Last summer, an abandoned factory in southwest Memphis got a new life courtesy of the world’s richest man. Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI moved in to transform this unprepossessing building into the “world’s largest supercomputer.”
Musk named it Colossus and said it was the “most powerful AI training system in the world.” It was sold locally as a source of jobs, tax dollars and a key addition to the “Digital Delta” — the move to make Memphis a hotspot for advanced technology.
“This is just the beginning,” xAI said on its website; the company already has plans for a second facility in the city.
But for some residents in nearby Boxtown, a majority Black, economically-disadvantaged community that has long endured industrial pollution, xAI’s facility represents yet another threat to their health.
AI is immensely power-hungry, and Musk’s company installed dozens of gas-powered turbines, known to produce a cocktail of toxic pollutants. The company currently has no air permits, appearing to rely on a loophole for temporary turbines — but environmental groups say the exemption does not apply, and residents are angry.
Read more at the link in our bio.
📸: Courtesy Steve Jones Flight by Southwings for the Southern Environmental Law Center; Courtesy Southern Environmental Law Center; CNN
Dorset Council’s commitment to accelerate its net-zero strategy represents a decisive step in advancing sustainable construction across the UK. By targeting early carbon neutrality through expanded green building initiatives and infrastructure upgrades, the council strengthens the foundation for net zero carbon buildings and low carbon design. These actions align with whole life carbon goals, integrating life cycle thinking in construction to ensure every stage of the built environment—from design to end of life—actively reduces emissions. The council’s move also underscores the growing demand for sustainable building design that delivers measurable outcomes in decarbonising the built environment.
Global innovation continues to reshape how the industry approaches embodied carbon and low embodied carbon materials. The recent breakthrough by Carbon Clean in India, converting captured CO₂ into methanol, has direct implications for low carbon construction materials. This technology signals the potential for integrating carbon capture into circular economy in construction, where emissions from industrial sources are repurposed into renewable building materials. Such developments reflect a broader shift toward circular construction strategies and resource efficiency in construction, reducing the carbon footprint of construction through closed-loop material cycles.
In China, researchers developing a photosynthesis-inspired process for ethylene production are tackling one of construction’s most challenging environmental barriers: the embodied carbon in materials used for plastics and composites. If commercial scalability is achieved, this innovation could transform eco-design for buildings by embedding sustainability into chemical manufacturing. Embedding environmental product declarations (EPDs) in procurement practices enables more accurate whole life carbon assessment and reinforces the move toward net zero whole life carbon outcomes. These advances enhance transparency and standardisation in sustainable material specification while promoting eco-friendly construction across global supply chains.
The corporate landscape mirrors these technological shifts. According to KPMG, confidence among business leaders in achieving net zero carbon targets by 2030 continues to grow, supported by AI-driven tools for energy modelling, building lifecycle performance analysis, and emissions optimisation. Companies increasingly employ BREEAM and BREEAM v7 frameworks to quantify their environmental sustainability in construction, ensuring sustainable building practices reflect measurable improvements in life cycle cost efficiency. This data-led approach supports predictive maintenance and enhances energy-efficient buildings by integrating digital simulation with sustainability benchmarks.
A rising number of carbon capture and storage projects is reinforcing the sector’s net-zero ecosystem. Infrastructure built for CCS pipelines and storage hubs serves as a model for green construction, shaping future standards for low carbon building projects and carbon neutral construction. The expansion of these projects highlights the correlation between green infrastructure, sustainable urban development, and sustainable architecture. From green building materials to end-of-life reuse in construction, the sector is moving steadily toward operational models that minimise the environmental impact of construction, foster carbon footprint reduction, and deliver resilient, low-impact construction solutions that define the next generation of sustainability in construction worldwide.
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