Ask the Expert: Decoding Net Zero with Jennifer Taranto
In our newest Ask the Expert series on the Building Conversations podcast, STOBG’s Vice President of Sustainability, Jennifer Taranto, explores the evolving world of net zero buildings—what it means, key drivers behind the movement, and how government regulations, renewable energy, and emerging technologies are shaping the future of sustainable construction.
HOST
Jennifer Taranto
Vice President, SustainabilityView Bio
Ask The Expert:
Sustainable Construction Expert Answers Net Zero Questions
Hello and welcome to Ask the Expert, a series on the Building Conversations podcast, where STO Building Group (STOBG) experts answer questions from our listeners. I’m your host, Jennifer Taranto, Vice President of Sustainability at STO Building Group (STOBG), and today we’re going to be talking about net zero buildings.
Question one, what does net zero mean in the context of sustainable construction? This is by far like the trickiest question that anyone in the industry can be asked today. There is no universal definition of a net -zero building, so the industry is working really hard to define this. The US Department of Energy recently released a definition in June of 2024, and I think then they subsequently amended it pretty quickly after that. So it’s open to interpretation, and I think people are taking a little bit of leniency with the way that they define it in some cases, but I think that the industry will get there and really understand what a net zero building is. The other piece of the question that’s fun is net zero what? Net zero energy, net zero emissions, net zero waste, net zero water. So in the industry, I think the other thing that we really need to do is be careful about the vernacular that we use and try to be as transparent as possible when we’re talking about net zero and making these claims about our buildings.
Question two, what are the biggest drivers behind the shift toward net zero buildings and how do government regulations and incentives support this movement? The biggest drivers are government regulations. I would say that they actually are a driver more than they’re supporting the movement at the moment. There’s also market demand, which is to say that people want to be in net zero buildings, that clients want developers to build them. Everybody has ESG goals. Everybody has carbon reduction goals, or many do anyway. That’s part of this growing recognition and need to address climate change. So I think that the drivers are just that, the regulations, the market demand, and the need for companies to address climate change. When we talk about the government regulations and incentives in particular, we’ve seen municipalities really kind of hone in on local law 97 in New York was by far the first and most strict of all of those regulations. And then followed behind that, Boston and Cambridge have the building emissions reduction and disclosure ordinance, Budo Philadelphia also has the building energy use disclosure ordinance, which is the same name as Cambridge in Massachusetts. On the west coast and in the Midwest, we’re also seeing movement. Seattle has a building energy performance standard that also has penalties for buildings that don’t meet emissions targets, or Denver similarly has a building energy efficiency ordinance. And then even Salt Lake City has a focus on energy efficiency, although it’s not as aggressive as some of the other regulatory frameworks that we’re seeing, but there is an initiative like Sustainable Salt Lake. So we’re seeing municipalities really rise to the surface to meet their own net zero emissions goals, and then to put goes on to commercial and private developers as well. For incentives and tax credits, we’ve seen clients take advantage of these both at the federal and state level, but I think the one open question around those is how long will those remain? They’re obviously time bound, and so the hope is is that once they go away that other things will replace them. I think that incentives from utilities are inevitable that they will likely always be around. And so making the best use of those and making sure that if you’re putting sustainable elements into your building and there’s money available for you to do that, that you’re taking advantage of it.
Question three is for clients considering a net zero project, what are the most important factors they should address in design and construction process to ensure success. I can only say to, again, think about your end goals. Start with that end in mind. You can’t start designing a building in a traditional way and then change it to be a net zero building after the fact that will be hugely expensive and it will cost a lot of time and effort in the process. So if net zero is your goal, state it from the outset because you really have to think about all of the building systems differently than you might otherwise. You have to think about the mechanical system differently.
You have to think about the energy usage of the building differently. So it can’t just be added as an afterthought. The strategies are completely different if you’re in a new building versus an existing building. So decarbonizing an existing building, again, if that’s the type of net zero we’re talking about, net zero emissions, that’s sort of my primary focus, but if you’re going to move an existing building to net zero emissions and decarbonize it, there are whole different sets of strategies that need to be put in place. And so really having an integrative and a collaborative team around that effort is the best place to start for anybody who’s interested in doing this work.
Question number four asks, how do renewable energy systems like solar or wind and emerging technologies contribute to achieving net zero goals? And are there any innovations on the horizon that excite you? In order to get a building to net zero, you can usually only reduce the energy of consumption of the building so far, you can only reduce the embodied carbon of the building so far, and then you need something to help make up for it. And so the way to do that is through renewable energy systems. I should say a way to do that is through renewable energy systems. Putting a solar array on top of a building offsets the energy usage that you couldn’t otherwise offset through just energy reduction and energy efficiency. So that’s how the two dovetail and go together. When I think about what I’m excited about is nuclear energy. So, we’ve been reading a lot in the industry about nuclear, particularly with industries with high energy demands like the data center industry. And so, we see many companies that are now investing heavily in existing nuclear reactors, bringing some back online that haven’t been online for years, or alternatively, the other thing we’re seeing emerging is these small modular reactors or SMRs. And those are interesting because they’re compact, they’re scalable, you can put them at a specific site and they can help power individual facilities instead of a giant nuclear reactor, which can take 40 years’ worth of approvals and time to build. And so I think these are really big game changers for energy intensive industries like the data centers, which require a massive amount of continuous power. It also allows for them to have reliability and the capacity to have uninterrupted power, which is really important to them. It’s also very low in emissions. And so I think that that is really an exciting part of achieving net zero goals is how does nuclear play a role going forward.
And our final question for this So does how can clients and professionals alike navigate the challenges of net zero construction, such as cost, complexity, and long -term maintenance while maximizing benefits? I really encourage a phased approach to this solution. You know, start with high efficiency design and systems in your buildings and then look to layer in those renewable energy systems we talked about. So solar panels wherever possible or even geothermal systems would be great in this particular case, but it’s also important to really prioritize quality materials and systems. Really, you want to reduce maintenance costs over time. Improving the longevity of the building is another major goal and outcome that we’d like to see in those buildings. Use your incentives. Again, I mentioned, I think that there’s still a plethora of incentives that are out there that can help you achieve these goals. And so it’s wise to be educated on what’s available for use out there. And that will make that transition to net zero more financially viable over time.
That’s it for today’s episode. Thank you for all the thoughtful questions and your continued interest in sustainability. Keep the questions coming. And as always, thanks for tuning in.