Energy and water autonomy for off-grid waterfront floating structures
The Thermal Architecture Lab at the Weitzman School is part of a collaboration to develop energy and water autonomous systems for off-grid floating structures that are designed to adapt to rising waters.
Aerial view of Imagine the Wall, Charleston, a proposal for the South Carolina coastal city. (Image: Weitzman School)
Design travels to South Carolina to plan more protective urban coastlines
A Weitzman School team is working with the city of Charleston on an urban seawall plan that combines natural elements with structural systems that respond to the local conditions of the city’s shoreline.
How to make progress for Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers
The Water Center at Penn has completed the first phase of a high-level study of the challenges and opportunities for water resource management in Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Region.
How to make a better water filter? Turn it inside out
Penn engineers describe a novel approach for making antimicrobial nanoscale water filters while demonstrating new approaches that can be used to develop a broad range of materials.
Philly’s drinking water threatened by climate change
Howard Neukrug of the School of Arts and Sciences spoke about the potential effects of climate change on Philadelphia’s water supply. “We’ve seen a lot of one in one-hundred-year events occurring back to back,” says Neukrug.
Members of the Penn chapter of nonprofit organization Isla Urbana, including (from left) Samira Mehta, Wanqi Fang, Pallavi Menon, and Imañia Powers, helped to install rainwater harvesting and filtration systems in Mexico City this summer. (Photo: Lucia Palmarini)
Relieving water scarcity, one home at a time
Due to a rapidly depleting underground aquifer, many residents of Mexico City are left with little-to-no easily accessible clean water for hours or days at a time. This summer, members of the Penn chapter of Isla Urbana helped install rainwater harvesting and filtration systems to provide residents of the Mexican capital with clean water year-round.
In Pennsylvania and hundreds of other locations around the country, manmade chemicals known as PFAS have been found in drinking water. Howard Neukrug discusses the potential harm, how local and federal agencies are responding, and the many related questions that remain unanswered.
