California Climate & Energy Collaborative

Zero net energy buildings reach new communities, promising savings and renewable energy

Sarina Soor
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“In May 2017, Santa Clara, California, became the first city in the world to include ZNE requirements in its building code, requiring all new single-family residential construction to be ZNE. Cambridge, Massachusetts, plans to follow Santa Monica’s footsteps with goals to phase in ZNE in all new construction between 2020 and 2030 starting with commercial…

Accelerating toward zero

Sarina Soor
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“The push for net-zero buildings began a decade ago when the California Public Utilities Commission adopted the goal that all new residential construction in California would be zero net energy by 2020, and all new commercial construction in California would be zero net energy by 2030. Menlo Park architect Karen Zak, a former planning commissioner,…

The Key Components of Zero Energy Buildings

Sarina Soor
“Commercial and residential buildings are a drain on energy; close to 48% of energy in the US goes towards powering such buildings. Constructing — and maintaining — a zero energy building should follow several key components. According to rdmag.com, the key components of a zero energy building include simple, off-the-shelf technologies beginning with energy modeling…

Webinar: Financing and Incentives to Foster Zero Net Energy – Oct 31

Sarina Soor
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The Center for Sustainable Energy invites city officials, building owners, facility managers and contractors to attend a free webinar on October 31st, 2017 that will showcase financing products and incentive programs for energy efficiency and renewable technologies available to support zero net energy (ZNE) projects. Panelists will discuss funding amounts, eligible technologies, and sectors-and other…

Getting to Zero: ZNE Project Guide from the New Buildings Institute

Sarina Soor
The Getting to Zero: ZNE Project Guide combines the steps that successful ZNE building teams implement with existing ZNE tools and resources.  The guide outlines the importance of gaining stakeholder awareness, setting energy goals and targets, thoughtful team selection, finance and incentive opportunities, smart early design/design and construction considerations, project hand-off, and the unique operation…

EPRI Outlines R&D Plans for California’s Largest Zero Net Energy Home Community

Sarina Soor
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The largest zero net energy (ZNE) community of single-family homes in California will serve as a multi-year living laboratory when Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) researchers begin to monitor and analyze the benefits and impacts of smart and grid-connected homes. A collaborative team, including De Young Properties, EPRI, BIRAenergy, and Pacific Gas and Electric, unveiled…

Free Webinar – Achieving Zero Net Energy for Multifamily Housing

Sarina Soor
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The Center for Sustainable Energy (CSE) invites city officials, multifamily building owners, facility managers and contractors to attend a free webinar that will showcase start-to-finish resources for reaching zero net energy (ZNE) in the multifamily building sector. Panelists will discuss the regulatory landscape and evolving ZNE solutions, how to create a realistic ZNE capital improvement…

ZNE Support for Local Governments from NBI

Sarina Soor
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The New Buildings Institute will be offering a variety of customized services to assist jurisdictions on their way to ZNE.  Services may include:  answering general ZNE questions, supporting ZNE code and policy, strategic planning, project charrette facilitation, ZNE building policy analysis, staff training, building portfolio assessment.If More information will be provided soon but if you…

Seventh Annual Zero Net Energy Design Competition

Sarina Soor
PG&E and the American Institute of Architects, California Council announced the seventh annual Architecture at Zero competition for zero net energy building designs. The competition is open for entries from students and professionals worldwide now through January 30, 2018. Click here to read the full announcement and to find out how to apply. www.architectureatzero.com

Monday June 5th – CPUC ZNE Action Plans Residential/Commercial

Sarina Soor
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ZNE Residential Action Plan How does the Action Plan connect with the 2018-2025 Program Administrator Business Plans? Where should the CPUC focus? Where should the stakeholders focus? June 5, 2017|9:00 am -12:00 pm REGISTER: https://zneresidentialjune5.eventbrite.com Commercial ZNE Action Plan update How do the 2018-2025 Program Administrator Business Plans inform the goals to update the Commercial ZNE Action…

Berkeley Lab Helps California Get to Zero Net Energy Homes

Sarina Soor
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Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will have two projects focused on improving ZNE homes, looking at barriers to ZNE implementation and the mitigating air contamination in the “tighter” ZNE building envelope. One the projects will include an analysis of the cost-effectiveness of various approaches to lowering energy use in single family and multifamily homes, such as comparing…

CEC Workshop on High Performance Envelope and Domestic Hot Water Measures for the 2019 Residential Standards

Sarina Soor
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California Energy Commission staff will conduct a workshop to gather stakeholder input on the development of the 2019 Building Energy Efficiency Standards (2019 Standards). The workshop will be held on: Thursday, June 1, 2017 9:00 a.m. CALIFORNIA ENERGY COMMISSION 1516 Ninth Street First Floor, Rosenfeld Hearing Room Sacramento, California (Wheelchair Accessible) Remote Access Available by…