Five Reasons Why Zero Energy Buildings are the Real Deal
March 31, 2015 By Heather Flint Chatto for newbuildings.org
Source: NBI (Link)
When New Buildings Institute published the first-ever list of verified zero energy buildings in 2012, an abstract concept turned real. These were documented examples of high-efficiency buildings coupled with onsite renewables that could produce enough energy to power themselves over the course of a year.
By NBI’s most recent count, the list of verified buildings has nearly doubled in just three years (http://newbuildings.org/sites/default/files/2015ZNEbuildingsList.pdf). Even more promising is the increase in emerging projects with zero energy intentions — from 39 in 2012 to 152 in 2015. While more than one-third of the verified projects hail from California, which arguably has the most aggressive zero energy policies in the country, verified or emerging buildings are currently located in 39 states across all eight climate zones.
…But despite the challenges, zero energy is the real deal. Here are five reasons why.
1) Designers and builders are proving feasibility with larger buildings and expanded types — including existing buildings. With a growing set of successful projects to serve as models, design and construction teams are quickly figuring out how to achieve zero energy performance while keeping costs in line with other green building projects. All agree that integrated design is fundamental to achieving the necessary energy performance and managing project costs. This process allows all stakeholders—owner, architect, engineer, building manager, etc. — to work together from the start ensuring that building form and function meet the needs of occupants as well as energy performance goals.
Analysis on verified buildings shows 16 different types including schools and college buildings, offices, retail, libraries, labs and healthcare facilities (http://newbuildings.org/sites/default/files/2014_Getting_to_Zero_Update.pdf). In addition, there is growth in the number of larger projects—more than 25% over 50,000 square feet and half of those over 100,000 square feet.
Most significant is the growth in existing building projects with about one-quarter of the verified buildings representing deep energy renovations. With this shift, zero energy performance has moved from a new-construction-only option to something that can be applied to the billions of square feet of existing building stock across the United States.
Source: NBI (Link)
2) The cost of solar power is dropping. The lion’s share of zero energy verified properties are using photovoltaic (PV) systems, also known as solar power, to generate onsite energy. However, expensive PVs have deterred some exemplary energy projects from taking the final step of adding renewables to achieve zero energy status. That cost equation is changing now as prices for rooftop PV systems have fallen in recent years–29 percent from 2010 to 2013, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists (www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/our-energy-choices/renewable-energy/solar-power-technologies-and-policies.html#.VRRUEPnF8b0).
Owners and communities are also starting to think creatively about how to supply buildings with the requisite renewable energy. Communities and campuses are adopting commitments to make districts or groups of buildings zero energy with centralized generation within a campus or neighborhood. The U.S. Army and several leading universities have major commitments to get their portfolios to zero energy. These increases in scale will only help reduce the cost of renewables further.
Read the rest of the reasons why and the complete article here.
