{"id":21062,"date":"2018-11-05T05:00:18","date_gmt":"2018-11-05T13:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/?p=21062"},"modified":"2020-12-25T01:25:18","modified_gmt":"2020-12-25T09:25:18","slug":"zeroing-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/zeroing-in\/","title":{"rendered":"Zeroing In"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Hood River (OR) Middle School Music and Science Building features a greenhouse and solar panels to support its net zero energy initiative. Credit: Michael Mathers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was a different era in 1997, when Portland, Ore.-based New Buildings Institute, a nonprofit organization that promotes energy performance improvements in commercial buildings, was founded. LEED and ENERGY STAR\u00ae<\/sup> buildings, Living Buildings, market adoption of renewable energy to any measurable degree\u2014all were yet to come.<\/p>\n

\u201cReducing energy use was almost exclusively driven by utility efficiency programs focusing largely on fluorescent lighting upgrades,\u201d NBI reflected recently. Today, At least 50% of customers have the option to purchase renewable electricity directly from their power supplier according to the U.S. Department of Energy.<\/p>\n

Energy conservation has become considerably more sophisticated in a report NBI recently released to coincide with the organization\u2019s 20th anniversary. While still small in relation to total buildings and floor space, zero building development in the U.S. is accelerating, according to the report.<\/p>\n

Zero energy buildings\u2014defined by the U.S. Department of Energy as a property or community where \u201con a source energy basis, the actual annual delivered energy is less than or equal to the on-site renewable exported energy\u201d\u2014are gaining favor across virtually all property types.<\/p>\n

The recent NBI report, \u201cGetting to Zero Status Update and List of Zero Energy Projects,\u201d highlights nearly 500 zero energy commercial building projects across the U.S. Projects owned by for-profit companies account for 26% of the list.\u00a0 Privately held buildings account for 46% of zero energy buildings, with K-12 schools representing 18%. By contrast, NBI\u2019s first Getting to Zero Status Update in 2012 reported just 60 commercial and multifamily buildings or projects that were either verified as zero energy or approaching that level.<\/p>\n

Zero energy buildings had the potential to grow in popularity, Greg Zimmerman, executive editor of FacilitiesNet, said in 2010, because they are \u201cthe embodiment of sustainability because net-zero is a model that is self-contained\u2014no outside resources are required and the model can therefore be sustained ad infinitum.\u201d Furthermore, with green buildings becoming more common, a net-zero energy approach \u201cwill be a powerful method of market differentiation,\u201d as well as \u201can essential element of any strategy to address climate change.\u201d<\/p>\n

The highest growth in new projects is in residential. A 2016 survey identified more than 8,000 housing units in the U.S. and Canada, a third more than the previous year, with the number of projects increasing by 82%. \u201cGiven the increasing number and power of market and policy drivers pushing for more [zero energy] homes, this growth will likely continue in the coming years,\u201d the NBI report says. The report quotes Gene Myers, CEO of Denver-based Thrive Home Builders: \u201cZero energy has done more to define our brand than any other strategy we have used. Various programs that incrementally reduce energy consumption lack the impact of zero energy.\u00a0 We call it the Power of Zero.\u201d<\/p>\n

A key step in that progress was the evolution of enabling technology. In 2010, Nadav Malin, president and CEO of building design and construction consultant BuildingGreen, said, \u201cAchieving a net-zero building with today\u2019s technologies and occupant expectations is hard,\u201d with any aspiring net zero building having to \u201cfirst achieve significant load reductions and system efficiencies, and then meet the remaining loads with onsite energy generation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since then, a multitude of factors converged to push zero energy buildings, including improved energy storage capabilities, better energy tracking capabilities, growing climate concerns, expanding private sector involvement and government policies favoring zero energy achievement. The progress to date and the projects examined in the report \u201care proof positive that zero energy design and operation is feasible in every climate, market sector, size, and building type across U.S. and Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n

Building designers and maintenance employees know that it\u2019s easier to reduce a building\u2019s energy consumption than to buy an equivalent amount of renewables. This is where building management software comes in, relieving human facilities employees from the overwhelming, if not impossible, task of keeping tabs on the multitude of internal and factors influencing a building\u2019s energy consumption. For example, intelligent building energy management systems can create an automated, interconnected environment that actively optimize energy consumption and create meaningful analytics and alerts through fault detection and diagnostics systems. Artificial intelligence applications identify energy use baselines upon which future actions can be predicted.<\/p>\n

DoE says, \u201cAchieving zero energy is an ambitious yet increasingly achievable goal that is gaining momentum across geographic regions and markets. Private commercial property owners have a growing interest in developing zero energy buildings to meet their corporate goals, and in response to regulatory mandates, federal government agencies and many state and local governments are beginning to move toward zero energy building targets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Willpower is perhaps the most important energy in achieving this goal. As Malin noted, \u201cIt\u2019s not all about technology and design. No matter how cleverly they are built, we won\u2019t have net-zero buildings or communities unless we change the way that we live and work in them. That\u2019s a challenge that we\u2019re all facing together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Learn how an intelligent energy optimization solution from Yardi helped LBA Realty<\/a> achieve annual savings of over 4 million kWh at a Class A office space campus.<\/p>\n

