News - NZEB

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.

Structure cooling – Low energy viable solution for comfort cooling for un-insulated buildings in India

A developing economy and a predominantly hot climate means increased demand for new buildings as well as for air conditioning. In India, about 70% of the buildings required by 2030 are yet to be built. The share of room air conditioners in total electricity consumption will increase from 7% in 2016 to 26% by 2050. How can this demand be met in a sustainable manner?.

The way forward is to find viable and scalable cooling solutions that provide comfort without contributing to climate change.

Low energy solutions such as structure cooling present a viable solution for providing comfort using significantly less energy and even holding the potential to meet that requirement through renewable.

In this technique, the temperature of walls and floor is kept at a temperature lower than the body temperature of the occupants. Thus the skin will lose heat to the cooler surroundings by radiation. This approach is different from air-based systems where the thermal mass of the structure is used to an advantage and hence it can retain the “coolth” for a longer time compared to cooling air which has very low thermal capacity.

Participate in the #nzebindia Contest and get featured !

: #nzebindia contest

Daylight is key to enhancing indoor environment and energy conservation. Here’s your chance to inspire others by taking a stunning photo of a good daylit space! Take a photo of a real daylit space, post it on social media, mention location and #nzebindia BY 26th May, 2019.

The winner will be featured on our page and NZEB website!

This contest is open to all.. So please share it with your friends and colleagues !

Living Building guidelines for this affordable housing pilot shows that net positive energy is a possibility

Affordable housing sector has been more elusive to sustainable design. It is a special challenge because it is fairly conventional in design, face aggressive schedules, value engineering, and strict development requirements. The Living Building Challenge, regarded as one of the most stringent high-performance building standards, presents a framework for sustainable affordable housing building, developed on the basis of pilot programs with the industry.

Read more and download the framework here

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