Politics impact infrastructure market

Oct 01, 2009 | 11:57 AM | Corinna Petry

Practical challenges to the infrastructure market include the magnitude of the work that needs to be done, its complexity and—perhaps most pertinently—the political process required to get anything done, according to the leader of the Steel Market Development Institute.

Influences on the market include growing demand for energy and for greater national security and defense; safety generally; durability and functionality; and changing demographics, institute president David Jeanes said at AMM's Infrastructure and Steel Conference in Chicago.

The world is going to need more public drinking water systems, more coal—in the U.S., coal is used to generate 50 percent of the electricity used, and that will move up to 57 percent—more natural gas and more renewable energy sources, he said.....