As efforts step up to protect coastal regions affected by erosion, scientists have found an unexpected way to protect communities—zapping the shoreline with electricity.
In a study published in the journal Communications Earth and the Environment, researchers from Northwestern University demonstrated the novel technique to strengthen marine sand, potentially offering a sustainable solution to combat erosion caused by climate change and rising sea levels.
“Over 40 percent of the world’s population lives in coastal areas,” Alessandro Rotta Loria, who led the study, said in a statement.
“Because of climate change and sea-level rise, erosion is an enormous threat to these communities. Through the disintegration of infrastructure and loss of land, erosion causes billions of dollars in damage per year worldwide,” he said.
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Seems like a neat technology. Would be interesting to see how they use it at scale.
They should probably still stop building houses on the coastline, though.
I don’t have much sympathy for the McMansions, but there are huge sections of Pacific Coast rail line threatened by coastal erosion, and it sure would be nice to get some nice high-speed rail along there.
Yeah, that’s true. It’s hopefully less costly to stabilize just the vulnerable parts of the surfliner than the entire west coast. I don’t think it’s possible to upgrade the speed on the surfliner much, given the geotechnical situation it’s in, and I believe that this is also one of the main reasons CAHSR is being built inland.
But yeah, I have seen some really irresponsible houses on the california coast, like houses built on the outside of seawalls, actively crumbling away.