The Net Zero Conference is the largest green building event hosted annually in California and the largest net zero building event in the world. This year’s conference, NZ19, will be hosted at on October 2 – 4 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

The International Living Future Institute is a Program Partner for this groundbreaking event, helping to shape the conference’s focus and scope. We sat down with the event’s creator and current Event Chair, Drew Shula, to speak to him about the history of the event and what he’s looking forward to in the coming years.

Thanks for joining us today, Drew. Can you provide an overview of the Net Zero Conference for our readers?

We’ve heard from many people that the Net Zero Conference is their favorite building industry conference of the year, and I think that’s because we’re not focusing on aspirations, but on action. How to really get net zero buildings built. People have a lot of questions about how to go from an idea, or a goal, to a reality, and those questions are answered by industry leaders at this event — people who have done it and can share lessons-learned on how to drive the team, which products and materials to use, and what pitfalls to avoid. 

The Net Zero Conference is the world’s largest event focused on net zero building, and it’s also the largest annual green building event in all of California — the leading green building market in the world. We’re focused on all aspects of the built environment’s impact on carbon, energy, water, waste and transit. People come back to the Net Zero Conference every year for inspiring keynote presentations, the best speaker panels, a super activated expo hall, and our ability to engage the most radically progressive group of green building leaders on the planet. It’s all happening at net zero — major announcements, case studies of amazing net zero buildings that have already achieved this audacious standard, and connections between high-level industry luminaries. It’s a cliche to say, but you really don’t want to miss it. 

What was the inspiration behind the NZ19 Conference?

I’ve always said that Verdical Group (www.verdicalgroup.com) is a small team that makes an impact many times larger than you might expect for a team our size. Six years ago, our group of LA-based green building geeks started to hear a new buzzword to describe the cutting edge of high-performance buildings.

The phrase was “net zero,” and it described a building that harvested all the energy and water its occupants needed on the same site it was built on. The energy and water generated “zero out” the demand. If every building were built this way, there’d be no need for a grid.

We were experiencing a severe drought in California at the time and this idea really struck us as the future of building. Net zero buildings are resource independent and can function “off the grid.” In LA, we wouldn’t need to rely on water pumped in from the Colorado River for humans to thrive, if every building produced enough water for its occupants on its own.

There had also been statewide goals established in California to move toward this super progressive building standard. As always, California was leading the way for the rest of the world with environmental standards. We wanted to help push the building industry forward as fast as possible to make as great a positive environmental impact as possible. Climate change was (and is) rapidly changing the world and we felt like action was important right away. We wanted to see a truly sustainable built environment, so we decided to organize an event around the idea of “net zero” to spread awareness about the movement and educate folks in the building industry — architects, engineers, and builders. Our first event was a pretty humble beginning, but it’s taken off from there.   

How did the event grow into what it is today — the world’s largest net zero building event? 

In year one, we did everything ourselves and only got help if it was free. We got an architect at Gensler to design our flyer, and we marketed the event through emails and social media. One of the local utilities let us use their venue for free. We had no costs, we just used our team’s time to put the event together, and we brought in a few sponsors to help us break even on our time. About 100 people showed up, and we thought that was awesome. We had helped inspire a net zero future for 100 building industry leaders in LA!

We got more and more passionate about net zero buildings and decided to do the conference again the next year even though we didn’t make any money on it the first time around. As a B Corporation, our mission goes beyond profit to social and environmental impact as well, so we justified the effort because we knew we were making an incredible impact through education. The second year, 300 people showed up. We thought, “Wow, that was a big jump from year one to year two,” so we kept going, and the conference grew larger every year.

Now in our sixth year, we’re expecting 1,200+ attendees and 100+ exhibitors, and we’re finally making some money doing it. Companies see the value in net zero and are paying to sponsor the event to engage and have a presence with our attendees.

We’ve worked hard to get really good at event planning, and other companies started to notice, so we spun off Verdical Events (www.verdicalevents.com), a sustainable event production consulting company. Verdical Events has now produced major sustainable events, including the B Corp Champions Retreat and events for the largest California utilities and the U.S. Green Building Council Los Angeles Chapter.

I think when you’re passionate about something, that passion is infectious, and others want to get involved. Most importantly, we know how to throw a great party and get our community excited about designing and building the absolute best buildings we can. We can’t wait to see how much the Net Zero Conference continues to grow in years to come. 

What is new with this year’s event?

As we continue to scale up, the big change this year is that we’ve relocated to the LA Convention Center! This is the premier conference venue in Southern California and sets us up with room to grow for many years ahead, as we move toward the planned net zero code requirements for all new construction buildings in California. The next 10 years will be here before we know it, and we expect the conference to grow significantly as momentum and interest increase between now and then.

We’ve also added tours of net zero and near-zero building this year, so that attendees can get on site to learn about net zero. We’re also launching our Trailblazer Awards to recognize leaders blazing the trail toward a net zero future — people on the ground getting it done, with completed projects under their belts that can become case studies to share with the world.

Last year, we started our Robin Hood Gala (www.robinhoodgala.com) a mid-conference dinner party that focuses on raising awareness around the homelessness crisis in LA, and that has really expanded this year. There are nearly 59,000 people experiencing homelessness in LA County right now. This is heartbreaking and an unnecessary tragedy that we can all work together to solve. 

