The Issue

While we are observing these changes climate changes today, the details of the long-term threats such as total depth of sea level rise are difficult to accurately predict. For example, will sea level rise in 2050 be 1 or 3 feet? In 2100, will it be 3 or 7 feet? Since the expected life cycle for infrastructure and development investments is more than 50 years, these investments need to be resilient to these future changes.

Our Multi-Disciplinary Approach

Our team provides a wide range of engineering and science services to help our clients protect their investments from future climate change impacts. These services range from developing flood control programs ranging from watersheds to neighborhoods, developing alternative sources of energy such as solar developments and microgrid systems, providing flood protection for existing buildings and utilities, addressing water quality impacts to water supplies and recreational waters, and implementing green infrastructure in urban neighborhoods to both reduce flooding and reduce heat impacts.

Our strength is working with clients to develop hybrid techniques that utilize multi-disciplinary approaches to develop designs that cost-effectively improve project resilience. A good example of multi-disciplinary approaches is to incorporate natural systems into traditional gray infrastructure in order to make the systems more resilient to change. The value of natural systems is that they can naturally adjust to changes in conditions, require substantially less maintenance as well as provide a number of indirect impacts such as improving shade and habitat. These hybrid approaches not only make infrastructure and development more resilient but they also can significantly reduce capital and maintenance costs.