Author: Constructech Editors

Continuing the conversation about collaboration from earlier this month, let’s narrow in further on remote-focused collaboration technology, which is retaining its importance even as workplaces reopen for their employees. The COVID-19 outbreak has been forcing multiple organizations to review their IT strategies as a top priority. Various organizations have also emphasized the importance of having the right cloud-based collaboration tool that will allow employees to work remotely to limit the impact on productivity. Many answers have been proposed to make collaboration among onsite and offsite participants more agreeable, more like “the old days of face-to-face communications.” For many employees of…

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Innovation comes at a price. Major foundations are willing to fund innovation when they see the value, regardless of the price or reward. Wells Fargo Foundation, for example, set up, with the U.S. DOE (U.S. Dept. of Energy) NREI (National Renewable Energy Laboratory), the Wells Fargo IN2 (Innovation Incubator) to fund and test renewable energy products. Managed by NREL, IN2 recently reached a milestone: Its portfolio of startup companies raised more than $1.1 billion in external funding since joining the program. This translates to the companies raising $95 for every dollar invested in them by the Wells Fargo Foundation. Over…

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In the 19th and 20th century, fathers and mothers often expected their children to “follow in our footsteps.” Skilled trades were passed on from parent to child, the legacy of the family. By the end of the last century, with upward mobility easier and technology and information jobs expanding, children were more likely to enter careers different than their parents. Today, according to the US Chamber of Commerce, 88% of contractors are experiencing moderate-to-high levels of difficulty finding skilled workers. Of those, nearly half (45%) report a high level of difficulty. In the midst of a deepening workforce crisis, finding skilled labor…

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Standards make the world go around—safely. While not every “standard” is binding, safety versions are more likely to be adhered to than others. No one wants to jeopardize their safety by ignoring best practices. As industries change and evolve, so too must standards and the organizations that create and update standards take that into consideration. IEEE, the world’s largest technical professional organization, and the IEEE SA (IEEE Standards Assn.) released the 2023 NESC (National Electrical Safety Code) in August 2022. Published by IEEE SA and typically updated every five years to stay current with changes in the industry and technology, the NESC…

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We tend to think that the U.S. leads in environmental and climate concerns and overlook the other countries that are forging ahead with energy and sustainability initiatives. For example, hydrogen fuel cell technologies and hydrogen energy are being increasingly viewed as essential decarbonization options across the United States and around the world for a wide range of sectors, including transportation, goods and people movement, power generation, energy storage, natural gas blending, marine propulsion, aviation, heating, steelmaking, and other industrial applications. Obviously, global companies can’t ignore the advances being made in the world at large. Black & Veatch is one such…

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Bottlenecks and speed limits are the bane of the Internet of the Future. Speeds are available that cannot always be gained because of old wiring and limited cabling. Gigabit speeds require clean, modern data flows and for consistency that usually means fiber optic networking. In Greencastle, Indiana, Metronet has completed an ultrahigh-speed fiber network resulting in the city becoming a Certified Gigabit City. Metronet has installed more than 250 miles of fiber optic cable throughout Greencastle, bringing future-proof Gigabit speeds to residents and businesses and is continuing to expand from its initial build plan. The fiber optic network is accessible…

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Whether it’s a million-dollar crane or a $100-drill, knowing where your tools—assets—are can save a lot of money and aggravation. Of course, this means there are a lot of companies that want to help you track those assets—and in some case, the people who use them. It’s a big business, as Juniper Research found out. Asset tracking in this context refers to systems that leverage wireless connectivity to remotely monitor assets’ locations, based on real-time data, and with the aim of better managing asset condition. A new study from Juniper Research has found that global spend on asset tracking by enterprises will…

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Smart cities, smart houses, smart facilities, smart everything depend on the strength of the available communications networks. The IoT (Internet of Things) requires direct and indirect communications, device to device, device to central hub, device to monitoring equipment. The increasing deployment of cellular IoT modules in smart city infrastructure and building automation verticals is expected to propel market growth according to VMR (Verified Market Research). Their recent report, Cellular IoT Market, puts the market value at $4.30 billion in 2021 with a prediction of it reaching $29.8 billion of 2030, a CAGR or 24.8% from 2022 to 2030.  A companion…

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A recent Washington Post article questioned why more people weren’t opting for heat pumps in new and retrofitted installations. Headlined, “Heat pumps are efficient and eco-friendly. So why do Americans barely use them?” the article reported that energy officials, lawmakers, and scientists tout the devices as inexpensive, energy-efficient systems that significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions over traditional heating and cooling devices. All true. But the system lacks popularity in parts of the United States because of low public awareness, high installation costs, and what experts consider a misleading name. Ah, the name. Heat pumps are heating and cooling pumps. Throughout…

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In the early days of desktop computers, “networking” meant Ethernet cables running, of lucky, in conduit—often through false ceilings—all throughout the office. The hub-and-spoke, client-server relationship between nodes on the network allowed minimum transfer of data between workstations. There was still need, in many offices, for “sneaker net” (carrying floppy disks between computers). Times change. While engineering and construction organizations still struggle to unlock data across applications to effectively diagnose problems, predict risks, and inform future actions, companies are working to mitigate these problems. To address this challenge, Oracle introduced Oracle Construction Intelligence Cloud Analytics. The new solution combines data from Oracle Smart…

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