A recent report by the National Resources Defense Council, “A Tectonic Shift in America’s Energy Landscape,” documents the shift towards renewable sources of energy.
Among the findings:
- Electricity consumption grew at only half the rate of population growth from 2000 to 2014. This is attributable largely to huge efficiency contributions from utility programs and government efficiency standards.
- Over that same period, wind power production grew 33 fold, providing more than 4% of total US power generation in 2014.
- By mid-2015, solar power had exceeded 20,000 megawatts nationwide, with one-third of the total coming into service in just the past 12 months.
- Roughly 10% of the nation's energy supply came from renewable sources last year.
- America's power plants burned less coal in 2014 than in 1990, and the annual total is down more than 21% from the peak year of 2005. Since then, total emissions of carbon pollution from the energy sector are down 10%.
- In the transportation sector, U.S. oil use was slightly lower in 2014 than 1973, even though the economy tripled in size during that time. The fuel efficiency of America's auto fleet has grown by 25% in the past decade.
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Prefab Trailblazer
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| Oct 13, 2010
Hospital tower gets modern makeover
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| Oct 13, 2010
Apartment complex will offer affordable green housing
Urban Housing Communities, KTGY Group, and the City of Big Bear Lake (Calif.) Improvement Agency are collaborating on The Crossings at Big Bear Lake, the first apartment complex in the city to offer residents affordable, eco-friendly homes. KTGY designed 28 two-bedroom, two-story townhomes and 14 three-bedroom, single-story flats, averaging 1,100 sf each.
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Residences bring students, faculty together in the Middle East
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Community center under way in NYC seeks LEED Platinum
A curving, 550-foot-long glass arcade dubbed the “Wall of Light” is the standout architectural and sustainable feature of the Battery Park City Community Center, a 60,000-sf complex located in a two-tower residential Lower Manhattan complex. Hanrahan Meyers Architects designed the glass arcade to act as a passive energy system, bringing natural light into all interior spaces.
| Oct 13, 2010
Community college plans new campus building
Construction is moving along on Hudson County Community College’s North Hudson Campus Center in Union City, N.J. The seven-story, 92,000-sf building will be the first higher education facility in the city.
| Oct 13, 2010
Bookworms in Silver Spring getting new library
The residents of Silver Spring, Md., will soon have a new 112,000-sf library. The project is aiming for LEED Silver certification.
| Oct 13, 2010
County building aims for the sun, shade
The 187,032-sf East County Hall of Justice in Dublin, Calif., will be oriented to take advantage of daylighting, with exterior sunshades preventing unwanted heat gain and glare. The building is targeting LEED Silver. Strong horizontal massing helps both buildings better match their low-rise and residential neighbors.
| Oct 12, 2010
Owen Hall, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Mich.
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Silver Award. Officials at Michigan State University’s East Lansing Campus were concerned that Owen Hall, a mid-20th-century residence facility, was no longer attracting much interest from its target audience, graduate and international students.
