EARTH
Zürichsee at 405.28 m: The Dry Summer, and the Cold Layer Buildings Run On
Eawag's Bouffard report: 12 of 26 Swiss lakes at record lows, surfaces +3 °C. Why Swiss lake-water networks must be designed for the hot year.
Subsidy, not tax: what the 2023 climate vote changed in Swiss boiler rooms
Three years after the 2023 vote: heat pumps rose from 17% to 25% of Swiss buildings, and year one of the Impulsprogramm used about 90% of its funds.
Rock That Microbes Build: ETH's Karen Antorveza Paez Grows Facade Elements Without a Kiln
ETH's Karen Antorveza Paez grows sand into a 30×20×20 cm facade element with bacteria at room temperature. Here are the MPa figures, the ammonium cost and a Hack.
Birr's 250 MW of winter insurance, re-read in 2026 against doubled Swiss solar
In 2022 Switzerland bought 250 MW of gas turbines in Birr as winter insurance. Now they go, PV has doubled to 9.5 GW, and winter stays the open question.
Green Hydrogen Electrolysis: Choose the Load Profile and You Have Already Chosen the Site
How alkaline, PEM and SOEC electrolysers work, why load range decides the site, and what a Swiss office should ask before drawing a hydrogen hall.
1,547 m down, about 65 °C: Basel votes 89–1 to grow Riehen's heat network
Basel's Grosser Rat lends CHF 7.6 million to grow Riehen's 1994 geothermal heat network by 5.5 km and 620 connections. What it means for your heating design.
The Alpine water tower's 2026 statement: 5.5 % of Swiss ice, 2.2 km³ downhill
SCNAT and GLAMOS report 5.5 % Swiss glacier loss in 2026, second only to 2022. What 2.2 km³ of meltwater means for hydropower and Alpine design data.
Reading the Planet's Heat Ledger: ETH's Gergana Gyuleva Re-weighs the Climate Models
ETH Zurich's Gergana Gyuleva used satellite energy-imbalance data to re-weigh climate models: 3.25 °C by 2100. What it means for Swiss design weather files.
One Local Quarry: How ETH Zurich Read Ten Isotopes to Find Earth's Recipe
ETH Zurich's Sossi and Bower re-read ten isotope systems in open data: Earth formed from inner Solar System material, under 2 percent from beyond Jupiter.
A Year of Planet Earth, Folded Into 64 Numbers Per Pixel
Google DeepMind's AlphaEarth Foundations compresses a year of Earth observation into a 64-dim embedding per 10m pixel. What it changes for AEC site work.