What’s next for the Net Zero Conference? 

While we’re a for-profit business and profit is important to keep the lights on, growth for us isn’t only about profit. For us, as a B Corp and 1% for the Planet Member Company, positive impact is just as important.

We’re looking to expand our impact every year we put on the Net Zero Conference. Our growth trajectory has been up and to the right, and we want to stay on that course. We’re inspiring thousands of people to build radically better buildings, and I can’t image a better way to spend my time than working with great people to create an avalanche of impact. Inspiration has a way of spreading like wildfire, and our hope is that we can inspire everyone at the Net Zero Conference to go back to their offices and bring what they learned to their clients and the projects on their desks. Ideas become actions, and before we know it, we’ll be living in the net zero future we dreamed was possible. 

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 the project’s energy needs being supplied by on-site renewable energy on a net annual basis.” In one simple, elegant sentence, a radical agenda for eliminating carbon dioxide emissions and use of combustion fuels within the built environment is set in place. In short: generate what you use. With this crisp idea, an array of powerful forces and concepts are brought to bear on some of our time’s most challenging problems.

Restated in more basic terms, Net Zero Energy buildings and communities generate as much energy as they use over the course of the year. The significant majority of NZE buildings are connected to the grid, with a meter that spins backwards and forwards: when the building is generating more than it uses it builds a surplus, and when it uses more than it generates, it draws from that surplus. At the end of the year, at a minimum it nets to zero use, or potentially is net positive. In practice, NZE buildings have to significantly lower the energy use from typical consumption — usually a 60- 80 percent reduction. On-site energy generation offsets the remaining use.

Net zero energy is such a radical and powerful concept because it is one of the key solutions to carbon neutrality and the elimination of fossil fuel use. If we apply favorite Institute questions of “What is the end game?,” and, “What if everyone did it?” to net zero energy, the end result would be massively positive. By sector, energy use in buildings is the largest single contributor to our carbon footprint — roughly 40 percent, depending on the estimate. If all current buildings were retrofitted to be net zero energy, and all new construction was built to a net zero standard, society’s collective carbon footprint would be reduced by that amount.

The Power of Zero is dedicated to practical, real examples of these buildings in a range of types, sizes, and places which achieve net zero energy usage. The existence of these projects means that net zero energy is a real, viable solution to what is likely the most significant threat to global stability currently in existence, on par with the threat of nuclear proliferation. Remaking our communities to be net zero energy is more than a neat exercise in efficiency. It is a moral imperative to protect those people most impacted by climate change and ocean acidification — those in the developing world and future generations. It eliminates one of the major drivers of military action (acquisition and protection of energy supplies) and degradation of local wilderness in the form of extraction impacts.

Within the framework of the International Living Future Institute’s thinking about human development and living in restorative harmony with the Earth, net zero energy stands as a gateway. Energy in all its forms is a key component of life; living in a way that draws vitality from within, instead of exchanging resources from others without positive return, is the way of nature. To our peril much of historic Western development has ignored this pattern of synergistic exchange, now to our peril. Net zero energy is the first opening into a new way of approaching what we make and dwell in, asking the question: How do our actions add to rather than subtract from energy supplies? Net positive energy, at its heart, is a biomimetic reflection of energy flows within nature.

In less philosophical but more practical, metaphoric terms, net zero energy represents old time, traditional values.

Living within your means

One of the most conservative values is to live in a way that does not exceed what you have. You do not eat your seed corn, and you take responsibility for yourself and family.

Thou shalt not steal

The unfortunate reality is that many of our resources have been obtained through power relationships that exceed a just exchange between the recipients and givers. Perhaps most compellingly, it is clear at this point that we are taking our descendants’ heritage from them, as they will bear the brunt of our irresponsibility in energy use and its impacts.

A penny saved is a penny earned

Our grandparents’ generation knew the value of simply using less. Net zero energy buildings and communities squeeze out every watt of savings possible. These buildings are not just resilient in their interaction with the Earth, but also in their long term basic demands of operating costs, providing an essentially conservative financial platform of living.

Reap the harvest

A foundational concept of human civilization is that we organize and systematize the gathering of the fruits of the Earth. For millennia that idea has primarily referred to a harvest of food. With new technologies and paradigms, it also can mean harvesting the energy provided by the Earth — the sun, wind (really solar energy), and tides.

Mottainai

Derived from an old Shinto concept that material objects have souls, this Japanese word embodies meanings of both wastefulness and irreverence. More recently, Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Matthai sought to popularize the term internationally as a way to place a sense of the sacred on our thoughtful use of resources.

Net zero energy is also a very compelling concept to the general public, which crystalizes core needs of dramatic energy reduction and renewable energy generation into one simple, easy-to-understand idea. While it can be very challenging to excite the average person about the sometimes arcane world of energy efficiency, net zero energy has a demonstrated ability to inspire and involve people. NZE brings forward a can-do spirit which combines the best of applied technology and design, Buck Rogers, and big jumps forward. It is also an accessible, inspiring response to people beleaguered by a sense of hopelessness around larger energy use and climate problems.

