Category: Zero Energy
Net Zero Buildings Week Spotlights Heroes, Resources
Post / July 14, 2022
During the second Net Zero Buildings Week , June 13-17, over 250 partners (see list below) shared stories, building project examples, and resources about net zero energy and carbon neutral buildings on social media. This year’s theme “Net Zero Heroes” worked...
Schools collaborate on the roadmap to zero carbon
Post / October 6, 2021
As we witness the consequences of rapid, widespread and intensifying climate change, our students face the prospect of worsening impacts in the world they will inherit. Students are demanding a more hopeful and sustainable future and are also asking for...
Jurisdictions Prepare for a Wave of Embodied Carbon Policies
Post / June 17, 2021
Third-party rating systems like LEED have put pressure on building product manufacturers to disclose details about the environmental impacts of their products. In just the past 16 months alone, the environmental product declarations (EPDs) for concrete within the Embodied Carbon...
Checking in on State Energy Code Progress Toward Zero Energy
Post / April 14, 2021
ACEEE’s 2020 State Energy Efficiency Scorecard was released in December with California reclaiming the number one spot from Massachusetts. This is based on five categories including utility and public benefits, transportation, building energy efficiency, state initiatives, and appliance standards, according...
Denver Shows Leadership With Net Zero Energy Plan
Post / March 5, 2021
The City and County of Denver recently released a comprehensive plan to achieve net zero energy (NZE) in new buildings and homes by 2030, one of many initiatives being taking to meet the jurisdiction’s goal of an 80% reduction in...
School Districts Scale Their Zero Energy Efforts
Post / December 21, 2020
Over the last decade an increasing number of school districts across the country have invested in zero energy buildings as a way to dramatically improve energy performance, provide healthy indoor environments, and foster better academic outcomes for students. Well before...
Reflecting on the 2019 Getting to Zero Forum – Optimism, Urgency and Poised for Action
Post / November 13, 2019
As urgency around addressing climate change increases, local leaders are working to define near-term actions, including those targeting the built environment, which accounts for 39% of global carbon emissions. Uptake in actions happening across the United States include: a surge...
Getting to Zero With the Passive House Design Standard
Post / October 25, 2019
With growing consensus about the economic and social costs of climate change, an increasing number of cities and states have set ambitious carbon reduction goals. When it comes to the built environment, advanced energy codes and policies have proven to...
NBI Releases Zero Energy Performance Targets for New Construction Projects
Post / September 10, 2019
When targeting zero energy performance in buildings, the first step is typically setting an energy performance target that the design team can aim for. But, setting that target, typically communicated as the project’s energy use intensity (EUI), is not always...
Making the Transition From Zero Energy to Zero Carbon Building Policies
Post / July 23, 2019 / Zero Net Energy (ZNE)
As the building industry transitions into a new era — one focused on delivering carbon-neutral buildings — building codes will continue to play a critical role. This is the third in a series of blog posts about the transformation occurring within...