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

Twin Major Challenges

1.COVID-19 Economic Recovery

(shorter term)

2.Climate Change (longer term)

Both Challenges create major

uncertainties about the future.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Transformative Technologies for

Catalyzing COVID-19 Recovery

and Beneficially Addressing the

Climate Change Challenge

Renewable Energy

Wind

Solar

Kinetic Hydropower

Others

Wind Turbines

Solar Energy

Kinetic Hydropower Tidal Energy

Flow-Accelerating Flumes

US Patent 7,456,514 (Inventor Jameel Ahmad, awarded on November 25,

2008)

Electric Vehicles

Tesla 2020 Model S

Electric Car Charging

Lithium-Ion Batteries

BIG Data

Volume, Variety, Velocity, Variability

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)

Protecting Critical Infrastructure Against

Rising Sea Levels

Flooding in Coastal Communities

Rising Sea Level

Highway 12 in Avon, NC

Levees at New Orleans

Levees at New Orleans

Mose Project: Yellow barriers are raised to prevent

flooding in Venice, Italy

Barriers are Raised During High Water in

Venice, Italy to Prevent Flooding

Coastal Flood Risk Assessment for a Hotel/Resort in Florida

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

Sea Walls

Bulkheads

Breakwaters to Prevent Beach Soil Erosion

Revetments

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

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

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

Mangroves in Coastal Louisiana

Mangroves Enhance Coastal Resilience

A Salt Marsh in Coastal Louisiana

Worldwide Existing Oil, Gas and Coal

Reserves

Oil $ 100 trillion

Gas $ 70 trillion

Coal $ 30 trillion

Total $ 200 trillion

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?