According to the latest government projections, the United States is poised to produce more electricity from renewable energy than from coal for the first time on record, thanks, in part, to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite efforts by the Trump administration to renew coal usage over the past three years, demand has plummeted as factories, retailers, restaurants and office buildings have shut down in the wake of state-wide stay-at-home orders. The Energy Information Administration predicts that the nation's overall coal consumption will fall by almost 25% this year. "Because coal plants often cost more to operate than gas plants or renewables, many utilities are cutting back on coal power first in response," writes Brad Plumer in the New York Times. "Coal plants are expected to provide just 19 percent of the nation’s electricity, dropping for the first time below both nuclear power and renewable power, a category that includes wind, solar, hydroelectric dams, geothermal and biomass." [New York Times]
The team behind the Russia pavilion designed for the 2020 Venice Architecture Biennale has decided to move its plans online. The group renamed its pavilion from Open! to Open? to reflect the non-physical nature of the new designs. [Russian Pavilion]
Inspired by the regeneration of lizard tails and starfish limbs, researchers from the Islam Research Group, the Morphing Matter Lab at Carnegie Mellon University, and the Kawahara Lab at the University of Tokyo have developed a self-healing soft-bodied interface that can "reconfigure and fuse without external stimuli or glue," according to the group. Made of a self-healing polymer and a filler material of multi-walled carbon nanotubes, the material can be used to make devices with self-healing, sensing, and actuation capabilities. [Morphing Matter Lab]
ARCHITECT's spring 2020 product call highlights 20 products that showcase material innovations, timeless forms, and sleek design. [ARCHITECT]
BIM software giant Autodesk announced that all Autodesk University conferences will be transitioned to digital experiences for 2020 in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. "I’m excited by the prospect of creating our first digital AU event and building on the experience our AU website provides," said chief marketing officer Lisa Campbell to attendees in an email. "The reimagined format presents a great opportunity for us to be innovative and stretch our capabilities to support and empower our customers in new ways—not just in the context of our AU conferences but throughout the year." [Autodesk]
Austin, Texas–based construction technology company ICON 3D printed a series of 400-square-foot houses for local homeless residents. [ARCHITECT]
