In cooperation with KIER and the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI), GABI hosted an intimate gathering of experts and professionals from the policy, technical, and business communities to discuss issues with respect to zero-energy buildings, homes, and construction.
Achieving net zero energy consumption in homes and buildings often entails a number of considerations: energy efficiency, renewable energy integration, and so forth. These characteristics, and the technical means to achieve them, need to be prioritized and harmonized for the system to function as a whole. Zero-energy concepts that are currently being developed and demonstrated have shown significant decreases in energy consumption over time—for instance, KIER’s Zero-Energy Solar House (ZeSH) showed reductions in energy consumption of up to 90% over the span of a year. In addition to technical considerations, there are a number of issues with respect to increasing deployment of zero-energy buildings: increasing market competitiveness and attractiveness, forming industry standards and guides, government support and incentives, public and consumer education, retrofitting, compatibility with surrounding buildings and communities, and so forth.
