Co-author Peter Amerongen has five Net-Zero Energy (NZE) houses completed or under construction in the Edmonton area. Each home presented some unique design challenges, but common design approaches have emerged which can be extended into the design of larger structures. These include:
- True NZE construction requires some form of onsite energy generation, likely solar photovoltaic (PV) technology. The marginal cost per kW of this technology becomes the metric against which all design approaches or innovations are assessed.
- The cheapest way to meet this cost metric is to focus on energy conservation measures and technologies. No further energy technology investment is warranted when the cost of this incremental investment exceeds the marginal cost of additional PV technology.
- Energy modeling needs to become an early, iterative and ongoing discipline for every design team
- One supporting theme for all other elements in the design approach is a focus on simplicity; Simple, elegant solutions are more desirable, because they are usually less expensive and more reliable that competing approaches that meet the same efficiency goal.
The authors will elaborate on these ideas in the paper.