Infrastructure

"All U.S. cities experience some level of “heat island effect,” in which heat reflects off hard surfaces, intensifying the impact of the hottest days. But as climate change intensifies, nine U.S. cities are special islands unto themselves, according to an analysis released Wednesday that coincides with a heat wave enveloping much of the nation."

"Seven major automakers on Wednesday announced plans to nearly double the nation’s network of high-powered electric vehicle chargers, an effort to address a key consumer reservation about EVs — that they may not have a place to power up on the road."

"Each year, Philadelphia's waterways are forced to swallow a dirty mix containing 15 billion gallons of untreated sewage and rainwater during storms because of an antiquated city system, according to a report released Thursday by PennEnvironment."

"House Republicans on Wednesday advanced an appropriations bill for federal environmental agencies that would boost development of the same fossil fuels driving the myriad disasters that have ravaged the Northern Hemisphere this year."

"The homebuilding industry has been slow to adopt changes that can better protect against extreme weather. Some architects are showing what’s possible."

"Long lead times for distribution transformers have emerged in recent months as a bottleneck that threatens progress toward meeting climate goals and upgrading the country’s power grid, industry leaders and energy officials said."

"Companies are finding more environmentally friendly ways to make cement, which accounts for about a twelfth of global carbon dioxide emissions, making it worse for the climate than flying. Now they have to convince builders that their climate-friendly cement will hold just as well as the conventional stuff."

"The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Tuesday took another step toward reducing the use of planet-warming gasses called hydrofluorocarbons, issuing a rule moving toward a 40 percent phasedown of the substances."

"In cities around the world, anti-bird spikes are used to protect statues and balconies from unwanted birds - but now, it appears the birds are getting their own back. Dutch researchers have found that some birds use the spikes as weapons around their nests - using them to keep pests away in the same way that humans do."

"A federal court in Richmond has held up construction, despite a law passed by Congress last month that says it no longer has jurisdiction over the pipeline."