“We’re getting it done but we have a very tall mountain to climb,” California Governor Jerry Brown’s metaphor about progress with California’s emissions reductions at the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco last week, “We’re at the base camp of Mount Everest…”

The Bullitt Center http://www.bullittcenter.org/

Which is it? Net Zero or Zero Net? I am still not sure. I guess both are acceptable.

What is Zero Net Energy? ZNE? Everyone’s talking about it. ZNE is the rage. In California, beginning in 2020, every new home built will have to be net zero. You’ll need an exemption not to generate power on site. Then in 2030, every commercial building built in the State will have to be Zero Net Energy.

According to Wikipedia, “A zero-energy building, also known as a zero net energy (ZNE) building, net-zero energy building (NZEB), net zero building or zero-carbon building, is a building with zero net energy consumption, meaning the total amount of energy used by the building on an annual basis is equal to the amount of renewable energy created on the site, or in other definitions by renewable energy sources elsewhere.”

Let’s first focus on electricity. The “Net” in ZNE means that a home provides its entire power requirement on an annual basis. The grid accommodates seasonal variances in solar generation. In summer, you may generate enough green kilowatt-hours to bank credits for later use thanks to net energy metering.

ZNE buildings are not off grid; they are not self-sufficient. Utility grid connection is encouraged and beneficial. This will be especially so as electric vehicles become more predominant. Then, EVs as well as stationary storage will become “the lungs of the power system,” absorbing and discharging power and capacity as needed by not only the consumer, but also by the grid.

Now let’s shift to natural gas. Some ZNE definitions omit natural gas. Others include natural gas, as well as diesel, propane, and firewood. How far do we take the definition of ZNE? One could argue that homes are loaded with embedded energy, for instance, in the materials used to build them. But most definitions leave embedded energy aside. How about your car’s use of energy? Should that be included and offset by a ZNE home or a ZNE community?

The definition of ZNE continues to be elusive. There are different types of ZNE projects: Site ZNE is the most restrictive approach. A Site ZNE home has its renewable generation not only onsite, but on the specific ZNE building. Other Site ZNE definitions allow for generation to be on the same parcel, for instance a wind turbine, but not on the specific building.

Then there’s “Source ZNE,” meaning that the facility is powered by renewables, but they may be far away, purchased through community solar, or by buying renewable energy certificates. Then there’s “Cost ZNE,” meaning that the cost of energy is zeroed out. Finally, there is “Carbon ZNE,” meaning that the carbon intensity of the home is reduced to zero.

California’s Energy Efficiency Strategic Plan written in September 2008 was the first integrated framework of goals and strategies to promote energy efficiency as the State’s highest priority resource.

The Strategic Plan has big and bold goals, four of them: All new residential construction must be ZNE by 2020, same for commercial in 2030. One that is less familiar is that 50% of commercial buildings will be retrofit to ZNE by 2030, and 50% of new major renovations of State buildings will be ZNE by 2025.

In 2016, the California Department of General Services issued definitions of ZNE. A ZNE building is an energy efficiency building where, on a source-energy basis, the actual annual consumed energy is less than or equal to the onsite renewable energy generated. It provided similar definitions for ZNE Campuses, ZNE Portfolios, and ZNE Communities. That said, the 2019 Title 24, Part 6 building standard issued by the California Energy Commission steers new developments to site-based ZNE.

To comply with California’s Title 24, Part 6, every new residential building will be required to be ZNE. There are prescriptive and performance compliance paths. In the latter case, each building will be required to calculate an Energy Design Rating (EDR), a scoring system that reflects a buildings’ energy performance as calculated by the approved compliance software. A score of zero reflects that a building’s modeled annual electricity use is entirely offset by the installed renewable generation. The EDR calculation includes all end uses including appliances and plug loads. Exemptions from onsite solar will be given for buildings without sufficient, unshaded roof space and other reasons. Offsetting natural gas is not part of the compliance formula that will take effect in 2020 in California.

One of the interesting wrinkles is Time Dependent Valuation (TDV).This is a multiplier applied on an hourly basis to better reflect the value of renewable electricity based on when it is generated. The concept behind TDV is that savings should be valued differently depending on which hours of the year the savings occur, to better reflect the actual costs of energy to consumers, to the utility system, and to society. The TDV method encourages building designers to design buildings that perform better during periods of high energy cost.

The Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco in mid-September raised a good deal of attention. It was Governor Jerry Brown’s “swan song” as he terms out of office, and a strong statement to the world. Thousands of business leaders, politicians, advocates rallied in San Francisco at the Summit and to attend and participate in hundreds of affiliate events. The Governor was pleased that the Chinese sent a large delegation of government officials, researchers, and business leaders. China also organized three days of programming at the “China Pavilion” in partnership with the State of California.

“We’re still in” is the initiative that was created by California Governor Jerry Brown and New York’s former Mayor Bloomberg after President Trump backed out of the Paris Climate Accord in June 2017. “We’re still in” is a bottom-up movement now made up of 17 U.S. states and 400 cities, combined to represent the third largest economy in the world. Together, they will meet the Paris goals without Washington.

Governor of California, Jerry Brown

Jerry Brown made a bold new pledge in San Francisco by signing an Executive Order to achieve zero carbon emissions by 2045. That’s well beyond the reach of SB 100 that calls for zero emissions from the power sector by 2045. Brown’s order includes transportation, buildings, and agriculture. SB 100 and the Executive Order put California on record with by far the most ambitious climate targets of any power on earth.

Xie Zhenhua, China’s special representative on climate change, reaffirmed China’s commitment to action on climate change. He told reporters that most countries, including China, would not “backtrack or renegotiate” environmental targets set at Paris in 2015. His plenary remarks outlined what has over the last decade become an increasingly well-articulated climate change strategy for China. An official statement from the Chinese stated that, “We will 100 percent meet our climate promises. We will do our best to peak our emissions by 2030 or sooner…” Here’s an excerpt of Xie Zhenhua’s plenary remarks:

“In 2017, China’s carbon intensity was 46 percent below 2005 levels, avoiding 4 billion tons of carbon. We have already surpassed our 2020 target to reduce carbon intensity by 40 – 45 percent. That is, we’ve met our carbon reduction obligation three years in advance. Non-fossil energy is now 13.8% of total energy consumption. At the end of 2017, China’s renewable energy installed capacity reached 650 million kilowatts. In 2017, we invested $126.7 billion for renewable energy development. For six years in a row we have been the largest investor in renewables. Coal as a percentage of total energy consumption has fallen from 72 to 60 percent.”

Santa Rita Unified School District Solar Carport

EcoMotion is pleased to announce that a new White Paper has been added to our website, the “White Paper on SRUSD PERCs.” The paper presents the case study of developing six, carbon-free, fully financed microgrids at Santa Rita Union School District in Salinas, California, a two and a half-year saga rich with lessons learned. Also posted is the September 18th Webinar on the SRUSD PERCs that EcoMotion presented to the Local Government Sustainable Energy Coalition.

Financed by Generate Capital, the resulting microgrids are designed to provide power outage protection to keep kids in school during short-term outages. Each SRUSD site will serve the school community as well as regional first responders as Powered Emergency Response Centers (PERCs) in the event of long-term outages. The PERCs are now complete thanks to a team effort by EcoMotion, SolEd Benefit Corporation, Generate Capital, MBL Energy, Sharp Systems and Services Group, and Black & Veatch.

To read this White Paper, as well as related White Paper on Lithium-Ion, Microgrids, and Ancillary Services, visit www.EcoMotion.us, then “media,” then “white papers.”