Net-Zero Architecture
Buildings that use little energy, water and carbon over their whole life, judged by what each measure displaces in the place where it is built.
more with lessThe commitment
We score every project against the seven Petals of the Living Building Challenge, whether or not the building is ever certified. The Challenge asks a building to give back more than it takes. We use it as a measuring stick, not a plaque.
What the usual way assumes
That net-zero is a roof full of solar panels and a yearly balance sheet that comes out even. The equipment is visible, so it gets the credit.
What we think instead
The carbon value of a system depends on what it replaces. Seattle’s electricity is mostly hydropower and its water arrives by gravity from protected watersheds, so solar panels and rain tanks displace very little carbon here. The same hardware in a coal-powered city would be a real climate measure.
In Seattle, the measures that carry the carbon are mostly out of sight: keeping the existing house, replacing gas with heat pumps, a good envelope and lower-carbon materials. We will not let the visible systems crowd out the quiet ones.
Carbon value is a property of what a system displaces.
What we don’t know yet
How well small, building-scale systems hold up when nobody is watching them. Household systems tend to fail for lack of attention, not for bad technology. We own and operate what we build, so we can count the maintenance hours, and we intend to publish them.
Questions under this theme
Essays
CircularNet-Zero
The greenest new home may be the old house, kept
Seattle now allows four homes on most residential lots. The usual first step is to clear the lot. We think that step is usually a mistake.
Net-Zero
Solar panels are not the point. Not here, anyway.
The climate value of a solar panel depends on the power it replaces. In Seattle, that changes almost everything about what a net-zero building should be.