Net zero movement aims to change the world (San Francisco)

Buildings that offset all of their own power needs could be a net win for the earth.

By now, most have heard the statistics: Buildings, both residential and commercial, account for nearly 39 percent of U.S. energy consumption — more than even the transportation industry which accounts for 28 percent — and nearly 38 percent of carbon dioxide emissions (most of which is attributed to pollution produced while generating electricity).

That’s why multiple projects in the Bay Area and elsewhere are being designed to meet the net-zero standard — to produce with renewable resources as much energy as they consume. And new regulations are pushing the building industry in that direction so that instead of one-off concept buildings, the building community is working on ways to make net-zero a possibility for all types of buildings.

Zeta Communities is one business on the cutting edge of the net-zero energy movement.

The San Francisco-based startup’s factory-built homes and buildings can meet the net-zero standard by using building materials like super-efficient insulation and windows that lower a structure’s total power needs, and by adding solar panels to offset the electricity that is used. Its live/work demonstration town home in Oakland was Zeta’s first net-zero project. To push its efficiency to the limit, Zeta used an automated energy control and monitoring system it calls zTherm, plus an air-to-air heat exchanger, heat recovery ventilator and efficient appliances. That townhome is being monitored for its performance by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to see if it performs as promised. Zeta has also replicated the model and has 62 other net-zero units in the works.

“It’s really a revolutionary change to the way buildings have been thought about,” said Naomi Porat, CEO of Zeta. “And it could change forever the way we think about buildings as great energy consumers, to (thinking about them as) great energy producers.” Zeta and others in the building industry believe these first projects will prove the potential of net-zero, but the real bang for the energy buck will be in large commercial buildings and in master planning whole neighborhoods and even cities to produce all of the energy they need with renewable sources.

Read the full story in the San Francisco Business Times.