Climate Change
Leaping from the COVID Frying Pan into the Climate Fire
July 27th, 2020Focus Shifts to Health in our Post-COVID Smart Cities of the Future
June 4th, 2020Moving Past Net Zero Buildings to Whole Life Carbon through Embodied Energy
“Climate change is undoubtedly the greatest challenge of our times. We need to take urgent action to almost halve global emissions by 2030 and eliminate them completely by the middle of the century,” says Julie Hirigoyen, Chief Executive at UKGBC. “It is in this context that the term ‘net zero carbon’ has started to enter […]
Smart Cities Can Become Ecological Cities Through Biomorphic Urbanism
When British explorer Henry Hudson first sailed up the Muhheakantuck River in 1609 he would have seen native Lenape settlements dotted across a vast natural island landscape that would later be known as Manhattan Island. Fast forward 400-years and that island has become one of the least natural places in the world. The dense grid […]
Data Drives Investment. Building Data Drives Real Estate Investment.
“Every person who invests in well-selected real estate in a growing section of a prosperous community adopts the surest and safest method of becoming independent, for real estate is the basis of wealth,” said former US president Theodore Roosevelt. While his words may be as true today as the day he uttered them, just over […]
Conservative Forecasting is Hiding the Speed of the Energy Storage Revolution
Our power system is evolving. Too slow for some and too fast for others. The evolution is symbolized by renewable energy and the infrastructure necessary to manage its fluctuating electricity supply, but there is more to our power evolution than the grid. Smart buildings, smart cities, smart homes, electric vehicles, district heating, and a range […]
Why Big Oil is Investing in Clean Energy & Smart Buildings
The statistic that 40% of energy consumption comes from buildings is well-used when highlighting the much-needed work of energy optimization solutions. However, on the other side of that coin is the fact that buildings, especially inefficient buildings, are the energy industry’s biggest customer group. Consequently, the thought of “big oil” supporting the growing energy management […]
Future Proofing Smart Cities Building-by-Building with Open Data Platforms
“Today we hear about the smart city, the sustainable city, the green city, the resilient city, the diverse, inclusive, dynamic, creative and caring city. All these buzzwords are thrown around but in the end, it’s all the same. Strategies to prepare cities for the future,” Ahmed Abu Laban, City Director for the city of Ramallah, […]
Dumb Buildings Are Stranded Assets In The New Climate Economy
If we don’t address climate change and keep anthropogenic warming under the 2°C threshold set out by the Paris Climate Accord, then we will face the wrath of nature through rapidly rising sea levels, increased drought and wildfires, and other trends that will make life on earth more difficult — this is the physical risk […]
Towards Net-Zero Buildings – Legislation for a Sustainable Energy Future
“The window for tackling the climate crisis is closing quickly, meaning incremental measures are no longer enough. We must go beyond decarbonizing power generation and concentrate our efforts on electrifying heat and transport, as well as improving energy efficiency. It is absolutely critical that, in addition to better sourcing of energy, we focus efforts on […]