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This week in buildings, land and industry decarbonization news, NetZero Insider’s James Downing wrote a story on a report from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy that highlighted states’ advanced efficiency policies. Twenty-six states have adopted “energy efficiency resource standards,” and most of those have added next-generation policies to those, which have helped that half of the country achieve higher energy savings.
NetZero’s Elaine Goodman wrote a story on a grant from the California Energy Commission that aims to get a zero-carbon steel mill up and running in the Golden State. The $630 million facility will recycle steel to produce rebar for use in construction. It will be powered partially by an on-site solar facility and use carbon-capture technology.
The MIT Technology Review published a piece about some of the latest developments in artificial intelligence, including President Trump announcing a new, massive investment for data centers, and DeepSeek’s announcement that it had achieved high-performing AI with much less energy. If DeepSeek’s more efficient coding wins out, it could mean less data centers and less power demand going forward, though it is still too early to say.
Banker & Tradesman reported that the city of Boston has adopted a new net-zero zoning code, despite opposition from the real estate industry. The new codes apply to projects with at least 15 housing units or 20,000 square feet of construction, and additions to buildings of 50,000 square feet or more.
And Yale Environment 360 talked about a little-covered source of emissions: turning bogs and peatland into farmland via draining, which the story said has contributed about 5% of humanity’s historical emissions annually, beating air travel. Peatlands cover 3% of the planet’s surface, but they store more than 500 GT of carbon, which is twice as much as the world’s forest biomass.
Read other stories in this week’s Intelligence Report:
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