Buildings are responsible for 30% of global energy consumption, significantly impacting organizations’ environmental footprints. Net zero buildings can help organizations achieve their sustainability goals and future-proof their buildings amid rapid regulatory, economic, and ecological changes. Developing resilience in energy availability is a concern for many facilities, as increasing extreme weather events and electrical infrastructure challenges strain the electrical grid, leading to power outages. Net zero buildings are well-suited for adopting technologies and strategies that enhance resilience.

Organizations aiming for resilience and carbon reduction must balance financial requirements, energy needs, and sustainability goals. A holistic approach is essential to develop and implement solutions that deliver value-creating outcomes.

Critical Decisions for Energy Efficiency

“Net zero” can refer to net zero energy or net zero carbon. Net zero energy involves both energy consumption and generation, while net zero can mean either net zero operational carbon or net zero whole life carbon. The most cost-effective approach to designing a net zero building starts with increasing energy efficiency to minimize energy consumption and carbon emissions.

When improving energy efficiency, organizations must consider their varied portfolio of equipment assets and infrastructure, at different lifecycle stages with different replacement needs. Understanding the current impact of equipment on energy efficiency, indoor environmental quality, and operations and maintenance expenses is crucial. The next step is to plan optimizations, upgrades, and replacements while minimizing (or preventing) operational disruptions, accounting for financial investment requirements, and leveraging funding from incentive programs.

Operational interventions can also reduce energy consumption. For example, modifying the timing of high heat-producing equipment can improve efficiency. Operational or behavioural energy-saving strategies can often be implemented inexpensively.

Energy efficiency helps reduce costs and carbon emissions and determines the critical load requirements a facility must meet with onsite generation to balance energy consumption with production or to offset it with renewable energy sources.

Critical Decisions for Fuel Sources and Electrification

Building electrification is crucial for minimizing onsite carbon emissions. As opposed to equipment and building systems that consume fossil fuels, such as natural gas furnaces, boilers, and water heaters, electrified equipment can use electricity from cleaner onsite energy production sources or supplied by the grid, providing a pathway to a lower carbon future. In 2021, 82% of Canada’s electricity was produced from non-greenhouse gas (non-GHG) emitting sources such as solar, hydro, wind and nuclear power.[1] Some municipalities have banned natural gas hookups in new construction, and many cities are considering adopting building standards requiring electrification of existing buildings.

Electrification should be considered alongside energy efficiency improvements to ensure all choices are evaluated to resilience and decarbonization targets. Understanding critical energy load requirements and balancing them against onsite generation and grid stability may lead to different choices across geographies and sectors. While electrified equipment may be the most desirable option from a decarbonization, dual-fuel equipment that supports near-term replacement requirements as well as future electrified operations may be more sensible in certain scenarios. Considering electrification and energy efficiency holistically can help maximize an organization’s ability to take advantage of incentives and funding opportunities and ensure operational resilience.

Critical Decisions for Onsite Power Generation

As climate change intensifies, power outages are expected to become more frequent. Between 2010 and 2019, insured losses from catastrophic weather events in Canada exceeded $18 billion CAD, with the frequency of such events tripling compared to the 1980s. Increased disruptions to facility operations pose a growing threat to an organization’s ability to fulfill its mission, making onsite generation and energy storage more important.

After evaluating and sequencing electrification and efficiency optimization opportunities, the amount of energy generation needed to offset consumption can be determined. An assessment of an organization’s risks, responsibilities, and priorities can identify a facility’s critical load—the power needed to ensure the safety and integrity of occupants, infrastructure, and data. This critical load dictates the minimum power that must always be available to maintain critical operations. A facility’s critical load and resilience requirements combined with its decarbonization goals will drive the appropriate choices for onsite generation technologies.

While a diesel or propane generators could technically achieve net zero energy (and may be the best option for stringent uptime requirements), the adoption of renewable energy sources is critical for reaching net zero carbon. Renewable energy sources such as solar panels and wind and water turbines may be the first options building owners consider for decarbonization goals. Cogeneration processes that utilize waste heat or biomass are also low emissions or zero-emissions alternatives that can be used to generate onsite power in limited applications. Guidehouse Insights estimates that, globally, solar currently accounts for more than 93% of total onsite renewable generation capacity for commercial, institutional, and industrial buildings, with that share expected to grow over the next decade.

If an organization implements renewable energy generation onsite, considering battery storage to ensure resilience during a power outage is critical. For utility worker safety, solar panels or wind turbines must disconnect during a grid outage and cannot supply power to grid-connected buildings without energy storage. However, solar panels connected to batteries can continue to charge them, and the batteries can supply power during an outage event, enhancing resilience.

Onsite energy storage may also provide benefits beyond backup power by acting as a potential revenue-generating resource or by insulating a facility from peak demand charges. In most places, grid-connected buildings with onsite solar panels can send excess generated power back to the grid through net metering, helping customers capitalize on excess production. Additionally, buildings can store renewable energy when utility-supplied energy is inexpensive and use stored energy during high utility demand to avoid peak demand charges. Depending on utility dynamics, net metering programs, peak demand, utility rate schemes, and local regulations, organizations may be able to use renewable energy and storage to generate income or manage energy costs

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