but the 279-acre area is more than just a park.

officially the willow waterhole stormwater detention basin, it’s actually a nature-based flood damage reduction facility that can hold up to 600 million gallons of stormwater. channels slowly drain the water away, which would otherwise have moved downstream, flooding homes and businesses.

the site is part of the brays bayou flood damage reduction project, a massive collaboration between the harris county flood control district and the army corps of engineers. project brays’ 75 elements primarily include widened and deepened channels, which will be able to hold more stormwater, alterations to the bridges crossing those channels and the construction of four stormwater detention basins. willow is one of them.

stephen benigno, an environmental quality section leader at the flood control district’s environmental services department, said that most park-goers have no idea that spaces like willow are multi-purpose. it’s an example of hybrid infrastructure, which combines both nature-based and traditional solutions to problems like flooding.

sarah murdock, director of u.s. climate resilience and water policy at the nature conservancy, said, “when you invest in nature, you can lessen the impact that you’re trying to address, but you also get a host of other benefits.”

not only does willow manage flood risk and provide a recreational space for houston residents, it also helps conserve wildlife and restore the endangered coastal prairie ecosystem upon which houston was built.

willow’s trees will grow into forest, so workers don’t have mow as much grass. plants within the waterhole help filter the stormwater, which otherwise would be carried, along with its contaminants, into the brays bayou and eventually to the gulf of mexico.

“when [hybrid infrastructure] is applicable, the district uses it every chance they get,” said benigno.

and in august 2017, project brays prevented over 10,000 homes from being flooded by hurricane harvey, which dumped about a trillion gallons of water on harris county alone. all of the county’s channels and its four detention basins, which can hold a combined 3.5 billion gallons of stormwater, were at full capacity sometime during the storm.

traditional gray infrastructure – like pumping stations and pipes – alone would have resulted in greater damage.

norma jean mattei, the american society of civil engineers’ 2017 president, said that typical structures like pumping stations are designed to collect water and actively move it out of the area as quickly as possible, but have finite capabilities.

in addition, she said, any hazards that take the systems offline during extreme weather events, even temporarily, will lead to flooding.

“that’s what the problem is with gray infrastructure,” said mattei. “big rainstorms [like hurricane harvey] are a lot of water.”

climate change could make weather events more intense, putting traditional projects under more stress. a 2017 national oceanic and air administration study projected more severe rainfall and hurricanes for texas as the climate warms.

the fourth national climate change assessment, released in 2018 by the u.s. global change research program, found that sea level rise along the texas gulf coast is twice as high as the national average. a storm surge in galveston bay could put the entire country’s petroleum and natural gas refining ability at risk. during harvey, surges in the area measured from one to four feet high.

nature-based elements could be part of a comprehensive approach toward these developing challenges. that’s something the army corps of engineers’ dedicated engineering with nature initiative is taking to heart. in the organization’s galveston bay district, located right by houston, it’s using a strategy called “multiple lines of defense” to take some of the strain off engineered features.

edmond russo, deputy district engineer for programs and project management at the corps.’ galveston district said, “in the case we only had engineered solutions, the system is more brittle and prone to failure.”

russo described an example in which using miles of wetlands in front of an earthen levee would reduce the daily battering the structure would take from the waves. the project would remain effective for longer.

more engineers are recognizing the potential advantages that nature can bring to infrastructure.

“[engineers] would try to control nature, but we know we can’t,” he said. “there’s always a bigger disaster than what you design for.”

here are five takeaways from the salon:

1. owning an electric vehicle (ev) has never been more affordable

from the cost of batteries to the sticker price of the car, the economics of buying and operating an electric vehicle has never been as enticing as it is in 2018.

in 2010, the price per kilowatt hour was about $1,000 for ev batteries, but that number has dropped by almost 80% to around $200 per kwh today, cullen said. when translated to the price of gasoline, she said electricity is equivalent to about $1.10 per gallon — a number not seen anywhere across the country for years.

at the same time, the sticker prices of electric vehicles have been dipping with recently released models from chevy, tesla, and other car companies being marked in the $30,000-$40,000 range, or the equivalent of a non-electric vehicle of the same size once you take into account subsidies.

