11/11/2016
The Santa Monica City Council voted in October to approve an ordinance requiring all new single-family construction in the City of Santa Monica to be zero-net energy (ZNE), the first of its kind in the world. Zero-net energy is a building industry term for projects that generate enough of their own energy from renewable sources to equal what they take from the power utility over the course of a year.
"Santa Monica is proud to take a global lead in zero net energy building standards that putthe State's environmental policy to action.Council's adoption of this new ordinance reflects our city's continued commitment to the environment," said Mayor Tony Vazquez. "ZNE construction,considered the gold standard for green buildings, is a major component that will help us reach our ambitious goal ofcarbon neutrality by 2050."
The ordinance now goes to the California Energy Commission (CEC) for approval, and continues the City's long history of adopting local requirements, and providing resources to the community, that take a global lead in advancing the transition to high performance, green buildings for all.
"This ordinance makes environmental and economic sense," said Dean Kubani, Santa Monica's Chief Sustainability Officer. "With the price of utility power continuing to rise, ZNE homeowners will avoid those escalating costs while benefitting from local renewable power for all of their energy needs."
There are various definitions for ZNE buildings but Santa Monica is adopting the definition used in the 2016 California Green Building Standards Code (CALGreen). According to CALGreen, a ZNE building is one where the value of energy produced on-site by renewable energy resources is equal to the value of the energy consumed annually by the building.
