The article features an interesting story about a credit union in Florida that wasn't content to simply be "green." Instead the credit union took it to the next level and built Florida's first net-zero-energy building. Worth a read.
Although it is still loosely defined, net-zero usually means a building that produces as much energy as is consumed. The Department of Energy's website lists eight net-zero-energy commercial buildings up and running in the country. Most are small and in mild-weather environments. But the DOE number could be misleading because it relies on owners to voluntarily submit their building's information. At the New Buildings Institute, Technical Director Mark Frankel estimates the real number could be closer to 25, with about 50 more in construction.
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In theory, at least, there is a big pot of money that entrepreneurs with net-zero ambitions can draw from. Each year, more than $600 billion is spent on new construction and renovation of commercial buildings, according to the Commercial Buildings Consortium (CBC). But adding the technology to commercial buildings -- which use 40 percent of the country's energy and make up 40 percent of its greenhouse gas emissions -- is a challenge.
Last month, President Obama announced the Better Buildings Initiative, which sets a target to improve commercial buildings energy efficiency by 20 percent over the next decade.
Depending on how they're defined, net-zero-energy buildings may take what Obama envisions one step further. Usually, net-zero refers to buildings that don't use any more energy than they produce. Once the buildings are running, they must meet the energy rules set before construction to stay true to the net-zero claim.
Two reports released last month by the CBC detail ways for new buildings to achieve net-zero-energy status.
The CBC, an umbrella organization that includes more than 430 organizations representing commercial building interests, says no formal definition exists for net-zero. Both reports lay out a "directional goal" to get there. One focuses on technology barriers, while the other looks into market barriers like building codes and standards.
Jeffrey Harris, senior vice president for programs at the Alliance to Save Energy, says that the magnitude people are talking about for net-zero is an 80 percent reduction of energy consumption from today's levels.
A net-zero building should be relatively thin, H-shaped, with courtyards, high ceilings and access to natural light, said Harris, who worked on the reports.
Their small, one-story size gives net-zero buildings plenty of daylight. Mild-weather environments allow them to ease use of air conditioning and heat. It's also hard to put them in urban environments because shading from nearby buildings will affect natural lighting.
One unintended consequence of building many of these with the available technology could lead to a groups of small, low-level buildings spread out in a sprawl. The CBC doesn't want this to happen.
A way to avoid this would be to be flexible about standards. A new 30-story building may need 10 times as much energy as a three-story building, Harris said, but it could still produce as much energy on a square-foot basis. That 30-story building may not be self-sufficient, but it would still save energy.
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