Net zero energy buildings represent the beginning of a new era of innovation within the world of buildings. Amazingly, homes in much of the world are still built the way they were one hundred years ago. Within North America, balloon framing pioneered in the 1800s is still the standard. It is as if we still drove Ford Model T’s instead of electric vehicles, or used mechanical adding machines instead of computers. In most other sectors, the performance characteristics of the desired object tend to drive technological development, while in the building sector, the technologies have tended to define the design. We hopefully stand at the beginning of a new era of building design evolution, which reflects a whole array of human and environmental needs, only one of which includes eliminating the energy footprint of the built environment.

A key component of innovation to achieve net zero energy performance is a deep drive towards designing with nature, the laws of physics, and biomimetics. Net zero energy buildings take advantage of diurnal temperature swings, and available naturally stored thermal energy, capturing and retaining what is needed to serve the building. The gift of the sun, from which all life springs, is fully embraced, through daylight, heat, wind, and photons. Many of the key technologies used in net zero energy buildings respond to natural phenomena, such as evaporative cooling, stack effect, the ideal gas law, and gas/liquid/solid phase changes. Some of these phenomena are described in more detail in section three, below.

As part of its net zero and net positive energy requirements, the Institute prohibits the use of on-site combustion. There are a number of reasons for this prohibition. Typically, building related combustion involves so-called “natural” gas, which adds CO2 to the atmosphere and oceans. Eliminating its use is a major priority of the ILFI. Extensive use of woody biomass removes critical material from natural cycles, and in many cases accelerates climate change by speeding up the slower release of CO2 through decay. Biogas supplies can prove transitory, and easily default to natural gas. Depending on the type of combustion, local air quality impacts can be significant. While it is recognized that most net zero energy buildings are connected to a grid which is reliant on the larger energy grid, of which natural gas and coal burning power plants currently play a significant role, the Institute’s end goal is a fully renewable energy grid which includes the complete elimination of combustion, particularly of fossil fuels. Impacts of combustion are discussed further in the section below, and the end state vision of the grid is discussed in Part IV.

Finally, in 2013, the Institute launched the Net Positive conference in San Francisco, California, indicating a conceptual shift in net zero energy. Version 3.0 of the Living Building Challenge evolved the Energy Petal to require 105 percent of a building’s energy use to be offset by on-site generation, rather than 100 percent. At the same time, the Institute has strengthened and extended its Net Zero Energy Building certification. In terms of actual change in energy generation, the amounts are relatively modest. In concept, however, the evolution of net zero to net positive is significant: nature does not do zero. Natural systems tend to be fecund and generous, providing a bounty beyond what the individual needs. Net positive energy is a libation of abundance, a ray of goodwill and intention to our neighbors and the future.

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 to improve performance. I’m functionally a mechanical/energy engineer on a daily basis now, making sure all the pieces are integrated.

BL: A very important role indeed! So you were a Project Drawdown Fellow—what is Project Drawdown?

DM: Project Drawdown was created by Paul Hawken. I understand he created it after reading the seminal article several years ago in Rolling Stone by Bill McKibben, addressing just how challenging the climate change numbers are looking.

Paul was concerned that the sustainability movement had a strong doomsday narrative, and that the language people were using was self-defeating. The whole idea of Project Drawdown was to say, “Okay. Let’s look at the solutions,” because everybody had been looking at what the problems were. He also wanted a holistic look at what solutions could be. He put a call out to researchers all over the world, to see if people would be interested in helping with this—and they got an amazing response.

BL: It’s interesting how influential Paul Hawken has been for so many of us at different points along the last couple decades. He’s a very important person in our movement. So how and why did you get involved in Project Drawdown?

DM: I saw an online post about Project Drawdown. I read the premise and thought it was brilliant, because of its solutions focus. It matched what we do in our industry, and what I do on a daily basis. I personally know there are a ton of solutions, and that we can effectively address climate change. So I offered for PAE Engineering to be advisors on the project, which we did, and then a few months later, I actually got an email from Paul, asking if I would be interested in doing the Net Zero buildings fellowship.

BL: Project Drawdown identified about 100 tangible climate solutions—what were some of the most compelling things that you learned being part of it?

DM: Within the realm of normalizing zero energy buildings, it’s clear that we are just at the very beginning of its growth—it’s behind the overall market uptake of solar energy generally. But the critical thing we learned was that if you look at the numbers, it is clear that zero energy has to target existing buildings and retrofits—we simply won’t reach our numbers if we don’t.

BL: I totally agree. I was at the American Geophysical Union building in Washington, DC, a couple weeks ago, an existing five-story building that they are retrofitting to be zero energy. They’re doing it in a cost-effective, thoughtful, pragmatic way. We have to take advantage of major renovations as they happen.

DM: Right. Another big surprise was the refrigerant management impacts—refrigerants have a high global warming potential and the majority leak into the atmosphere out of HVAC equipment and appliances. I’ve always known that’s an issue, and we have talked about it within our firm quite a bit. But to see it be the number one solution in Project Drawdown is really concerning. In some cases, it can completely offset whatever emissions savings you’ll have from energy efficiency.

BL: It’s a huge issue, and we’ve been talking about it a lot too at the Institute. I think that we want to tackle this as soon as we can. The revisions to the Montreal protocol were great, but they’re also slow. So what are the alternatives?

