Archinect - News

Detroit installs America's first wireless EV charging track

2023-12-08T12:24:00-05:00

Detroit has debuted an EV charging roadway concept from Electreon inside of its new Michigan Central Station innovation district they say represents a “major milestone in the future of mobility” as the first-ever wireless charging roadway in America.

The quarter-mile track through the city’s Corktown neighborhood was developed by the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) after being announced by Governor Gretchen Whitmer in February of 2022. The track will serve as a five-year test pilot for the anticipated boom in EVs that are expected to hit the road in the next decade, cornering about half of the total market by the year 2035.

Similar concepts are been developed in Europe by Electreon, which hopes to open the new, eventually one-mile-long Detroit track to the public next year. The installation was also made possible by Ford (backers of the Michigan Central project), Jacobs, DTE, KIEWIT, Next Energy, and ROUSH CleanTech.

Related on Archinect: Detroit to host first public w...

LA mandates all new buildings be all-electric in major milestone

2022-12-15T16:42:00-05:00

[The] Los Angeles City Council put an end to the expansion of local natural gas infrastructure on December 7th when they unanimously approved an ordinance requiring that all new buildings within city limits be constructed all-electric. With this vote, Los Angeles became the largest city in the state and the second largest city in the country to mandate a definitive shift away from fossil fuels in new construction.

LA City Hall had previously adopted a similar ordinance for all its municipal buildings in 2020 and passed a ban on gas appliances along with a mandate for emissions-free new constructions at the end of spring. The new building code changes are set to go into effect with the new year. A test run for a fleet of driverless EV taxis is also set to hit the streets soon in what could be a complicated counterbalance to the impact of car culture in the city.

The move now gives 70 California cities some form of an all-electric requirement, prompting speculation that a statewide code update might come in 2025.

New first-of-its-kind office tower in Melbourne sports an integrated solar façade

2022-06-07T17:55:00-04:00

Australia’s first office tower with a “solar skin” is expected to be built next year in a landmark moment for the construction industry and decarbonisation efforts. The eight-storey building at 550-558 Spencer Street in West Melbourne will cost $40m and has been designed by the architecture firm Kennon on behalf of Dr Bella Freeman.

The first-of-its-kind structure for Australia will be covered by 1,182 solar panels with the equivalent thickness of a conventional glass façade. The cladding is called Skala, developed by German solar energy technology company Avancis. The system utilizes a thin-film PV module that sits atop a network that channels the generated electricity into the building’s power supply. As reported by The Guardian, it has the ability to produce 50 times the energy of an average rooftop photovoltaic array used in residential housing.

When the building is completed, the solar skin will reportedly provide nearly all its energy needs. The addition of extra roof panels will cut almost all ongoing power costs, and after a few years, the site is expected to be carbon-neutral. While involved in projects in Europe, the technology is a first for Australia, given its strict building codes. It is currently undergoing a final round of testing before it can be approved, which would make Skala available to u...

Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood has a plan to become energy independent

2022-05-30T10:30:00-04:00

The Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago is the site of a proposed new microgrid project set to improve its resiliency as the historic and predominantly Black community pushes towards energy independence.

The microgrid will purportedly be the first of its scale found anywhere in the United States, and offers a major upgrade of a much smaller Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) run system, as well as a reduction in the phenomena known as Corona discharge.

According to the website Reasons to Be Cheerful, the project, which is being developed in unison with Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) and funded (in part) by a $4 million grant from the Department of Energy, passed efficacy tests but still faces a number of engineering and permitting hurdles. After those tests have been passed, the report states, the Bronzeville microgrid will power more than 1,000 homes, businesses, and even public institutions like the local Provident Hospital.

Model of the ITT campus utilizing different colors to ...

California poised to ramp up its geothermal capacity

2020-01-28T16:21:00-05:00

After years of playing third fiddle to solar and wind power, geothermal energy is poised to start growing again in California. [...] The new plants will be the first geothermal facilities built in California in nearly a decade — potentially marking a long-awaited turning point for a technology that could play a critical role in the state’s transition to cleaner energy sources.

The Los Angeles Times on California's efforts to increase, potentially double, the share geothermal energy contributes to the state's electricity mix by adding new plants.

Traditionally, the much higher upfront cost of geothermal plants (compared to solar or wind farms of comparable capacity) outplayed the technology's big advantage of generating dependable emission-free, renewable electricity regardless of weather conditions above ground.

With more plants going on line in coming years, hopes are that kilowatt-hour prices of geothermal-generated electricity will drop enough to help California reach its ambitious goal of 100% renewable-powered energy by 2045.

UCLA electrical engineer builds thermoelectric device that can harvest energy after dark

2019-09-18T15:00:00-04:00

[Dr. Raman's] prototype device employs radiative cooling, the phenomenon that makes buildings and parks feel cooler than the surrounding air after sunset. As Dr. Raman’s device releases heat, it does so unevenly, the top side cooling more than the bottom. It then converts the difference in heat into electricity.

After driving through a dark village in Sierra Leone, UCLA electrical engineer Aaswath Raman got the idea of building a device that didn't have to rely on solar power or wind to generate electricity after dark.

Dr. Raman and his research team did just that, and built a prototype thermoelectric device that uses radiative cooling techniques. It doesn't generate much power yet and still has a long way to go in research and development, but other academics like MIT materials scientist Jeffrey C. Grossman tell The New York Times that Dr. Raman's work is one promising step forward in the development of low-power applications at night.

