energy

Houston ranks as the sixth-worst U.S. city for traffic congestion in the Texas A&M Transportation Institute’s 2012 Urban Mobility Report, which includes a comprehensive database of traffic congestion, its effects on air quality and its costs to drivers in all 101 U.S. urban areas with populations above 500,000.

Adrian Smith, designer of the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, and a champion of sustainable design, will receive an honorary doctor of letters degree from Texas A&M at spring commencement.

Students developed a software tool that can determine a building’s potential energy use from its design, as well as its rainwater harvesting potential and other characteristics as part of a fall 2012 graduate architecture class.

Last spring, Texas A&M graduate architecture students assisted sustainability specialists at Lake|Flato Architects with evaluating designs for a visitors’ center at Hardberger Park, a new 311-acre natural area in north San Antonio, for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification.

An energy-saving thermostat and high-tech clothing tags that take the guesswork out of washer and dryer settings were among the award-winning ideas hatched by College of Architecture students in a contest sponsored by the Mays Business School’s Center for New Ventures and Entrepreneurship.

A solar-powered beach umbrella capable of powering portable electronic devices, built by a team of Texas A&M Design Process students, earned third place in the nationwide Innovative Design Competition sponsored by Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc.

An award-winning solar light device developed at the Texas A&M Department of Architecture that can significantly reduce electric bills by delivering a bounty of natural sunlight deep into the interior of a building, will soon enter a new phase of development at the College of Architecture’s Digital Fabrication Facility.

Charles Culp, professor of architecture at Texas A&M, will help chart the course the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers as a new member of its board of directors and chairman of the group's Technical Activities Committee.

The use of durable construction materials in maintenance and renovation projects can lower a building’s carbon footprint while lengthening its service life, said Manish Dixit, an architecture Ph.D. student at Texas A&M.