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Poll

Beer?
[ 1 ] (33.3%)
Beer?
[ 2 ] (66.7%)

Total Members Voted: 2

Topic: Infrastructure (Read 64656 times)

Re: Infrastructure

Reply #175 –
That's pretty cool, although it's odd that it was posited as some kind of Airbus vs. Boeing thing when Airbus has, what, the A350 or something competing directly with the Boeing airplane in the spotlights?

Btw, what about freight?

Re: Infrastructure

Reply #176 –
I would rather say that in the 1990's Boeing and Airbus each made their big bet, on the 787 and the 380 respectively (the 380 was a much bigger and costlier bet), and it is natural to compare them, particularly since they had such divergent visions of the future.

I remember the received wisdom in aviation in the 1990's was solidly that hub and spoke was the future, based on prognoses on congestion and economy.  Airbus 380 was a direct result of this thinking, and something to counter and supersede the Boeing 747 class of jumbojets. Boeing in turn had plans to nextgen the 747, something they later scrapped, and 747 looks set to retire in a couple years.

Not that hub+spoke is completely dead (congestion is a fact, economy may in some cases favour the big), and global hubs like Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong, as well as London-Paris-Amsterdam and Atlanta, are betting that they will stay relevant. But we are getting an internet of flight, not a minimal spanning graph of flight.



A350 is essentially a newer Airbus version of B787. That matters in the Airbus vs Boeing battle, but not in how we are flying in the near future. A350 is supposed to be quite nice, but I haven't gotten to ride in one yet. (For those willing to burn an excessive amount of money on getting more than "nice" a big fat plane like A380 can offer first class "apartments", something smaller jets can't).

Re: Infrastructure

Reply #177 –
Quote from: jax on
a big fat plane like A380 can offer first class "apartments", something smaller jets can't).
It also can offer 850 proletariat small seats.
If one crashes... I believe to be the end of proletariat. What a strange win for the Marxist class struggle.
A matter of attitude.

Re: Infrastructure

Reply #178 –
Or probably beyond 1000 in a vertical seat configuration. 


That would assume there would be more A380s. 

Airbus’ jumbo A380 jet heading towards ‘certain death’ – analyst

The B787 'Dreamliner' is no commercial success yet, though presumably in (short) time it will be, but in 2016 58 B787 were ordered (71 the previous year). The number of ordered A380 was 0 (2 in 2015). By comparison B777 had 17 (58), B737MAX had 540 (409), A350 33 (-3). All the latter are long-range fuel-efficient point-to-point planes (the 737 series is short-range, but the MAX generation stretches range and fuel, and can be used transatlantic, for very carefully chosen points, or for that matter some Eurasian flights). 


With B747 retiring and A380 possibly dying before reaching break-even (that is production break-even mind you, when it costs less to produce an airplane than the sale price, never mind recouping the 25 billion euro or so it cost to develop it), that may be the end of big plane travel. The planes may fly for a couple decades more, Concorde-like, but will become increasingly obsolete and costly to operate.

There could be milk runs like the triangle Singapore-Bangkok-Hong Kong or Dubai-Mumbai, but probably not soon enough to save the model. Another obvious route, Beijing-Shanghai, faces competition from high-speed trains, and Guangzhou (Canton)-Beijing is running at a loss. Then of course there is the Doha-Dubai route. As the wear on airplanes is dependent on the number of flights rather than flight length, it doesn't seem that Emirates are looking for a long-term future for the A380.

Re: Infrastructure

Reply #179 –
Quote from: jax on
Or probably beyond 1000 in a vertical seat configuration.
I think I've said it before: it sounds more comfortable to me to stand than to sit in your average cramped airline seat with no space for your knees and the beyond idiotic concept of reclining seats.[1] They'll probably mess it up somehow, like how in the Thalys you've got these ridiculous "fancy" headrests that make everything a million times less comfortable for your shoulders than the el cheapo plainest regular train seats, but in principle I think it could be a godsend for flights shorter than about 3 hours.
1 I mean, what's that dwarf with the vast amount of knee space shown on the diagram? 1.30m?↵

Re: Infrastructure

Reply #180 –
If you stand on the airplane, then where will the hand luggage fit? Nowhere, obviously.

I prefer to sit on the floor.

Re: Infrastructure

Reply #181 –
Reminds me of something… :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktZ13le3waQ
(Hope you enjoy this bit! I've been "doing it since I was 12 years old… And haven't stopped yet. But Newhart himself does it better. :) )
进行 ...
"Humor is emotional chaos remembered in tranquility." - James Thurber
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts!" - Richard Feynman
 (iBook G4 - Panther | Mac mini i5 - El Capitan)

Re: Infrastructure

Reply #182 –
Quote from: jax on
Looked askew there is a slight historical irony to this. The Port of Piraeus is right next to Salamis

Yesterday from the battleground of Salamis with a view to Piraeus.

