California’s mountain towns and ski resorts are digging out after a blockbuster blizzard buried them and major roads under several feet of snow.
The storm slammed California’s mountains for multiple days before wrapping up Monday. The most extreme conditions targeted the highest elevations of the Sierra Nevada, where over 10 feet of snow and hurricane-force wind gusts of 170 mph-plus were reported.
Additional snow will fall across high elevations of Northern California and the Pacific Northwest into Wednesday, as a new storm pushes into the region but amounts are expected to be well short of the weekend’s monster storm.
But, the weather system led to a positive development — the state’s snowpack, a critical source of water for California in the warmer months.
Statewide snow water equivalent — a measure of how much water is contained within snow — has risen above average for the first time this winter, overcoming a significant deficit from earlier in the season, according to data from the California Department of Water Resources.
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📸: Brooke Hess-Homeier/AP; Mario Tama/Getty Images
Progress towards sustainable construction is uneven yet gathering momentum. The UK government has launched Great British Energy, aimed at publicly owned clean energy generation. While not construction-specific, its success by 2030 could transform the carbon footprint of construction by providing a cleaner grid. A stable low-carbon energy supply underpins sustainable building design and supports net zero whole life carbon ambitions across the built environment.
In the United States, financial close on Massachusetts’ largest battery energy storage project promises better grid stability for low carbon design. Enhanced storage capacity creates more reliable access to renewable electricity, improving whole life carbon assessment outcomes for housing and commercial development. This shift towards energy-efficient buildings demonstrates how infrastructure investment feeds directly into sustainable architecture and sustainable building practices worldwide.
Macquarie’s US$350 million investment in solar and storage via Nexamp reinforces the integration of renewable building materials and decentralised clean energy into urban development. Sourcing electricity from localised systems allows eco-design for buildings to achieve measurable carbon footprint reduction. For large-scale projects, life cycle cost thinking in construction is increasingly impossible without accounting for such infrastructure, linked directly to lifecycle assessment and future BREEAM v7 updates.
Hydrostor has attracted major funding for compressed air energy storage, providing long-duration capacity essential for decarbonising the built environment. This kind of resilience directly supports sustainable construction by ensuring clean energy availability through both build and operational phases. It also complements whole life carbon strategies, reducing reliance on fossil fuels while supporting environmental sustainability in construction and measurable building lifecycle performance.
On resilience, Flood Risk America has developed an automatic flood gate that eliminates the need for manual intervention. This technology represents circular construction strategies in disaster adaptation, ensuring eco-friendly construction can withstand climate extremes. As urban areas pursue sustainable urban development, such measures demonstrate how resource efficiency in construction can align with climate resilience.
Warnings from the Environmental Services Association highlight the hidden risks in electrification. Battery disposal fires, costing billions annually, underline the environmental impact of construction supply chains beyond embodied carbon in materials and end-of-life reuse in construction. Safe disposal and sustainable material specification are critical to maintaining environmental product declarations (EPDs) credibility, reinforcing the broader shift toward circular economy in construction.
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