A zero-energy building, also known as a zero net energy (ZNE) building, net-zero energy building (NZEB), net zero building or zero-carbon building is a building with zero net energy consumption, meaning the total amount of energy used by the building on an annual basis is roughly equal to the amount of renewable energy created on the site, or in other definitions by renewable energy sources elsewhere.

These buildings consequently contribute less overall greenhouse gas to the atmosphere than similar non-ZNE buildings. They do at times consume non-renewable energy and produce greenhouse gases, but at other times reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas production elsewhere by the same amount.

A similar concept approved and implemented by the European Union and other agreeing countries is nearly Zero Energy Building (nZEB), with the goal of having all buildings in the region under nZEB standards by 2020.

In order to estimate a cost-effective set of energy efficiency and renewable energy measures for achieving the nZEB standard in public buildings- eCentral Living EPC tool, in a form of web-based app, was developed. Users with different backgrounds can use the tool with a range of different possible inputs. In the Living EPC tool, several components for energy efficiency measures are included to cover a broad range and give the decision makers options to secure an implemented nZEB standard.

Before starting your work in the tool- get familiar with how it works here.

Open the EPC tool here.

Following materials were developed in order to understand the nZEB.

List of the documents:

 Report on nZEB initiatives from the Central Europe Region (DT1.1.1)

Authors: EASt, REGEA, KSSENA, ENERGIAKLUB, EURAC
Key words: nZEB, Central Europe
Who could find it useful: Public authorities

This report summarizes results and experiences from previous European and national nZEB projects and initiatives. Key findings from SUSTAINCO project, BUILD-UP initiative as well as other European projects related to nZEB were utilised and enhanced. The report proofs that a wide range of nZEB initiatives was already developed within the last years, which served as a starting point of the eCentral project. In total 11 pan-European initiatives and 24 national initiatives in the eCentral project countries Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Italy and Slovenia are described.

 Regional nZEB case studies (DT1.1.2)

Authors: EASt, REGEA, KSSENA, ENERGIAKLUB, EURAC
Key words: Case studies, public nZEB buildings, best practice
Who could find it useful: Public authorities

This document aims to present 20 selected nZEB public buildings already built in five European Central regions (Italy, Slovenia, Austria, Hungary and Croatia). The buildings collected are schools and office buildings (new or renovated) and are showcasing the accelerating progress towards achieving the nZEB target. They are used as a good practices examples to define energy renovation strategies, financing schemes and design-construction processes.

 Analysis of current national and regional/local renovation strategies (DT2.4.1)

Authors: EASt, REGEA, KSSENA, ENERGIAKLUB, EURAC
Key words: long-term strategies, national plans, building stock
Who could find it useful: Public authorities

The Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) sets out energy savings requirements for EU countries. This means requiring national plans to be established for renovating overall building stock. EU countries have drawn up building renovation strategies to show how they plan to foster investment in the renovation of residential and commercial buildings, which are part of their National EE Action Plans. The following report is an overview of these strategies.

 Analysis of EU state of the art tools for deep renovation of buildings (DT1.2.1)

Authors: EASt, REGEA, KSSENA, ENERGIAKLUB, EURAC
Key words: Assesing tools, cost-effective refurbishments
Who could find it useful: Public authorities

This report provides an overview of 13 used tools for assessing cost-effective refurbishments of buildings. The survey consists of six sections, divided into general information, information about the building, building technology and refurbishment costs, visualisation of results and usability. The questions were designed in order to gain information about the input and output data as well as the calculation methodology. As a result of the evaluation of 13 tools, design of eCentral Living EPC tool has started.

 Methodology for evaluating deep renovation measures of public buildings (DT1.2.2)

Authors: EASt, REGEA, KSSENA, ENERGIAKLUB, EURAC
Key words: Assesing tools, cost-effective refurbishments, calculation methodology
Who could find it useful: Public authorities

As the Living EPC tool is a core part of the EU-project eCentral there had to be an intense research prior to its development. This report gives concrete advices for the calculation methodology for the assessment of cost-efficient measures and energy consumption forecasting. Furthermore, this report gives proposals for the methodology for the process of the calculation by describing the input parameters, parameters needed in a central database, renovation measures and results from the tool.