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The World Green Building Council (GBC) announced a project last week that it hopes will help ensure all buildings are net zero by 2050.
Called Advancing Net Zero, the WorldGBC and affiliated green building councils will roll out net zero building certification and training. The hope is that these highly efficient buildings will become commonplace over the next 35 years.
The green building councils involved are in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, the Netherlands, South Africa and Sweden. Architecture 2030 will be what they’re calling the Lead Partner to WorldGBC providing technical expertise to some participants. Architecture 2030 is a non-profit based in Santa Fe, N.M. It works to reduce carbon emissions from buildings.
The WorldGBC was in Paris for the U.N. climate meeting last December, where it made a high-profile commitment on behalf of itself, its 74 green building councils and their 27,000 member companies, to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the buildings sector by 84 gigatonnes by 2050 through construction of net zero buildings and what it calls "deep renovation." The term deep renovation means turning an older building into a net zero structure.
As part of the project, national green building councils are to develop action plans, with the aim of launching a national net zero certification. That certification could be a stand-alone program or added to existing certification tools. As well, each participating council will create specific net zero training for green building professionals and support the development of net zero demonstration projects in their own countries.
The long-term targets include:
all new buildings and major renovations should be net zero starting in 2030, meaning no buildings should be built below net zero standards beyond that year. All buildings should be net zero by 2050;
75,000 professionals trained in net zero building by 2030 and 300,000 by 2050; and
all green building councils which operate certification systems will have a net zero tool in place by 2030.
The project will focus on certification and training, but it is hoped that it will also encourage business and governments to adopt ambitious targets for net zero buildings.
In recent years, there has also been a blurring of the distinction between net zero energy and net zero carbon. Now, net zero refers to either. Just think of them as highly efficient buildings which consume net zero energy or emit net zero carbon (on an annual basis). All the energy needed to power the building must be renewable and generated on site.
As knowledge of net zero design grows, the concept has evolved somewhat and the notion of an approach being "passive" or "active" is fading. In the 1970s, energy-efficient buildings relied on simple thermal gain and storage. That’s part of net zero’s heritage. But as the idea of net zero took root and grew, it relied heavily on things like heat pumps and LED lighting.
Now though the best of net zero energy buildings combines both passive and active design concepts.
For example, the Bullitt Center in Seattle, Wash., uses a software package that uses real-time weather data to open and close windows depending on wind direction, providing natural cooling and ventilation when needed.
Those same windows also allow passive solar gain, but only during cooler months and only if the computerized system opens the exterior shades. The building’s design team used both passive and active concepts.
When the WorldGBC announced its program last week, its CEO, Terri Wills, said in a statement that that the advancement of net zero technologies will be a critical part of the overall plan to keep global warming to within 1.5 to two degrees above pre-industrial levels.
"Getting down to zero won’t be easy," he said. "This will be a long and challenging road, but…we can create a thriving market for highly efficient buildings and make net zero the new normal."
Korky Koroluk is an Ottawa-based freelance writer. Send comments to editor@journalofcommerce.com.
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