Examine latest technic trends by industry peers

Examine latest technic trends by industry peers

In 2012, AGG1 and World of Asphalt will again be the place to network with industry peers and examine the latest technologies and emerging trends. Some 93 percent of attendees at the last event said the shows were valuable to their businesses and 97 percent said they were satisfied or very satisfied with the shows.
NSSGA Annual Convention will also be held at the Westin Charlotte hotel adjacent to the Convention Center. This close proximity allows for all convention attendees to easily attend AGG1 and the World of Asphalt. Internal combustion engines have been around for some 150 years. They are undoubtedly one of the most significant inventions in human history, but they are not without their problems. The metal-on-metal movement means they need constant lubrication, they have lots of moving parts, get very hot, are heavy, fuel is getting more scarce and more expensive, and new laws to cut harmful exhaust emissions mean a lot of expensive technology needs to be used to reduce pollutants.
“Heating with concrete, cooling with clay” – the provocative title of the second discussion round with German winners of the Holcim Awards again attracted more people than the lecture theatre could accommodate at the Aedes Architekturforum in Berlin. Some 130 people including a group of guests from Holcim Southern Germany showed interest in learning more about the “Smart Material House” in Hamburg and an educational center for sustainability in Marrakesh, Morocco. But for all their drawbacks, they are wildly successful. There are billions of engines in use around the world today in cars, trains and ships, as well as in industrial applications and off-road equipment like construction machines. Diesel engines remain the overwhelmingly popular choice to power equipment in this industry.
Following presentations by the design teams, architecture critic Andreas Ruby moderated a podium discussion seeking answers to the question on how building materials can be used to the best – taking geographic, climatic and above all sustainability factors into consideration.
As Gwenne Henricks, president of Perkins explains in this month's interview, that is because diesel engines have a lot going for them. They are power-dense, meaning you get a lot of energy out of a small package, the fuel is easily portable, and a reasonably manageable quantity will keep an engine running for a long time.
Whereas architects Frank Barkow and Regine Leibinger together with engineers Mike Schlaich and Matthias Schuler designed a multistory “card house” for IBA Hamburg using precast concrete wall elements and wooden floors, architects Anna Heringer and Salima Naji together with materials specialists Martin Rauch and Elmar Nägele re-invent traditional building techniques and show in their large-scale educational center the potential offered by combining modern technology with low-tech building material such as natural clay.