On Saturday, June 4, 2011, clean energy leader and Palo Alto resident Sven Thesen and family will open their new ultra energy-efficient home to the public and, through partnership with Plug In America, provide the opportunity to ride and drive the latest electric vehicles.

This 2,500 sq. ft. home, based on the European Passive House design, is projected to exceed LEED Platinum rating by at least 20% and use zero net energy. This will be among the first true "net-zero" homes in the state - aligning with the state's ambitious 2020 target.

California features the greatest number of zero-net energy (ZNE) buildings in the nation, and with the introduction of ambitious new ZNE goals - all new residential construction by 2020 and all new commercial construction by 2030 - ZNE has moved beyond bold concept to reality, just as "green building" did a few short years ago.

This FREE event will feature:

Join us for this unique opportunity to explore and learn about the benefits of ZNE building and to engage with public officials, business leaders, and members of the green building industry about the future of sustainable building practices in California.

Learn about innovations in:

For more information on the Thesen's home visit: www.projectgreenhome.org

Space is limited - register now!

On April 12th, the US Green Building Council’s Northern California Chapter hosted California Dreaming? - AB32 & Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) at the Googleplex in Mountain View.  Featured speakers included Rafael Reyes, Director of the Bay Area Climate Collaborative, and Wade Crowfoot, West Coast Political Director for the Environmental Defense Fund.

The event included a diverse discussion of items including existing policy and regulations related to global climate change and green building, current challenges associated with using a cap and trade program to address greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, zero net energy (ZNE) buildings, and energy management techniques including demand response.

Focusing on California’s Assembly Bill 32 (AB32), which aims to reduce GHG emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, and other state policies concerning green building such as CalGreen, Wade highlighted the present challenges and opportunities ahead for California as we strive to be at the forefront of GHG reduction.  With the implementation of federal policy and regulations to address GHG emissions inching forward at a snail’s pace, California continues to charge forward as the nation’s leader in sustainable development and implemenation of clean technologies.  

Shifting from policy to implementation, Reyes highlighted the current advances and trends in the green building realm, with a focus on ZNE and energy management.  Reyes highlighted the rapidly accelerating work in the space of ZNE, energy management, EVs, and demand response, and the great convergence of sustainable building and high-tech practices.

On March 24th, the Mountain View Coalition for Sustainable Planning hosted “Building Green, Today and Tomorrow” at the Googleplex, which showcased the advantages and benefits of green building. Josiah Raison of Design Ecology began his presentation by introducing  the “funnel theory” of City planning. Per this concept, Cities are like funnels, they channel in natural resources like water, food, and energy, and channel out waste products. This system has worked until very recently, as nature has been able to provide and absorb all that humans need and produce. However, this system is now breaking down, and we need to make changes to address the impacts we are having on the ecosystem.

The statistics provided by Mr. Raison were staggering.  For example, 39 percent of the fresh water utilized in the United States is used to cool power plants.  Mr. Raison emphasized the need  to build smarter and more sustainably in order to address this challenge.  One innovative concept he discussed was using a vegetated outer “skin” for buildings composed of local flora, which enables rainwater harvesting and filtering, and then utilizing the water to cool the building.  He closed by articulating that our development needs to be the solution.  If we continue to build everything the way we currently do, we will fail.  Ultimately, we need to make development ecologically net positive to ensure the health of our planet.

David Waldorf of Ferrari-Moe, focused on what improvements can be made to houses today to make them greener; including utilization of better insulation, increased natural lighting, passive solar, and maximization of energy efficiency. Mr. Waldorf shared photos and details about a number of retrofit projects that he has completed, and highlighted the importance of a skilled contractor who will do the job right. His take home message for the audience was that you don’t have to spend an exorbitant amount of money to convert houses from energy sinks to energy efficient machines that can make a net positive impact on the environment and our communities.

Recent years have seen the majority of Bay Area local governments adopt green building standards which address new construction.  A small percentage of those include requirements for large remodels of existing buildings.  However, the bulk of the need for energy efficiency is in existing buildings.  San Francisco's new energy efficiency ordinance moves to address that need.

The ordinance will require owners of existing non-residential buildings to determine how much energy each building consumes, and to annually disclose that information to the public. The new city code will also require commercial buildings over 10,000 square feet to conduct energy efficiency audits every five years in order to help the building owners and managers optimize building efficiency and utility savings.