Rmi Outlet
Buildings
The Economics of Zero-Energy Homes
NEW: Cold Climates Addendum offers additional guidance for ZE and ZER homes built in climate zones 6 and 7. This report demonstrates that the cost increase to build a zero-energy or zero-energy ready home is modest—far less than consumers, builders, and policymakers realize—and highlights methods builders and policymakers can use…
Guide: Best Practices for Achieving Zero Over Time for Building Portfolios
Net-zero energy (NZE) buildings are gaining interest from building owners, tenants, and landlords alike. A zero-over-time (ZOT) approach focuses on cost-effective energy efficiency and renewable energy by prioritizing projects that pay back quickly in the short term, while aligning larger energy efficiency projects with major…
Energy Efficiency and Electric Vehicles: How Buildings Can Pave the Way for the Global EV Revolution
The electric vehicle (EV) revolution is here, and countries around the world have set aggressive EV goals and targets as a means to cut carbon, improve air quality, and accelerate a renewably powered electricity grid. The cheapest and quickest way to free up electricity for EVs is to save it…
The Carbon-Free Regions Handbook: Buildings
Buildings account for almost one-third of global emissions, so they’re a critical sector to address climate change.
A grid-interactive efficient building (GEB) is an efficient building with smart technologies characterized by the active use of energy efficiency, solar, storage, and load flexibility to optimize energy use for grid services, occupant needs and preferences, and cost reductions. GEB measures go far beyond today’s energy management best practices. They focus on demand and the time value of energy to reduce grid constraints and enable decarbonization. A focus on GEBs optimizes benefits like cost savings, grid services, resiliency, and carbon emissions reductions.
Our report, Value Potential for Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings in the GSA Portfolio: A Cost-Benefit Analysis, details the core ways that the US General Services Administration (GSA) could leverage its size, its leadership in the industry, and its relationships with utilities and regulators to pioneer GEBs opportunities across its portfolio. This would unlock $50 million in annual cost savings to the GSA and $70 million in value to grid users by reducing generation and transmission and distribution costs, benefiting all ratepayers. By investing in GEBs measures, developing GEBs pilots, and helping the industry understand and measure the opportunities inherent in GEBs, the GSA or any large portfolio manager can unlock an immense opportunity to save energy and money while supporting the decarbonization of our electricity sector.
