Comfort and Energy Efficiency Recommendations for Net Zero Energy Buildings

A major advantage of the Net Zero Energy Building (Net ZEB) approach is claimed to be the absence of energy performance indicators, hence avoiding the need to set internationally agreed limits. Nevertheless, if the rationale is to endorse the design of environmentally friendly buildings that promote sustainable development, then reasonably strict requirements on energy efficiency should be satisfied while providing high levels of indoor environmental quality and consequent users comfort. Otherwise, the risk is that poorly designed buildings could achieve the definition of Net ZEB simply by means of oversized generation systems. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of existing international standards and/or design best practices based on comfort and energy efficiency requirements that can be taken as general recommendations for the design of Net ZEBs.