Following the Thread: Construction

Vincent Petit and Mike Rosenberg

Chapter 7 in The Next Industrial Revolution:A New Age for Innovation in Industry, 2023, pp 145-159 from World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.

Abstract: At the time of writing, I have landed in Boston, Massachusetts, for a little over a month. I live in a nice neighborhood of Cambridge, not far from the prestigious Harvard University. The house we chose is an old renovated home, with a little bit of the Nantucket style to it, as stated by the rental agency. Its walls are lined with wood tiles and the house is surrounded by trees and a small garden occupied by a few rabbits and a couple of squirrels. A quiet place to live, and convenient for thinking through and writing this book! Well … not quite! Right next door, a new house is being built on the remains of an older home that was demolished. The structure is made of wood and the roof of solar photovoltaic tiles, and, from what I have been able to understand, this remarkably large mansion (probably twice the size of mine, which is already too large!) is supposed to be a net-zero carbon house, full of technologies and environmentally friendly features. I cannot wait to meet the owner, whom I understand made a fortune (he must have!) in technology start-ups. Fancy stuff! Yet, the construction process is far from being fancy. From Mondays to Fridays, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., the place is filled with groups of workers, large and noisy machines excavating soil, sand, and gravel. I have been here for over a month, and at times I look out the window to see what it is that they do to make so much noise. The reality is that they do not seem to do much. In fact, it has been a month and I have not seen dramatic progress in the construction. The foreman comes and goes, driving a huge pickup truck, shouts some orders, and things go on. I cannot help but think that all this does not look to be too efficient, and I wonder if the project will ever be finished and if I will be able to enjoy the quietness of the surroundings…

Keywords: Industry Revolution; Innovation; Decarbonization and Climate Change and Environment; Circularity; Productivity; Resiliency; Greenhouse Gas; Materials and Resources; Digital Technologies; Internet of Things; New Energy Technologies and Electrification; Nano- and Biotechnologies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 O3 Q4 Q43 Q48 Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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