Buildings

Back in the 1970s and 80s, millions of wooden buildings (both new and old) were treated with preservatives that were later found to be neurotoxic and carcinogenic. A special process is now able to neutralize those chemicals in existing buildings, saving the structures from being gutted.The two preservatives, lindane and pentachlorophenol (PCP), were used to protect against fungus and wood-eating insects. Even though the chemicals are now widely banned, wood that had already been treated with them continues to give off…

December 11, 20233 min readBuilding codes that don’t fully account for climate change are “one of the most significant factors” in increasing disaster risk, a federal report saysBy E&E News & Thomas FrankNeighborhoods are seen submerged in flood water from the Meremac River on December 31, 2015 in Pacific, Missouri. CLIMATEWIRE | The annual federal assessment of the nation’s disaster preparedness for the first time cites problems with out-of-date state and local building codes, which have left millions of homes…

There’s something incredibly alluring about a handsome building photographed at night, something that makes it memorable and alive and which encourages people to visit. However, since daytime architectural photography is the “norm,” buildings that become most striking at night-time are perhaps less likely to win the recognition they deserve. So, we decided to uncover architecture’s sleeper hits: the buildings around the world that people are most likely to photograph at night.Buildworld analyzed the metadata on over 10…

The construction industry is still reeling from supply chain disruptions caused by the pandemic, so it’s more important than ever that contractors are able to stay on schedule and avoid mounting supply costs. Fortunately for them, there are a number of technological innovations to help with everything from keeping managers on time to promoting real estate sustainability and accessibility.AcreTraderFor simplifying buying and selling landIt’s easier than ever to pull up information on a random house down the street. But…

CLIMATEWIRE | It seems almost too good to be true.But the Energy Department says one step by states would help the United States reduce future carbon emissions by nearly 2 billion metric tons and cut $180 billion from the country's collective energy bill over 30 years. And the move needs no new technology, equipment, infrastructure or vehicles and would be the equivalent of removing 445 million gasoline-powered cars from the road over 30 years.What's required is for states to force new buildings to meet stronger energy…

Construction is a tough job, and in Europe there is a chronic shortage of workers to build the homes, schools, and roads we use every single day. So why not get a robot to do the hard work so we don’t have to? That’s exactly what researchers at ETH Zurich’s Robotic Systems Lab in Switzerland are working on. They’ve trained an autonomous excavator to construct stone walls using boulders weighing several tonnes — without any human interference. In the machine’s first assignment, it built a six…

Scientists in Hong Kong have demonstrated a new ultra-white ceramic material that can drastically cool buildings by reflecting sunlight and heat at record highs. The beetle-inspired material gets its ability from its nanostructure, stays tough to the elements and should be relatively easy to scale up for production.When our homes get too hot, the first solution for many people is to crank the air conditioning. It may be effective, but it’s not very energy efficient, as heating and cooling buildings accounts for a huge…

Smokey the Bear is famous for warning against forest fires—but for most U.S. homeowners, grass fires and shrubland fires are actually more of a threat. And there twice as many houses within the perimeters of wildfires today, compared with 30 years ago, meaning far more people and homes are at risk, according to a new study published on Thursday in Science. Forest fires are well known for their ferocity. They accounted for just 33 percent of houses destroyed by wildfires in the early 2000s, however, the study authors…

The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, more companies have offered remote work options for their employees, or have even switched to working entirely remotely – leaving empty office buildings a new fixture in many cities. In July 2023, Boston’s Planning and Development Agency announced a pilot program to offer incentives to building developers who convert office buildings to residential housing. As …

In vertical farming operations, artificial lights and artificial intelligence coax plants, stacked densely on towering shelves rather than spread over a field, to grow indoors with minimal human intervention. That’s the goal. But despite lofty promises of bringing fresh produce to local markets, these systems have not yet provided a climate-friendly way to feed the world’s growing population. Can robotic “bees,” a buzzy technology straight out of science fiction, rescue these high-tech operations? The world’s first…