DM: One is to take a super passive, envelope driven approach using electric resistance. The Rocky Mountain Institute Innovation Center took this approach in climate zone seven, which is unheard of.

BL: It’s amazing.

DM: Yeah, it’s so cold there. But that approach works best in cold, sunny climates—it’s harder in humid climates.

There are also natural refrigerants, that been used since the 19th century actually—CO2 and ammonia—and these are coming to be used more again. The problem is that they both have engineering challenges. CO2 is good for heating, not very good for cooling, and ammonia has its own challenges.

There are also natural refrigerants, that been used since the 19th century actually—CO₂ and ammonia—and these are coming to be used more again. The problem is that they both have engineering challenges. CO₂ is good for heating, not very good for cooling, and ammonia has its own challenges.

BL: The CO₂ heat pumps have a temperature range that is challenging in some cases, right? But also very advantageous in others. I’ve been super impressed by the Sanden CO₂ heat pumps, as well as the larger ones by Mayekawa and others.

DM: There are new refrigerants coming out known as A2L refrigerants, but they’re mildly flammable. This is a potential issue if it’s being pumped around a building with refrigerant lines, like in a split or VRF system. So we’ll see where that lands but it is likely most of the market will move to those newer refrigerants.

BL: You were talking a little bit about where we are in the growth trajectory with zero energy. What we see is that the growth of zero energy buildings is exponential—not aggressively so, but the trend is real. In the last couple of months, we’ve averaged nearly three projects registering a week, during what is normally a quiet time of the year—certainly the fastest rate we’ve ever seen.

DM: That’s great.

BL: So what do you think it’s going to take to make zero energy the new normal?

DM: I think a lot of society doesn’t know it’s possible. It’s not part of our cultural narrative. We have to show the broader culture that we can truly address climate change. We just need more examples, both at the high end and in everyday vernacular architecture, in more locations. And then we need to be sure people know about them—many people in Seattle still don’t know about the Bullitt Center.

I think the other thing is getting serious about putting financial resources into the solutions. If you took the top ten Project Drawdown solutions, it seems quite prohibitive, like billions and billions of dollars. But from a societal standpoint, it seems easy. I wondered if you just took the hundred richest people in the world and you just looked at how much they’re worth. Could they actually implement these solutions? The answer, at a high level, is yes—a hundred people have more than enough money to pay for the top ten solutions which would help 7.6 billion people. We live in unusual times, right? Wealth is so concentrated.

BL: Just to put another cut on it… something I talked about in The Power of Zero is that the United States spent 7.2 trillion dollars in military spending in the Middle East since the 70’s—that equals $59,000 dollars per American household. Which ironically is about the same cost it would be to retrofit every house in the US to be zero energy. Whether it’s coming from above or below, it feels like we can do it, but it is going to have to be that scale of intervention too.

DM: Yep.

BL: If you got to be king for a day or Bill Gates, what would you do to make zero energy buildings the norm?

DM: I think, I would challenge all the leaders of the world to start talking about solutions and stop focusing on short-term profits. Like short-term, even in your own lifetime. I always like ideas such as we’re borrowing this planet from our grandchildren. Also, there’s the carrot versus the stick. We’ve incentivized elements of zero energy, and the adoption rate tends to be really small. Whereas, if it’s code, the adoption rate tends to be a lot higher—pretty much 100%.

BL: My philosophy is that you use incentives and inspiration and all those things to get to a couple percent of the market adoption zero energy. Enough that you get your examples, you get your inspiration, you get your knowledge base going, and then it needs to be codified. Given the scale of the problem right now, it seems like that’s what we have to do.

DM: It is sad to me the narrative around climate has become so entrenched and politicized. We need a better dialogue and better solutions to try to get everybody onboard. I think Project Drawdown is a great example of that, where it gets people across lots of spectrums to see that there are solutions. It’s not a political debate; it’s based on science and physics.

BL: It’s really about risk management at the end of the day.

DM: Another area that was highlighted in Drawdown was food production. That is actually where they saw the most emission savings—there is so much waste in food production, which is really fascinating. Growing food in your yard, limited meat consumption, using ugly produce, are all very important. Everybody who reads this should go plant a garden and try to grow as much food as they can in their yard. Try to be as resilient and self-sufficient as possible. And a lot of that fits in the conservative, self-sufficient approach.

BL: Any final thoughts?

DM: I’m still hopeful, and I think that’s the key takeaway of Drawdown. Stay focused on the solutions—let’s get this done!

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 requires a commitment to best-in-class energy efficiency, advanced construction practices and renewable energy installations to power a building’s operational demands over a 12 consecutive month period, post-occupancy. Working with ILFI program staff to discuss best practices for net zero energy design and construction throughout the certification process, registered projects like the Fort Totten CTE School are eligible to schedule calls with the project team to coordinate Zero Energy performance goals, manage documentation requirements for certification, and work collaboratively to streamline the project’s Zero Energy Certification.

