The time has come! The price of renewable energy has dropped year by year, and new renewables are now cheaper than conventional carbon-based sources of energy. The term Net Zero has been around for a while, and it has commonly been seen as the domain of small and expensive demonstration buildings. Well times change, and now there is nothing holding buildings back from reaching for and achieving net zero emissions in their buildings. You can now reach net zero and reduce your energy bills at the same time. This can effectively be “free” since you can immediately be in a positive cashflow mode as the energy savings exceed loan principal and interest payments. More money in your pocket compared to doing nothing.
The steps to Net Zero have been laid out in a talk given recently by ERG’s president, Tim Michels.
The process boils down to three steps:
- Evaluate your building and invest to reach your building’s cost-effective energy efficiency maximum
- Install on-site renewables (generally solar PV) to the maximum that makes sense given:
- your site’s exposures and space availability,
- your energy usage, and
- your utility’s net metering regulations
- Invest in either off-site renewables or buying any additional RECs that may be necessary.
And then there’s step 4 – tell people about it so that everyone knows how possible it is.
ERG has found that the savings you can achieve with the first two steps not only pay for themselves, but provide the money needed to cover the additional cost of the final step. That’s right – net zero, paid for with savings.
To make this cash-neutral as well, with no up-front cost to you, there are 3rd party financing alternatives you can use.
Let us know if you’re interested in reaching for Net Zero. The sooner the carbon free future comes, the better off we will all be.
