Self-Powered Buildings Are Here

It’s been a long-time coming, but for eco-conscious developers, net zero and Passive House-certified buildings are finally moving from pie-in-the-sky concepts to reality. What was once the domain of environmentally driven homeowners with ample budgets is now becoming a viable option in the commercial real estate sector.

While we are seeing more green buildings rise across the country, in the Midwest we are seeing commercial projects making the strong strides in the net zero and Passive House movement. In Plainfield, Ill., a Chicago suburb, Wight & Company is constructing the first recreation center in the country designed and built to Passive House and Source Zero standards, through the Passive House Institute US (PHIUS). Completion is targeted for the end of this year.

As knowledge, tools and economics are catching up with the desire to be environmentally responsible, making investments in these types of buildings no longer seems like just a show of good will, but also an example of good business.

Knowledge and tools. For those not familiar with Passive House or net zero certification, both standards mandate construction methods that rely on creating a sufficiently air-tight environment to conserve as much energy as possible within the building. Passive House buildings follow a rigorous set of design principles to create a highly insulated envelope, requiring as little energy as possible for heating or cooling and keeping the indoor temperature consistent. For a building to achieve net zero status, this highly efficient environment is combined with the capacity to generate renewable energy to supply 100 percent of the building’s energy needs over the course of a year. Net zero buildings must have an onsite, renewable power-generating source, such as solar panels, which supplies power to the building. Solar panels have been on a trajectory of increasing production capacity while the price per watt has been on an opposite trend. Not long ago, panels could produce only 250 watts per module at a cost of $8.00 to $10.00 per watt. Today, panels can produce 460 watts per module at a cost of $3.00 per watt or less. And today, we have the energy modeling tools and know-how to increase the efficiency of our buildings, that lowering the metabolism of our designs for instance, non-residential buildings pursuing Passive House US certification can be 65% more efficient than their code compliant counterparts.

Economic realities. Though concerns about expense have been a barrier for most developers in pursuing Passive House or net zero certification in the past, the economic reality is beginning to fall more often in favor of these types of buildings.

Operational savings due to lower energy use, as well as decreased maintenance costs for wear-and-tear on less complex systems, are the primary cost-savings benefits of Passive House and net zero projects. The reduction in the expense of renewables – particularly solar, which is most often used in net zero buildings – has been another factor in improving their affordability. According to the PHIUS, offices built to Passive House standards can be built with as little as a 3-5 percent premium, or none at all.

When it comes to development costs, your state or municipality might also supplement your efforts to go green. In the case of the Prairie Activity and Recreation Center in Plainfield, a grant from the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation through its Net Zero Energy Building Program off-set the additional expense of building to net zero standards. In addition, for private sector clients there area a host of other incentives including a 30% Federal Tax Credit and accelerated depreciation that greatly reduce the entry cost to participate.

We recommended this program to the Plainfield Park District board at the beginning of the design process. Architects well-versed in sustainability can play an important role in the proliferation of sustainable practices by being aware of the economic incentives for environmentally friendly projects.

Desire to be responsible. The building industry is largely governed by local forces, and the good news for supporters of sustainable design is that most local governments have maintained or strengthened their commitments to carbon reduction and energy improvement in recent years. For example, in Chicago, public buildings will be 100-percent-powered by renewables by 2025. And in Washington state, Seattle and Spokane have set goals to be entirely fossil-fuel-free by 2030, along with dozens of other cities across the country.

Developers will need to respond to the growing demand from municipalities to deliver net zero buildings. Already, seven U.S. cities have signed a pledge that by 2030 all new buildings will produce as much energy as they use.

Of course, when it comes to commercial buildings – and office buildings in particular – tenants are often the main driver of construction or amenity improvements. Studies suggest that improved comfort for a building’s occupants can result in an increase in productivity. One study from Harvard even indicates that cognition is about 60 percent higher in green buildings.

Individual citizens, like those who were early adopters of sustainable design in their own homes, also have an impact on the growth of this movement. I recall working with a client years ago who chose to invest in solar power for his nearly zero-energy home, even though the cost of doing so was significant enough that I questioned the return on investment. His view was that early adopters, like himself, paved the way for the next generation of technology that inevitably would be more affordable and more widely deployed.

Even before it made economic sense, sustainable design had its supporters. Now, it is increasingly a smart economic choice, as well as a responsible one.

Lois Vitt Sale is chief sustainability officer at Wight & Co. The views expressed here are the author’s own and not that of ALM’s Real Estate Media Group.