The Fort Totten Public School construction completed in August of 2017 was the first of its kind on tribal land, a school with the goal of being net zero.  The new 12,500 square foot, career technology education facility is located adjacent to the Four Winds Community School on the Spirit Lake Reservation in North Dakota. The school was funded in November 2015, by the Department of Education, under Impact Aid Program grant for emergency replacement of the existing building, condemned due to water and mold. It expands the educational experience that students have by offering alternative and vocational programs. It includes classrooms, lab space for six teachers, bathrooms, storage areas, and offices.

Image courtesy of DSGW Architects

“Our main goal was to get a replacement school on board as quickly as we could for the Fort Totten School District.  When we began to discuss the concept of net zero, the school district was very intrigued and wanted to pursue this option if we could control costs to stay within their grant.  I’m proud to say we delivered a new replacement school that was Net Zero ready, within their budget,” noted Mike Laverdure, Principal Architect for DSGW.  “We were also very thankful for the generosity of the Shakopee Mdewankanton Sioux Community and their grant to purchase the solar panels, making our project net zero.”

The $3.8 million net zero school was designed to produce more energy than it consumes while ensuring to meet other standards common when designing a net zero facility. There are other net zero schools in the United States, but this new school is the first to be built on tribal land and the first in North Dakota.

The features of the building that contribute to its energy efficiency are photovoltaic (solar) panels, a decentralized ground-source geothermal heating and cooling system, high-efficiency water-to-air heat pumps, energy recovery system, variable-speed fans and pumps, occupancy sensors, LED lighting, solar tubes for day-lighting, high R-value roof and walls, and triple pane windows.

The end goal for the building is an Energy Use Intensity (EUI) of 24 (kBtu/ft²/year). The school is currently in its 12 month monitoring period through the International Living Future Institute to attain Zero Energy Certification.

The building envelope was a main concern for the design team, as they were fighting against North Dakota weather and still trying to keep the lowest EUI possible.  The team decided on Insulated Concrete Forms (ICFs) by Nudura for the exterior walls and 10-inch Structurally Insulated Panels (SIPs) for the roof.  This strategy, along with the triple pane windows were a big factor in attaining the lower EUI.

Location: Fort Totten, North Dakota. Image courtesy of DSGW Architects

“The new school expands the educational experience that students have at Four Winds High School by offering an alternative program and career technology education,” stated Jeff Olson, Superintendent of Fort Totten Public Schools. “This building is about the future. We’re not only preparing our students for the future, but we’re also designing this building for the future by using the earth respectfully and efficiently to power the school.”

“This was a huge project for this tribal school district, as the Net Zero status helps them alleviate operational costs into the future.  Many tribal schools can find money to build, but have difficulty with operational costs, especially when they continually see budgets shrink from year to year,” Laverdure acknowledged.

DSGW is the architect for this project, Obermiller Nelson Engineering (ONE) is responsible for mechanical and electrical engineering, and Shingobee Builders is the construction manager.

About DSGW Architects

Established in 1938, DSGW is an architectural firm offering planning, design and interior services to communities of every size and character. Its 35-member team has offices in Duluth, Virginia, and Lake Elmo, Minnesota. Over three decades, DSGW has provided services to Native American communities throughout the country. For more information, visit www.dsgw.com.

About ONE

Since 1992, ONE has delivered success to their clients by providing professional, detailed mechanical, electrical and civil building design and coordination. It is a Subchapter S Corporation with seven locations in North Dakota and Minnesota including Alexandria, Bismarck, Duluth, Fargo, Grand Forks, and Minneapolis and also Philadelphia, PA. With licensed mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, civil engineers, fire protection engineers, LEED-accredited professionals, and their commissioning services professionals on staff, ONE provides its clients with the highest quality of engineering services. For more information, visit www.obernel.com.

About Shingobee

Shingobee is a commercial construction and development company, providing general contracting, project management, and real estate services since 1980. With three offices in Minnesota and North Dakota, they work with clients located through the upper Midwest. For more information, visit www.Shingobee.com.

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 project is a retrofit of an existing five-story office building—really pushing the envelope of what is feasible to achieve with zero energy.  It is about halfway complete.

Matthew Boyd, Building Services Manager for the American Geophysical Union, and Greta Perry, Vice President of MGAC and owner’s representative for the project, kindly gave me a behind the scenes tour of the project.  I have been working with Matthew, Greta, Hickok Cole Architects, and Interface Engineering for a couple of years now on zero energy elements of the project.

One highly innovative part of the project is that it will use sewage heat recovery for a pre-warming system for the building’s heat pumps.  This system operates akin to a ground source heat pump—sewage is diverted from the adjacent sewer main into a mechanized holding system, where the latent heat in the waste stream provides a thermal base for the heat pumps to then lift to full temperature (on average, sewage temperatures are quite warm—often well into the 60s Fahrenheit—think about the cumulative thermal energy of thousands of hot showers!).

Remarkably, the sewage trunk adjacent to the site was built in the 1890s and is still fully in use.  Serendipitously, the pipe had been cut and opened the day before my arrival, giving me a chance to check the main out.  To maintain the main’s structural integrity, the Skanska construction team had shotcrete the interior of the pipe.  After the shotcrete had dried, the entire assembly was sawcut, and the opening lifted out intact.  It was really cool to see a piece of historic infrastructure being reconfigured to be maximally efficient.

