope for frequent fliers to have carbon footprints many times that of the average UK household, a lack of policy in this area is likely to be increasingly seen as inconsistent and unjust and risks damaging engagement with climate action.” (Carmichael 2019)

In the United States, 12% of Americans fly more than six round-trips per year; mainly business travelers, these frequent fliers are responsible for two-thirds of air travel, and therefore participating in aviation emissions. That’s 3 tons of carbon dioxide per year, per flier. Some policy specialists differentiate between business and pleasure air travel. But 83% of Americans drive cars, and most heat or cool their homes – activities that also cause considerable carbon emissions.

Concerned about aviation’s future, some airlines are staying ahead of the trend: British Airways, Aer Lingus, and Iberia (art of IAG, International Airlines Group) announced a strategic sustainability plan to 1)replace older aircraft, 2)invest in sustainable jet fuel, and 3) develop new technologies that take carbon out of the atmosphere. (Guy, 2019) Businesses and universities are starting to allow longer travel time for staff who travel for work, so that they may avoid flying; train travel, including the Channel Tunnel, is recommended. Japan is updating Shinkansen (high speed rail originally built for the 1956 Olympics) in anticipation of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Saying “bye” to frequent flier programs? Image: wikimedia

Do you have frequent flier miles? What is your opinion on how incentives in transport may change?

Carmichael, Richard. “Behavior change, public engagement, and Net Zero.” 10 October 2019. Committee on Climate Change, Centre for Energy Policy and Technology and Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London. https://www.theccc.org.uk/publication/behaviour-change-public-engagement-and-net-zero-imperial-college-london/behaviour-change-public-engagement-and-net-zero-richard-carmichael/

Guy, Jack. “Ban air miles to combat climate crisis, recommends UK research.” 15 October 2019. CNN/Travel. https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/air-miles-ban-report-scli-intl/index.html.

International Airlines Group (IAG). “Sustainability.” https://www.iairgroup.com/en/sustainability

Tabuchi, Hiroko and Nadja Popovich. “How Guilty Should You Feel About Flying?” 17 October 2019, The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/10/17/climate/flying-shame-emissions.html.

Thunberg, Greta. “Address to the National Assembly” July 23, 2019. France. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESDpzwWrmGg

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