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Zero Net Energy - October 20, 2022

by gmoke Fri Oct 21st, 2022 at 03:44:35 AM EST

An energy rule of thumb is one third of energy goes to buildings, one third goes to industry, one third goes to transportation.  The technology is certainly available to reduce the energy that goes to buildings drastically, nearly to zero even in retrofitting existing ones.  If we got serious about it, we could do quite a lot to reduce that third of all energy that goes to heat, cool, and power buildings.

Unfortunately, it seems even with a carbon war going on in the Ukraine affecting the world, we didn't focus on this readily available tactic which means there will be a lot of unnecessary suffering this winter and, probably, winters to come.

According to this carbon countdown clock (https:/www.mcc-berlin.net/fileadmin/data/clock/carbon_clock.htm), at the current rate, the most CO2 we can emit to stay below 1.5ºC rise is 400 Gt, starting from 2020, and that carbon budget will be used up by about July/August  2029.  

We have 284 Gts left as I write.

Becoming and remaining a net zero office building
https:
www.nytimes.com/2022/08/22/opinion/energy-office-buildings-net-zero-climate.html

Distributed battery systems for utilities:
Vermont's Green Mountain Power
https:
greenmountainpower.com/news/gmp-expands-battery-options-for-customers
California's PG&E
https:/electrek.co/2022/08/18/teslas-virtual-power-plant-first-event-helping-grid-future
Utah's Rocky Mountain Power (and Idaho)
https:/www.canarymedia.com/articles/batteries/in-utah-thousands-of-homes-feed-the-grid-stored-solar -power

Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands building designed to generate more energy than it consumes
https:
www.unstudio.com/en/page/13592/echo-tu-delft
https:
inhabitat.com/echo-by-unstudio-generates-more-energy-than-it-uses

Sunnova wants to build solar/battery neighborhoods that don't connect to the grid
https:/www.nytimes.com/2022/09/01/business/energy-environment/sunnova-off-grid-neighborhoods.html

5 net zero homes
https:
inhabitat.com/5-sustainable-eco-homes-built-with-style

Team Zero helps homeowners, builders, and industry professionals work towards a Zero Energy future.  
https:/teamzero.org/gateway-to-zero

Renovating a 100 year old Craftsman home to net zero
https:/www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2022/09/14/net-zero-home-renovation-washington

URB - Net zero community for 100,000 in United Arab Emirates
https:/urb.ae
https:
inhabitat.com/urban-design-of-the-worlds-largest-net-zero-community

The Line - first development in Neom, a planned $500 billion city for an anticipated population of 9 million
https:/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Line,_Saudi_Arabia

My Biggest Regret Building a Net Zero Home
https:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4aqEjIwBwo
hat tip to W David Stephenson

How will future climate impact the design and performance of nearly zero energy buildings (NZEBs)?
https:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544221027286
hat tip to cleantechnica.com

First NYC condo certified to passive house standards
https:
gbdmagazine.com/bksk-architects
https:/inhabitat.com/first-condo-in-nyc-certified-by-passive-house-institute


Poll
More net zero energy buildings?
. yes 100%
. no 0%
. not yes 0%
. not no 0%
. neither yes nor no 0%
. both yes and no 0%
. don't understand the question? 0%
. none of the above 0%

Votes: 1
Results | Other Polls
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As it happens, I was just browsing IRENA country profiles. I've been canvassing various orgs in order to clear up some data discrepancies purporting to describe AU55 members' current electricity generation, capacities, emissions, and fuel utilization—apart from climate "adaptation" theory.

Since you mentioned it, here is IRENA's country profile of Ukraine (2019-2021, years for which comprehensive and partial data are available). At a glance, the categorical plant generation approximates information presented in Flanders Investment pitch book,"Ukrainian Energy Market, Overview of the sector and future projects" (2018), which was bullish on renewable fuel "trend" to solar and wind for export income. Which is tragic, because nearly all of installed capacity at that time was in Donbas and Crimea, except for the Dnieper cascading dams.

by Cat on Tue Oct 25th, 2022 at 12:27:25 AM EST


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