News

An affordable, net-zero energy home designed by CU Boulder students and featuring a unique hydrogen energy system was honored Sunday as part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s 2023 Solar Decathlon Build Challenge. The team took first place in the durability and resilience category and third place in engineering. The team was also recognized in the advanced technology category.

Assistant Professor Kyri Baker is a member of ‘Decarb Bros,’ a loose affiliation of mostly young researchers, climate tech workers and policymakers who believe the best way to combat climate change is to ditch the gloom of earlier environmentalism and focus on what new technology can do.

Ben Ma, a postdoctoral researcher in environmental engineering, was the first author on a paper that confirmed the safety of a new portable, handheld disinfecting device. The device emits a wavelength of ultraviolet light that is safe for disinfecting public spaces.

Streamflow is increasing in Alaskan rivers during both spring and fall seasons, primarily due to increasing air temperatures over the past 60 years, according to new CU Boulder-led research. Dylan Blaskey, a doctoral student in civil engineering, is the lead author on the study.

Professor Evan Thomas discussed CU Boulder’s work to bring climate finance solutions to water quality challenges in the American West and East Africa at TedXCU on April 7 in Macky Auditorium.

In this Washington Post article, Assistant Professor Kyri Baker says appliances with batteries will be a "game changer," able to stash energy at home for when it's needed while building the grid’s capacity to absorb clean, excess energy.

Professor Gregor Henze, who has spent the last 15 years focusing on sustainable building design, sees the general types of projects as "doable" but not without some challenges, primarily when it comes to retrofitting the buildings for heating and cooling.

As part of their capstone project, seniors in CU Boulder's civil engineering program are contributing to the design of the expansion of Denver Water’s Gross Reservoir Expansion Project, which involves raising the height of Gross Dam by 131 feet. The renovated dam will nearly triple the reservoir’s water storage capacity and create a more reliable water system for 1.5 million people in the Denver metro area.

Mark Hernandez, S. J. Archuleta Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and senior author of recent research published in PNAS-Nexus, found that airborne particles carrying a mammalian coronavirus closely related to the virus which causes COVID-19 remain infectious for twice as long in drier air.

In this talk, Associate Professor Mija Hubler (Civil, Environmental & Architectural Engineering; Materials Science and Engineering) discusses how construction materials have been understood historically and how her research is helping reimagine materials and processes with sustainability in mind.