**2. Building performance metrics**

According to the US Department of Energy (DoE), a zero-energy building was defined as the building that produces enough renewable energy to meet its own annual energy consumption requirements [11]. According to the European Union Article 2, a nearly zero-energy building is a building that has a very high energy performance where low energy is required by the building which should be covered to a very significant extent from renewable sources including sources produced on-site or nearby [12].

There are several metrics that define the performance of buildings such as the net-zero site energy building, net-zero source energy buildings, net-zero energy cost building, and net-zero energy emission building.

The net-zero site energy building is defined as the building that produces as much energy as it consumes when measured at the site. The net-zero source energy building is the building that produces as much energy on an annual basis as it uses as compared to the energy content at the source. On the other hand, the net-zero energy cost building is the building that uses energy efficiency and renewable

**47**

**Figure 2.**

*Net-Zero Energy Buildings: Principles and Applications DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.92285*

**3. Why net-zero energy buildings?**

measures.

consumption plan.

till 2100 [13].

a temperature rise of 3°C.

energy strategies as part of the business model. Lastly, the net-zero energy emission buildings is the building design that looks at the emissions that were produced by the energy needs of the building. **Figure 1** shows various energy efficiency

In the last decade, energy costs have been rising, fuels are running out, and there have been global warming issues. For example, the United Kingdom has only 2 years of gas reserve, which has been put on hold of usage, and is currently buying from other countries such as Qatar and the United States. In addition to that, there have been many other issues such as health, well-being, and pollution which could be reduced if emissions are reduced as a result of better energy

Power stations convert only 30–35% of the input energy into electricity. The rest is rejected as waste heat. The United Kingdom alone wastes £20 billion each year by heat rejection from power plants which if used appropriately could heat Britain. Earth's source of fossil fuel is vanishing at a much rapid pace during the last 200 years causing high damage rates to climate change. New reserves of fossil fuels are becoming harder to find. Those that are discovered are significantly smaller than the ones that have been found in the past. Oil reserve is expected to vanish between 2050 and 2060 and so does that for gas. Coal will last longer and is expected to last

Other aspects of increased emissions and increased rate of energy consumption are global warming and significant increase rate of ice melting and glaciers. A prominent red flag out of these aspects is that nine of the ten warmest years since 1880 have been in the last decade [14]. For global warming concern, Miami has seen

A building that is designed to be more sustainable has the potential to reduce the

human impact on the environment. This effect is shown in **Figure 2**.

*Effect of sustainable buildings on the environment, social life, and economic development.*

**Figure 1.** *Various energy efficiency measures.*

*Zero-Energy Buildings - New Approaches and Technologies*

for NZEBs.

other strategies.

on-site or nearby [12].

**2. Building performance metrics**

cost building, and net-zero energy emission building.

The purpose of this chapter is to discuss benefits and design guidelines for zero energy buildings. NZEBs have tremendous potential to transform the way buildings use energy. In response to regulatory mandates, federal government agencies and many other state and local governments are beginning to move toward targets

Many states in the United States are mandating many rules and regulations to reduce the buildings' energy consumption. For example, New York and California, which house more than 20% of the United States' population, produce less than 10% of its carbon emissions [10]. These two states are leading the way in decreasing energy use through the proliferation of net-zero energy building in addition to

According to the US Department of Energy (DoE), a zero-energy building was defined as the building that produces enough renewable energy to meet its own annual energy consumption requirements [11]. According to the European Union Article 2, a nearly zero-energy building is a building that has a very high energy performance where low energy is required by the building which should be covered to a very significant extent from renewable sources including sources produced

There are several metrics that define the performance of buildings such as the net-zero site energy building, net-zero source energy buildings, net-zero energy

The net-zero site energy building is defined as the building that produces as much energy as it consumes when measured at the site. The net-zero source energy building is the building that produces as much energy on an annual basis as it uses as compared to the energy content at the source. On the other hand, the net-zero energy cost building is the building that uses energy efficiency and renewable

**46**

**Figure 1.**

*Various energy efficiency measures.*

energy strategies as part of the business model. Lastly, the net-zero energy emission buildings is the building design that looks at the emissions that were produced by the energy needs of the building. **Figure 1** shows various energy efficiency measures.
