Filtered Topic: Energy Efficiency

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The exterior of "Timber House," courtesy of Mesh Architectures

On an urban two-way street, Timber House's wooden frame points to a different way of assembling housing. (Courtesy of Mesh Architectures.)

Timber House: Can Mass Timber Help Decarbonize Real Estate?

Real estate is the source of around 40% of global greenhouse gas emissions, including 11% that come just from making building materials. Mass timber panels, which consist of small pieces of softwood glued together, offer a lower-emissions alternative to steel and cement, as well storing carbon sequestered by trees. Driven...
In the nation's Covid epicenter, a well-funded park stokes wellness

New York City's Brooklyn Bridge Park, here on a morning during the Covid shutdown, blends public and private capital to broaden open space access. More neighborhoods need parks like this. 

Policy Memo: The USA's Housing Department Should Inventory - and Slash - Emissions

In its $62.7-billion budget, HUD subsidizes 4.5 million units of housing in a portfolio directly owned or controlled through HUD partners. Furthermore, HUD resources are used by private developers through project-based vouchers and HOME funds. HUD has a great deal of power to drive the adoption of higher energy standards...
Wind power in desert

Prosperity arises not only from putting power sources in new places. It also flows from helping people currently powerless to tap energy for more active lives. 

Policy Pinpoint: Lessons of (Recent) History

Lawyers and VCs have sized up the Inflation Reduction Act by now, and American energy systems will likely never stagnate again. For thinking about investment over the decades that decarbonization will take, take a trip back to another crossroads in the nation's energy history.
Apartment building exterior

Explainer: If It's Cheaper to Electrify Buildings, Why Hasn't Electrification Happened More Broadly?

The economics in converting buildings to electricity look logical - over the long run, for pension fund investors. For a building owner with cash flow to manage, it's trickier. This explainer runs through the costs and trajectory for turning building systems to potentially clean sources.
A (very) old technology for transmission still holds in parts of South Carolina and other states.

(Photo by overWHAMmed, from Flickr Creative Commons). This transmission line in Pelzer, SC, testifies to the market potential for investment in new high-voltage lines. 

Explainer: What Makes Transmission So Difficult (and Vital)?

The main line is the main event. Transmission of clean electricity, combined with storage, means that every state and nearly every community can effectively live on fossil-free power. Financing and permitting involve economic, political, and engineering knots. This explainer takes in the breakthrough ideas and baseline for speedier deployment.

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