’The better we understand energy flows at the scale of an apartment, the more wisely we can imagine them in service of a livable metropolis or planet.’ Really enjoyed this @mireio.bsky.social

Places Journal@placesjournal.bsky.social · 2mo ago

"Energy cannot be decoupled from capital, nor from its inevitable dissipation as heat. The further I displace this expenditure, the more I can ignore it or pretend it can be offset. I can try to make my thermal waste someone else’s problem, as if we were not all bound together." —Mireille Roddier

Soon! www.aalto.fi/en/events/pu...

Public defence, Architecture, landscape and urbanism, MSc Frans Saraste | Aalto University

How Heat Got Out of Hand – The Architecture of Thermocultures, Helsinki Case Studies 1870s-1970s

aalto.fi

🗣️📖 looking forward.

Almost half of Europe's electricity, 47.3%, came from #renewables last year. #Denmark leads the way with over 90% of its electricity, while at the other end Malta, Czechia and Slovakia recorded the lowest shares. Every watt of #renewableenergy is shielding us from future price shocks #ActOnClimate

Electricity + efficieny + technology that makes the resource being consumed less abstract.

Jan Rosenow@janrosenow.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Europe's electricity: 29% fossil fuels in 2024, down from 53% in 2005. Progress. But transport is still 92% fossil. Buildings: 71%. Industry: 61%. And 95% of EU oil and 88% of gas imported. Switching suppliers doesn't fix this. Electrification and efficiency do. More here: rdcu.be/feOjc

The same thermocultural process (from fuel extraction to exhaust) played out differently across three Helsinki apartment buildings between 1870s and 1970s. Each left its own architectural deposits.

As a thermoculture (Starosielski) describe our relationship to heat, its architecture describes how that relationship is spatially and materially built — from fuel extraction to exhaust.

An ad for an AEG ’sunlight radiator’ from the 1930s, a mesmerizing image.

🚨🚨Breaking news: #EUenergy commissioner Dan Jorgensen has urged people to work from home, drive and fly less, and for EU countries to urgently roll out renewables, as it warned of a prolonged energy crisis as a result of the conflict in the #Gulf. 🧵 www.politico.eu/article/euro...

Top Brussels official urges Europeans to work from home and drive less

Energy commissioner says the oil crisis triggered by Iran war will bring lengthy upheaval, in a speech reminiscent of the Covid pandemic.

politico.eu

#Scotland runs temporarily fully on #windpower, generating over 200% of its electricity demand, a remarkable milestone offering a real glimpse into a future where fossil fuels may no longer be essential. #Renewables cheaper then #oilandgas offering independence from stock exchanges and #DoanldTrump

Birch had the lowest value as building timber as it wasn’t very weatherproof. But in mixed forests, felling fast-growing birch was part of maintenance, making space for pine and spruce. At the same time, birch was the best firewood. So birchfuel supported long-term investment in growing timber.

Somewhere the forests are buried. 19C Coal extraction and Baltic timber trade were quite a match industrialism but led to deforestation in Southern Finland. Pit props needed to support coal mine galleries created a market for wood otherwise considered too young to chop.

Hello, sun.

This dropped in the mailbox! Thanks MAJA for a beautiful issue and also for including an essay by me. Air, the theme of the issue is expanded on in many intriguing ways throughout it, including by my pal Ella Prokkola. Get a copy if you have the chance :)