Kevin Warnock

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Zero Net Energy Working Group roundtable coming up March 19, 2012

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Jeremy Levine Design house. Photo via Flickr.com. Licensed for commercial use under a Creative Commons license.

Jeremy Levine Design house. Photo via Flickr.com. Licensed for commercial use under a Creative Commons license.

I have joined the Zero Net Energy Working Group. This group was formed to advance zero net energy building construction in California, USA.

From WikiPediA:

“A zero-energy building, also known as a zero net energy (ZNE) building, Net-Zero Energy Building (NZEB), or Net Zero Building, is a popular term to describe a building with zero net energy consumption and zero carbon emissions annually.[1] Zero energy buildings can be independent from the energy grid supply. Energy can be harvested on-site—usually through a combination of energy producing technologies like Solar and Wind—while reducing the overall use of energy with extremely efficient HVAC and Lighting technologies. The zero-energy design principle is becoming more practical to adopt due to the increasing costs of traditional fossil fuels and their negative impact on the planet’s climate and ecological balance.”

Of course, such buildings consume prodigious amounts of energy each year, but that energy comes from solar and geothermal sources, which are as close to infinite as is possible in a universe where stars burn out over time.

The Zero Net Energy Working Group organizes roundtables to educate builders and other interested parties about zero net energy technology.

The next roundtable is free and open to the public, and with the group’s permission and enthusiasm, I am writing this blog post to invite you to attend.

The event will be held Monday, March 19, 2012 from 6pm to 9pm at The Energy Center, 370 Lang Road, Burlingame, California 94010 USA. There is ample parking on site.

Since this is a brief meeting, only one topic will be covered — spray foam insulation. This type of insulation is generally derived from soy beans or petroleum. Spray foam insulation seals air leaks and water leaks, and is generally considered a premium and highly desirable product. It’s what I plan to use to insulate my bus conversion, which I am designing to be exceptionally energy efficient, with triple pane windows, for example.

Brian C. Harris of Paradigm Promotions will introduce the panel.

William Malpas, a General Contractor with Malpas & Birmingham will moderate the discussion.

The panel will include:

This panel discuss is expected to be most useful to architects, builders, developers and regulators, but all are welcome to attend. I appreciate their inclusive admission policy, since I am not part of the building industry.

Sign up via the MeetUp page for this rountable once the event is listed there. To RSVP before the MeetUp page is ready, send email to letmehelp at znewg dot org.