News - NZEB

Berkeley to become the first in the nation to ban natural gas lines in homes

Image result for natural gas stove

With reports showcasing that the burning of natural gas has contributed to the 27% of Berkeley’s total greenhouse gas emissions in 2016, the city in a major move has become the first one in the nation to ban the installation of natural gas lines in new homes. The ordinance requires all new single-family homes, town homes and small apartment buildings to install electric infrastructure to replace natural gas. The move has been taken in accordance with the Climate Action Plan adopted by the city to reduce 80% of the emissions caused by greenhouses gas by the year 2050.

Announcing NZEB study tours

NZEB study tours facilitate knowledge-sharing about Net-Zero or Low-Energy Buildings. Participants visit operational high-performance buildings and interact with the operations team to gain on-field insights.

Upcoming tours

Participate in the rainwater harvesting #nzebindia photo contest!

July #nzebindia photocontest — July #nzeb photocontest

India is facing its worst water crisis right now, with 21 cities expected to run out of groundwater by 2020. Our best bet right now is RAINWATER. With the onset of the monsoons in most parts of the country, now is the time to act. Does your house, office or a building in your neighbourhood harvest rainwater?

Participate in this month’s photo contest. Clicking images of rainwater harvesting systems and share them on your social media by 26th May 2019. Don’t forget to tag us with #nzebindia. Winning entry will feature in our next newsletter.

June #nzebindia photocontest winner

The May ’19 #nzebindia photo contest winner!

Designplace.blr is the winner of the #nzebindia photo contest for May! It beautifully captures the time-tested ability of courtyards to bring diffused daylight indoors. We also want to give a special mention to the following entries.

Daylighting in a retail store, by Vaishali

This May, we launched a photo contest that got people to observe daylight in the buildings they frequented, click pictures and share these with #nzebindia on Instagram or Facebook. The idea was to observe and appreciate buildings that account for adequate daylighting and thus lower artificial light energy demand, a key step in reaching Net Zero Energy. At the end of the 10-day campaign, we received 54 entries across Instagram and Facebook.

The Global Net-Zero Energy Homes Market to Increase by 28% between 2019 and 2028.

The Net-zero homes market stock is on the rise which is primarily driven by the increase in the installation of renewable energy technologies. The stock is expected to increase from 57,800 households in 2019 to 534,500 households in 2028. Europe is expected to lead the markets due to its ambitious net-zero homes regulations.

U.S Mayors Form Coalition with C40 for Making all New Buildings Net-Zero by 2030.

In the United States, buildings generate half of the greenhouses gases for many of the cities. In a major move, around 19 majors of various U.S states such as New York, Los Angles, Portland and Chicago have come together along with C40 which is a group for climate change. The coalition have come together to propose a plan to make all new buildings net-zero by 2030.

UK’s Chief Climate Change Advisory Body proposal urges Britain to become a Net-Zero greenhouse emitter by 2050.

The Committee on Climate Change (CCC), which is the chief climate change advisory body of Britain has proposed that the United Kingdom should adopt the most stringent policy to completely cut down greenhouse gases by the year 2050. The proposal has further laid out a case for the sequestration of carbon through technology or trees. The report while noting the technical and financial difficulties of such a major transition, urges communities to make big changes to curb climate change.Though most of the work would have to be carried out by future administrations, the proposal is a significant first step towards curbing emissions.

Utah announces Advanced Clean Energy Storage (ACES), the World’s Largest Renewable Energy Storage Project

In central Utah, there are times in a day when the demand for electricity is lower than its production. This has led to the curtailment of renewable energy as well as negative pricing. To combat this, many gigawatt-hours of storage energy is required to serve western USA. Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS) and Magnum Development have come together along with the governor of Utah to announce the world’s largest renewable energy storage system to lead Utah to a decarbonized future. The storage technologies will include:

Renewable hydrogen
Compressed Air Energy Storage
Large scale flow batteries
Solid oxide fuel cells

In a giant leap towards the environment, Luxembourg to become the first country to make all public transport free

With a population of around 1,10,000 people and a further 4,00,000 who commute to the city for work, Luxembourg suffers with some of the worst traffic congestion in the world. In a bid to rectify the problem, the newly re-elected government led by Xavier Bettel has vowed to prioritize the environment in his election campaigns. Though in its nascent stage, the policy to abolish all tickets for public transportation would be enforced from 2020.

Glasgow and Edinburgh compete to become UK’s first net-zero emissions city

In line with the climate goals prescribed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, both Glasgow and Edinburgh have set stringent targets which go beyond Scotland’s goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2045.

While Glasgow’s energy sector is dominated by wind, the city is looking to decarbonise transport and heat while increasing renewable energy sources. Edinburgh is looking to reduce its carbon emissions through upping its renewable energy sources, constructing energy efficient buildings and producing food locally.

Desert Rain House: The first residential building to achieve the rigorous Living Building Challenge Certification

The Desert Rain House is a 2236 sq.ft, one storey residential building located in Bend, Oregon. It has been conceived with the idea of constructing an ‘extreme dream green home’ in the year 2008. The building consists of the main residence, a detached guest house, a second detached guest house/ office studio and garages. Some of the key features of the building are:

100% Net zero in terms of energy.
100% self-contained rainwater collection.
100% processing of waste water.
Carbon neutral.
35% of the site area used for food production.
A Biophilic approach to design and selection of materials.

Massachusetts looks towards adopting a net-zero building code

In a bid to achieve its climate goals of reducing 80% carbon emissions by the year 2050, Massachusetts is considering the implementation of an updated code which pushes buildings to generate as much energy as they consume.

While there have been contentions that a net-zero policy would put too much emphasis on an individual building rather than a neighbourhood, some of the state’s municipalities are interested in pushing the boundaries of sustainability and choosing tighter energy requirements. The intent is to create highly energy efficient buildings on the limited undeveloped spaces to effectively focus on pollution reductions.