Jeff Wilson Everyday DIY Blog

Contractor to Contractor: In this first of a two-part series, contractor-turned-homebuilder Fernando Pages Ruiz introduces permeable pavement, which allows rain and snow to seep into the ground.

What is Pervious Pavement?

Pervious concrete came to the attention of the building community in the United States after Congress passed the Clean Water Act in 1987. With restrictions in the amount of storm water runoff permitted from roads, parking lots and other impermeable surfaces, some developers began to look for environmentally-friendly alternatives. They found it in an exotic, water-sucking concrete first tested in Florida about 30 years ago as a flood-control device. Engineers placed highly porous concrete paving in spots along Florida roadways frequently submerged by heavy downpours. The permeable surface provided a quick-drying roadway that didn’t stay flooded after the storm.

This is the fifth article in Buildipedia's series on U.S. Infrastructure, following the January 8, 2010 feature on dams, "It’s About Dam Time!"

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) assigned the United States’ DRINKING WATER infrastructure a grade of “D-” on their 2009 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure. Easy access to fresh water is a modern convenience that we might take for granted in our daily lives.

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is a by-product of human respiration. Each time we exhale, CO₂ is released into the atmosphere around us.  Currently, CO₂ sensors can be used to automatically control ventilation systems in buildings equipped with Building Automation Systems (BAS). This is referred to as Demand Control Ventilation (DCV).

Bird control is a method of deterring birds from landing, roosting, and nesting in and around a building. In less extreme examples, birds in buildings can impede the productivity of workers and create additional building maintenance and cleaning challenges. In more extreme cases, they can damage capital equipment and create significant safety hazards. Fortunately, there is an entire industry in existence which offers various products and techniques for the control of birds, including bird spikes, bird shock tracks, netting, fragrances, wire arrays, and bundled wire stands, among others.

The Cost and Reliability of Electricity Service

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) assigned the United States’ ENERGY infrastructure a grade of “D+” on their 2009 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure. Electricity generation is the first of three installments on energy and covers nuclear, coal and natural gas, and hydro-electric power generating facilities. Electrical transmission and distribution will be covered in installments two and three as we follow the path of electricity from a power generating facility to your home or business. The goal is to provide an overview on how electrical power is delivered, including issues of current concern.

Technologies to monitor emergency lighting systems throughout buildings or campuses have increased in popularity across Australia over the last decade. During the last six years, emergency lighting monitoring systems have also become more popular in North America. The idea behind these systems is to connect all exit signs and emergency (battery-powered) lighting devices to a central computer station so that they can individually report their functional status when tested, offering significant time and cost benefits to facility managers.

As stated in Watts it Matter to You? Electricity Generation, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) assigned the United States’ ENERGY infrastructure a grade of “D+” on their 2009 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure. Electricity transmission, which is the second of three installments on energy, covers transmission lines and grid networks, “green” power transmission, and "smart" grids. Electricity distribution will be covered in installment three as we follow the path of electricity from a power generating facility to your home or business.

As stated in Watts it Matter to You? Electricity Transmission, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) assigned the United States’ ENERGY infrastructure a grade of “D+” on their 2009 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure. “Electricity Distribution” explains the final step in the path of electricity from a power-generating facility to your home or business. It covers the electric utility business model, how the distribution infrastructure drives generation and transmission decisions, and metering electricity.

In most cases, property owners are required by regulation to maintain pond embankments and outfall works as related to structural integrity and dam safety. Proper maintenance also lessens the liability of pond and lake ownership by reducing the likelihood of failures that can impact downstream property. Owners or property managers may believe that proper maintenance is occurring only to later learn that they need expensive repairs. This situation illustrates that many contractors providing routine maintenance, such as landscapers, are not trained to properly identify issues that can be problematic or lead to increased cost of ownership.

Theodore (Ted) E. Scott is the Managing Member of Stormwater Maintenance, LLC, in Hunt Valley, Maryland. He has provided our audience some insights into the inspection, maintenance, and repair of storm water systems. There are three categories of these systems that we’ll investigate: surface basins, underground structures and drainage systems.