Zero Energy Buildings

A Common Definition for Zero Energy Buildings

Thousands of project teams throughout the country seek to push the envelope and develop zero energy buildings. A zero-energy building produces enough renewable energy to meet its own annual energy consumption requirements, thereby reducing the use of non-renewable energy in the building sector. This definition also applies to campuses, portfolios, and communities.

"A zero-energy building, also known as a zero net energy (ZNE) building, net-zero energy building (NZEB), net-zero building or zero carbon building is a building with zero net energy consumption. These buildings consequently contribute less overall greenhouse gas to the atmosphere than similar buildings. They do at times consume non-renewable energy and produce greenhouse gases, but at other times reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas production elsewhere by the same amount. A similar concept approved and implemented by the European Union and other agreeing countries is nearly zero energy building (nZEB), with the goal of having all buildings in the region under nZEB standards by 2020.

Even though a building with ‘nearly zero energy consumption’ has a higher initial cost, the benefits of its construction are remarkable.

·        Not affected by a future increase in energy costs

·        Offer improved thermal comfort due to the uniform internal building temperature

·        Have hardly any energy requirements, thus, hardly any operational cost to cover the energy needs of the building

·        Enjoy reduced overall net monthly cost of living and offer a higher quality of life

·        Offer Improved reliability – many technologies for renewable energy resources and energy conservation have a long lifespan and low maintenance cost

·        Have a higher resale value

·        Contribute to the protection of the environment as nearly zero energy consumption means nearly zero emissions which cause the greenhouse effect

·        Exemption of possible future legal restrictions; from taxes on carbon dioxide emissions to mandatory energy renovations which are costly

·        Helps significantly to improve the building’s aesthetics

Any building or construction characterized by ZNE consumption and zero carbon emissions calculated over a period. Zero-energy buildings (ZEBs) usually use less energy than traditional buildings as well as generate their own energy on site to use in the building; hence, many are independent of the national (electricity) grid. ZEBs have emerged in response to stringent environmental standards, both regulatory and voluntary, introduced to address increasingly significant environmental issues such as climate change, natural resource conservation, pollution, ecology, and population.

ZEBs need to produce their own energy on site to meet their electricity and heating or cooling needs. Various microgeneration technologies may be used to provide heat and electricity to the building, including the following:

·       Solar (solar hot water, photovoltaics [PV]).

·       Wind (wind turbines).

·       Biomass (heaters and stoves, boilers, and community heating schemes).

·       Combined heat and power (CHP) and micro-CHP for use with natural gas, biomass, sewerage gas, and other biogases.

·       Community heating (including utilizing waste heat from large-scale power generation).

·       Heat pumps (air source [ASHP] and ground source [GSHP] and geothermal heating systems).

·       Water (small-scale hydropower).

·       Other (including fuel cells using hydrogen generated from any of the above renewable sources).

Sources

BTO (Building Technologies Office) - https://www.energy.gov/eere/buildings/building-technologies-office & https://www.energy.gov/eere/buildings/zero-energy-buildings

Internet Article - http://www.geg.com.cy/the-companies/energy-and-beyond/zero-energy-home/

Zero-energy building - https://en.wikipedia.org

(Encyclopedia Britannica, 2012)

SIGN UP

Energy Efficiency - "The New Era"

History shows that every technical application from its beginnings presents certain unforeseeable secondary effects which are more disastrous than the lack of the technique would have been.— Jacques Ellul

America fails to capture some two-thirds of the power it generates, much of it through simple waste, according to federal data.

Even Canadian government reports unwittingly acknowledge the starkness of the problem while calling for more efficiency. A 2013 study on energy trends, for example, lamented that “Canada was producing economic values more efficiently” but each household was using “a greater number of energy‐consuming goods and services per capita than in 1990.”

Energy efficiency is one of the most powerful resources we have for meeting our energy and environmental goals. It is also an enormous economic opportunity.

Setting aside the significant environmental impact, this energy waste costs American businesses and households billions of dollars every year. In commercial buildings alone, where annual electricity costs are roughly $190 billion, about 30 percent of this energy goes to waste.

The Challenges Ahead are:
1- The magnitude of energy efficiency savings must be increasing dramatically;
2- The sources of energy efficiency savings must diversify;
3- Measuring and ensuring the persistence of energy efficiency savings must become commonplace;
4- Energy efficiency outcomes must be integrated with a carbon reduction framework, and
5-Energy efficiency must be understood and valued as part of an evolving grid, with utility-scale renewables, distributed energy resources (DERs), and significant load variability.

Energy conservation involves both reducing what we use and using it more efficiently. The terms energy efficiency implies that the activity or task can be accomplished using less energy, while energy conservation implies that there is less need for a particular activity in the first place. In other words, conserving energy means less activity thereby reducing consumption.