The world's largest offshore wind farm is now operational in the Irish Sea

2018-09-06T15:43:00-04:00

The world’s biggest offshore windfarm has officially opened in the Irish Sea, amid warnings that Brexit could increase costs for future projects. Walney Extension, off the Cumbrian coast, spans an area the size of 20,000 football pitches and has a capacity of 659 megawatts, enough to power the equivalent of 590,000 homes. The project is a sign of how dramatically wind technology has progressed in the past five years since the previous biggest, the London Array, was finished.

The Walney Extension is made up of 87 turbines and has a total capacity of 659 MW, enough to power almost 600,000 homes in the UK. This makes it now the largest operational offshore wind farm, however with wind farm supersizing along the British coastline it may not hold the record for long.

A 714MW is set to be up and running in 2020, while Ørsted itself is planning 1,200MW and 1,800MW farms off the Yorkshire coast. Currently, offshore wind farms provide nearly a tenth of the UK's electricity.

Extensive windfarm island plans in the North Sea may be a design solution

2018-01-03T16:04:00-05:00

Britain’s homes could be lit and powered by windfarms surrounding an artificial island deep out in the North Sea, under advanced plans by a Dutch energy network. The radical proposal envisages an island being built to act as a hub for vast offshore windfarms that would eclipse today’s facilities in scale. Dogger Bank, 125km (78 miles) off the East Yorkshire coast, has been identified as a potentially windy and shallow site.

Plans by TenneT, the Dutch power grid, aim to build a power hub potentially at Dogger Bank, a site in the North Sea, at a scale that far surpasses current offshore sites. A long-distance cable would send energy to the UK and Netherlands, with other countries possibly added later. Early studies were released stating this solution could be far cheaper than conventional windfarms.

The North Sea windfarm plans are a potential solution to the industry’s challenge of continuing to make offshore wind cheaper. As these sites are pushed further and further off the coast the expense grows, while closer and cheaper areas near land fill up.

Check out the promo video by TenneT:

Elon Musk thinks Tesla could be worth $1 trillion – if it buys SolarCity

2016-06-22T19:31:00-04:00

SolarCity's solar panels with Tesla's electric vehicles and stationary storage batteries was "what the world needs, the ultimate solution" to a sustainable-energy future. "As a combined automotive and power storage and power generation company, the potential is there for Tesla to be a trillion-dollar market cap company," [Musk] added. [...] Musk said costs for both companies would go down significantly after the merger, but he did not give specifics.

Elon Musk already sits on the board and owns 22% of the Buffalo-based SolarCity, "the leading installer of residential solar panels" in the US. Musk is convinced that the merger is a no-brainer, but according to Reuters, analysts aren't so smitten with the prospect.

"While we don't doubt that some customers who are interested in electric vehicles and storage products are also interested in going solar, we don't necessarily buy that there is a meaningful cross-sell opportunity – especially currently," RBC Capital Markets analyst Joseph Spak told Reuters.

Another analyst, Brian Johnson of Barclays, doesn't have a rosy view either: "While no doubt the Tesla bulls will hail the combination as visionary, we believe the assumption of another $2.6 billion of debt to fold in a solar company with limited synergies and uncertain growth/cash prospects only reinforces our negative view of Tesla."

A press release issued by the Tesla Team yesterday noted how partnering with SolarCity would produce "...

Woman's dream tiny home clashes with Canadian law

2015-08-28T18:43:00-04:00

Cheryl Smith planned to move "off the grid" and into a small house near Clark's Harbour, N.S., a year ago. But thanks to Canadian building regulations, the four-by-six metre structure remains half-built and empty. [...] Canadian laws require living spaces to have access to power to run smoke detectors and air exchange systems. But Smith said the point of moving into her tiny home was to disconnect from the power grid.

Choi + Shine's BIT Light lets you create a multitude of illuminated sculptures

2014-12-19T16:33:00-05:00

Choi + Shine Architects, who envisioned the beautiful Land of Giants in 2010, developed a new lighting system called the BIT Light™. BIT's name is primarily derived from the Korean word for light (빛) which is somewhat pronounced like "bit" in English. It also stands for Bulb with Integrated Technology and describes its fun modular design.

Each BIT light consists of a low-voltage LED light source encased in a translucent polycarbonate shell. Magnetic connectors enable multiple BITs to be physically and electrically linked to each other and to a power source, while letting users get creative and arrange the lights in literally hundreds of forms. BIT's user-friendly design also makes it easier to adjust the amount of illumination inside a space without needing advanced technical skills or professional assistance.

Choi + Shine is currently working on adding more colors, forms, materials, and connectors to the mix.

Learn more about the BIT Light here.

World’s Largest Solar Towers Take to the Sun

2013-03-27T20:38:00-04:00

California will soon be home to the world’s two largest solar towers through an ambitious project known as The Palen Solar Electrical Generating System. The announcement was made shortly after the US Department of Interior announced the country was to add 1.1 gigawatts to its clean energy capacity. California has also committed to have a third of their power must be derived from renewable sources by the year 2030.

AC DC rocking the energy world

2011-11-18T14:15:15-05:00

Nextek Power Systems... has developed a system for delivering power via DC to lights and motion sensors through a building’s metal frame, instead of through wires. Paul Savage, chief executive of Nextek... said the current was not enough to electrocute anyone. “If you licked your fingers you might get a little bubbly feeling, like if you put a nine-volt battery on your tongue, but it is not noticeable if you’re in a non-wet environment,” he said.

A 6 to 17% gain in transmission efficiency is pretty significant! Plus you eliminate the third wire.