Re: Infrastructure

Reply #184 –
Dutch infrastructure projects are very well executed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyV8RQMUJc8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jevqtVeZQ3g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr1-TvIiCgU

In other countries, meaning basically the whole world, infrastructure projects are structured very differently. In the Netherlands it's all done by one centrally organized team. In other countries they hire a company that just sort of distributes their employees between infrastructure projects. Some here this day, some there the other day…

Yet the Netherlands spends very little on infrastructure. Five times less than the US, for example, where brownouts are commonplace.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uerNeTnD04

And 25% of Dutch infrastructure is cycling-related to boot.

The Netherlands is equaled in power outage, or lack thereof, by Germany, Denmark, and Luxembourg. Belgium and Austria follow closely. Then there's the rest of Europe, and somewhere at the very rear of the so-called developed world there's the US.

Re: Infrastructure

Reply #185 –


Quote from: Frenzie on
Dutch infrastructure projects are very well executed.
=========
Yet the Netherlands spends very little on infrastructure. Five times less than the US, for example, where brownouts are commonplace.
A bit confusing. Netherlands' population is just under 17,000,000. The U.S. 324,118,787.

What comparison are you making?

And how is infrastructure spending linked to brownouts? I Googled 'infrastructure spending':
"Infrastructure is the basic physical systems of a business or nation; transportation, communication, sewage, water and electric systems are all examples of infrastructure. These systems tend to be high-cost investments; however, they are vital to a country's economic development and prosperity."
Brownout prevention is a tiny portion of infrastructure spending.

Re: Infrastructure

Reply #186 –
Infrastuctures are material things absolutely dispensable, better to give the money it costs directly to the people, the only needed infrastructure it's the Earth and that was for free.
But of course that way there would be no corrupt fortunes for the politicians.
A matter of attitude.

Re: Infrastructure

Reply #187 –
Quote from: Mr. Tennessee on
A bit confusing. Netherlands' population is just under 17,000,000. The U.S. 324,118,787.

What comparison are you making?
If I were being nonsensical and talking about absolute values then by any sensible measure the Netherlands would be spending 3 to 4 times as much per capita or as a percentage of GDP. But you're right that I forgot to include a source and I just went from memory.



It would take more sense to point out that the US has almost three times as much km per capita to maintain (that applies to everything; with these things it really doesn't matter that much whether you're looking at roads, electricity, internet, sewage systems or whatever), but that should be adjusted slightly by the fact that 25% of Dutch road infrastructure is cycling-related (which also happens to be the very best in the world) and therefore part of the budget but not counted on that list.

Quote from: Mr. Tennessee on
And how is infrastructure spending linked to brownouts? I Googled 'infrastructure spending':
"Infrastructure is the basic physical systems of a business or nation; transportation, communication, sewage, water and electric systems are all examples of infrastructure. These systems tend to be high-cost investments; however, they are vital to a country's economic development and prosperity."
Brownout prevention is a tiny portion of infrastructure spending.
I mention it because I've found it to be surprisingly indicative of the state of infrastructure in general. Also the fact that you'd even think to utter a phrase like "brownout prevention" speaks for itself. :P



The only infrastructure in which the Netherlands isn't top of the line is the roll-out of next-generation Internet-communications technology like fiber to the home. Perhaps it's no surprise that this is the most privatized, least regulated part of Dutch infrastructure.

But this topic is probably better suited to a link like https://www.reddit.com/r/InfrastructurePorn/

Quote from: Belfrager on
Infrastuctures are material things absolutely dispensable, better to give the money it costs directly to the people, the only needed infrastructure it's the Earth and that was for free.
But of course that way there would be no corrupt fortunes for the politicians.
Dutch infrastructure management and the so-called polder model in general grew from dispensable medieval public water defense initiatives. Let's just say Dutch people would beg to differ. :P

Re: Infrastructure

Reply #188 –
I wondered what the infrastructure graph was based on, and followed it back to the source. There were caveats on the numbers not necessarily being internationally comparable. Apart from that they show investment and maintenance for inland transport infrastructure, that is presumably not non-transport (like electricity) and not maritime or aviation. 

Re: Infrastructure

Reply #189 –
A good infrastructure is crochet.
Only old ladies knows it's secrets.
A matter of attitude.

Re: Infrastructure

Reply #190 –

Re: Infrastructure

Reply #191 –
Wow, South Korea has a lot of expressways. But what makes the Russian federal highways not expressways in our sense of the word? By which I basically just mean a controlled-access highway (i.e., no intersections), regardless of whether it's a provincial or state road, even if in Dutch only the latter is properly a snelweg (fastway, i.e., expressway). Wikipedia has some vague statements about Russian federal highways not being motorways without clarifying why that would be the case. They sure look an awful lot like them.

