IN BROOKLYN, WHERE I LIVE, so-called prewar apartment buildings have a considerable cachet. (The “war” is World War II.) They have a reputation for being sturdily built, thoughtfully designed, and filled with charming idiosyncrasies. I live in a large building that dates from 1929, and it features crenellations across the roofline, a turret with a conical roof, and fake arrow slits facing Prospect Park. Yup—my home is, in fact, my castle.
It also features a large boiler in the basement for providing hot water and steam heat, and the co-op board (which I served on until recently) felt pretty proud of ourselves about 12 years ago when we converted the boiler to run on natural gas in addition to oil. Gas is cleaner than fuel oil and has been dirt cheap for most of the recent past, so we had the dual pleasures of doing well as we were doing good.
But we could be doing better. In this issue, engineer Addison Stark writes about ways to zero out carbon emissions from boilers such as ours through the development of an industrial boiler that makes steam via a heat pump rather than burning fuel. Stark writes that the industrial boiler is a technology that not only is an essential facility in many industrial, commercial, and residential buildings, but was also part of the origin story of ASME. (Boiler safety pioneer George Babcock was the 6th President of ASME.) Electrifying boilers is carrying on the mission of the organization, Stark says.
“Replacing fossil-fueled boilers with a productized air-sourced steam heat pump offers a pathway not just to decarbonization, but to modernization,” Stark wrote in his article, “Full Steam Ahead.” “These innovations can revitalize American manufacturing, strengthen energy security, and catalyze export-driven growth.”
Elsewhere in the issue, Kayt Sukel talks with the engineers working to better understand what happens when jet engines encounter hobbyist drones. For now, it’s a bit like the short film, Bambi Meets Godzilla, but the concern is that larger drones could have the same disastrous effects on jet engines that large birds such as geese have.
(One bonus in Sukel’s feature: So many engineers she talked to referenced the Discovery Channel program Mythbusters that she decided to interview Jamie Hyneman himself.)
We are also proud to present articles on 3D-printed delta robots, an advance in thermovoltaics and a look at why so many engineers love LEGOs, plus our Big Quiz on amusement park engineering, just in time for county fair season. The ASME Video Production team also produced a profile of Stephanie Viola, who heads up ASME’s philanthropy team.
And not to be a noodge (as they say in some parts of Brooklyn), but I would love to see your recommendations for Watch List 2026. Follow this link to nominate an early career engineer you think is worth spotlighting.
—Jeffrey Winters, editor in chief
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