As we’ve seen from recent floods and fires, climate change is an increasingly tangible emergency, and we have much to do in order to meet the moment. The Rethink Energy team often talks about the need ...

In the same way that terrestrial life evolved from ocean swimmers to land walkers, soft robots are progressing, too, thanks to recent research in battery development and design. In the same way that ...

For more than 30 years, Passive House principles have been a valuable guide to making buildings energy efficient. But now, with steady improvements in our understanding of embodied carbon—the carbon ...

As recently as five years ago, embodied energy was a relatively esoteric subject. Making a building more energy efficient tended to mean reducing operational energy, with upgrades like LEDs, heat ...

This is another installment of our blog series on the landmark 2024 Massachusetts Clean Energy Bill, signed into law on November 21, 2024. Previous posts addressed how the Clean Energy Bill aims to ...

Buildings are ideas made physical. They carry silent histories. They manifest culture, values, and technologies. And they also embody environmental impact. In terms of numbers, buildings account for ...

Embodied carbon is responsible for 11% of global GHG emissions and 28% of global building sector emissions. Embodied carbon is the carbon emitted in the making of building products and construction.

Design teams have a new mission. Over the last two decades, the operating emissions of America’s total building stock have been pared back so far that it generates a third less (and falling) than it ...

With the spiraling cost of building materials, it makes sense that instead of constructing new buildings, it is usually more economical to retrofit or renovate existing buildings to accommodate new ...