The number of home microgrid communities is picking up, spurred by natural disasters, increasing energy prices, and a desire to combat climate change. Horton World Solutions (HWS) plans to construct 200,000 homes with microgrids based on an innovative zinc-ion battery design.
How can technology address the climate crisis? Dr. Alexandra “Sascha” von Meier, EcoBlock PI and Energy team co-lead, weighs in on the transformative potential of solar microgrids to tackle climate mitigation and adaptation in a recent article by the Wall Street Journal.
EcoBlock co-PI and UC Berkeley professor Dan Kammen discusses the growing ubiquity of community microgrids in a recent Popular Science article published on April 13, 2022.
The Brisbane Library by Siegel & Strain Architects (EcoBlock Design/Construction team) is officially in the polls for the AIA San Francisco People’s Choice Design Awards. Cast your vote by Friday, April 15 at 5 pm PT.
EcoBlock PI and Energy team co-lead Dr. Alexandra “Sascha” von Meier participated in a California Council on Science and Technology (CCST) expert briefing on the role of community microgrids in California.
EcoBlock PI and Energy team co-lead Dr. Alexandra “Sascha” von Meier shares how the effects of climate change are affecting the aging power grid.
The new ICC report boils down to yet another dire scientific warning. Greenhouse gas emissions need to peak by 2025 to limit global warming close to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), as targeted by the Paris Agreement, the report says.
EcoBlock Project Manager Dr. Therese Peffer recently participated in a Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies symposium from March 24–26, 2022. Titled Bringing Digitalization Home: How Can Technology Address Housing Challenges?, the three-day event focused on digitalization and how it is spurring a fundamental change in the way housing is produced, marketed, sold, financed, managed, and lived in.
The Working Group II contribution to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report summarizes the latest scientific research on climate change impacts, adaptation, and vulnerabilities. The new IPCC Working Group II report paints an alarming picture of rapidly growing risks currently being felt around the world, including widespread damages to human and ecological health.
Community microgrid projects yield numerous benefits: they keep critical services running during power outages, provide reliable electricity for remote outposts, and can even save lives. Mahmood Muttaqee, a doctoral candidate of public policy at Oregon State University (OSU), and his team are expanding this body of knowledge by investigating community perceptions of microgrids.