Zero Energy Buildings

Massachusetts has been number one on the ACEEE Energy Efficiency Scorecard for eight years in a row. It is important that we celebrate this massive achievement. It’s also important to recognize that we have the tools, the state leadership, and the grassroots manpower to do better.

15,600 hours.

This is the amount of time, on average, that a student spends in school by the time he or she graduates from high school (Harvard report). Other than their homes, today’s students spend more time at school than anywhere else. We know this for a fact - yet we still overlook the importance of the physical school environment.

I come from a long familial line of school teachers – my mom, one aunt, both sisters, and my brother (for a short time) all taught children of varying ages. Even though I chose not to pursue a teaching career (public relations is honorable too, right?), I value education and all of the components that come with it.

When my husband Tom and I decided to build our home in Salisbury, Massachusetts, we knew that a super-efficient, even “zero energy” home was the goal. We worked with Brightbuilt Home to design a modular, all-electric home that was modeled to use about as much energy as the 8.83 kW solar array generates over the course of a year. This November, it will have been two years since we moved into the house.

In the past four years, have states in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic region become more supportive of zerio energy policies and construction? What have those states done since NEEP first released it's Roadmap to Zero Net Energy Public Buildings report?

To answer these questions, NEEP recently released the Roadmap to Zero Energy Public Buildings: Progress Report (The Progress Report).