Net Zero Buildings: 18 Industry Recommended Ways to Start Learning

The Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC), New Buildings Institute (NBI), and Southface Institute are working in concert under the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s EMPOWERED program and unite almost 20 clean energy organizations as additional collaborators. The following list of resources were curated by project partners as part of our joint participation in Net Zero Buildings Week.

Check out the links below to access fact-based, industry-vetted educational resources on a variety of topics related to clean energy, energy efficiency, building technologies and more!

• Clean Energy Training and Workforce Development
  Interstate Renewable Energy Council
  CEU bearing training courses and educational resources for clean energy and allied professionals, including code officials, AHJs, building safety officials, facility managers, installers and others.

• Net Zero Energy and Decarbonization Toolkit
  International Code Council
  Comprehensive resource for states, tribes, local jurisdictions, and other organizations interested in developing and implementing advanced energy efficiency and carbon reduction goals for a net zero future.

• Understanding How Building Controls Can Save Energy
  Slipstream
  This guide demonstrates how smarter use of building controls could improve energy savings by up to 30 percent. Implementing energy efficiency measures in buildings is a key step in meeting clean energy goals.

• Evolving Technologies
  International Association of Electrical Inspectors
  IAEI Magazine articles that include technical details of evolving technologies such as renewable energy systems including PV, Wind, fuel cells, and energy storage devices.

• Affordable Housing and Existing Home Retrofits
  FSEC Energy Research Center
  Energy efficiency and building science measures for safety, durability, and indoor air quality help reduce long-term costs. Read about cost-effective, practical, off-the-shelf products and construction best practices for home energy retrofits.

• Striving to Achieve Net-Zero Emissions and Energy Resilient Operations
  Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
  Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is part of a collaborative effort to apply the national labs’ scientific and technological knowledge to create tangible solutions for achieving net-zero emissions. Learn about their approach and how their participation in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Net Zero Labs (NZL) Pilot Initiative will help meet the nation’s ambitious climate and energy goals.

• Construction Site Fire Safety
  National Association of State Fire Marshals
  This training program considers a wide spectrum of prevention strategies that can be implemented across all construction site stakeholders to prevent catastrophic fires in buildings under construction. A reduction in construction site fires limits the impact such fires have on the environment both through the resources required to extinguish such fires and the potential harmful materials released into the environment.

• Commercial Lighting Controls Handbook
  Southface
  The Commercial Lighting Controls Inspection Handbook is intended for use by code officials when inspecting commercial construction projects in for compliance with ASHRAE-2013 or IECC-2105.

• Framework for Design Excellence
  American Institute of Architects
  The Framework for Design Excellence represents the defining principles of good design in the 21st century. Comprising 10 principles and accompanied by searching questions, it seeks to inform progress toward a zero-carbon, equitable, resilient, and healthy built environment.

• Gateway to Zero
  Energy & Environmental Building Alliance
  A guide to programs, guidelines, and standards making it easier to find applicable net zero resources.

• A Conversation About Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings
  Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance
  Grid-interactive Efficient Buildings are energy efficient buildings with smart technologies characterized by the active use of distributed energy resources to optimize energy use for grid services, occupant needs and preferences and cost reductions in a continuous and integrated way.

• Integrating Efficiency in Disaster Recovery
  Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance
  This report examines how we can increase the realization of energy efficiency improvements to both residential and commercial buildings by intervening at key points in the rebuilding process following a natural disaster.

• An Insiders Guide to Talking About Carbon Neutral Buildings
  New Buildings Institute
  Learn what it means to design, construct, and operate buildings that contribute little or no carbon emissions. Understand the relationship between energy and carbon metrics in the built environment and explore the common building components necessary for net zero buildings and a carbon neutral future.

• How Cities Can Advance Electric Vehicle Adoption
  Forth Mobility
  Learn about cities that have lowered barriers to public adoption of electric vehicles. While there are variables unique to each city in terms of demographics, geography and community priorities, their experiences offer valuable lessons to any city as it prepares for transportation electrification.

• Green Buildings Database
  Earth Advantage
  The Green Building Registry™ is a public website containing over two million records on single-family and multifamily buildings. It provides energy efficiency and green home data across the US from a variety of data partners.

• Building Electrification: How Cities and Counties Are Implementing Electrification Policies
  Southwest Energy Efficiency Project
  Examples of municipalities with some level of electrification requirements for new residential and commercial buildings, as well as specific proposed code language that any community can adopt to help reach net zero carbon in new buildings.

• Climate-Smart Zoning and Permitting
  Metropolitan Area Planning Council
  The Municipal Net Zero Playbook provides guidance and tools to equip cities and towns with the resources to tackle their climate goals in an efficient and equitable manner. It’s an interdisciplinary tool for municipal planners, energy/ sustainability staff, and community members that seeks to empower cities and towns to implement net zero actions within their communities.

• Quick Guides to Distributed Energy Codes
  Interstate Renewable Energy Council, International Code Council, Southface
  Downloadable PDF guides to model codes for solar (PV and thermal), energy storage systems, electric vehicles, high performance building systems, and building automation and controls.

This material was developed by the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). It is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) under the Award Number DE-EE0009455 (“EMPOWERED”). The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Department of Energy or the United States Government.