Zero Energy Building Best Practice Guide

“Between now and 2050, the world’s population will increase from 2 billion people to over 9.5 billion. This means that the buildings and infrastructure industry will continue growing to support these demographic trends. However, with the operation of buildings responsible for 28% of global CO2 emissions, ways must be found to reduce operational energy use in buildings and their contribution to climate change. Indeed, steel products and solutions are an integral part of this process and include for example solar panel mountings, geothermal heat pumps and sandwich panels which contribute to building airtightness.”

The Active Office and the Active Classroom at Swansea University’s Bay Campus are designed to be net plus energy buildings. These can generate more energy by renewable energy systems than the energy they use during a year.

The House of Tomorrow Today (HoTT) is an experimental house, built in the municipality of Heeze-Leende (Sterksel) in the Netherlands. It was realized according to relatively new sustainable visions like Smart Building and Active House, but with mostly new, available technology.