It is incredibly exciting to see the project underway.  The ILFI has been working with the District government for a number of years now on zero energy innovations—through the 2014 Net Zero and Living Building Financial Study, prepared jointly with New Buildings Institute and Skanska; a series of zero energy events and charrettes in 2015; and finally the Clean Energy DC Plan, prepared in conjunction with Integral Group and the Institute for Market Transformation.  The idea of sewage heat recovery was discussed in some of the 2015 zero energy charrettes—it is exciting to see people, ideas, and momentum growing into real, tangible projects, which will, in turn, impact the broader understanding of climate solutions in the US capitol.

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 element of zero energy and passive house construction is a tight, well-insulated envelope. One product that helps achieve airtight envelopes is the Declare labeled Proclima Vana and Profil tapes. These tapes are made for an array of applications, such as taping seams of plywood to create a continuous air barrier or joining air or WRB membranes.

John Druelinger of 475 High Performance Building Supply shared the following about the Proclima tapes:

“Tescon Vana and Tescon Profil were designed by Pro Clima for building airtight, efficient, mold-resistant building assemblies. Vana is recommended for taping flat seams, while Profil’s 3-split release backing helps for taping corners, such as window frames. They are each made of durable, fleece-backed materials and utilize solid, pressure-activated, acrylic adhesive that has been third-party advance-age tested to provide 100 years of adhesion. Both Vana and Profil are suitable for interior and exterior application, are water-proof yet vapor-open, capable of 6 months UV exposure, and work without a primer on most sheathing materials. A primer is recommended only in situations where the surface being taped is very rough or porous.”

The icing on the cake is that these tapes are Declare labeled and Red List free. We have nearly 1500 labeled products today—with more added nearly every day—and an array of these are in the energy efficiency space.

Proclima products are imported into the United States by 475 High Performance Building Supply, based in Brooklyn, NY, with distribution centers on both coasts. 475 is a great knowledge resource—they have a ton of great information about detailing and installation on their website, and are available on the phone for specific technical help on applications.

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 and cost effectively.

We are partnering with aligned organizations to host well curated content that spotlights specific topics and issues, sometimes with a regional focus. We will host the events in venues that have strong value alignment with us, such as universities with interest in Living Future programs, or retreat centers with a natural or biophilic focus.

We are particularly excited about the first of our new Net Positive events. The Net Positive Symposium, at the University of British Columbia – Robson Square in downtown Vancouver on October 30, is being jointly presented with Passive House Canada. This single day, regionally focused event will investigate the synergies between Passive House, Living Buildings, and Zero Energy through fast moving vignettes and case studies. Check out more details here.

Additionally, we’re partnering with the North America Passive House Network to provide a Net Positive track at their conference, in Oakland October 6 and 7, as well as providing a half day class on the basics of the Living Building Challenge. Find out more here.

There are many inherent benefits of a Passive House design approach, including cost effectiveness, ability to scale, resiliency of the building during power outages, and internal temperature stability, allowing mechanical heating and cooling to coincide with renewable production peaks. We look forward to investigating these topics as we move forward together.

Working more with the Passive House community and framework is just one of many new partnership angles our Zero Energy program is introducing to the Living Future community. Stay tuned for more exciting Net Positive events and symposia planned for 2018!

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 solar industry, leading the design and installation of systems that now account for nearly 40% of all new electric generation capacity.

As the Net Zero Energy Manager at the International Living Future Institute (ILFI), I work to certify Zero Energy projects that produce 100% of their annual energy use from on-site renewables. I work in our Seattle office, which is the Living Building Challenge Certified Bullitt Center. Pioneering projects like the Bullitt Center (which features one of the city’s largest customer solar arrays [244.38 kW])  have benefited from the increased affordability of distributed solar PV, as well as from production-based incentives, net metering programs, and cutting-edge financing models to help meet their energy performance targets.

Solar adoption has been especially successful in Washington State, which receives significantly more sunlight per year than Germany—a leader in global solar capacity. A 2013 article from the Washington Post addressed this commonly misunderstood fact about US solar potential:

Just about every single region in the continental United States has greater solar potential, on average, than Germany. Yet despite those limitations, Germany has still managed to be the world leader in solar power. At the end of 2012, the country had installed about 30 gigawatts of solar capacity, providing between 3 percent and 10 percent of its electricity. The United States, by contrast, has somewhere around 6.4 gigawatts of solar capacity.

Washington State is recognized as a national leader in low-carbon hydroelectric power generation, and has produced over $60 million in local economic activity from its state-wide solar incentive program, known as the WA Renewable Energy Cost Recovery Incentive Payment program. This production-based incentive program, which allocated up to $0.54/kWh for solar customers using Washington-made equipment, faced challenges as each electric utility grew closer to their annual limit of incentive dollars they could pay out. The limit, or “Incentive Cap,” was set at just 0.5% of their annual operating income, meaning the total amount of solar incentive dollars the utility could pay out to their customers each year could not be greater than one half of one percent of the utility’s annual revenue.

