Archinect - News

Los Angeles officials plan to make all new buildings zero-carbon

2022-05-31T11:30:00-04:00

The Los Angeles City Council have passed a motion instructing several city departments to begin work on a framework that would require all new residential and commercial buildings in the city to be built to achieve zero-carbon emissions. Passed on May 27th, the motion may see a roadmap to zero-carbon buildings published before the end of 2022.

“We have lagged behind other California cities in tackling our largest source of climate pollution citywide: buildings,” the motion reads. “Over fifty cities and counties in California have already taken action to reduce carbon emissions in new building construction and prepare their buildings for a carbon-neutral future. It is time for Los Angeles to do the same.”

According to the motion, buildings in Los Angeles are the largest emitter in the city, accounting for 43% of L.A. greenhouse gas emissions. The 43% figure is significantly above the average...

California climate action plan calls for all-electric new homes by 2026

2022-05-12T17:11:00-04:00

A new draft plan by the California Air Resources Board was released on Tuesday that lays out an ambitious roadmap for achieving carbon neutrality in the state by 2045.

Called the 2022 Climate Change Scoping Plan, the guide highlights the necessity for a comprehensive shift away from fossil fuels across all sectors, notably households, businesses, and transportation.

The plan suggests the state require all new homes to have electric appliances starting in 2026 and new businesses by 2029. For existing homes, 80% of appliance sales should be electric by 2030 and 100% by 2035. As noted by TIME, this, coupled with the plan’s stringent transportation regulations, would put a significant new demand on the electric grid, which would require California to rapidly scale up solar power and storage options. Hydrogen infrastructure would also need to expand.

The plan is not final, however. It wi...

The case for pitting big infrastructure against climate change

2020-01-22T15:26:00-05:00

The US has become terrible at building big things, and negligent in even maintaining our existing infrastructure. [...] That all bodes terribly for our ability to grapple with the coming dangers of climate change, because it is fundamentally an infrastructure problem.

MIT Technology Review senior editor, James Temple, penned an urgent plea for a renewed, but sustainable, American public works boom that could significantly speed up the painfully slow infrastructure planning process in the face of rapidly changing climate conditions.

"To prepare for the climate dangers we now can’t avoid, we’ll also need to bolster coastal protections, reengineer waste and water systems, reinforce our transportation infrastructure, and relocate homes and businesses away from expanding flood and fire zones," Temple writes. "Given those staggering costs and tight time lines, we can’t afford to take decades to build—much less not build—a single project."

Charging in Style: Danish firm COBE is rethinking fueling stations

2018-01-22T13:40:00-05:00

Shortly, electricity will replace petrol and diesel as the fuel for our cars, and such a change could radically shift our urban landscape as the formal aspects of gas stations is then open to reimagining. Danish Architecture firm COBE is looking to do just that. Understanding that under current technological trends the average charging time for an electric vehicle is upwards of 45 minutes, COBE is looking to use such a newly established time frame as a possible opportunity for rethinking the traditional gas station as a place and less of a transient space.

Ultrafast Charging Station: Small. Image: COBE

Ultrafast Charging Station: Medium. Image: COBE

Ultrafast Charging Station: Large. Image: COBE

“Electric vehicles are the future. In our design, we want to offer drivers a much-needed and meaningful break in a green oasis. The energy and the technology are green, and we want the architecture, the materials and the concept to be green as well. Therefore, we’ve designed a sculptural charg...

US government agency develops new batteries that could revolutionize energy infrastructure

2016-03-03T16:46:00-05:00

A US government agency says it has attained the “holy grail” of energy – the next-generation system of battery storage, that has has been hotly pursued by the likes of Bill Gates and Elon Musk. Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (Arpa-E) – a branch of the Department of Energy – says it achieved its breakthrough technology in seven years.

The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (Arpa-E) was founded back in 2009 as part of President Obama's economic recovery plan. So-called "moonshot projects" are often too risky for private investors, but this state-run initiative may have unlocked a new technology that others, from Elon Musk to Bill Gates, have been chasing after for years.

“I think we have reached some holy grails in batteries – just in the sense of demonstrating that we can create a totally new approach to battery technology, make it work, make it commercially viable, and get it out there to let it do its thing,” said Ellen Williams, Arpa-E’s director.

The projects that Arpa-E has developed involve faster superconductors and new materials besides lithium-ion. Williams said that their projects could transform utility scale storage.

For the US to switch from a fossil-fuel economy to one based on renewable energy sources like solar and wind, it's essential to create more efficient large-scale energy storage systems...