ENR Readers Recommend Their Favorite Technology, SmartBidNet Among Them

SmartBidNet was recently featured in Engineering News Record's "Recommended Reading" release, listing "Products and services that ENR readers say they are now using with good results that have potential to improve their jobs, or even the entire industry."

Click here to see the entire list

Construction Tech of the Week | littleBits, the Legos of the Future

Since their invention, over 400 billion Lego blocks have been produced, allowing non-engineers, non-architects, and non-commercial-builders around the world create the structures from their imaginations. Just like Legos prove that building isn't only for those who can move concrete bricks, TED fellow Ayah Bdeir refuses to accept that the "building block of our time, the transistor, is reserved for experts."

As founder of littleBits, Bdeir aims to put the power of engineers in the hands of artists, designers, students, and even children.

"littleBits are a set of simple, interchangeable blocks that make programming as simple and important a part of creativity as snapping blocks together. It's an opensource library of electronic modules that snap together with tiny magnets for prototyping and play."

Each bit is an electronic module with a specific function, indicated by its color. By snapping them together, the builder controls functions like power and light output just like a programmer. Electronic programming can be understood and executed by those who otherwise have no knowledge of wires and transistors. 

Click here to learn more about these electronic legos of the future

Construction Tech of the Week | Smart Glass

Remember those glasses that change into sunglasses when you step into the sunlight? Imagine that glass on your office building. The Department of Defense is experimenting with such "smart glass" that changes from transparent to translucent to control the amount of light and heat transmitted through the window. The glass is being tested out on the Marine Corp Air Station Miramar in San Diego.

"We’re feeding the data back to the manufacturers, who have never gotten this kind of feedback from customers before, so they can address issues..."

DOD is investigating various green technologies and initiatives to find the obstacles to wide-spread adoption and help hurdle them with a little boost from the government. 

Click here to read more about this smart glass and other DOD initiatives

Construction Tech of the Week | SmartBidNet | Smart Paint

Remember the carbon nanotubes we mentioned two weeks ago? Well, they're back. And they are finding their way into more structural elements. A research team from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland is experimenting with combining carbon nanotubes and a recycled by-product of coal combustion to produce a 'highly durable, cement-like paint.'

But wait, there's more. 

These nanotubes can carry electrical currents and when bent (i.e. the paint cracks) the electrical conductivity changes. Researchers have discovered how to track those changes via wireless communication nodes underneath the paint and can therefore transmit signals on the state of the paint, any defects, cracks, weathering, etc. Engineers can therefore repair areas before the deterioration moves past just paint and becomes a bigger threat.

Click here to learn more about smart paint

Construction Tech of the Week | SmartBidNet | Green Concrete

Researchers at Auburn University and the University of Alabama are working on a new recipe for concrete. The recipe calls for coal ash - a power plant by-product - instead of cement and a futuristic ingredient called carbon nanotubes. "The nanotubes, which add strength, durability and conducting properties to the concrete, are produced by cooking an iron compound for 10 seconds in a microwave." 

"It is very much like you cook popcorn," a researcher said.

The electricity conducting nanotubes could mean speeding up the melting of ice on bridges or runways and reusing coal ash could mean less being dumped in bodies of water and landfills.

The new concrete recipe is still in the research and development phase. If proven that the use of ash and nanotubes won't be harmful to the environment in other ways, the 70% of concrete construction materials used globally might be in for a big change...

Read more about this new technology here 

Guest Post - BIM: Wringing It Out

The SmartBidNet Blog welcomes guest contributor Jason McFadden, LEED AP, Project Manager...

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