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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced a new round of grants worth nearly $160 million to support the clean manufacturing of domestically produced construction materials. The funds are being distributed to 38 entities, including the University of Massachusetts Amherst... View full entry
TenBerke, in collaboration with Ballinger, has revealed designs for a new center for quantum science, engineering, and materials initiatives at Yale University. Called the Upper Science Hill Development (USHD), the 611,000-square-foot complex will be one of Yale’s largest and most complex... View full entry
UK mainstay Grimshaw has announced the launch of a new online platform that will help accelerate the decarbonization of buildings. It follows a two-year development phase that relied on the support of 20 other industry organizations, including the World Business Council for Sustainable... View full entry
MAD Architects has announced the completion of the ZGC International Innovation Center in Beijing. Spanning a total floor area of approximately 699,654 square feet, the structure was designed to serve as the permanent venue for the annual Zhongguancun Forum (ZGC Forum). Photo: Zhu Yumeng The forum... View full entry
Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill has announced a new partnership with the Swiss energy storage company Energy Vault Holdings that will produce a series of prototype designs for deployable structures and vertical energy storage units up to 1,000 meters (3,280 feet). Led by SOM Partners Adam... View full entry
To combat the intense summer heat in France, a geothermal energy system will cool the athlete apartments in the Seine-Saint-Denis suburb. This technology utilizes natural resources and is expected to reduce carbon impact by 45 percent compared to traditional air conditioning systems. The system will maintain a temperature below 79 degrees Fahrenheit during the night, even in the event of a heatwave, according to Laurent Michaud, the director of the Olympic and Paralympic Villages. — Runner's World
The planned alternative system will distribute cold water from underground to cool through the floors of the apartments, which will later become home to more than 6,000 permanent residents after the more than 15,000 Olympic and Paralympics athletes vacate in September. The buildings all have green... View full entry
Fossil fuels will be banned from new and remodeled federal buildings under a rule finalized by the Department of Energy this week.
The rule stems from the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA). Section 433 of that law says new federal buildings and those undergoing major renovations have to phase out "fossil fuel-generated energy consumption" by 2030. But that provision never went into effect because the Energy Department failed to finalize regulations, until now.
— NPR
All buildings (and vehicles) owned by the U.S. Government are currently under mandate to run on renewable energy by 2050. The EISA mandate was not fully effected until now because the DoE never finalized its regulations, NPR reported a year ago. Related on Archinect: Biden administration... View full entry
Henning Larsen has unveiled a new tool for designers that allows them access to a database of biogenic materials examples taken from around the world. The firm debuted its new Open Detail resource at the AEC Hackathon in Copenhagen. Together with collaborators Copenhagen School of Design and... View full entry
In a landmark initiative, the Biden-Harris Administration has released the draft National Definition for a Zero Emissions Building, setting a transformative standard for the construction sector. This comprehensive definition targets all new buildings not owned by the federal government... View full entry
The Pentagon has announced it will be installing a solar panel array on its roof in a historic first that’s part of a new $55 million Department of Defense clean energy initiative at military installations in the United States and Germany. The DOD has been active in attempting to mitigate the... View full entry
A group of 11 AEC industry groups in the United Kingdom, including the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), Chartered Institute of Building, and UK Green Building Council, have joined together in urging the government toward taking action on restricting embodied carbon emissions in the... View full entry
An effort by the Biden Administration to establish a new national definition of zero-emissions buildings is gaining traction after leaders representing a group of 69 different AEC firms working in the U.S. added their support in a letter that was circulated earlier this week. Prominent... View full entry
Repeated calls for the decarbonization of architecture are sometimes met with criticisms as to their lack of substance, and in some cases, practicality or overall feasibility, Canada's National Observer tells us. The only mycelium binders on the market are, for example, unsuitable to certain... View full entry
A climate deal has been struck by global leaders at the COP28 UN climate summit in Dubai following days of negotiations. The agreement calls for all countries to move away from using fossil fuels, though stops short of phasing them out. The final text, signed by 200 countries, recognizes a “need... View full entry
If approved in its current form, the deal struck on Thursday night will also force member states to put solar panels on more buildings, starting with new public buildings and offices and expanding to include new homes by 2030. [...]
It is a compromise on the European Commission’s original proposals to renovate the leakiest homes, which member states had fought fiercely.
— The Guardian
The EU’s pledge mandates that all new buildings will have zero emissions from fossil fuels in that timeframe, with heating systems derived from fossil fuels phased out by 2040. The expansion of heat pump subsidies will be a decisive factor, along with the mandatory installation of solar panels... View full entry