The buildings constructed from cannabis

An architect in Chennai, India, is retrofitting private residences and public buildings to be more sustainable. They make changes like installing energy-efficient upgrades, solar panels, improved ventilation, and low-flow plumbing fixtures to reduce water and energy consumption.

A warehouse in Switzerland is being transformed into new creative workspaces. The catch: It’s being constructed out of reused building materials. About 70 percent of it is being made from old materials like wood floorboards, steel beams, and windows. A network of treasure hunters are on the lookout for used materials that can be used in constructing these buildings. The workspace is nearly complete and it already has tenants for all of the spaces. They were also able to cut the building’s carbon emissions in half.

Bamboo is growing in popularity as a cheap, sustainable building option that can replace hardwoods and other common construction materials.

Housing developers are following the Passive House standards to create affordable housing that’s incredibly energy efficient. These buildings are air-tight with efficient ventilation and strategically positioned windows, so they don’t need central heating and cooling systems.

The Massachusetts state government introduced a new building code, called the specialized stretch code, to set new construction up for decreased fossil fuel use. It’s an opt-in code, so municipalities vote on whether to adopt it, and many have.

The Denver-based Triple Bottom Line Foundation funds projects to retrofit low-income, multi-family properties that house underserved groups. The projects include energy-efficiency upgrades, solar power installations, and weatherization upgrades among others.

Instead of demolishing a campus building in need of many renovations Rockhurst University repurposed it. The focus on sustainability during the rebuild made it the most energy-efficient building on campus and prevented the release of the carbon embedded in its concrete.

A building material made of hemp fibers, water, and clay or lime is a sustainable alternative to other options like concrete. Dubbed hempcrete, the product has many benefits including a very low carbon footprint, active sequestration of carbon dioxide, and using a sustainable, fast-growing crop as its base.

A collaborative partnership among local and national organizations made it possible to install solar panels on 10 Greensboro homes for free. Because of this effort, many low-income families have seen a significant decrease in their energy bills and an increase in value of their homes. Although convincing people to install the panels was a challenge, organizers are now figuring out how to scale the initiative and make it sustainable in the longterm.

The Brock Commons Tallwood House in Canada was the tallest building made of wood when it opened in 2017. Now, thanks to government policies, scientific research, and hundreds of examples of proof-of-concept, more developers around the world are looking to construct buildings out of timber. Using timber is cheaper than cement, concrete, and steel and can actually store carbon emissions in its supports instead of releasing the greenhouse gas into the atmosphere.