Toward Net Zero Energy Buildings: Here and Now
In the framework of the 2012 Purdue University Conferences "2nd International High Performance Buildings Conference", "14th International Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Conference" and "21st International Compressor Engineering Conference", organised from 16 to 19 July 2012 in West Lafayette (Indiana, USA), Prof. Jean-Louis Scartezzini of the EPFL Solar Energy and Building Physics Lab (LESO-PB) was invited to deliver a keynote lecture on Net Zero Buildings.
In his speech Prof. Scartezzini pleaded for the implementation of "Green Building Technologies" that allow buildings to annually produce more energy on site than they consume. Pioneering projects such as the LESO building at EPFL (Minergie-P), the Forum Chriesbach of EAWAG/EMPA Dübendorf (Net-Zero Energy Building), the renovation of an historic building in the Matthäus district in Basel (Energy-Plus Building), as well as an administrative building in Singapore ( Net-Zero Energy Building) to which the LESO-PB was associated, give ample proof that the necessary know-how exists and show the way for future buildings.
The biannual conference was attended by a public of more than 500 and supported, among others, by the American Society for Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASRHAE), the Architectural Engineering Institute (AEI), the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), the International Institute for Refrigeration (IIR) et the US Green Building Council (USGBC).