What Is a Net Zero Building?

Let’s try to understand what a Net Zero Building really is. There are many recognised pathways to one, and we have chosen the most stringent and demanding path available to us: the one set out by the International Living Future Institute.

Our goal is not to get a building certified. It is to show a path of possibilities.

Creating a Net Zero Building is not a destination; it is a journey. There are three key milestones along the way.

Zero Energy

Requires 100% of the building’s energy needs, on a net annual basis, to be supplied by on-site renewable energy. No on-site combustion is allowed, and compliance is proven through a third-party audit of actual performance data over twelve months.

Zero Carbon

Strictly requires 100% of the building’s energy to be supplied by on-site renewables, with zero combustion. It also requires offsetting the embodied carbon associated with construction.

Living Building Challenge

The goal of the Living Building Challenge is to take this a step further. Rather than merely reducing harm, it requires projects to operate regeneratively, generating more energy than they use, capturing and treating all of their water, and avoiding toxic materials over a twelve-month operational period. It asks a building to amalgamate naturally into its environment and become like a plant or a tree: giving more to nature than it takes, while bringing beauty and a sense of regeneration to everyone around it.

There are multiple levels to this certification, with the final stage being crossing all twenty thresholds.