This city, which prides itself on progressive, bold and community-centered ideas, uses geothermal and thermal energy networks to help reach its goal of 100 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions over the next 30 years.

The United States experienced extreme weather, causing fatalities, injuries and billions of dollars in damage last year. Our clean energy transition will require re-evaluating energy technologies to determine what should be funded or scrapped. 

The Smithsonian Institution’s Bird House at the National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute underwent a six-year, $69 million project to upgrade the space with efficient water systems and an innovative HVAC design. More than 170 individual birds representing 70-plus species are on view.

BF Nagy recalls some of the energy technologies that have grown over the last year, including three projects using wastewater energy recovery to heat buildings. 

More homeowners are considering heat pump water heaters to lower energy costs and reduce greenhouse emissions. Read on to see how this Massachusetts home renovation used the technology to deliver consistent hot water while offering long-term savings on energy bills.

The 65 MW Century Oak Wind agreement will generate the power equivalent to the annual electricity needs of more than 34,000 average U.S. homes.

A geo-exchange system either extracts energy from the ground for heating or pumps it back into the ground for cooling. Energy companies and large construction firms can use this technology to help decarbonize our buildings and remain profitable. BF Nagy describes a few such North American projects in this month’s column.

When a developer locked in the service providers to design and build Via Sol, a new 217-unit sustainable apartment community in the Minneapolis suburb of St. Louis Park, Minnesota, he took collaboration to a new level.

Builders in New York City are taking the lessons from Hurricane Sandy to construct more resilient buildings, including the Beach Green Dunes II project in Queens. NYC also is taking a hard line on building retrofits to ensure low emissions, making heat pumps more appealing.