Climate Buildings
All Stories
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![Barges and cranes on Chicago river working on buildings.]()
![Barges and cranes on Chicago river working on buildings.]()
Chicago could be first major Midwestern city to ban gas in new construction
Buildings are Chicago’s largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, but efforts to decarbonize them are facing union opposition.
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![Three workers install solar panels on the roof of a house.]()
![Three workers install solar panels on the roof of a house.]()
How California is casting a cloud over residential solar
Led by California, rooftop solar installations are poised to fall 12 percent nationally this year. It’s the first decline since 2017.
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Berkeley’s gas ban is all but dead. What does that mean for other cities?
Despite another defeat in court, experts say cities still have plenty of options for electrifying buildings.
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![An aerial view of homes under construction in Buckeye, Arizona, outside of Phoenix. The state government paused new housing construction in the area last year over concerns about water availability.]()
![An aerial view of homes under construction in Buckeye, Arizona, outside of Phoenix. The state government paused new housing construction in the area last year over concerns about water availability.]()
Will Arizona close a loophole that lets developers build without water?
Despite water woes in “wildcat” neighborhoods, lawmakers may not act.
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A court struck down local gas bans — so Seattle and other cities are getting creative
Amid an uncertain legal landscape, lawmakers are finding new ways to electrify buildings.
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![An aerial view shows muddy floodwaters surrounding a home and submerging cars in Stanwood, Washington on December 6, 2023 .]()
![An aerial view shows muddy floodwaters surrounding a home and submerging cars in Stanwood, Washington on December 6, 2023 .]()
The billion-dollar industry between you and FEMA’s flood insurance
Cutting payments to brokers, or selling policies directly to consumers, could save millions. FEMA and insurance companies say it’s not quite that straightforward.
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Illinois governor cancels migrant tent city on toxic land
It's a major win for activists who opposed the controversial project.
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![One man holds a tub of hempcrete and another man pushes it into place in a wooden building frame.]()
![One man holds a tub of hempcrete and another man pushes it into place in a wooden building frame.]()
The Lower Sioux in Minnesota need homes — so they are building them from hemp
The Indigenous nation will soon have the only facility to create hempcrete in the country.
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Biden administration launches ‘Earthshot’ effort to slash energy bills
The Department of Energy's new initiative aims to cut household energy bills by 20 percent and the cost of decarbonizing by 50 percent.
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![A long line of rickshaws pedals through the knee-deep waters of a flooded road in Bangladesh in September, 2023.]()
![A long line of rickshaws pedals through the knee-deep waters of a flooded road in Bangladesh in September, 2023.]()
Cities worldwide keep building in flood zones, despite mounting risks
"We invest in flood zones more than safe zones," says the author of a report that finds construction in such areas has jumped 122 percent.
