Zero Net Energy Homes
The new buzzword in architecture circles is Zero Net Energy homes. Now as a marketing term, this is fantastic as the consumer can immediately understand what is meant. However in terms of a methodology which has some sort of credibility, the term needs a lot more work.
When we talk about a Zero Net Energy home, do we actually count the embodied energy of the home? Because if so, then the degradation of the building materials over the life of the building, must be included in the energy balance sheet. In other words, in order to achieve Zero Net Energy, the house must generate not only the occupants’ energy requirements but ALSO produce energy equivalent to the embodied energy of the house over its life.
This is surely not easy to achieve. But that is surely the true meaning of the term.