Zero Energy Building construction moving to mainstream
Despite short-term price fluctuations, energy costs will continue to rise over the long term, driving greater interest in building that produce as much or more energy as they consume.
The pace of growth in Zero Energy Building (ZEB) construction will grow even faster than recent estimates done by Navigant Research, who indicates the market growing to $1.4 trillion in 2035, according to William A. (Bill) Turner, PE, LEED AP®, Sr. VP of The H L Turner Group Inc. (Turner Group) and President/CEO of Turner Building Science & Design, LLC.
"What we are experiencing on the ground level is rapid acceleration in the number of owners and builders going towards a Zero Net Energy platform," Turner said. "We are now able to demonstrate cost effective strategies on a wide variety of building types that allow green buildings to also be high performing buildings. The introduction of the LEED rating system clearly helped the green building marketplace to flourish. However, now that the enthusiasm over Gold and Platinum plaques has waned, building owners are more keenly focused on building long-term value into their green buildings. Zero Net Energy buildings are now the new holy grail within the green building construction marketplace."