The National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO) will convene the Zero-Energy Commercial Buildings Consortium to support the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Net-Zero Energy Commercial Building Initiative. NASEO is comprised of senior officials from the energy offices of the states and territories, as well as affiliates from private and public sectors, and will provide leadership for the consortium.
The consortium will include representatives from more than 300 organizations from the following building areas:
• Design professions, including national associations of architects and professional engineers.
• Development, construction, financial, and real-estate industries.
• Building owners and operators from public and private sectors.
• Academic and research organizations with extensive commercial-building-energy expertise.
• Building-code agencies and organizations, including a model energy-code-setting organization.
• Independent high-performance green-building associations or councils.
• Experts in indoor-air quality and environmental factors.
• Experts in intelligent buildings and integrated building information systems.
• Utility energy-efficiency programs.
• Manufacturers and providers of equipment and techniques used in high-performance green buildings.
• Public-transportation industry experts.
• Non-governmental energy-efficiency organizations.
In turn, the consortium will support the DOE, DOE national laboratories, and the Commercial Building Energy Alliances and Commercial Building Partners in achieving affordable and marketable net-zero-energy commercial buildings in all climate zones by 2025.
The consortium will provide access to technical expertise, communicate the emergence of new technologies to the commercial-building community, and promote the demonstration of high-performance-building technologies. A steering committee made up of NASEO members and lighting, window, and heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning suppliers will outline and drive the consortium's goals and objectives.