Read NBI\u2019s \u201cGetting to Zero Status<\/a> Update and List of Zero Energy Projects\u201d report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was a different era in 1997, when Portland, Ore.-based New Buildings Institute, a nonprofit organization that promotes energy performance improvements in commercial buildings, was founded. LEED and ENERGY STAR\u00ae buildings, Living Buildings, market adoption of renewable energy to any measurable degree\u2014all were yet to come. \u201cReducing energy use was almost exclusively driven by utility […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":21063,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_s2mail":"yes","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2472,4],"tags":[184,2519,1675,2064,1946,2572],"class_list":["post-21062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","category-news","tag-net-zero","tag-smart-energy","tag-yardi-energy","tag-yardi-smart-energy","tag-yardi-smart-energy-suite","tag-zero-energy-buildings"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nYardi Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It was a different era in 1997, when Portland, Ore.-based New Buildings Institute, a nonprofit organization that promotes energy performance improvements\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Zeroing In\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It was a different era in 1997, when Portland, Ore.-based New Buildings Institute, a nonprofit organization that promotes energy performance improvements\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/zeroing-in\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Yardi Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-11-05T13:00:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-12-25T09:25:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2018\/10\/Hood_River-net-zero.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"396\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Joel Nelson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Joel Nelson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/zeroing-in\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/zeroing-in\/\",\"name\":\"Zeroing In - Yardi Corporate Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/zeroing-in\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/zeroing-in\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2018\/10\/Hood_River-net-zero.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-11-05T13:00:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-12-25T09:25:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/04eb5f3b4bd7f02475913d5982a422c8\"},\"description\":\"It was a different era in 1997, when Portland, Ore.-based New Buildings Institute, a nonprofit organization that promotes energy performance improvements\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/zeroing-in\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/zeroing-in\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/zeroing-in\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2018\/10\/Hood_River-net-zero.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2018\/10\/Hood_River-net-zero.jpg\",\"width\":600,\"height\":396},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/zeroing-in\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Zeroing In\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Yardi Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/04eb5f3b4bd7f02475913d5982a422c8\",\"name\":\"Joel Nelson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/02\/JoelNelsonHeadshot.jpg?w=69\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/02\/JoelNelsonHeadshot.jpg?w=69\",\"caption\":\"Joel Nelson\"},\"description\":\"Joel Nelson, senior marketing writer, joined Yardi in 2007. His byline has appeared in New York Real Estate Journal, Canadian Property Management and Los Angeles Lawyer, among others. He has won multiple awards from major professional organizations including the International Association of Business Communicators and Public Communicators of Los Angeles. Joel earned a bachelor\u2019s degree from Pomona College.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/joel-nelson-aa363113\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/author\/joel-nelson\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Yardi Blog","description":"It was a different era in 1997, when Portland, Ore.-based New Buildings Institute, a nonprofit organization that promotes energy performance improvements","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Zeroing In","og_description":"It was a different era in 1997, when Portland, Ore.-based New Buildings Institute, a nonprofit organization that promotes energy performance improvements","og_url":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/zeroing-in\/","og_site_name":"Yardi Blog","article_published_time":"2018-11-05T13:00:18+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-12-25T09:25:18+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":396,"url":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2018\/10\/Hood_River-net-zero.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Joel Nelson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Joel Nelson","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/zeroing-in\/","url":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/zeroing-in\/","name":"Zeroing In - Yardi Corporate Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/zeroing-in\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/zeroing-in\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2018\/10\/Hood_River-net-zero.jpg","datePublished":"2018-11-05T13:00:18+00:00","dateModified":"2020-12-25T09:25:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/04eb5f3b4bd7f02475913d5982a422c8"},"description":"It was a different era in 1997, when Portland, Ore.-based New Buildings Institute, a nonprofit organization that promotes energy performance improvements","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/zeroing-in\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/zeroing-in\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/zeroing-in\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2018\/10\/Hood_River-net-zero.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2018\/10\/Hood_River-net-zero.jpg","width":600,"height":396},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/zeroing-in\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Zeroing In"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/","name":"Yardi Blog","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/04eb5f3b4bd7f02475913d5982a422c8","name":"Joel Nelson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/02\/JoelNelsonHeadshot.jpg?w=69","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/02\/JoelNelsonHeadshot.jpg?w=69","caption":"Joel Nelson"},"description":"Joel Nelson, senior marketing writer, joined Yardi in 2007. His byline has appeared in New York Real Estate Journal, Canadian Property Management and Los Angeles Lawyer, among others. He has won multiple awards from major professional organizations including the International Association of Business Communicators and Public Communicators of Los Angeles. Joel earned a bachelor\u2019s degree from Pomona College.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/joel-nelson-aa363113\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/author\/joel-nelson\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2018\/10\/Hood_River-net-zero.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/610"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21062"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21062\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21159,"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21062\/revisions\/21159"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}