The Take

Energy analyst Chris Nelder reports from a foreign country deep in the throes of shale gas fever.

34 | May 15, 2013 3:00am | By Chris Nelder

A new generation of architecture students is marshalling their brains and muscle behind projects that make a real-world difference for the disadvantaged, disabled or displaced.

1 | May 8, 2013 3:00am | By C.C. Sullivan

How two mayors of small towns in right-wing America are showing the way to energy and climate progress: through local action.

29 | May 1, 2013 3:00am | By Chris Nelder

There are few black architects in the pipeline, and fewer still with a high national profile. C.C. Sullivan looks at the latest news, which suggests a growing role for African-American designers.

35 | April 24, 2013 1:45am | By C.C. Sullivan

Creating a renewably powered grid is easy compared to crafting a new regulatory framework that will make utility investors whole during the transition.

20 | April 17, 2013 3:00am | By Chris Nelder

Architects are struggling with design responses for gun issues, everything from walled cities and fortified materials to better interior visibility and memorials at the sites of tragedies.

58 | April 10, 2013 3:00am | By C.C. Sullivan

U.S. natural gas prices are rising, while wind and solar are growing rapidly. The global transition to mostly renewable grid power may now be unstoppable.

45 | April 3, 2013 3:00am | By Chris Nelder

The winners of this year's two most influential architecture prizes have built careers predicated on rejecting modernism, but only one can truly claim that title.

5 | March 27, 2013 3:00am | By C.C. Sullivan

The latest outlooks from BP and ExxonMobil project a rosy future for oil, while bottom-up forecasts see world oil production declining before 2020. Who you gonna believe?

63 | March 20, 2013 1:43am | By Chris Nelder

Museum architecture usually tends to be as conventional as the boards behind then, but at their best they allow for a global presentation of new and important talent.

1 | March 13, 2013 2:04am | By C.C. Sullivan

Carbon capture and storage has been touted as a way to let us keep burning fossil fuels while saving the climate. But will it ever pay off? Energy analyst Chris Nelder runs the numbers.

35 | March 6, 2013 1:50am | By Chris Nelder

Modular solutions can speed the construction process, but only when they contribute positively to the overall precision and elegance of an architectural design.

1 | February 27, 2013 3:00am | By C.C. Sullivan

America is faced with a strategic choice: pay more for oil or leave it behind.

48 | February 20, 2013 1:55am | By Chris Nelder

As more architects and builders embrace the benefits of building information modeling, the days of old-fashioned CAD and marked-up drawings are numbered.

6 | February 13, 2013 3:00am | By C.C. Sullivan

Nowhere is the challenge of the energy-water nexus so acute as in the Middle East. Here's what Abu Dhabi plans to do about it.

26 | February 6, 2013 3:00am | By Chris Nelder

Smarts, spare parts and power: SmartPlanet columnist C.C. Sullivan goes to America's biggest trade show for air-conditioning and sees a good year ahead.

2 | January 30, 2013 4:07am | By C.C. Sullivan

Two of the world's top oil and gas producers are transitioning to renewable energy. So why isn't the U.S.? Energy expert Chris Nelder reports from the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi.

30 | January 23, 2013 3:00am | By Chris Nelder

Architects have mastered the art of defensive building, says SmartPlanet columnist C.C. Sullivan. But can an emerging architecture restore our sense of humanity as well?

2 | January 16, 2013 4:14am | By C.C. Sullivan

Has collapse jumped the shark? Is peak oil dead? Is the zombie apocalypse just a weird popular fantasy, or is there more to it? Energy analyst Chris Nelder goes in search of answers.

67 | January 9, 2013 3:00am | By Chris Nelder

For SmartPlanet's The Take, columnist C.C. Sullivan finds new books (and exhibitions) that will shape the big architecture debates in 2013. Read these new books, if you read any.

4 | January 2, 2013 4:07am | By Chris Sullivan