In Nigeria, solar panels are the new wedding gift: >A home solar setup costs $4,500. A diesel generator is $1,200, but burns $180/month in fuel >The “cheap” diesel generator costs more than solar within 18 months, then it keeps on burning diesel and cash Wires chewing pipelines

The historic 19th-century facade of the former Chong Inc. building at 616 Race Street in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, being uncovered as workers remove a 1950s brick veneer... In the 1950s and ‘60s, downtowns across America were losing shoppers to the suburbs. New shopping centers and malls looked sleek and modern, while old Main Street buildings with carved stone and ornate windows suddenly looked dated. Many owners decided to cover them up instead of tearing them down. Plain brick, aluminum panels and metal screens were bolted right over the original fronts, a practice now often called “slipcovering.” It was cheap and fast, and it made old buildings look new. But it hid decades of craftsmanship behind blank walls. Attitudes started to change after New York’s original Penn Station was demolished in 1963, a loss that shocked the public. Three years later, Congress passed the National Historic Preservation Act, and in the 1970s, new tax incentives began rewarding owners for restoring historic buildings instead. Because the old facades were usually covered rather than destroyed, many survived underneath. As the panels come off today, cities are finding original windows, stonework and decorations that haven’t seen daylight in more than 60 years. Removing a slipcover often reveals the original building’s details in surprisingly good condition, because the cover protected them from weather and pollution for decades. #archaeohistories