Engineering: December 2008 Archives

88-year-old Anne Harris has been awarded almost $100,000 after being struck on the head by a bulk food bin, which fell out of its receptacle.  Harris sued Ladner Save-On-Foods Store and Jim Pattison Ltd. for the accident which left her with permanent disabilities to her left wrist and shoulder.  The dispenser fell on her from the the top row of the supermarket's bulk food section.  The Vancouver Sun also writes:

An accident reconstruction and forensic engineering expert testified that he examined the bins in the supermarket following the accident and found that 17 of the 79 bins in the bulk food section were loose and not locked into place.

Canada's infrastructure will be getting a multibillion-dollar makeover. Fixing Canada's "infrastructure deficit" is seen as a way to not only improve roads and sewage treatment but  also tackle the economic slowdown by putting people to work.  But despite the multi-billion dollar pledges from the Harper government, a leading engineering expert says the federal plan simply isn't good enough.  "The government of Canada has not acknowledged that we do face a crisis right now - a crisis in terms of deteriorating infrastructure," said Saeed Mirza, a McGill University civil engineering expert who wrote the federation's study on the infrastructure deficit.  Canada.com also reports:

Breakdowns in infrastructure have already left tragedies in their wake and many experts fear greater disasters are looming.  The 75-year old Pattullo Bridge crossing the Fraser River in the Vancouver region continues to be the site of numerous fatal head-on collisions and accidents because of its narrow lanes that were not designed with fast-moving cars in mind.

The future of solar industry is suffering due to falling oil prices, supply issues and the lack of financing for solar projects.  Miroslav Begovic, a solar and electrical engineering expert at Georgia Tech, says even with declining prices for silicon and other materials, tax incentives and advancements in technology, the cost of generating juice from solar is still two or three times the cost of generating electricity through traditional sources.  Semiconductor.net writes:

Even as new solar factories opened in places like Austin, Texas and greater Atlanta in recent weeks, several big solar companies in China and Canada warned that they'll pull back on expansion plans and preserve cash after customers canceled projects and credit markets dried up. Shares of many publicly held solar companies have fared even worse than the overall stock market.

Industry analysts, meanwhile, are now predicting that there may soon be a worldwide glut of solar panels and silicon -- the key ingredient for solar cells -- amid the industry's recent buildup.