Published by Architectural Record: By now this salient fact has been hammered into architects’ heads: buildings account for nearly 40 percent of carbon emissions. But most professionals don’t know how to change that number fast. One straightforward solution is to make more buildings zero energy. And, with the United States facing a severe housing shortage, the residential market presents an opportunity to tackle both the climate crisis and the need for shelter. Zero energy construction is a fledgling market, but one with a steep growth curve. The nonprofit New Buildings Institute says that zero energy commercial buildings across the United States and Canada now encompass 80 million square feet, a tenfold increase since 2010.

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