Re: Infrastructure

Reply #192 –
Shaping the Future of Construction: A Breakthrough in Mindset and Technology

Quote
The construction industry serves almost all other industries, as all economic value creation occurs within or by means of buildings or other “constructed assets”. As an industry, moreover, it accounts for 6% of global GDP. It is also the largest global consumer of raw materials, and constructed objects account for 25-40% of the world’s total carbon emissions.

Multiple global megatrends are shaping the future of construction. Consider just two developments: first, 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions are attributable to buildings; second, the population of the world’s urban areas is increasing by 200,000 people per day, all of whom need affordable housing as well as social, transportation and utility infrastructure. 

Compared to many other industries, the construction industry has traditionally been slow at technological development. It has undergone no major disruptive changes; it has not widely applied advances in processes such as “lean”. As a result, efficiency gains have been meagre. In the United States over the last 40 years, for example, labour productivity in the construction industry has actually fallen.

Building Information Modelling (BIM) plays a central role here, as it is the key enabler of and facilitator for many other technologies: the building of a bridge, for example, can be greatly facilitated by combining robotics and 3D printing via a parametrically designed 3D model. 

Large productivity improvements can be achieved by optimizing existing processes: the broader use of “lean” principles and methods, for instance, could reduce completion times by 30% and cut costs by 15%.

A minimal increase in upfront costs of about 2% to support optimized design will lead on average to life-cycle savings of 20% on total costs.



Re: Infrastructure

Reply #193 –
Quote from: Frenzie on
Wikipedia has some vague statements about Russian federal highways not being motorways without clarifying why that would be the case.
Pedestrians and cyclists are permitted.

Re: Infrastructure

Reply #194 –
Even for regular highways (70/80 km/h) that's potentially somewhat eyebrow-raising on account of the speed difference. On the other hand, I went to take a quick peek at the Tour of Flanders yesterday. The speed limit for cars is 50 and those cyclists sure seemed to go by a fair bit faster than that. The fastest I've personally gone on a regular city bike, with medium-strong wind in the back, was about 56 according to the bike's speedometer. I'm not entirely sure if I peaked in how fast I could've physically gone, but I peaked in speed I dared to go. I stopped pedaling because I became scared, not because I was used up. But what about the limited intersections?

Re: Infrastructure

Reply #195 –
Quote from: Frenzie on
even if in Dutch only the latter is properly a snelweg (fastway, i.e., expressway).
A German would associate snelweg (snel+weg) with Schnellstraße.
What's then the Dutch term for Autobahn?

OK, Google translate gives me autoweg for Schnellstraße and  snelweg for Autobahn.  :insane:

Re: Infrastructure

Reply #196 –
In Belgium they call it an autostrade. Btw,

Quote from: http://www.asfinag.at/newsroom/wssarchiv/-/asset_publisher/3037242/content/autobahn-versus-autostra%C3%9Fe-%E2%80%93-der-feine-unterschied
Mit der Änderung von 2006 des Bundesstraßengesetzes 1971 wurden sämtliche Unterscheidungen von Schnellstraßen und Autobahnen aufgehoben.

Anyway, sounds a bit like what I said about provincial vs national roads. I don't think of provincial expressways as "expressways" (snelwegen) even though many of them effectively are. I think there's an element of distance involved as well.

But actually I got my wires crossed. Wikipedia says it's a freeway I'm thinking of:
Quote from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controlled-access_highway#United_States
The term expressway is also used for what the federal government calls "freeways".[74] Where the terms are distinguished, freeways can be characterized as expressways upgraded to full access control, while not all expressways are freeways.

I guess that in the places where I've been there's no distinction or (just as likely) people just aren't aware of the technical brouhaha.

Re: Infrastructure

Reply #197 –
Quote from: Frenzie on
But what about the limited intersections?
Nothing special https://youtu.be/xr0r0_Tv-YA?t=140

The way they see it, there is always enough sidewalk. Non-cars stay on the sidewalk. Bicycles are legally permitted a meter towards cars from the painted edge of the driveway, but those insane enough to use this right are not among us anymore.

Re: Infrastructure

Reply #198 –
Quote from: ersi on
Nothing special https://youtu.be/xr0r0_Tv-YA?t=140
Right, but definitely expressway/freeway-style as opposed to regular.

Quote from: ersi on
Bicycles are legally permitted a meter towards cars from the painted edge of the driveway, but those insane enough to use this right are not among us anymore.
I'll bet the shoulder of the road also tends to be full of all manner of debris.