Author: Peggy Smedley

From airplanes to mail carriers to buses, EVs (electric vehicles) are coming to all aspects of our cities. Today let’s narrow in on one specific area and take a closer look at the benefits of clean school buses in our towns. Some of the advantages of clean electric school buses include quiet and clean operation; reduced GHG (greenhouse gas emissions) when compared to diesel school buses; and zero tailpipe pollution—which is key when students, drivers, and members of the community are exposed to harmful diesel emissions. Other potential benefits include reduced maintenance costs including less brake wear due to regenerative…

Buildings represent almost 40% of all global greenhouse gas emissions, and if you add in other activities that can be associated with buildings, such as transportation, that number rises even further. This is bad news for the climate. Digging in a bit deeper, the Global Alliance of Buildings and Construction released the 2021 Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction near the end of last year and found that while emissions from building operations fell in 2020, due primarily due the COVID-19 shutdowns, if we want to achieve the Paris Agreement, the global buildings and construction sector must almost completely…

Think global and act local. That’s a motto you have heard me say on my radio show and have read in my column many times before. But what you may not know, it originated with Patrick Geddes, a Scottish urban planner in the early 20th century. Thinking globally means to take the more than 7 billion people who live on the planet Earth into consideration. And, thus, acting locally means we all need to become more active participants in what is being done. Simply, we need global action to be guided by local demands. Too often, businesses and individuals focus…

Here at Constructech, we have long talked about how market trends sometimes dictate technology trends. Construction is cyclical in nature—and I have covered many ups and downs. When the economy tightens, it is a good opportunity for construction professionals to either implement new technology or to leverage old technology in new ways to create greater efficiencies to better prepare for the downturn. It seems this is exactly where we are once again in the residential construction industry today. I wrote about this a few weeks back when new data came out about the heavy civil construction market. The big takeaway…

The metaverse is coming for many verticals—and in some cases it is already here. Today in this column I want to look specifically at one example: mobility, which is projected to grow from $1.9 billion in 2022 to $16.5 billion by 2030, representing a growth rate of 31.4%. This is according to a new report by MarketsandMarkets, which suggests there is a growing inclination of automotive OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) to leverage technologies like digital twin factories and virtual showrooms in the metaverse space. The tech companies are delivering too. I recently had an opportunity to discuss this very topic…

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, I have been covering the worker shortage in the construction industry, sharing some strategies for how to address it. For years, labor shortages have undermined the construction industry’s ability to keep up with demand. Throughout the pandemic, we have been talking about the uptick in workers changing jobs and moving industries. Some call it the Great Resignation. But I like to call it the Great Job Hop. Workforce Trends New research from WalletHub suggests millions of Americans are quitting their jobs each month, even in the face of high inflation. The incentives available from changing…

EVs (electric vehicles) are growing in popularity. Sales of electric cars hit 6.6 million in 2021, more than tripling their marketshare from two years earlier, according to IEA. Truth be told, while growth has been impressive during the past three years, overall adoption is still low. In fact, there are just a few states leading the nation with EV adoption. Looking at sales share for Q1 2022, there were a handful of states leading adoption—mostly in the West. Some of these states include California, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, and Colorado, just to name a few. As I explored this further, I…

I have been writing about circularity and the need to move from linear processes to a circular economy for years, but it is always exciting to see it in action. Consider one of the recent examples in the manufacturing space: the disassembly plant. To be clear, a disassembly plant isn’t necessarily new. Recycling plants have been around for a century, with the purpose of reprocessing used or abandoned materials. In fact, the first one opened back in 1904 in my hometown of Chicago, Ill. While that is technically when it started, modern recycling as we know it was truly catapulted…

Homeowners can track their actual energy usage. Knowing when, how, and where energy is being consumed can help identify what the largest energy use is, and homeowners can then act with that data in hand. Some call this energy baselining, which is a home’s energy baseline for the current amount of energy that is being used. That baseline can then be adjusted, as needed, helping conserve energy in the home. But how exactly do we master and track energy efficiency? I scoured the resources at the U.S. Dept. of Energy, the U.S. EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), and ENERGY STAR to…

The conversation that has been ongoing for decades on the software side of the construction industry—point solutions versus platform—is the same one that is happening with the connected home. Alongside that discussion is the one of interoperability, and there is much to cover in the home today. Let’s back up for a minute and talk about the smart home in general. Homes are no longer just made of bricks, stone, wood, insulation, plaster, and other construction materials. They are connected intelligently by technologies that provides heightened security, convenience, and comfort for the homebuyer. Homeowners have come to expect this kind…