The challenge of achieving a net zero, carbon neutral future is significant. In recent years, it has been compared to the NASA space program and JFK’s We Choose to Go to the Moon speech in 1962. The notion that although the challenge is immense, the American technological might is greater and the same way we achieved the near impossible in 1969, we can do the same with net zero energy.
This is not an accurate comparison; Kennedy faced a far greater challenge in 1962 as no one had previously been to the moon or had any idea how to get there. Net-zero is different.
The New Normal
This isn’t uncharted territory, we know how to achieve net-zero design and are incorporating these principles into buildings today. Technology is not the sole solution, although certainly plays a part. Today, personal choices and finances are the largest barriers to net-zero— it’s not a lack of technology, know-how, or skill. What we need is recalibration of how we design, build, finance our projects, and most importantly how we engage with our environment. Because if we already know how to accomplish this today, the difference between doing and not doing is not so great.
Part of the problem is how the concept of net-zero has been branded: net-zero energy sounds like an impossible feat, and that’s mostly because it is. Buildings need energy and likely always will; what they don’t need is to emit carbon dioxide. Fossil fuel burning for energy production emits millions of tonnes of CO2 and, although invisible to the eye, CO2 is tangible and measurable with one metric ton equaling a 25’ cube. Many of our most sustainable, LEED Platinum buildings today still operate in the realm of environmental degradation. A building that achieves an 80% reduction in energy demand is in an elite crowd, yet still is responsible for a sizable stack of CO2 “cubes.”
What is needed is not so much a progression of sustainable design but instead a bifurcation from current practices. Disruptive change is needed because of how “green” design has been considered thus far, analogous to the prototypical American lawn. Certainly natural in appearance but in reality far from it, often a carefully selected non-native monoculture species maintained through intensive irrigation and dichotomous additives like fertilizers and pesticides— making it fundamentally not part of nature. Buildings which reflect this contrived nature are vulnerable, fragmented, and much like the lawn, need constant maintenance to retain their health and functionality.
The future of net-zero doesn’t look like a monoculture. It’s messy, diverse, complex and connected resulting in an inherently more resilient and efficient system— both in operation and cost. Like nature, it relies upon virtuous, self-propagating cycles where the output of one flow becomes the input, feedstock for another. The first step is to reduce demand for energy within the design. Often a small reduction can be achieved through passive design strategies such as orientating a building to reduce direct solar gain. Next, a more substantial reduction can be realized through system selection and technology, whether it be a more efficient ventilation system or daylight sensors for lighting. In total, at least a 60% energy demand reduction should be implemented in order to viably produce, at minimum, the equivalent amount of energy on-site using carbon neutral sources.
The sources available will vary depending on geography, climate, project type and a myriad of other factors. At times they will be obvious, such as solar or wind power, whereas other times the solution may be disguised as a deficit, like compostable garbage or even human waste. Grid supplied energy should be minimized with the ultimate goal of producing more carbon-neutral energy than your facility consumes with any surplus returned to the grid.
Article originally posted on Perkins+Will’s Ideas+Buildings Blog | Author: Breeze Glazer
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Perkins+Will is an interdisciplinary, research-based architecture and design firm established in 1935 and founded on the belief that design has the power to transform lives and enhance communities. Each of the firm’s 24 offices focuses on local, regional and global work in a variety of practice areas. With hundreds of award-winning projects annually, Perkins+Will is ranked as one of the top global design firms. Perkins+Will is recognized as one of the industry’s preeminent sustainable design firms due to its innovative research, design tools, and expertise. The firm's 1,700 professionals are thought leaders developing 21st century solutions to inspire the creation of spaces in which clients and their communities work, heal, live, and learn. Social responsibility is a fundamental aspect of Perkins+Will’s culture and every year the company donates 1% of its design services to pro bono initiatives. In 2015, Fast Company ranked Perkins+Will among “The World’s Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Architecture.”