The Harvard Center for Green Buildings and Cities is in the process of redesigning its new faculty headquarters, now called HouseZero. More than just an aesthetic shift, the building will be a standard-bearer for what the Center for Green Buildings and Cities espouses, with a plethora of energy efficient systems that will ultimately give it not just a net energy output of zero, but a positive energy output.
There are nearly a dozen efficiency strategies that HouseZero will use in order to achieve its lofty energy goals. These include things like photovoltaic roof shingles that produce solar energy, denser materials used in the floors and stairs to increase the house's mass and store thermal energy for longer, and geothermal wells that will provide almost all of the heating and cooling in the building.
Energy-Producing Homes
Harvard's HouseZero Outputs a Net Energy Gain
Trend Themes
1. Net Zero Energy - The trend of designing and constructing buildings that produce more energy than they consume, offering potential opportunities for disruptive innovation in renewable energy systems and energy storage technologies.
2. Energy Efficient Materials - The trend of utilizing denser materials in construction to increase thermal mass and store energy, creating potential disruptive innovation opportunities in the development of advanced building materials with enhanced energy efficiency properties.
3. Geothermal Heating and Cooling - The trend of utilizing geothermal wells to provide heating and cooling in buildings, presenting opportunities for disruptive innovation in geothermal heat pump technologies and underground thermal energy storage systems.
Industry Implications
1. Renewable Energy - The industry that encompasses the development, manufacturing, and implementation of renewable energy systems, offering potential disruptive innovation opportunities in solar energy technologies and energy storage solutions.
2. Construction - The industry involved in the design, planning, and construction of buildings, presenting potential disruptive innovation opportunities in the development of energy-efficient construction materials and sustainable building practices.
3. Geothermal - The industry focused on harnessing geothermal energy for heating and cooling purposes, providing potential disruptive innovation opportunities in geothermal heat pump technologies and ground-source heat exchangers.