Category: Zero Energy
Reflections on the 2023 Forum: Equitable decarbonization, showcasing innovation, and supporting the next generation
Post / June 5, 2023
With historic federal funding setting the stage, the seventh iteration of the Getting to Zero Forum was an opportunity to convene at a pivotal time, when there is more support and resources for decarbonizing the built environment than ever before....
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...
Decarbonizing Buildings: A Changing Lexicon
Post / June 12, 2019
From kilowatts to carbon, the language we use matters. Building sector policies and programs across the nation are in the midst of a critical shift from delivering energy efficiency in terms of kWh, to policies and programs that seek carbon...
Building Market Titans Team Up to Create a New Energy Future
Post / May 28, 2019
Earlier this month, the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii recorded carbon dioxide levels that surpassed 415 parts per million. That’s the highest level in recorded human history. As the potentially devastating impacts from carbon-fueled climate change loom, many cities and...
2019 Zero Energy Buildings Count Nears 600, New Dynamic Tool Offers Online Access to Project Details
Post / May 9, 2019
Every year, New Buildings Institute (NBI) digs into its extensive Getting to Zero Buildings Database and analyzes the information collected from thousands of low-energy projects across the United States and Canada in order to offer the market an official count...
Efficiency and Carbon Reduction Goals Converge at the Built Environment
Post / April 17, 2019
With mounting evidence that immediate and aggressive action is necessary to address climate change, combined with a lack of leadership on this issue by the federal government, state and local governments are taking meaningful actions to adopt, honor, and meet...
5 Must Haves to Achieve High Marks in Ultra-low Energy Schools
Post / March 11, 2019
An increasing number of school districts are investing in ultra-low energy facilities and renewables as a way to save on utility costs and create healthier and more productive learning environments for students and staff. In fact, over 219 school buildings...
Technology Talk—Getting to Zero Energy in Existing Buildings
Post / February 22, 2019
Without upgrading our existing buildings to higher efficiency technologies we have zero hope of getting to zero energy (ZE)–or at least ultra-low energy performance–and our carbon reduction targets. We know that there are many roads to retrofits but rapid scaling...
2019 is the Year of Energy Codes
Post / January 14, 2019
If there’s a defining theme for the building sector in 2019, it’s energy codes. Actions to update the rules that cities and states set to determine how effectively new residential and commercial buildings use energy are progressing on several fronts...
Zero Energy Ready Oregon Supports Governor’s Mandate to Transform Buildings to Zero Energy Ready Performance
Post / September 11, 2018
When Oregon Governor Kate Brown signed Executive Order 17-20 in the fall of 2017, she set Oregon on the path to addressing climate change by ramping up efficiency in Oregon’s buildings. Addressing building efficiency is a critical climate action strategy...
Banking on Sustainable, Zero Energy
Post / August 21, 2018
How Suncoast Credit Union is leading the way to save energy and connect with its customers and community With close to 700,000 members, Suncoast Credit Union is the largest credit union in Florida. It’s also a leading company in sustainable...
Making the Path to Zero Energy Buildings Well Worn Together
Post / February 28, 2018 / Zero Net Energy (ZNE)
When does a path become a road? Is it volume of travelers, difficulty of terrain or perhaps the need to arrive more rapidly at the destination to create the attention and resources needed to smooth out the path? For zero...
Educational Sector Leads on Zero Energy Buildings, but Lacks Retrofits
Post / January 29, 2018 / Zero Net Energy (ZNE)
New research by NBI looks at the reasons why existing schools don’t aim for zero. New Buildings Institute (NBI) recently released its Zero Energy* Buildings List with nearly 500 verified or emerging commercial buildings projects. Educational facilities continue to outpace...
Energy Trust of Oregon Names ZNE Fellow
Post / June 19, 2017
Shilpa Surana Oregon’s net zero energy (NZE) buildings market is getting a boost with a new Net Zero Fellow to focus on one of the major barriers to NZE adoption—money. The fellowship was awarded by the Energy Trust of Oregon...
Rhode Island Shows Economic and Climate Leadership by Embracing Zero Energy Buildings
Post / June 13, 2017
As states look to realize their climate and energy policy goals, they are turning to strategies for improving building efficiency to cut carbon emissions and lower energy demand. Rhode Island is an emerging leader in this regard with a bold...
Trainings Help Build Knowledge and Design Capability that is Driving ZNE in California
Post / March 30, 2017
Zero net energy workshops are back in 2017! California has ambitious goals around zero net energy (ZNE) buildings and rightly so. Buildings account for roughly 40% of the carbon emissions in the United States and is up to 80% of...
DOE Looking to “Accelerate” the Market for Zero Energy Schools
Post / January 23, 2017
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Better Buildings program launched a Zero Energy Schools Accelerator program last month among program partners, media, school officials and others at the new Discovery Elementary School in Arlington, Virginia. The school is a model...
California Schools Have a Lot to Teach Us About Zero Net Energy
Post / December 27, 2016
Congratulations are in order for nine innovative school districts, iconic projects and leading-edge designers and firms that were honored last month with a ZNE School Leadership Award. These were notably the first non-residential zero net energy (ZNE) awards in the...
Net Zero Fellowship
Post / December 13, 2016
In Oregon, the Energy Trust has launched a new Net Zero Fellowship. The aim is to support focused research that promotes market understanding and practices of net zero energy in commercial buildings. The fellowship will also assist in developing a...
2016 Getting to Zero National Forum – Growing a Movement
Post / October 31, 2016
The NBI Getting to Zero Forum team is back in Portland after a HUGELY successful week in Denver hosting the third Getting to Zero National Forum with our co-hosting partner, Rocky Mountain Institute. In many ways, the events of the...
2016 List of Zero Net Energy Buildings
Post / October 24, 2016
We recently returned from hosting the third Getting to Zero National Forum in Denver, Colorado. It was an inspirational and educational extravaganza, with over 300 leading minds from a wide variety of fields sharing their best ideas and expertise around Zero Net...