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Where are the robotic bricklayers?
When researching construction, you invariably discover that any new or innovative idea has actually been tried over and over again, often stretching back decades.
Brian Potter
Essays about buildings, infrastructure, and industrial technology. Click to read Construction Physics, by Brian Potter, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.
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Why are nuclear power construction costs so high?
Nuclear power currently makes up slightly less than 20% of the total electricity produced in the US, largely from plants built in the 70s and 80s.
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How much do construction costs matter to the price of housing?
One of the goals of this newsletter is to figure out ways to improve construction productivity and reduce the costs of construction, particularly residential construction (ie: housing) - if you could reduce the costs of construction, housing costs would fall as well.
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Why are nuclear power construction costs so high? Part III – the nuclear navy
This week we conclude our look at nuclear power construction costs. So far we’ve looked solely at conventional nuclear power stations that supply electricity to the grid for residential and commercial use. But civilian power stations aren’t the only sort of nuclear reactor that the US builds. The US Navy has been…
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The Rise of Steel Part II
Welcome to the Rise of Steel part II.
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The Rise of Steel – Part I
One of the defining characteristics of the modern world is the ubiquity of steel.
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Is there a housing shortage or not?
The housing shortage in the US is a perennially popular topic of conversation for the urbanist crowd (which online includes basically everyone.) The basic argument is that housing starts collapsed after the financial crisis and have never truly recovered.