Energy-Optimized Buildings: Annotated Bibliography Analysis

This annotated bibliography examines an article exploring the concepts of net-zero and net-positive energy buildings. The article begins by defining net-zero energy based on existing literature and reviews North American developments in zero-energy buildings (ZEBs). It then critically analyzes net-positive energy, highlighting its potential to introduce new technical, policy, and regulatory considerations. The author contrasts the challenges of single buildings achieving significant energy gains with the expectation that all new buildings should achieve net-zero energy. The bibliography entry provides a summary of the article, an evaluation of its relevance and strengths (clear definitions and evidence-based arguments), and acknowledges a weakness (unclear objectives). The article is deemed helpful in understanding the two energy concepts.

Annotated Bibliography (Shifting from net-zero to net-positive energy buildings)
Summary of the article
This article examines a set of studies that presents building projects with net zero performance.
The author begins by defining the concept of net-zero energy from varied literature before
carrying out a critical review on the North American developments in regards to ZEBs. Net
positive energy is then explicitly explored. This involves a critical review of studies conducted
on the topic. The author sought to provide clarity on the definition of net-zero based on a
theoretical framing1. The author examines net-positive energy by exploring the role of a building
in adding value to the system to which it is a part of. The author discovers that net-positive
energy provide an avenue for new technical, policy, regulatory issues and opportunities currently
not shown in the net zero energy1. The author then concludes that these challenges of single
building as an effective unit in making significant energy gains are contrary to the prevalent
expectation that all new buildings should attain net-zero energy1.
Evaluation.
The article is relevant in examining the concepts of Net-Zero and positive energy. It is a good
article in introducing this concept. This is attributed to the author’s choice of words and evidence
based on previous studies conducted on the topic. The authors clearly define the concepts before
proceeding to explore the definitions of Net-Zero and positive energy. This gives the reader an
opportunity to grasp of what the author was seeking to express without much struggle. The
author did not however clearly outline the objectives of the study. This particularly gave me a
hard time because I was unsure of what the article was seeking to express. The article however
boosted my understanding on the two concepts of zero-net and positive-net energy. The article
thus averagely a good one in the study of ZEBs
Reference
[1] Cole RJ, Fedoruk L. Shifting from net-zero to net-positive energy buildings. Building
Research & Information. 2015 Jan 2;43(1):111-20.