Practically speaking...

[Trakar]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/24/science/earth/new-york-reassessing-building-code-to-limit-storm-damage.html?_r=0
After Storm, Dry Floors Prove Value of Exceeding City Code
In the countdown to Hurricane Sandy last month, construction workers on a teeming pier in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, rushed to strap down materials and move forklifts and excavators into half-built structures to shield them from the tempest to come.
But the real storm preparations had been accomplished six years earlier, when Sims Metal Management approved a design for a state-of-the-art city recycling plant that is rising at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal.
Reviewing projections for local sea-level rise, the company and its architects decided to elevate portions of the site to heights exceeding city requirements by four feet. Using recycled glass and crushed rock discarded from projects like the Second Avenue subway line, they raised the foundation for the plant’s four buildings and a dock.
The fill added $550,000 to the plant’s costs of around $100 million, said Thomas Outerbridge, Sims Metal’s general manager.
But it proved more than worth it. When a 12-foot storm surge swept through nearby streets and parking lots on Oct. 29, the plant’s dock and partly completed buildings did not flood.
“It paid for itself long before we expected it,” Mr. Outerbridge said. “It was built with the idea that, over the next 40 years, this would prove a prudent thing — and the proof came during construction.” ...

Good read, but the point is that there are very few requirements of climate-change adaptation that do not have practical and pragmatic value in advance of the extremes they are designed to ameliorate.

 

[Trakar]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/24/science/earth/new-york-reassessing-building-code-to-limit-storm-damage.html?_r=0
After Storm, Dry Floors Prove Value of Exceeding City Code
In the countdown to Hurricane Sandy last month, construction workers on a teeming pier in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, rushed to strap down materials and move forklifts and excavators into half-built structures to shield them from the tempest to come.
But the real storm preparations had been accomplished six years earlier, when Sims Metal Management approved a design for a state-of-the-art city recycling plant that is rising at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal.
Reviewing projections for local sea-level rise, the company and its architects decided to elevate portions of the site to heights exceeding city requirements by four feet. Using recycled glass and crushed rock discarded from projects like the Second Avenue subway line, they raised the foundation for the plant’s four buildings and a dock.
The fill added $550,000 to the plant’s costs of around $100 million, said Thomas Outerbridge, Sims Metal’s general manager.
But it proved more than worth it. When a 12-foot storm surge swept through nearby streets and parking lots on Oct. 29, the plant’s dock and partly completed buildings did not flood.
“It paid for itself long before we expected it,” Mr. Outerbridge said. “It was built with the idea that, over the next 40 years, this would prove a prudent thing — and the proof came during construction.” ...

Good read, but the point is that there are very few requirements of climate-change adaptation that do not have practical and pragmatic value in advance of the extremes they are designed to ameliorate.

It greatly heartens me that such practical applications of climate science understandings (as well as general economics, concepts of efficiency and overall societal benefit), are met with silent acknowlegement. Perhaps there is a reason to be hopeful for our species afterall.

 

[skookerasbil]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/24/science/earth/new-york-reassessing-building-code-to-limit-storm-damage.html?_r=0
After Storm, Dry Floors Prove Value of Exceeding City Code
In the countdown to Hurricane Sandy last month, construction workers on a teeming pier in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, rushed to strap down materials and move forklifts and excavators into half-built structures to shield them from the tempest to come.
But the real storm preparations had been accomplished six years earlier, when Sims Metal Management approved a design for a state-of-the-art city recycling plant that is rising at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal.
Reviewing projections for local sea-level rise, the company and its architects decided to elevate portions of the site to heights exceeding city requirements by four feet. Using recycled glass and crushed rock discarded from projects like the Second Avenue subway line, they raised the foundation for the plant’s four buildings and a dock.
The fill added $550,000 to the plant’s costs of around $100 million, said Thomas Outerbridge, Sims Metal’s general manager.
But it proved more than worth it. When a 12-foot storm surge swept through nearby streets and parking lots on Oct. 29, the plant’s dock and partly completed buildings did not flood.
“It paid for itself long before we expected it,” Mr. Outerbridge said. “It was built with the idea that, over the next 40 years, this would prove a prudent thing — and the proof came during construction.” ...

