Call it Underground Zero. In the middle of the World Trade Center site in Manhattan, workers are performing an intricate balancing act with steel and concrete, excavating beneath an active subway line while a number of other projects progress around them. The top-down permanent underpinning of the subway tunnel will create much-needed space for a new nearby iconic transit station as well as other facilities. Photo: Courtesy of PANYNJ Workers are creating necessary space for a new transit station, which is hemmed in on all sides at Ground Zero. Slide Show Graphic: Courtesy of STV No. 1 subway line runs

West Coast solar power could get a major boost if the California Energy Commission approves as many as six of 13 proposed utility-scale solar projects in Southern California’s Mojave Desert by year-end. Photo: Courtesy Brightsource Energy Mirror arrays collect Southern California sunshine and convert water to steam to drive generators. Other systems under consideration use thin-film compounds and waterless thermal troughs. At a series of meetings in October and November, the CEC will consider authorizing construction for some of the largest solar installations since 354 MW went online in the 1990s. An additional 3,500 MW of capacity—an estimated $18 billion

Pepco, the electric utility that serves Washington, D.C., and its Maryland suburbs, will spend $256.5 million over the next five years to accelerate planned improvements to its distribution system after it struggled to recover from a severe thunderstorm in late July. More than 322,000 Pepco customers lost power after the storm; the company took five days to restore the power. The utility added $115 million to a planned system reliability upgrade after executives were grilled by the Maryland Public Service Commission about their response to the July storm and back-to-back snowstorms in February. Earlier this month, Pepco asked state regulators

Hyperion Power Generation, Santa Fe, N.M., has agreed to build a prototype nuclear mini reactor at the U.S. Energy Dept.’s Savannah River site in Aiken, S.C., officials said on Sept. 9. It signed a memorandum of understanding with the Savannah River National Laboratory to build what officials say would be the first of several small demonstration reactors at the site. Hyperion is developing a 25-MW fast-neutron reactor that uses uranium nitride fuel and lead bismuth eutectic coolant. The operational prototype should be built by 2017 or 2018, says a DOE site spokesman. The demo reactor, with a current cost estimate

Deere & Co.’s recent agreement with Exelon Corp. to offload its wind-farm division for $900 million comes at a time when construction activity in wind power is anything but breezy. Photo: Tudor Van Hampton For ENR A lack of federal legislation for renewable energy is holding back the market for wind power and green jobs, supporters say. “The overall economy has affected this market,” says Tom Wacker, senior vice president of M.A. Mortenson Co., Minneapolis. “But the business has very much experienced a boom-and-bust cycle, and that’s because of the lack of consistent federal legislation.” During 2010’s first half, Mortenson

Hoping to speed up the viability of carbon capture and sequestration, the U.S. Dept. of Energy on Sept. 7 awarded more than $575 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to 22 different CCS research projects. The DOE gave funds in four areas: three projects will receive $312 million for large-scale testing of advanced gasification technologies; four projects will get $123 million to research advanced turbo-machinery to lower emissions from industrial sources; five projects will share $90 million to research how to increase the efficiency and cut costs of post-combustion carbon capture; and 10 projects that already have received

As BP begins to secure the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico, the oil and gas industry is preparing to enter a new era of regulation, likely giving birth to an oil-spill-response industry and the eventual re-engineering of rigs, platforms and wells. Photo: Courtesy U.S. Coast Guard Recent reports advocate stricter regulations and better response plans. Reports released this month by a joint task force and BP all point to the need for a fresh look at the way the industry operates in the Gulf of Mexico and responds to oil spills. In addition, a Sept. 8 report from

Landscape architects are beginning to collaborate with environmental engineers to focus on natural, decentralized wastewater treatment systems for small and large-scale developments. The on-site systems, which combine landscape design and engineering, typically can reduce potable water use by 50% and discharge into sewers by up to 70%. But even supporters of decentralized constructed wetlands, which have only a backup tie-in to municipal utilities, list several obstacles to their development. Photo: Courtesy of Andropogon Associates The Sidwell Friends School doubles as a living laboratory. Graphic: Courtesy of Andropogon Associates Decentralized constructed wetlands (DCWs) have “huge implications from the standpoint of development

The U.S. State Dept. has announced that architect HOK, St. Louis, will design a $192-million addition to the U.S. Embassy complex in Moscow. Construction of the 15,000-square-meter building is set for completion in 2015. It will achieve at least Silver LEED certification, according to the firm. HOK was one of 27 architects that submitted proposals to design the addition, the company says.

Photo: Courtesy Architect 0f The Capital Related Links: No Small Plans: Architect of the Capitol Takes Reins By December, workers from Aulson Co. LLC. are expected to finish applying nearly 500 gal of paint and lots of caulk to the 288-ft-tall, cast-iron dome of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. The dome, nearly 220 years old, most recently was restored in 1960 and repainted in 2002. Current work will protect the famous symbol of democracy until a more-ambitious overhaul, scheduled to take place within five years, during which workers will strip all the layers of paint and fully restore the