New Construction to be Zero Net

Very interesting ideas being floated in high levels of government. Though this one isn’t enforceable by those who suggested it, we are finally getting some big ideas on the board.

All new housing developments in California should be so energy-efficient by the year 2020 that they could produce all the power they need on their own, state regulators proposed Monday.

The California Public Utilities Commission suggested sweeping changes to the way the state deals with efficiency, the effort to squeeze the most use possible out of every electron and drop of fuel. The commission wants California’s electric utilities to collaborate on creating one grand plan for improving energy efficiency throughout the state, rather than pursuing their own separate programs the way they do today.

The commission’s most eye-catching proposal calls for radically increasing the efficiency of new buildings, even though the commission doesn’t regulate the housing industry.

New housing developments would need to be “zero net energy” by 2020. They would require far less power to run than existing homes, so little that each development could generate all the power it needed, either with solar panels, windmills or small generators.

Energy Net Zero

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