Different cultures have different ways of dealing with heat.In Houston,Texas, office workers head underground when the mercury rises. Their refuge is an elaborate network of tunnels which...
Beating the heat How do people cope with extreme heat? Different cultures have different ways of dealing with this problem.
In Houston, the largest city in the southern US state of Texas, office workers head underground when the mercury rises. Their refuge is an elaborate network of tunnels, which has expanded over the years without any central planning.
Looking at Houston’s high-rise landscape, one might imagine that the streets would be packed at lunchtime. But they are not, says Malcolm Brown reporting for the Voice of America (VOA). This is because many office workers are down in a network of pedestrian tunnels around 11 kilometres (about 7 miles) long.
Sandra Lord, a writer and Houston historian who is also known as “The tunnel lady”, provides tours of this labyrinth, which can be hard to navigate.
The popularity of these air-conditioned tunnels stems from the heat outside. Top temperatures in summer average around 33 degrees Celsius. High humidity makes it feel even hotter.
The Houston Downtown Tunnel System comprises a network of tunnels about 20 feet below the city’s streets. The subterranean, climate-controlled pedestrian walkways link 95 full city blocks.
There are over 100 places to eat in these tunnels, as well as a host of service providers, including banks, doctors and florists. Some people even walk the corridors for exercise.
Sandra Lord also runs above-ground tours, but she became fascinated by the world beneath. “It’s the oldest and largest tunnel-skywalk, mostly private, completely pedestrian system in the world,” she says. Each section of the tunnel belongs to a building above. Houston, a multicultural city with a growing international community, has an estimated population of just over 2,140,000. With two major airports and several regional air facilities, it ranks as a central transportation hub. In 2004, a Metro light rail system began operating in the city, initially on a 7.5-mile route through downtown Houston. The system is scheduled to expand to 20 miles by 2012 and to 80 miles by 2025.
Rebuilding on old sites
One of the main problems in developing disused brownfield sites (which were previously used for industry and where new buildings can be built) is the risk from the underground accumulation of dangerous gases. Now an invention from a university company that monitors the deadly gas methane lingering in earth pockets could lead to much more building on old factory or industrial sites. The Gasclam monitor is being developed by a company called Salamander Ltd. that was co-founded by lecturer Dr Stephen Boult and spun out of the University of Manchester (northern England) in 1996. Dr Boult combines more than 10 years of experience in business development with 15 years of applied environmental research. The monitor has won the Innovative Technology prize forming part of the Northwest Business Environment Awards announced this year. Measuring 600mm long and 45mm wide, Gasclam is designed to sit inside small boreholes on potential development sites and provide constant monitoring of harmful gases, such as methane, that can cause explosions.
Gasclam improves on existing assessment technology by allowing continuous collection of information about the movement and build-up of underground methane. The system has the ability to transmit measurements using GPRS (general packet radio services) technology, allowing those doing the monitoring to collect an array of data without repeated visits to the site.
Until now, the available equipment has only allowed periodic measurements to be taken. Dr Boult says this approach could be restricting the development of brownfield sites. For example, periodic measurements may show a constant concentration of methane in a certain area that may stop construction taking place. But through continuous monitoring, Gasclam may reveal the methane production is actually low and the gas protection measures needed are minimal, meaning the site can be considered for development.
Salamander and Manchester University recently won GBP (pounds sterling) 233,000 worth of funding from the Department of Trade and Industry (now renamed as the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform) that will enable them to develop Gasclam to meet practical, customer and legislative requirements.
Project coordinator Dr Peter Morris is also working to develop a sound methodology for Gasclam’s use that will reduce uncertainty in the prediction of gas migration and lead to further optimisation of remediation strategies.
Dr Boult has also helped to develop two other products called Hydraclam and Chloroclam.
Hydraclam is designed to allow levels of discolouration in the water supply to be measured accurately throughout the distribution network. Discolouration is a big issue for water companies and has traditionally proved difficult to monitor because of water being inaccessible in buried pipes. In response, Salamander developed Hydraclam, which attaches to a fire hydrant and fits in the hydrant chamber. After it is attached, it can be left to monitor water quality. Data can be collected in real time by GPRS link. Hydraclam is made and sold under licence from Salamander by Wallace & Tiernan, a part of Siemens Water Technologies since August 2006.
Chloroclam can similarly be fitted to hydrants and used to monitor the level of chlorine in the water supply at specific points in the distribution network. All major water utilities in Britain are currently using Hydraclam, while Chloroclam will soon be available commercially.
For more details contact: Salamander Ltd., Williams House, Manchester Science Park, Lloyd Street North, Manchester MIS 6SE. Fax: +44 (0)161 2269048.
