What makes a home Net Zero?

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A net zero home has the ability to balance its energy requirements by using less energy and generating more than a standard home.  A successful system is dependent on finding a balance between the architectural design, engineering requirements and appropriate use of materials and mechanical/non-mechanical technologies.

Choices in materials, site specificity, light studies and appropriate technology minimizes external industrial inputs and maximizes earth's inherent natural assets.  From this resourcing perspective, We design an appropriate path for the realization of a building's energy needs - it's overall integration of form with performance.

"Net Zero buildings use energy efficiency–boosting measures and on-site renewable energy systems to create buildings that consume zero energy from utility-scale sources and produce net-zero carbon emissions on an annual basis. This solution replaces conventional building practices and energy consumption."1

(Source: Project Drawdown)

Most of us are acutely aware of the cost of heating and cooling our homes and keeping the lights on.  

When we calculate the energy required to manufacture all of the materials that will go into the building, we can put a number on the process.  The steel and concrete, harvesting and processing the timber, producing the windows, doors and appliances.  Once the home is completed, the energy then generated by the building itself through it’s solar panels, batteries, and other methods of storing energy as heat either goes back into the grid or is stored on-site in an earth battery.  A truly net zero building can offset what was used in construction over the lifetime of it’s use and performance.