Due to phenomenally successful energy conservation programs, decreased electric consumption from winter heating loads (the new NW climate normal?), and new energy-efficient technologies in the marketplace, many electric utilities face stagnant, if not decreasing, annual energy consumption-ultimately limiting the amount of money that is available for solar incentive payments. In 2015, this limitation came to a head as several of the State’s largest electric utilities “hit their cap” and were forced to reduce incentive payments to all solar customers or close their solar programs to new participants. The incentive cap phenomenon sent shock waves throughout Washington’s solar industry, as payback periods for existing customers were impacted, prospective solar homeowners faced uncertain return on investment, and solar installation contractors were forced to lay off workers. In early 2017, a statewide grassroots agency gained momentum, spreading the message to “Keep Solar Strong”.

On July 1, 2017, a new Washington Solar Incentive Bill was signed by Governor Jay Inslee, which provides solar installers, existing and future solar customers with clarity around these incentive rates, the payback period / ROI, and is an important step for the future of distributed solar energy in the Pacific Northwest region. A recent Seattle Times article breaks down the inner workings of the new solar legislation, stating: “Under the new law, any residential solar project installed by June 2021 can receive incentives until 2030. Rates are lowered year by year, with a new customer locking in to a rate based on the year a system is installed. These payments continue for up to eight years until 50 percent of the cost of the system is paid off.” The table below outlines the new incentive tiers:

For the International Living Future Institute, this updated incentive program legislation is seen as an exciting step for future projects pursuing Zero Energy Certification, Energy Petal and full Living Building Challenge certification in Washington State. Project teams can claim these incentives from onsite solar PV generation, as well as net metering credits, the federal Solar Investment Tax Credit (30% of project cost credited back on the owner’s taxes), and commercial depreciation of the array for non-residential customers. These are all key resources to help make the financial case for projects pursuing ILFI’s certification programs, which are a great way to provide third-party verification of the building’s energy performance.

Solar power, battery storage, and smart distribution control technologies can be deployed across the US power grid to support and even benefit from Zero Energy buildings and communities. Non-profits and localized organizations operating in service to the community and the environment have the opportunity to lead the way toward a fossil fuel–free future. In Washington State, organizations like Spark Northwest (formerly known as NW SEED), Solar Washington, and carbon-neutral electric utilities like Seattle City Light have set their sights on equitable access in the clean energy economy. City Light, for example, recently launched a Solar Grant Program, providing important funds for nonprofits to go solar. With the current portfolio of resources available to power your building with renewable, solar energy, what (or who) is stopping the US from achieving the same level of climate leadership as Germany?

The International Living Future Institute (ILFI) and New Buildings Institute (NBI) today announced a partnership that will streamline and strengthen the tracking and certification of zero energy (ZE) buildings in order to drive broader market adoption, codification and standardization of ZE technologies in everyday buildings.

“NBI and ILFI are aligned in our shared vision for a future where high performance, ultra-low energy buildings powered by renewable energy are the norm, not the exception,” said Amanda Sturgeon, CEO of ILFI. “Through each of our programs, we have demonstrated time and again that zero energy is achievable and scalable. Together, we can catalyze this movement.”

As a first step, NBI and ILFI will consolidate certified, verified and emerging ZE building projects into a single, unified dataset with common categories. In addition, NBI and ILFI will also share a protocol for data collection, certification and case studies. The partnership builds on the strengths of each organization, and the end result will be one seamless system for tracking, registering, certifying, and evaluating the burgeoning zero energy movement. The buildings industry—design teams, builders, owners, operators and others—will also get the needed clarity on the standards for zero energy performance using data driven outcomes for validation.

Within this collaboration, the ILFI will continue as administrator of the Zero Energy Building Certification, while NBI will act as lead certification auditor as well as administrator of the building data. In addition, projects currently pursuing the Living Building Challenge will be added to the emerging ZE set, creating a broad cohort of leading edge projects worldwide.

“We have the opportunity to reimagine and remake the built environment by 2050,” said Ralph DiNola, CEO of NBI. “Zero energy buildings offer a pathway to that future. Today, nearly half of U.S. energy and 75% of electricity is consumed by buildings. By combining our efforts, we can dramatically reduce carbon emissions and provide deeper insight into what it takes to get to ZE and in doing so, we will rapidly grow the number of buildings striving for zero energy.”

Over the next several months, ILFI and NBI will work to further integrate the way they accept project data and communicate about the new certification and database protocols. Tracking and spotlighting success and lessons learned remains a key goal for both partners in order to fuel continued growth of projects in the residential, multifamily and commercial sectors.

If you have a zero energy building that you would like to register, please visit www.living-future.org/net-zero/certification/

About National Buildings Institute

New Buildings Institute (NBI) is a nonprofit organization working to improve the energy performance of commercial buildings. NBI works collaboratively with commercial building market players–governments, utilities, energy efficiency advocates and building professionals–to remove barriers to energy efficiency, including promoting advanced design practices, improved technologies, public policies and programs that improve energy efficiency. NBI has been a leader in the zero energy buildings movement and is working with industry and partners to mainstream zero energy performance by 2050. Learn more at www.newbuildings.org.

I first become interested in zero energy buildings in 2003. There were several things that pulled me into the concept, and probably the most compelling aspect was the scale of the change. At the time, I was managing a municipal green building program and we were struggling to convince developers to make relatively minor incremental changes like using low-e windows or high efficiency furnaces. The notion of zero energy was such a radical leap forward. The other big thing that was intriguing to me, let’s face it, was that it was cool.

