Executive Summary

Executive Summary: A Guide for Developing Zero Energy Communities (also called the ZEC guide) helps developers, governments, utility companies, and communities create cities, campuses, and neighborhoods that, by design, conserve energy and incorporate electric vehicle charging using renewable energy to power those buildings and vehicles. ZECs provide a net-balance of the supply and demand for local energy based on the National Renewable Energy Laboratories' (NREL) ZEC definition. The ZEC guide addresses both Greenfield and Retrofit ZECs of various project sizes and complexities. The environmental impacts, regulatory issues, resistance, economics are described. The ZEC guide includes an extensive primer regarding renewable energy, control systems, energy storage, and hybridization of technologies. The guide provides a step-by-step process for evaluation and implementation and an explanation of how to create a ZEC program and align it with other sustainability and green building standards. Extensive references are provided for a multitude of relevant resources. The 10-page illustrated executive summary describes the 202-page book, which includes forty-two photos and illustrations.