Both energy efficiency and energy conservation have an economic benefit because they lower energy costs by reducing demand, as well as reducing the environmental impact of harmful emissions. The issue here, of course, is not that we use or waste energy in our daily lives, it's about the type of energy we consume and the effects it has on other aspects of our lives, for example, our environment, our health and our general standard of comfort and living.

Sources:
Why Is America Wasting So Much Energy? - Article By Terry Sobolewski and Ralph Cavanagh Nov. 7, 2017
The Next Level of Energy Efficiency. Article By Dian M.Grueneich
August 2015.
The Curse of Energy Efficiency. Article By Andrew Nikiforuk Feb 2018.

SIGN UP

Thermography OR Infrared Scanning

Thermography OR Infrared Scanning 

Energy auditors may use thermography -- or infrared scanning -- to detect thermal defects and air leakage in building envelopes.
Infrared thermography (IRT), thermal imaging, and thermal video are examples of infrared imaging science. Thermographic cameras usually detect radiation in the long-infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum (roughly 9,000–14,000 nanometers or 9–14 µm) and produce images of that radiation, called thermograms.

Thermography measures surface temperatures by using infrared video and still cameras. These tools see a light that is in the heat spectrum. Images on the video or film record the temperature variations of the building's skin, ranging from white for warm regions to black for cooler areas. The resulting images help the auditor determine whether insulation is needed. They also serve as a quality control tool, to ensure that insulation has been installed correctly.

A thermographic inspection is either an interior or exterior survey. The energy auditor decides which method would give the best results under certain weather conditions. Interior scans are more common because warm air escaping from a building does not always move through the walls in a straight line. Heat loss detected in one area of the outside wall might originate at some other location on the inside of the wall. Also, it is harder to detect temperature differences on the outside surface of the building during windy weather. Because of this difficulty, interior surveys are generally more accurate because they benefit from reduced air movement.

Infrared scanning allows energy auditors to check the effectiveness of insulation in a building's construction. The resulting thermograms help auditors determine whether a building needs insulation and wherein the building it should go. Because wet insulation conducts heat faster than dry insulation, thermographic scans of roofs can often detect roof leaks.

Thermographic scans are also commonly used with a blower door test running. The blower door helps exaggerate air leaking through defects in the building shell. Such air leaks appear as black streaks in the infrared camera's viewfinder.

Sources:
Energy Saver is the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE).
Wikipedia - Thermography.

SIGN UP

GHG (Greenhouse Gas ) Emissions

GHG (Greenhouse Gas ) Emissions

Climate change is one of the most important environmental issues of our time. Climate change is caused by the increase in concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. These increases are primarily due to human activities such as the use of fossil fuels or agriculture.

A greenhouse gas is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiant energy within the thermal infrared range. This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect.

Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions are the carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O) gases released into the atmosphere as a result of energy consumption at the property. GHG emissions are expressed in carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e), a universal unit of measure that combines the quantity and global warming potential of each greenhouse gas.

Emissions are reported in four categories, each is available as a total amount in metric tons (Metric Tons CO2e) or as an intensity value in kilograms per square foot (kgCO2e/ft2):

Direct Emissions – Direct Emissions are emissions associated with onsite fuel combustion (e.g. combustion of natural gas or fuel oil).

Indirect Emissions – Indirect Emissions are emissions associated with purchases of electricity, district steam, district hot water, or district chilled water. These emissions occur at your utility’s plant, but they are a result of your property’s energy consumption and therefore contribute to your overall GHG footprint.

Biomass Emissions– Biomass Emissions are emissions associated with biogenic fuels such as wood or biogas (captured methane). Biogenic fuels are combusted on site but do not contribute to direct emissions.

Total Emissions – Total Emissions is the sum of Direct Emissions and Indirect Emissions.

Sources:
Natural Resources Canada NRCan
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency EPA
ENERGY STAR
Wikipedia

SIGN UP

Energy Star Portfolio Manager - Overview

Energy Star Portfolio Manager - Overview

ESPM-(ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager) is a useful and well-designed online tool to measure and track energy and water consumption, along with the greenhouse gas emissions. The tool can benchmark the performance of a building or a complete portfolio of buildings. The required data inputs for ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager are energy bills and building’s basic information. The ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager Web-based solution can set an energy use target and see how much energy a property under design might use compared to similar existing buildings nationwide. In total, ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager can track more than 100 different metrics and uses them to compare a building’s performance against a yearly baseline, national medians, or similar buildings under a portfolio.

The ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager:
(1) assigns buildings an ENERGY STAR score between 1 and 100, which compares a building’s energy performance to similar buildings nationwide, (2) calculates a building’s greenhouse gas emissions from energy use, (3) allows comparing cost savings across buildings under a portfolio, (4) generates ENERGY STAR performance documents for each building by summarizing important energy information, and (5) allows for the sharing of performance data with others.

ESPM is a powerful Energy Management Tool – Helps business and organizations by offering a platform to:
Assess whole building energy and water consumption
Track changes in energy, water, greenhouse gas emissions, and cost over time
Track green power purchase
Share/report data with others
Create custom reports
Apply for ENERGY STAR certification

Energy management solutions, in brief, means to track energy utilization trends in your buildings, helping you increase operational efficiencies. Monitor and manage consumption in real-time and get alerts notifying you of changes, so you can proactively make adjustments and improve your bottom line.

We offer you free Consultancy, and you will have everything to gain and nothing to lose. Act now, our team will make it easy for you to discover our government rebates and taxes incentivizes which will make all the energy improvements within your hands. Our mutual co-operation and our powerful solutions are all that you need to succeed, improve your building performance, qualify for significant certificates like ENERGY STAR, BOMA, LEED, ...and save money. You will never worry or overpay again.

Sources:
Natural resources Canada NRCan
https://www.energystar.gov/buildings
Internet Article Written by Francis Palma, Ph.D., Research Scientist, Screaming Power Inc

SIGN UP

Source Energy

Source Energy

EPA(U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) has determined that source energy is the most equitable unit of evaluation. Source energy represents the total amount of raw fuel that is required to operate the building. It incorporates all transmission, delivery, and production losses. By taking all energy use into account, the score provides a complete assessment of energy efficiency in a building.

Commercial buildings use all types of energy, from electricity to natural gas to steam. To compare this diverse set of commercial buildings equitably, we must express the consumption of each type of energy in a single common unit.

We are familiar with site energy, which is the amount of heat and electricity consumed by a building as reflected in your utility bills. Looking at site energy can help us understand how the energy use for an individual building has changed over time. An image depicting the difference between the source and site energy.

Site energy may be delivered to a building in one of two forms: primary or secondary energy. Primary energy is the raw fuel that is burned to create heat and electricity, such as natural gas or fuel oil used in onsite generation. Secondary energy is the energy product (heat or electricity) created from a raw fuel, such as electricity purchased from the grid or heat received from a district steam system. A unit of primary and a unit of secondary energy consumed at the site are not directly comparable because one represents a raw fuel while the other represents a converted fuel.

Therefore, to assess the relative efficiencies of buildings with varying proportions of primary and secondary energy consumption, it is necessary to convert these two types of energy into equivalent units of raw fuel consumed to generate that one unit of energy consumed on-site. To achieve this equivalency, EPA uses source energy.

Using Median Site and Source Energy Use Intensity (EUI)

The national median source EUI is a recommended benchmark metric for all buildings. The median value is the middle of the national population – half of the buildings use more energy, half use less energy. The median works better than the mean (arithmetic average) for comparing relative energy performance because it more accurately reflects the mid-point of energy use for most property types and removes the effect of high-value outliers that may skew the data.

Sources:
Natural Resources Canada NRCan
https://www.energystar.gov/buildings/

SIGN UP

Energy Facts

Energy Facts

Energy, in physics, the capacity for doing work. It may exist in potential, kinetic, thermal, electrical, chemical, nuclear, or other various forms. There are, moreover, heat and work—i.e., energy in the process of transfer from one body to another. After it has been transferred, energy is always designated according to its nature. Hence, heat transferred may become thermal energy, while work is done may manifest itself in the form of mechanical energy.
About 5,000 years ago, the energy people consumed for their survival averaged about 12,000 kilocalories per person each day. In AD 1400, each person was consuming about twice as much energy (26,000 kilocalories). After the Industrial Revolution, the demand almost tripled to an average of 77,000 kilocalories per person in 1875. By 1975, it had tripled again to 230,000 kilocalories per person.
Energy is critically important to the Canadian economy as Canada is among the largest energy producers and the highest per-capita energy consumers in the world. Our nation’s prosperity and competitiveness are tied to achieving sustainable economic growth and a successful transition to a lower carbon future. Canada is committed to creating a cleaner environment for future generations by investing in clean technologies and increasing energy efficiency.
A wide variety of factors have an influence on the level of GHG emissions in Canada. In Canada, and around the world, almost 80% of GHG emissions from human activities come from energy consuming activities such as transportation, energy and electricity production, heating and cooling of buildings, the operation of appliances and equipment, production of goods, and the provision of services.
In general, Canadians use more energy because of our extreme temperatures, large land mass, and dispersed population.

SOURCES:
Natural Resources Canada NRCan
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Internet Article by By Karin Lehnardt, Senior Writer 2017

SIGN UP