UGREEN Mentorship

Sustainable Architecture Mentorship 2.0

Sustainability is no longer just a differentiator — it has become the foundation for creating spaces that generate positive impact, regenerate ecosystems, and strengthen communities.

The Middle East is already designing entire cities with this vision: urban plans like NEOM and Masdar City prove that resilience, biophilia, and autonomy are not distant ideas, but realities under construction.

Now you can learn these concepts and bring this way of thinking into your own projects through the Sustainable Architecture Mentorship 2.0: 4 live sessions, each lasting 2 hours, blending theory, practice, and peer-to-peer exchange for professionals who believe in a new way of designing.

Dates: October 7, 14, 21, and 28

What we’ll explore!

• New Paradigms of Sustainable Architecture: from damage reduction to positive impact.

• Nature as an Ally: biophilia, biomimicry, and design innovation.

• Architecture with Social Impact: co-creation and living communities.

• The Architecture of the Future: resilience, autonomy, and continuous regeneration.

At the end, you and other participants will collectively create the Manifesto of Sustainable Architecture 2.0, gathering the main insights and guidelines for the future of the profession.

Seats are limited. Click the link and secure your spot now to be part of this transformative journey.

News

Sponge Cities: A Simple Idea That Could Save Urban Areas

Have you noticed how many cities treat rainwater as an enemy? We channel it, divert it, pump it away. But what does that achieve? Even more severe floods. Drought in the periods that follow. An urban system collapsing under the pressure of climate change.

Now, a new model is gaining ground worldwide: the sponge city.

What Is a Sponge City?

A sponge city doesn’t try to push water away. It embraces it. It uses the urban landscape itself — streets, rooftops, parks — to absorb, filter, and store rainwater.

That means:

• Fewer floods and damages.

• Recharging groundwater reserves.

• More green spaces and improved quality of life.

• Infrastructure that works with the climate, not against it.

From Beijing to Copenhagen, From Curitiba to Seattle

The concept first emerged in China after a devastating flood in Beijing. Today, cities like Wuhan, Copenhagen, and Seattle show that green infrastructure — such as rain gardens, green roofs, and floodable parks — works better, costs less in the long run, and delivers multiple benefits.

Interestingly, many of these solutions once existed in traditional communities worldwide. What is changing now is the scale — and the urgency.

And Why Does This Matter to All of Us?

Because no one is immune to the climate crisis.

Whether you are an architect, engineer, urban planner, student, or everyday citizen, the question is the same: Does your city absorb water or repel it?

We are at a turning point. We can keep paving everything over and waiting for the disaster.

Or we can learn from nature and transform our cities into living, resilient, and adaptable systems.

Opinion

The New Invisible Construction: Who’s Calculating the Internet’s Carbon Footprint?

While construction professionals pursue green certifications, cut down on cement use, and choose lower-impact materials, an invisible infrastructure is growing unchecked — and consuming as much energy as an entire city.

We’re talking about the internet we use every day: data centers, artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud computing … all of it carries a very real, often overlooked environmental cost.

The Illusion of Digital Lightness

The dominant narrative links digitalization to sustainability: less paper, less transport, less commuting. But this narrative ignores the fact that the energy once consumed by offices and printers is now being drained by data centers, networks, and servers.

The problem is that much of this energy still comes from fossil fuels, and consumption is rising exponentially. What’s more, the production chain of electronic devices — from smartphones to routers — is resource-intensive and generates massive amounts of e-waste. In practice, we’re outsourcing environmental impact to another sector — while pretending it doesn’t exist.

Data Centers: The New Energy Superconsumers

As digital grows, data centers have become true “energy nations”. In 2022, they consumed 415 TWh (terawatt-hours) — equivalent to all the electricity used in France. And the projections are alarming:

• By 2026: up to 1,050 TWh, nearly Japan’s entire consumption.

• By 2030: 21% of global electricity could be consumed just to keep the internet running.

Case Study: Ireland

Ireland has become a global hub for data centers. But success brought a dilemma: in 2023, they consumed 21% of the country’s electricity. The result? The government imposed a moratorium on new projects in Dublin until 2028 to protect grid stability.

The main culprit? Cooling. Keeping servers refrigerated accounts for 25% to 40% of data center’s total consumption. In other words, the internet runs on a lot of air conditioning.

AI and Blockchain: Innovation with an Energy Appetite 

Artificial Intelligence is reshaping entire industries — including construction. But its environmental impact is massive.

Training the GPT-3 model, for example, consumed as much energy as 1,450 U.S. households in one month. And a single ChatGPT query uses about 0.3 Wh — ten times more than a Google search.

Blockchain, especially under the Proof-of-Work model (used by Bitcoin), has an even more alarming footprint. Each transaction can emit CO₂ equivalent to a 2,600 km car trip.

The good news? More efficient technologies are emerging. Ethereum, for instance, cut its consumption by 99% by switching to Proof-of-Stake. The path forward exists — but it requires both decisions and regulations.

The Hidden Weight of Hardware and E-Waste

All this digital infrastructure relies on physical devices — and hardware production is a dirty, extractive process.

• Rare minerals, large-scale extraction, toxic byproducts, and high water consumption.

• Only 20% of global e-waste is properly recycled.

Planned obsolescence and fragmented standards (like different charges for each brand) make things worse. A simple yet effective measure came from the European Union: mandating USB-C for all devices starting in 2024. A clear example of how pubic policy can curb waste.

What’s Already Being Done — and What’s Missing

Some tech giants are taking action:

• Google aims to operate on 100% carbon-free energy 24/7 by 2030.

• AWS targets becoming “water positive” and already has data centers with a PUE (energy efficiency) of 1.04.

• Long-term clean energy contracts (PPAs) are becoming standard in the sector. 

But action by big tech alone is not enough. The entire market — including construction — must understand that digital sustainability is also its responsibility.

Final Reflection:

The internet, AI, and the cloud are here to stay. But we must rethink their infrastructure, consumption, and disposal with the same rigor we apply to green buildings or smart cities.

The future is digital. But it will only be sustainable if it is also responsible!