Published Jun 20, 2024 by Patrick Gilchrist

A 2023 study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters found that degraded permafrost will affect between 11% and 17% of buildings in the arctic by mid-century, exacerbated by human-caused climate change.

And a 2024 study in Global Environmental Change estimated that warming near-surface permafrost will lead to $205 to $572 billion dollars in added infrastructure maintenance costs across the northern hemisphere by 2085.

As that climate specter has threatened to wreak havoc on infrastructure, researchers at the National Renewable Energy Lab’s Alaska campus in Fairbanks have been working to design optimized adjustable foundations to help counter the permafrost-thaw problems.

A U.S. Department of Energy sponsored laboratory, Cooke said the lab’s Alaska campus aims to generate and test new ideas to help solve tangible energy and housing issues, especially in rural Alaska.