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Transformative Technologies for Catalyzing COVID-19
Recovery and Beneficially Addressing the Climate
Change Challenge:
A Review and Appraisal
By
Jameel Ahmad, Ph.D.; Life Member, ASCE
Climate-Resilient Infrastructure Developer
Former Engineering Professor and Dept. Chairman,
Cooper Union College, New York City, USA
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Twin Major Challenges
1.COVID-19 Economic Recovery
(shorter term)
2.Climate Change (longer term)
Both Challenges create major
uncertainties about the future.
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Huge COVID-19 Recovery Funds Approved
by Governments World-wide
A number of transformative technologies can be deployed
strategically to catalyze COVID-19 recovery
These technologies can also beneficially address the
climate change challenge
This paper describes and evaluates these transformative
technologies and their strategic deployment for COVID-19
recovery and climate change
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A Number of Technologies Can Catalyze
COVID-19 Economic Recovery and Jump
start the Process of Urgently Addressing
the Climate Change Challenge
Transformative Technologies
Renewable Energy
Electric Cars
Batteries
Big Data
Climate-Resilient Infrastructure
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CLIMATE CHANGEA broad range of global phenomena created primarily by
burning fossil fuels, which add heat-trapping gases to Earth’s
atmosphere. These phenomena include the increased
temperature trends described by global warming, but also
encompass changes such as sea level rise, ice mass loss in
Greenland, Antarctica, and mountain glaciers worldwide,
shifts in flower/plant blooming, and extreme weather
events.
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GLOBAL TEMPERATURE INCREASE
A global temperature increase closer to
1.5 degree centigrade above
preindustrial era level would have
destructive consequences, creating
more frequent and extreme weather
events and high sea level rise.
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Warmer, drier weather means that forests in some
regions are no longer recovering from wildfire
Climate change is having adverse economic and
socio-political effects
Food security is impacted
Suggestive links are emerging between climate
change and an increased likelihood of
military conflict
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Rising sea levels pose a serious threat to many
major coastal cities of the world (e.g. New York,
Miami, Jakarta, Karachi, Mumbai, etc.)
Island nations of Fiji, Tuvalu, Kiribati, Vanuatu, and
the Marshall Islands could be underwater in 50 years
Life on the Caribbean Island such as Puerto Rico,
Cuba, the Bahamas, etc. has been already severely
impacted.
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Melting ice sheets and glaciers contribute to sea
level rise. They also contribute to global
temperature rise as the ice surface goes from white
to blue.
The behavior of glaciers and ice sheets in the next
several decades will have an existential effect on
our future. If the Greenland ice sheet melted
completely, the global sea level will rise by 7
meters or 23 feet.
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Transformative Technologies for
Catalyzing COVID-19 Recovery
and Beneficially Addressing the
Climate Change Challenge
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Renewable Energy
Wind
Solar
Kinetic Hydropower
Others
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Wind Turbines
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Solar Energy
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Kinetic Hydropower Tidal Energy
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Flow-Accelerating Flumes
US Patent 7,456,514 (Inventor Jameel Ahmad, awarded on November 25,
2008)
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Electric Vehicles
Tesla 2020 Model S
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Electric Car Charging
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Lithium-Ion Batteries
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BIG Data
Volume, Variety, Velocity, Variability
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Resilient Infrastructure
“The ability of a system, community or society
exposed to hazards to resist, absorb, accommodate
to
and recover from the effects of a hazard in a
timely and efficient manner, including through the
preservation and restoration of its essential basic
structures and functions”. (UNISDR, 2009)
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Protecting Critical Infrastructure Against
Rising Sea Levels
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Flooding in Coastal Communities
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Rising Sea Level
Highway 12 in Avon, NC
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Levees at New Orleans
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Levees at New Orleans
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Mose Project: Yellow barriers are raised to prevent
flooding in Venice, Italy
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Barriers are Raised During High Water in
Venice, Italy to Prevent Flooding
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Coastal Flood Risk Assessment for a Hotel/Resort in Florida
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Hard Defenses Against Coastal Flooding
Sea Walls
Bulkheads
Revetments
15 % of all continental U.S. Shoreline
has been armored with these “hard”
structures and that number is rising
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Sea Walls
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Bulkheads
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Breakwaters to Prevent Beach Soil Erosion
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Revetments
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Sea Wall, Bulkhead and Revetment
Limitations
They can fail
They cannot limit erosion or wave energy
They can have unintended consequences of
harming delicate coastal habitats and the
animals that live in them
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Green Alternatives to Sea Walls, Bulkheads and Revetments:
Living Shorelines Soft shore-protection techniques and technologies involving mostly natural materials
For relatively calm waters, a water-absorbing salt marsh fortified with sill-like ledges made of
rocks, oyster shell bags, or logs made of coconut fiber
Planting of mangroves which develop hardy root systems firmly anchored in mud
Restoring what once existed at the shore line (oyster reefs, coral reefs, or other living
breakwaters that dissipate wave energy)
The newly protected shoreline becomes more stable over time as plants, roots, and reefs grow
Salt marshes and mangroves trap sediment and organic matter, allowing them to grow in
elevation and affording rising protection against inundation
Growth in height of oyster reefs can outpace sea level rise, allowing them to continue
protecting shorelines well into the future
According to NOAA, 15 horizontal feet of marshy terrain can absorb 50 percent of incoming
wave energy
In 3 coastal regions of North Carolina, Hurricane Irene damaged 76 percent of bulkheads while
shorelines protected by marshes sustained no damage
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Salt Marshes Salt marshes are wetlands that are flooded with high tides and
drained with low tides. They are found along coastlines in high-
altitude countries (they are not found as frequently in the
tropics).
There are more than 4.1 million acres of salt marshes from the
coast of the Bering Sea to the Florida Keys.
Half of all US marshes can be found along the Gulf of Mexico.
Salt marshes are made up of thick, dark muck. The marshy soil is
comprised of plant matter. The decomposing organic matter
combined with salt water flooding can make the soil hypoxic
characterized by its pungent and distinctive rotten egg smell
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Mangroves in Coastal Louisiana
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Mangroves Enhance Coastal Resilience
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A Salt Marsh in Coastal Louisiana
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Worldwide Existing Oil, Gas and Coal
Reserves
Oil $ 100 trillion
Gas $ 70 trillion
Coal $ 30 trillion
Total $ 200 trillion
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How will the world’s economy be impacted if we decide to abandon the
$200 trillion hydrocarbon reserves in the ground?
Who will oppose this decision?
Who will support this decision?
Will it be allowed to happen?
Who will make this decision?
Will this decision determine the fate of humanity?