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Sept. 17, 2015 — The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) reached a significant milestone in bringing the building community together by releasing a common definition for a zero energy building, or what is also referred to as a “net zero energy” or “zero net energy” building.
After leading an extensive stakeholder engagement process over the past year and a half, the Energy Department released its findings in the recently published A Common Definition for Zero Energy Buildings, which states that a Zero Energy Building is “an energy-efficient building where, on a source energy basis, the actual annual delivered energy is less than or equal to the on-site renewable exported energy.”
This definition also applies to campuses, portfolios, and communities. In addition to providing clarity across the industry, this new DOE publication provides important guidelines for measurement and implementation, specifically explaining how to use this definition for building projects.
"Reducing energy use in buildings must be a major part of the solution as we work to combat the escalating costs and impacts of climate change," said Brendan Owens, chief engineer at the U.S. Green Building Council, which represents more than 13,000 member businesses and organizations from across the building community.
"While we are making significant progress to save energy in buildings, this Zero Energy Building definition developed by DOE helps increase expectations and orient the buildings industry toward even greater achievements. USGBC applauds DOE's effort to define zero energy buildings and we look forward to continuing to champion the cause of building efficiency and renewable energy applications to meet the ambitious goals of this definition."
In collaboration with the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS), DOE initiated a process last year to work with a large, diverse set of building industry stakeholders to develop its common definition for what it means to be a zero energy building. Thousands of project teams throughout the country are looking to push the envelope and achieve a zero energy building. In fact, the number of zero energy buildings doubled from 2012 to 2014 across 36 states, according to the New Buildings Institute (NBI).
The growth of zero energy buildings has highlighted a lack of clarity and consistency across the industry on key definitional issues that increasingly were the source of market confusion, underscoring the need for DOE to help develop a commonly accepted definition and approach.
"NIBS and USDOE have created a set of clear and concise definitions for zero energy buildings that will help to narrow the broad array of terminology currently used in the industry,” said Ralph DiNola, CEO of NBI.
DiNola added, “These consistent definitions will contribute to the growth of zero energy building construction across this country. NBI supports the definitions as a federal position and will promote this effort through the work we do leading programs, practices, and policies to get to zero across North America."
Generally speaking, a zero energy building produces enough renewable energy to meet its own annual energy consumption requirements, thereby reducing the use of non-renewable energy in the building sector. There are a number of long-term advantages of buildings meeting this goal, including lower environmental impacts, lower operating and maintenance costs, better resilience to power outages and natural disasters, and improved energy security.
View A Common Definition for Zero Energy Buildings here.
The National Institute of Building Sciences, authorized by public law 93-383 in 1974, is a nonprofit, nongovernmental organization that brings together representatives of government, the professions, industry, labor, and consumer interests to identify and resolve building process and facility performance problems.
