Experience the Difference of a Sustainable Energy Efficient Custom Home or building

Why focus on Zero Energy Ready Building Methods...

 Focusing on "Zero Energy Ready" building methods is important because it  significantly reduces a building's environmental impact by minimizing  energy consumption through highly efficient design and construction  practices, leading to lower energy bills, increased comfort, and a  smaller carbon footprint, while also potentially increasing property  value and contributing to a more sustainable built environment.

 What is the difference between "Green Building or Sustainable Building", " Net Zero Energy Building" and "Zero Energy Ready Building and Energy Star® building methods"?

     The goal of  green building and sustainable architecture is to use resources more  efficiently and reduce a building's negative impact on the environment.  Zero energy buildings or "net zero energy" buildings as is often the more recognizable term in the industry, achieve a key goal of creating as much renewable energy as it used over the over the course of a year, and sometimes exporting energy back into the grid. 

     A  Zero Energy Ready  home or building is specifically designed to be highly energy efficient, often "ready" to install renewable energy sources like  solar panel systems to achieve net-zero energy consumption, while a "green  building" encompasses a broader range of sustainable practices including  energy efficiency, water conservation, material selection, and  sometimes renewable energy, but doesn't necessarily aim for a net-zero  energy balance; essentially,  a Zero Energy Ready building is a more focused subset of a green  building with a primary goal of achieving near-zero energy usage. A Zero Energy Ready is also typically a very airtight structure with regards to its building envelope by nature of the methods of building construction. Several methods of construction can be utilized to achieve a Zero Energy Ready home, custom building and even remodels and additions.

     The basics of a Zero Energy Ready structure are focused around the air tight envelope and the thermal barrier (insulation layer) of the structure. And with that comes a need for a focus on the heating, cooling and ventilation systems as well, with a significant emphasis on fresh air ventilation of the home or building.

      A home or structure built to a Zero Energy Ready standard will typically also include a ventilation system designed to not only bring in filtered fresh air while it exhausts indoor air and does so using systems that are designed to transfer that energy put into the conditioned space you live in...that your hard earned annual income has provided, but do so in an energy efficient focused manner while achieving significantly higher levels of indoor air quality. Not only is this just really cool, but it can help individuals who might have issues with poor outdoor air quality.  This ventilation system is typically know as an " Energy Recovery Ventilation (ERV) system or Heat Recovery Ventilation (HRV) system. There can be additional methods involved as well, but depending on your climate and requirements typically an ERV or HRV ventilation system is the first step.

     A "Net Zero Energy" home or building is typically achieved through high level methods of energy efficient construction and on-site renewable  energy generation like solar panels, essentially resulting in a net-zero  energy consumption; This means that a  green building can be energy efficient but not necessarily reach the  "zero energy" status like a zero energy ready building. There really is not a Zero Energy Building. That would mean that the building or structure would utilize zero energy. Even a cave is not necessarily zero energy. The primary goal of a "Net Zero Building" is to use no more energy than its systems can produce. And one way to achieve that standard is to focus on making the home or building " Zero Energy Ready".