2016—Hayward leads again! The Hayward City Council recently directed staff to assure that all new municipal buildings, as well as significant retrofits of existing municipal buildings, be zero net energy (ZNE) buildings. Hayward will have buildings that produce as much energy as they consume over the course of a year and be “off the grid”. This goal depends on a significant use of solar photovoltaic panels and other technologies.

The California Public Utilities Commission’s Long Term Energy Efficiency Strategic Plan includes the following goals:

• all new residential buildings will be ZNE by 2020
• all new and 50% of existing state-owned public buildings will be ZNE by 2025
• all new and 50% of existing commercial buildings will be ZNE by 2030

Staff is already aggressively addressing this policy through construction of the new Library & Community Learning Center, which will be ZNE; and the retrofit of existing fire stations, most all of which will be retrofit with solar photovoltaic. However, Hayward’s policy takes formal effect beginning with new buildings and significant retrofits that are designed and constructed after January 1, 2017 – well in advance of the state’s goals.

“This is just one more way that Hayward is leading the way and working to achieve our climate action goals”, said Mayor Barbara Halliday. “If we are going to meet our greenhouse gas emission reduction target for 2050, all of our buildings will need to be ZNE.”

The City Council report and resulting formal resolution are available on Hayward’s Meeting and Agenda Center here.

Looking for more on ZNE? Click here.