Net Zero Energy Buildings: Variations, Clarifications, and Requirements in Response to the Paris Agreement

Haleh Moghaddasi,Charles Culp,Mehrdad Ehsani,Jorge Vanegas

doi:10.3390/en14133760

Abstract

Buildings contribute to greenhouse gas emissions that cause environmental impacts on climate change. Net Zero Energy (NZ) buildings would reduce greenhouse gases. The current definition of NZ lacks consensus and has created uncertainties, which cause delays in the adoption of NZ. This paper proposes a Process for Clarification to Accelerate the Net Zero (PC-A-NZ) through three integrated steps: variations, strategies, and requirements. We expand on the results in published NZ literature to clarify the differences in definition and strategy. The objective of this review is to (1) distinguish current variable parameters that are slowing the acceptance of NZ, and (2) focus the discussion internationally on moving faster toward applying NZ to a larger common agreement. The publications of global NZ target assessment and energy efficient strategies will be reviewed to address the main requirements in expediting NZ’s successful progress. Our NZ review analysis highlights (1) how the existing NZ definitions and criteria differ, (2) how calculation strategies vary, and (3) how standards and requirements are often localized. The proposed PC-A-NZ will help policymakers and stakeholders to re-evaluate the existing definitions, standards, and requirements to optimize the use of renewable technologies, improved energy efficiency and electrification to speed up achieving the NZ targets. Definition: There are multiple NZ definitions that vary in source and supply requirement, timescale, emission source, and grid connection.

Highlights

Net zero energy (NZ) is an increasingly important topic to the environment and climate change mitigations
In the NZ CO2 emissions by 2050 globally (NZE2050) analysis, International Energy Agency (IEA) addressed the required level of investments and implementation of clean energy technologies, and fuel mix to track the process of CO2 emission reduction by 2030 and NZ
With consideration of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on behavior changes, IEA reported the result from the NZE2050 analysis as follows: 1

Summary

Introduction

Net zero energy (NZ) is an increasingly important topic to the environment and climate change mitigations. According to the United Nations (UN) [1], the global population is predicted to increase to 8.5 billion by 2030 and reach 9.7 billion by 2100. This increasing population and continued use of non-renewable resources have caused severe environmental impacts on the climate [2,3,4]. In 2015, the Paris Agreement [6] raised an international effort toward climate mitigations, where 197 countries, including the three largest emitters of the world, China, the United. In the US, 33 states have adopted the Paris Agreement and some states, including New York and California, released carbon-neutral, NZ, or Net Zero Energy

Objectives

Results

Conclusion