chnologies needed to achieve ZNE — including high-performance lighting and distributed generation such as rooftop solar — are widely available and incentivized.
The action plan lays out a path to implement California's Long-Term Energy Efficiency Strategic Plan for the commercial sector, published in 2008, which specified ZNE in two of the four “Big Bold Energy Efficiency Strategies (BBEES)” identified by the state:
All new residential construction in California will be ZNE by 2020
All new commercial construction in California will be ZNE by 2030
Heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) will be upgraded to ensure that its energy performance is optimal for California's climate
All eligible low-income customers will be given the opportunity to participate in the low-income energy efficiency program by 2020.
CPUC rolled out the lighting chapter of this strategic plan in September, outlining ways to cut lighting energy use statewide by 60 to 80 percent over the next decade.
Lighting accounts for approximately a quarter of California's electricity use and CPUC sees promoting the widespread use of energy efficient lighting as a route to significant savings. The lighting chapter of the Strategic Plan focuses on development and dissemination of best practices; expanded and enhanced research, development and demonstration infrastructure; cultivation of end-user demand; and integrated, supportive state policies.
“The lighting chapter is a comprehensive strategy to bring together all aspects of the lighting market in California to achieve the state's energy efficiency and zero net energy goals,” said Grueneich in announcing the lighting plan's adoption. “By coordinating public policy and regulations, building designers, owners, managers, occupants, consumers and technology developers can make best practices in energy-efficient lighting common practice.”
The lighting plan as yet doesn't include government mandates for changes in lighting, but leans instead on public outreach and education, supported by expanded research and development, plus the development of incentives to “to encourage best practices, enhancing coordination among regulatory agencies and creating more effective financing mechanisms for lighting retrofits.”
However, the near-term implementation plan — steps to be taken in 2010-2012 — include proposals to “align lighting-related codes and standards, green building rating systems and industry norms and practices with ZNE policy.”
The plan also calls for an end to existing programs encouraging Californians to swap their incandescent lamps for compact fluorescents (CFLs), and to shift incentives toward “the next generation of high-efficiency lighting.”
Beyond California, there are a number of efforts toward ZNE commercial construction underway. NEMA has been working with the Zero Energy Commercial Buildings Consortium, which hopes to make all commercial buildings in the U.S. ZNE by 2050. Created by the Zero Net Energy Commercial Buildings Initiative (CBI) as part of the Energy Independence and Security Act passed by Congress in 2007, and backed by the DOE, this public-private consortium seeks to “transform the commercial buildings sector into one that routinely builds zero-energy buildings for every type of use.”
LEED for Retail
The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has been the most visible force for promotion of high-efficiency buildings through its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system. The USGBC has continued to revise and refine its ratings over the time since LEED's introduction in 1998.
The most recent change has been the introduction of LEED rating systems specific to retail buildings. The two “LEED 2009 for Retail” rating systems — one for new construction and major renovations and another for commercial interiors — have been in development through pilot projects since 2005, and were approved by USGBC in March.
Among LEED for Retail's requirements is to, “provide individual lighting controls for 90 percent (minimum) of retail employees in office and administrative spaces, 