Finland has become the first country to build a complete underground geological storage facility for its spent nuclear waste

The scars and pockmarks of the growing older flats and housing units beneath the purview of the New York City Housing Authority don’t instantly converse the plan of innovation. The greatest landlord in the city, housing almost 1 in 16 New Yorkers, NYCHA has seen its properties virtually crumble soon after a long time of deferred maintenance and very poor stewardship. All instructed, this forsaken backed housing is in the midst of what community planners have referred to as “demolition by neglect.” It would require an estimated $40 billion or extra, at minimum $180,000 for every device, to return the structures to a state of good mend.

Many years back, there was evidence of innovation hidden inside these units—in the kitchens. By the late ’90s, NYCHA realized that the present fridges in quite a few models were being massively inefficient, getting older, and costly to the company. It held a prosperous contest for appliance companies, asking them to generate smaller sized, extra economical apartment-dimensions units. The winner, Maytag, was awarded entry to NYCHA and other housing authorities, and bought 150,000 units of its novel Magic Chef model, between 1995 and 2003.

Now NYCHA wishes to do the exact with heating and cooling. The Cleanse Heat for All Problem is inquiring manufacturers to acquire minimal-cost, quick-to-install warmth-pump systems for setting up retrofits. The stakes for the company, the profitable organization, and for society by itself could be huge—and good for the planet. 

Just after all, it’s far far more sustainable to retrofit current buildings than to tear them down and construct new kinds. Read the full story.

—Patrick Sisson

The ought to-reads

I have combed the net to discover you today’s most exciting/crucial/frightening/intriguing stories about technologies.

1 Amazon desires Alexa to mimic the voices of your deceased liked ones
Yes, it seems like a leaked Black Mirror script. (CNBC)
+ How your life’s data suggests a version of you could reside for good. (MIT Technology Critique)

2 Finland is sealing its expended nuclear fuel deep underground
It’s the initially nation to build a complete deep geological storage facility. (Economist $)
+ Zap Electricity, a fusion startup, promises to have injected plasma into a reactor core. (NYT $)
+ Can the US’s photo voltaic panel market bounce back? (Slate $)

3 Economic downturn? What economic downturn?
The overall economy is slowing, but if we do suggestion into recession, it could not be as bruising as beforehand thought. (New Yorker $)
+ Defining a recession is not now simple, but we’ll know once it’s here. (Bloomberg $)

4 Income is dying
But although much less folks use it, it is still a lifeline for vulnerable folks. (NY Mag)
+ An elegy for funds: the engineering we may well under no circumstances change. (MIT Engineering Evaluate)
+ In praise of the dollar invoice. (MIT Engineering Review)

5 How a team committed to canceling missionaries acquired canceled
No White Saviors has been accused of similar misdeeds to the support workers it focused. (Enter)
+ How the AI field profits from disaster. (MIT Know-how Review)

6 Mark Zuckerberg must not be permitted to rule the metaverse
And his latest monopolies ought to be study as warning signals. (Time $)
+ Meta is no extended sponsoring the US’s anniversary commemorations. (WSJ $)
+ Facebook’s Oversight Board is pushing for increased transparency. (WP $)

7 Alibaba has established its sights on south Asia
Acquiring conquered China, it’s wanting to broaden into pastures new. (FT $)

8 How Bored Apes eclipsed its crypto origins
And turned a cultural movement in the course of action. (The Block)
+ Crypto video game Axie Infinity could advantage from the Apes’ fantastic fortune. (Rest of Earth)
+ At least GPU selling prices are dropping, at last. (Motherboard)

9 These tiny, robotic fish eliminate microplastics from the ocean
But we would will need a Lot of them to make a difference. (The Guardian)

10 Disassociation tunes reflects the bleak point out of our globe correct now
Admirers are reveling in detaching by themselves from reality. (Pitchfork)