A helpful video the explains what a ZERO ENERGY building is.
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HOW DO YOU ACHIEVE ZERO ENERGY1. ZE goal from start of project.
2. Assemble knowledgeable design team. 3. Design to reduce the amount of energy a building uses through the most efficient envelope strategies and application of highly energy efficient technologies. Proper siting to take advantage of solar gain is important. 4. Design for the installation of onsite or nearby renewable generation to meet the energy needs of the building, primarily solar photovoltaic panels. 5.Design to optimize the way the building operates and how people use it, including management of plugged-in devices and system controls. Are ZE Buildings feasible?Yes. While the market share of ZE buildings is still small, there are numerous examples around the country, built by a variety of design teams and developers, across many different residential and commercial building types. Check out our ZE Examples page to read about them. In Amherst we already have the Hitchcock Center, the Kern Center, Crotty Hall, and the South Amherst Congregational Church as non-residential ZE buildings.
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What are the benefits of ze buildings?ZE buildings offer superior comfort and healthier places to work and live. Because ZE buildings use passive strategies such as natural ventilation and daylighting, they are more resilient to the impacts of climate change and are also less vulnerable to the instability of energy prices.
what buildings are we talking about and why public buildings?This bylaw refers to all new buildings and new building additions built by and for the Town of Amherst that cost more than $1 million. The public sector has a responsibility to “lead by example”. The public sector has a long investment horizon and is likely to be able to accept longer payback periods. The goal is to have energy efficient buildings become the norm in our communities. Amherst has an opportunity to lead the way.
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why do we need a bylaw?Getting to Zero Energy requires an unwavering commitment to achieving zero energy from the start of the building feasibility process. By enacting a bylaw we can guarantee that this performance standard is included in decision making and that it cannot be "value engineered" as the project evolves. People with experience in zero energy projects know that those project teams need a zero energy 'champion.' We are asking Town Meeting and the citizens of Amherst to be those champions.
Why is it important to make buildings ze?Buildings consume 54 percent of energy used annually in Massachusetts. Emergency measures must be taken to prevent catastrophic increase in global warming that will trigger irreversible changes to our biosphere. Energy efficiency improvements in design and operations substantially reduce the costs and environmental impacts associated with buildings. With rising energy costs, and increasing climate-related impacts and natural disasters, ZE buildings help reduce our demand for fossil fuel burning and provide more resilience to climate impacts.
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does ZE mean all fuels or electric only?Under the language of this bylaw no fossil fuel is allowed except for emergency generators. Both air-source and ground-source heat pumps which use electricity can be used for heat and air conditioning. Fossil fuels for vehicles are not included in the bylaw—though we look forward to seeing the Town add to their fleet of electric vehicles.
how do we know a building meets ze performance?Metered data will tell whether the building has met a ZE standard–both energy used by the building and generated by the renewable resources. Because ZE buildings achieve
this status over the course of a year, data at full occupancy for 12 consecutive months is required to verify net zero energy use. what is massachusetts doing to advance ze buildings?Under Governor Patrick’s administration a Zero Net Energy initiative was begun with a goal of all state buildings being ZNE by 2030. There was a grant program for municipalities and state institutions. The initiative is still on the books but the Baker administration has not reactivated it.
Our state has a Clean Energy and Climate Action Plan that is part of the Global Warming and Solutions Act of 2009. The long-term goal is to reduce emissions by 80%, relative to the 1990 baseline level, by 2050. The 2015 Plan update identified energy efficiency in new construction as the most cost effective way for the buildings sector to reduce emissions between 2015 and 2050. A Net Zero Buildings Task Force release a report Getting to Net Zero in 2009. More recently a Pathways to Net Zero grant and technical assistance program was started to accelerate policy and implementation in this area. (Please see our Links page for these resources) What are other communities doing?
We don't know of any communities with a new town building Zero Energy bylaw, but other cities and towns have implemented regulations about ZE buildings. Santa Monica, CA required all new single family homes built after 2017 to be ZE. Read about it here.
Cambridge, MA has a comprehensive plan for getting to a Net Zero community. They target new ZE municipal buildings by 2020, new single family residential buildings to be ZE by 2022, and commercial and multi-family by 2025. doez ze = zero utility billA ZE building means that sometimes a building will draw energy from the grid when renewable generation is low (ie in the winter) and other times it will return energy to the grid when it generates more than is used. Since the buildings is connected to the grid, there are always ongoing charges from the utility for maintenance of transmission and distribution lines beyond the cost of energy, so there would be a small utility bill.
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what are the additional costs to ze?There are examples of commercial and public buildings achieving ZE at little or no additional cost. Low-cost examples are usually due to trade-offs made by the project team during the integrated design process. Several studies have found the incremental cost of ZNE buildings to be in the range of 0-15% more than conventional construction costs. This incremental cost is for design and construction only, and does not consider the cost savings of lower energy use to operate the building over time.
What about the federal
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