Design Professional's Guide to Zero Net Energy Buildings

Carbon emissions from our business and office buildings are only getting worse each year. This essential guide will help you create ZNE (Zero Net Energy) buildings without sacrificing your designs or the way you do business.  ZNE buildings can help you produce a cost-effective and practical solutions to lowering your energy use and protecting the environment. Charles Eley takes experiences from over 40 years of work in the clean energy sector. Packed with examples and clear cut explanations that will help you understand more of the need for clean energy, this is a guide you won’t want to start your next building design without!

Table of Contents

Preface

But We Have One Earth

Sources, Sinks and the Earth’s Limits
Climate Change
United States Energy Use
ZNE Buildings

Smart Building Design

Long Life, Loose Fit
Form and Configuration
Building Envelope
Lighting Systems and Visual Comfort
Heating, Cooling, Ventilation and Thermal Comfort
How Low Can We Go

Here Comes the Sun

The Potential
Solar PV Technology
Cost Effectiveness and Financing
ZNE Feasibility

Energy Modeling

The Need for Energy Modeling
Comparing Options
Energy Performance Standards and Building Ratings
Fixing the Baseline
Scenario Analysis

Making It All Work

Project Delivery Methods
Comissioning
Building Management Systems
Managing the Stuff Inside

Metrics and Boundaries

Operational vs. Asset Assessments
Accounting for Energy Other Than Electricity
Defining Renewable Energy
Assessing ZNE for Multiple Buildings
Expanding the Boundary
Summary

ZNE for the Mainstream

Standards
Making the Market Work
ZNE and the Future Electric Utilities

Beyond ZNE

Indirect Building Energy Use
New Urbanism

A Vision for Our Grandchildren