2. politics can’t change the long-term trend

while governmental incentives, such as the $7,500 federal tax credit for electric vehicles, can be altered or scrapped (as it has been proposed), cullen characterizes this as a “setback” rather than a threat to the viability of an electrified future.

adoption and planning for the technology by individual states, other nations and private companies have become so widespread that evs are becoming cost-competitive with their fossil-fueled counterparts by other means. however, cullen said it could displace the united states from its century-long position on the front lines of innovation in the transportation sector.

3. new infrastructure plans in the works could mean further accessibility to evs

among bipartisan agreement that u.s. infrastructure needs a renovation comes an opportunity to acknowledge electric vehicles’ growing presence today and in the nation’s future.

“i think there’s really an opportunity to educate folks about what transportation infrastructure looks like now,” cullen said. “it’s not just concrete. in fact, it’s charging stations, it’s how you accommodate ride-sharing and new means of mobility and automated trucks.”

4. ev batteries have gained an after-life

once an ev needs a replacement battery, its old battery still contains 80% of its charging capacity, cullen said. but does this just create another waste stream from the discarded batteries that power evs?

using planet forward digital media editor dylan trupiano’s video on the subject as a stimulus for the conversation, sesno and cullen discussed how ev batteries can be “strapped together” after they’ve been displaced from the vehicle for energy storage in municipalities and individual homes, essentially being “used to clean the grid,” cullen said. once the batteries have been used past their usefulness, they can be recycled.

5. the market for used hybrids and evs is growing stronger

rob stewart, manager of smart grid and technology at d.c.-area utility company pepco and the chairman of the edta board, said the “incentives that come out for these new vehicles make people who drive (electric) vehicles want to have a newer vehicle. that provides a whole new layer of used electric vehicles that are out there — at a much lower cost…” you might not be able to afford a brand new electric vehicle, but now you’ll be able to take advantage of cars that “still have plenty of life on them,” stewart said. “and at that point they are driving a vehicle that’s very low cost to drive and maintain.”

cullen said that used car value books used to estimate hybrid cars’ resale values really low — with the anticipation that the batteries would expire and be costly to replace. but the batteries actually performed twice as long than expected, which has helped with the hybrid resale market. bottom line: if you’re in the market for a hybrid or electric vehicle, make sure you check the used lot, too.

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by storing energy wasted in braking and reapplying it during acceleration, xl hybrids technology decreases fuel use and carbon dioxide emissions by up to 21.2 percent on urban and suburban routes, while operating with the same durability and reliability as traditional vans and trucks.  xl hybrids was founded by mit alumni and is based in boston. for more information, visit www.xlhybrids.com. follow us on twitter @xlhybrids.

the stinger is a monorail automobile hybrid concept. long straight stretches of highway would be outfitted with a monorail in the center of the truck lane flush with the roadway. using the autopilot technology, the stinger is a steel wheel fixed to a strut that hydraulically engages with the monorail with enough pressure to offset the payload of the vehicle plus any vehicle weight that could be safely displaced. the vehicle would then be riding on rubber tires as well as the steel wheels, reducing friction and improving fuel efficiency.

this idea is in its infancy. i am interested in collaborating with people and/or companies interested in building a prototype and testing feasibility. currently, there are trucks that use air bags to engage extra sets of wheels when the truck is carrying a load. this idea is a similar concept; however, the wheel would be made of steel and would be located in the center of the axle. i believe this concept has potential to greatly increase fuel efficiency as well as reduce tire wear and road maintenance.

photo credit to futureatlas.com.

year-after-year, the ford f-150 pickup truck tops the sales charts. the f150’s ubiquity (and utility!), combined with its fuel-thirsty nature makes ford’s popular pickup the most logical choice for aftermarket plug-in hybrid development. over the years, i’ve shot segments on three different efforts to electrify the f-150, with the latest being this piece from the 2011 sema show last month in las vegas.

xtreme power takes a completely different approach that uses lead-acid batteries, rather than lithium-ion batteries. xtreme power’s system uses a highly-innovative fully-submersible switched reluctance motor and is designed to be installed in two hours or under. the company claims a 60% improvement in city gas mileage, with an added 350 foot pounds of torque.

to demonstrate the rugged nature of their kit, xtreme power displayed a jeep wrangler with their plug-in hybrid kit installed, along with the f-150.

the railheads could be spaced every 100 miles or so, with full container facilities to move the freight from rail cars to trucks. in the long run, all railroads can be electrified to reduce use of fossil fuels; this would require major investment in locomotives and catenaries. trucks could also be electrified or retrofit with hybrid motors.