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Federal government releases national definition of a zero emissions building

Codes and Standards

Federal government releases national definition of a zero emissions building

The definition helps provide market certainty and clarity to scale up zero emissions construction.


By Peter Fabris, Contributing Editor | June 17, 2024
Image by Jiří Rotrekl from Pixabay, Federal government releases national definition of a zero emissions building

Image by Jiří Rotrekl from Pixabay

The U.S. Department of Energy has released a new national definition of a zero emissions building.

The definition is intended to provide industry guidance to support new and existing commercial and residential buildings to move towards zero emissions across the entire building sector, DOE says. “The definition provides market certainty and clarity to scale zero emissions new construction and retrofits,” according to a DOE statement.

By the definition, at a minimum, a zero emissions building must be energy efficient, free of onsite emissions from energy use, and powered solely from clean energy. In the future, the definition may address emissions from embodied carbon (producing, transporting, installing, and disposing of building materials) and additional considerations.

The definition is not a regulatory standard or a certification. It is intended to provide guidance that public and private entities may adopt to determine whether a building has zero emissions from operational energy use. “It is not a substitute for the green building and energy efficiency standards and certifications that public and private parties have developed,” DOE says.

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