Good read, but the point is that there are very few requirements of climate-change adaptation that do not have practical and pragmatic value in advance of the extremes they are designed to ameliorate.

It greatly heartens me that such practical applications of climate science understandings (as well as general economics, concepts of efficiency and overall societal benefit), are met with silent acknowlegement. Perhaps there is a reason to be hopeful for our species afterall.

I think we should just go ahead and put all shoreline cities and towns up on 20 foot stilts.....I mean, that couldnt cost too much, could it??

 

[Trakar]

I think we should just go ahead and put all shoreline cities and towns up on 20 foot stilts.....I mean, that couldnt cost too much, could it??

Compared to the costs of doing nothing, it would be insignificant,...largely ineffectual, but comparatively inexpensive.

 

[Old Rocks]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/24/science/earth/new-york-reassessing-building-code-to-limit-storm-damage.html?_r=0
After Storm, Dry Floors Prove Value of Exceeding City Code
In the countdown to Hurricane Sandy last month, construction workers on a teeming pier in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, rushed to strap down materials and move forklifts and excavators into half-built structures to shield them from the tempest to come.
But the real storm preparations had been accomplished six years earlier, when Sims Metal Management approved a design for a state-of-the-art city recycling plant that is rising at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal.
Reviewing projections for local sea-level rise, the company and its architects decided to elevate portions of the site to heights exceeding city requirements by four feet. Using recycled glass and crushed rock discarded from projects like the Second Avenue subway line, they raised the foundation for the plant’s four buildings and a dock.
The fill added $550,000 to the plant’s costs of around $100 million, said Thomas Outerbridge, Sims Metal’s general manager.
But it proved more than worth it. When a 12-foot storm surge swept through nearby streets and parking lots on Oct. 29, the plant’s dock and partly completed buildings did not flood.
“It paid for itself long before we expected it,” Mr. Outerbridge said. “It was built with the idea that, over the next 40 years, this would prove a prudent thing — and the proof came during construction.” ...

Good read, but the point is that there are very few requirements of climate-change adaptation that do not have practical and pragmatic value in advance of the extremes they are designed to ameliorate.

It greatly heartens me that such practical applications of climate science understandings (as well as general economics, concepts of efficiency and overall societal benefit), are met with silent acknowlegement. Perhaps there is a reason to be hopeful for our species afterall.

I think we should just go ahead and put all shoreline cities and towns up on 20 foot stilts.....I mean, that couldnt cost too much, could it??

Not just buildings that have to be hardened. Infrastructure, water, electricity, sewers, roads, bridges, ect. Very expensive, and very neccessary.

We are seeing hundred year storms every decade, some storms and records of an intensity not recorded before. This is being recorded not just by the scientists, but also by businesses like Swiss Re and Munich Re.

Failure to prepare will be far more expensive than doing the preparations. Both in lives and property.

 

[Trakar]

It greatly heartens me that such practical applications of climate science understandings (as well as general economics, concepts of efficiency and overall societal benefit), are met with silent acknowlegement. Perhaps there is a reason to be hopeful for our species afterall.

I think we should just go ahead and put all shoreline cities and towns up on 20 foot stilts.....I mean, that couldnt cost too much, could it??

Not just buildings that have to be hardened. Infrastructure, water, electricity, sewers, roads, bridges, ect. Very expensive, and very neccessary.

We are seeing hundred year storms every decade, some storms and records of an intensity not recorded before. This is being recorded not just by the scientists, but also by businesses like Swiss Re and Munich Re.

Failure to prepare will be far more expensive than doing the preparations. Both in lives and property.

The more action can be delayed, the more profits there will be to be made on adaptations later on, on top of the profits being made currently while they are causing delay of pre-emptive/preventative action.