Zero energy as an aspiration, on-the-ground reality, and climate solution movement is at an interesting point in its history. Zero energy is all the rage, with many more organizations and events actively addressing it as a topic. Many utilities are starting to look into a likely future of much higher efficiency buildings with integrated photovoltaics, and are trying to figure out the ramifications of shrinking base loads and peaking generation when the sun is out. Even though at this point we only have 43 certified projects, things are clearly taking the next scale step up—we are nearing 400 registered projects. From our unique position of engaging with many high-profile players and projects in feasibility, we are able to see zero energy taking the next big step.

As zero energy becomes more mainstream, it is a great time to step back and think about what role zero energy has taken to date, which informs its value proposition moving forward. Here are seven observations I’ve learned since zero energy buildings first piqued my interest nearly 15 years ago.

Zero Energy is a Key Element of an Integrated Philosophy of Design

When zero energy was integrated into the Living Building Challenge in 2007, another design perspective was introduced. Buildings are like flowers, receiving all the energy they need from the sun, sharing energy in a reciprocal relationship with their biotic community, and operating at the far reaches of efficiency. Zero energy was not just cool, it reflected a higher, deeper system of design thinking fundamentally based on nature and biomimetics.

What gets 10,000 people visit a nice but otherwise unremarkable townhome community? Zero Energy – zHome, 2012.

Zero Energy Brings People Together

In today’s complex times, perhaps the most compelling aspect of zero energy is represented by what I witnessed during the zHome open houses in 2012. I had directed development of this groundbreaking project, the first multifamily zero energy project in the United States. The team did a thorough job planning and marketing tours of the project, held over nine weekends. We ended up having 10,000 people visit the project for two, deep dive tours of the project. It wasn’t the numbers, though, that I found most compelling. It was the diversity of backgrounds. Yes, we had many NPR-listening, Seattle-dwelling urbanites make the trek out to the suburbs, but we also had just as many average folks. Perhaps the most gratifying crowd was the large numbers of visitors from east of the Cascades, the “red” part of the state. Zero energy brings together many threads: climate solutions, practicality, gee-whiz, can-do, high-tech, that transcend the typical narrative of today.

Zero Energy Drives Efficiency

So what else is zero energy good for? A lot more, actually.

Zero energy buildings provide a couple key self-limiting mechanisms to drive efficiency. These elements force buildings to reduce their Energy Use Intensity (EUI) to match the available renewable generation on site. Similarly, zero energy buildings have a self-reinforcing financial mechanism for efficient systems. A more efficient building results in the need for fewer renewables, which have substantial cost. While it is true that in the past, higher solar costs really reinforced this financial container—essentially almost anything you could dream up on the efficiency side would be less expensive per watt saved than renewable generation. But even at lower renewable prices, it still reinforces scouring the alternatives for efficiency gains.

Common Ground (Lopez Island, WA) -Photo Courtesy of Andrew Lee

Zero Energy Connects the Building and Occupant

Another powerful aspect of zero energy is that it tunes users into the energy performance of the buildings in which they live and work. In zero energy buildings, systems are so efficient that typically, the single largest loads are from the users. Zero energy performance rests in the hands of the occupant, which is perhaps more effective than any other strategy to reduce their usage. Related to this is zero energy’s reinforcement of self-identification with next-generation energy systems. Hosting a small power plant on your roof connects users with energy in a way that a power line does not.

Zero Energy Makes the Grid More Efficient

Zero energy buildings (ZEB) also place energy production at the point of use, meaning there is no line loss (at least when the ZEB is using the onsite production, but typically ZEB projects are in urban settings, where excess generation is used just offsite). The average line loss within the United States, for example, is 5%. That is a lot!

Photo courtesy of zHome

Zero Energy is Space Efficient

Roof-mounted offsetting solar also has lower impact on the environment that many larger utility scale renewables, which may form their own monoculture, especially when the installation sites are graded, graveled, and fenced. Roof space is an often underutilized asset, and zero energy buildings turn that into valuable space.

Zero Energy Supports Local Economies  and Stable Investment

Purchasing of building mounted renewable energy also supports the local economy. The majority of solar industry jobs are in installation, meaning zero energy buildings provide additional skilled labor jobs. Finally, for many people, real estate assets form the core, conservative component of their investment portfolio. Improving the quality of those assets by making them lower cost in operation, higher quality, and more durable, all reinforce their investment profile and benefit.

View from the top of the Bullitt Center in Seattle, WA Photo: Courtesy of Nic Lehoux

Recently, the International Living Future Institute released a new limited exception allowing renewables to be placed off-site, for tenant improvements, areas with grid constraints, and high-energy intensity/high density uses. In crafting the conditions under which this exception could be used, we drew from many of these beneficial elements of zero energy, seeking to rebuild it conceptually in albeit a deconstructed fashion.

In this era of climate obfuscation, tangible, positive climate solutions are critical. While zero energy buildings and communities don’t get us all the way to the energy end game (I’ll save that discussion for later), they are a really big part of it. We’re grateful to be one of the key zero energy leaders worldwide, and look forward to resolving the fossil fuel conundrum together.