The wildfires that ravaged the Los Angeles area in January killed 31 people and razed more than 16,000 buildings, tearing a swath through the working- and middle-class neighborhood of Altadena and the upmarket enclave of Pacific Palisades. Though they didn't destroy Karen Girard's home, the smoke left her walls, floors and furniture infused with a toxic cocktail. Tests have found heavy metals such as lead, arsenic, and zinc, as well as volatile organic compounds such as cyanide and furfural that have left her home uninhabitable. Read more
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A new report offers over 50 useful strategies for states to help residents replace fossil-fuel-burning furnaces and water heaters with heat pumps. The interagency nonprofit Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management released an 80-page action plan laying out key strategies to turbocharge heat-pump deployment. California, Colorado, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and the District of Columbia together committed to ambitious heat-pump adoption goals last year, with Washington state joining the pact recently. Read more
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Europe is rapidly expanding its renewable energy capacity. For example, renewables generated 61.5% of Germany’s electricity in the first half of 2024. However, during windy or sunny periods, operators must throttle or shut down wind and solar plants to prevent overloading the grid, a problem that cost Germany $3.6 billion in redispatch measures in 2023. Bidirectional charging provides a means to mitigate these fluctuations by having EVs store surplus renewable power and release it when demand spikes or the grid falters. Read more
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The U.S. Department of Energy has announced $625 million in funding aimed at retrofitting and recommissioning coal plants. The agency did not immediately respond to questions about the funding mechanism, including whether it would be made available as loans or grants. Read more
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Join ASHRAE Journal Technical Editor Rebecca Matyasovski and Mahmood Farzaneh Gord as they explore the benefits of duct sealing, highlighting how it can lead to energy savings in commercial buildings.
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By Terri Laurence, P.E.
The 157 Berkeley Street Liberty Mutual Tower, located in Boston, simultaneously integrated a historic structure with new construction while reducing energy consumption, minimizing carbon footprint and curtailing utility costs. Download here
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ASHRAE has opened the call for abstracts for its 2026 Annual Conference in Austin, Texas from June 27 – July 1, 2026. The conference will feature a robust technical program focused on the industry’s most critical challenges and opportunities, including artificial intelligence, building decarbonization and innovations in building design and systems. Abstracts are due November 19. Proposals for organized paper sessions are also being accepted. Read more
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Electricity demand is expected to surge, but homes could be doing more to support the grid. A new report suggests home energy upgrades like solar power, batteries and heat pumps can offset the electricity demand from data centers. It suggests that the grid will need 93 gigawatts of additional power by 2029 for data centers that are announced or currently under construction. Read more
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