ZE Leader

The following is an excerpt from The Power of Zero: Learning from the World’s Leading Net Zero Energy Buildings by Brad Liljequist, our former Zero Energy Director at the International Living Future Institute. Get 30 percent off The Power of Zero from Ecotone Publishing using the code POZ30.  The International Living Future Institute defines Net Zero Energy (NZE) as “One hundred percent of…

One of my all-time favorite tools is the Kill-a-Watt meter.  Available in several models, this inexpensive, handy tool allows you to find out how much electricity a given plug-in item uses.  Simply plug it into the wall, then plug the item into the Kill-a-Watt.  Several different settings provide real-time wattage, voltage, and amperage readings, as well as watt-hours to determine…

ILFI is excited to announce its new Zero Carbon Certification.  Providing a new performance pathway situated between Reveal and the Zero Energy Certification, the Zero Carbon Certification provides greater flexibility around project fuel types (for existing projects) and placement and ownership of offsetting renewables. The ILFI Zero Carbon Certification is the first worldwide Zero Carbon third-party certified standard.  It recognizes…

As Zero Energy buildings continue to advance into the mainstream of the built environment, supported by high performance building and energy codes, city and state energy policies, utility incentive programs, and various greenhouse gas reduction targets, ILFI has launched a new pathway for certification using offsite renewables. The Offsite Renewables Exception, or alternative compliance pathway for projects seeking certification with…

Sean Bagsby currently serves as the President for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), Local 46, in Kent, WA. Mr. Bagsby also serves as a Labor Trustee for the Puget Sound Electrical Joint Apprenticeship and Training Trust (PSEJATC) located in Renton, WA, since 2008. Mr. Bagsby has been involved with several local and regional renewable energy and sustainability organizations…

My first introduction to mineral wool was during a 2005 visit to the pioneering Zero Energy project, BedZED, in England. There were a lot of amazing things to take in that day, and mineral wool was one of them. Insulation made out of rocks? Cool! To find out that it was the predominant insulation in Europe was equally surprising, especially…

Brad Liljequist: Hi David—tell us about yourself. David Mead: I’m a Building Performance Specialist at PAE Engineers. I work as both an energy engineer and architect within our office, integrating systems to achieve high performance goals for projects. I went to school for architecture originally, and I kept wanting to focus on performance, and realized building systems were the key…

Last week, I was in the District of Columbia, hosting a zero energy seminar and reception as part of our Zero Energy Roadshow partnership with Arup.  While I was there, I was able to check in on the construction progress of one of my favorite ZE projects—the American Geophysical Union Headquarters, which is a ILFI registered Zero Energy project.  This…

As a registered project for Zero Energy Certification with the International Living Future Institute (ILFI), Fort Totten Public Schools is developing a net zero energy educational facility at the Four Winds High School that will receive an independent audit of its energy performance through ILFI. Zero Energy Certification delivers third-party verification of proven performance for the world’s leading projects, which…

ILFI has recently been working much more with the Passive House community, to connect the networks in both people and thought. This fall, we had an excellent Net Positive Symposium in Vancouver, held jointly with Passive House Canada, as well as a Net Positive track and class at the North America Passive House Network conference in Oakland, CA. A key…

“We strongly value our certification with ILFI because it’s based on proven performance, instead of modeling or projections.” – Julian Weber AIA, Founding Principal of JW Architects ILFI’s Zero Energy Certification program has now been streamlined to save project teams time and money, and continues to be implemented along with ILFI’s flagship certification, the Living Building Challenge, as a framework…

Regan from Minnesota put her passion for the natural world into action by becoming a member of the International Living Future Institute. In Minneapolis, she began a zero-waste community group that quickly grew to include over 100 members and local supporters. Recognizing the importance of radical group action in addressing the overwhelming issue of climate change, she decided to become…

The Oregon Zoo recently opened their renewably powered Education Center, building on an exciting trend in Zero Energy project development in the Pacific Northwest. The $17 million dollar project features 760 solar photovoltaic modules, a 10,000-gallon rainwater cistern, and is designed to operate at net zero energy. The Education Center also recently won the Energy Trust of Oregon’s (ETO) High-Performance…

For the past three years, we’ve hosted the Net Positive Energy and Water Conference to explore net positive energy and water solutions. We’ve recently evolved the Net Positive event model to provide even more bang for our energy buck. To build on the metaphor, we are trying to provide capacity building and education to our current and new constituents more efficiently…

Renewable energy generation from solar photovoltaics (PV) has come a long way since its inception over 60 years ago in New Jersey’s Bell Labs, thanks to an exponential decrease in installations costs (70% reduction since 2010), increased efficiency and power density of PV modules, and support from federal, state and local incentive programs. Today, more than 250,000 Americans work in…

The International Living Future Institute launched a variety of new resources during the Living Future unConference 2017 to help teams and communities. In an effort to integrate those updates and make the Institute’s community-scale program more accessible and current with market conditions, our team launched the Living Community Challenge (LCC) version 1.2 Standard. LCC Standard Primary updates in the Living…