Within its program areas, NBI focuses on three strategic markets that hold the highest promise for our work to catalyze change and positively impact the energy outcomes for targeted building stock.
NBI’s research shows the number of zero energy educational facilities has more than doubled since 2014 – and most of those joining our Zero Energy Schools list are K-12 schools. NBI is working to help K-12 schools get on the path to zero energy, and even zero carbon, by transforming all new school construction and 50% of existing K-12 schools to zero energy by 2035. NBI can help a school district of any size, anywhere in the country, with consultative and educational support for local school designers, builders, and school administration at the state and local level.
Learn moreBuildings across the country are adding wind turbines, solar panels, battery storage and other energy technology in an effort to tackle impacts of climate change. These renewable power resources are revolutionary, but present a risk to the nation’s power grid. For more than a century, the grid flowed only one way, from the large centralized (and likely fossil-fueled) power plant to the customer.
Why is this no longer reality? With the proliferation of renewable solar panels on homes and buildings across the country, power now flows both ways, which can lead to challenges in power grid operation. These challenges range from increased utility costs, to wasted energy, to brownouts or blackouts.
Cities, states and other governmental entities have immense power to cut carbon emissions for everyone. Between the nearly 10 billion square feet1 of commercial real estate that governments own and their responsibility to determine how all buildings are constructed, the potential savings they can create is enormous. But, these savings are only achievable if governments adopt and widely champion zero energy/zero carbon building techniques.
New Buildings Institute envisions a future where every government building is zero energy with significant carbon reduction benefits. The transformation of jurisdictions’ built environment to zero energy could save more than 88 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (the equivalent of taking 20 million cars off the road for a year.) We are currently working with a number of state and local
When we think of heat pump water heaters (HPWHs), our minds might not immediately leap to The Transformers—those sentient robotic beings who shift from one form to another, often merging their unique abilities to form an unstoppable force. In the...
We were very excited to join K-12 school district staff from across the country in Denver for the Schools Clean Energy and Indoor Air Quality Summit, as part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s program for Efficient and Healthy Schools....
Reflections and Industry Insights NBI and RMI were thrilled to bring together over 360 industry leaders in Charlotte, North Carolina for the 2024 Getting to Zero Forum. It was an invigorating gathering, filled with thought-provoking conversations and concrete examples of...
Last week, experts from across the country gathered in California at the U.S. Department of Energy’s 2024 National Energy Codes Conference. At this conference, they discussed strategies to drive the advancement and adoption of building codes that support a healthy,...
