Net Zero Energy (NZE), is generally thought of as the deployment of distributed renewable energy generation at the building/load location. It is offered as a key strategy in the effort to minimize and mitigate global climate change resulting from greenhouse gas emissions. But is this strategy and definition of NZE the best strategy to accomplish these goals for every building? Are there situations when NZE is not an appropriate design objective? What is the best strategy for minimizing global emissions? Should we create a new term instead of NZE? Our panel of energy professionals will present several perspectives on whether or not it makes sense to pursue NZE; or is there a better strategy for how to address net zero emissions.

Schools provide complex puzzles for the architects and engineers who engage them. In this panel discussion, two high performance firms and their construction and engineering partners will discuss the challenges and rewards of decision-making in an educational environment, and the value of a fully integrated design process. At the Proctor Academy, the new dining hall’s energy target was Net Zero. The complex load profile – especially the all-electric kitchen and its extensive make-up air requirements, presented the design team with a hefty challenge. At the Friends School of Portland, architect and builder engaged with the school’s building committee to create a building to embrace the community’s values of Simplicity, Integrity and Stewardship, and managed to deliver Maine’s first Passive House school building.

As the A&E industry continues to focus on improving the energy performance of buildings, it’s clear that some energy saving measures are outside the designer’s control. Occupants play a significant role when it comes to the energy used. We engage users to discuss space needs, environmental and aesthetic desires, yet we often do not discuss users’ roles in energy use. Designers must recognize the role occupants have on energy use and adjust our design process accordingly. Join us for an exploration of how design teams can bring occupants into the conversation about energy, equipment and building usage to help improve energy efficiency and help net zero energy projects meet energy use targets. This session will discuss how user engagement was incorporated in the design process on case study projects including the net-zero energy capable school for the NYC School district and the proposed net-zero energy King Open and Cambridge Street Upper schools in Cambridge, MA.

In May of 2011, TD Bank opened the first zero net energy bank in the United States. The LEED Platinum certified store, which is located in Ft Lauderdale, FL, achieved net zero operations in 2012, but missed it in the last month of 2013 by just 1,845 kWh. Net zero operations were again achieved in 2014 due to the project team and an aggressive monitoring process put in place to ensure net zero status would NEVER be missed again. In this session, we are ready to share the good along with the less than good... Can a coffee maker really cause you to miss your energy consumption target? We will answer that with REAL DATA from our measurement and verification reports and we will also show how TD and CBRE, the facility management partner, used the M&V information to drive operations. We will share what we learned at the outset of the project about the design and construction process, the issues that prevented us from achieving net zero operations in year two, and most importantly how we resolved the problems to ensure success in year three and beyond. Participants will leave this session with specific actions they can implement immediately to improve energy performance, as well as team dynamics. This presentation is NOT just for net zero projects but for ANY PROJECT that seeks to reduce energy consumption and have a highly functional facility management partnership.