At the U.S. Department of Energy and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, we have developed a vision for future buildings a century from now. Established with the collective views of our forward-thinking stakeholders, the framework will help guide the evolution of the U.S. building stock.
Watch the video Explore the evolution of future buildingsOccupants
- Personalize comfort provision Portable or wearable devices integrate with central and local systems to personalize indoor environments, reducing the need for space heating and cooling while maintaining comfort and air quality.
- Learn occupant behavior and expectations Building applications exchange data and learn occupant behavior and expectations to tailor energy and resource consumption to actual needs.
- Quantify and improve health and wellbeing The aggregated health benefits are quantified via biometric data of building occupants, while preserving personal privacy
- Healthy and Productive
- Resilient and Resourceful
- Self-Learning and Monitoring
- Connected
- Adaptable
100-Year Targets and Metrics1Provide unique, automatic control points
Occupants can personalize their immediate lighting and thermal environment (measured by the number of control points per person), while buildings can learn occupants' preferences with experience and identify operating faults and improve performance.
2Increase "Quality Adjusted Life Year"
Quality Adjusted Life Year (QALY), measuring the quality and the quantity of life lived, can be used to capture the physical and psychological benefits of buildings with health-promoting characteristics, including the full benefits of happiness, ergonomics, thermal comfort, ventilation, lighting, and other factors.
3Increase productivity by 10 times
The energy productivity reached $141/GJ ($149/MMBtu) in 2014. The buildings related area offers a third of the overall productivity gain potential. Productivity (GDP) per unit energy use per floor area for commercial buildings ($/GJ–m2) can directly measure buildings' contribution to the productivity growth.
Building Systems
- Consist of modular systems Modular systems can easily reconfigure and upgrade to accommodate various needs and adapt to function or condition changes, such as weather.
- Embrace intelligent envelopes Building envelopes embrace responsive and dynamic materials to provide more complex functions such as generating energy, collecting water, controlling light, regulating indoor temperature, or filtering air.
- Composed of programmable and interoperable components Building components generated from integrated design and manufacture process support easy interconnection, update, and extensibility.
- Healthy and Productive
- Resilient and Resourceful
- Self-Learning and Monitoring
- Connected
- Adaptable
100 Year Targets and Metrics4Embody zero GHG emission
The goal (measuring embodied GHG emission per unit floor area per service life year) is to extend a building's adaptability during its service life to avoid unnecessary building upgrades, renovations, and new construction and thereby reduce embodied energy and resource consumption.
5Interoperate among building equipment, between buildings, and with utilities
The need for interoperability of building HVAC equipment, lighting, miscellaneous electric loads, and associated sensors and actuators with building automation system is widely recognized. Future buildings require similar interoperability with other buildings and utilities.
Utilities
- Integrate centralized and decentralized networks Common critical infrastructure —such as power, water, and waste—relies on a combination of centralized and decentralized networks for generation, distribution, storage, and treatment.
- Connected to transact services and resources Buildings are connected to share or trade building services and utility resources, such as energy generation and storage, demand flexibility, waste heat recovery, water purification, onsite waste treatment, and localized air-cleaning.
- Prepared for non-resource situations Taking advantage of low-tech and distributed solutions and relying on local resources, buildings can operate in low- or non-resource situations under extreme environmental conditions and during catastrophic events.
- Healthy and Productive
- Resilient and Resourceful
- Self-Learning and Monitoring
- Connected
- Adaptable
100 Year Targets and Metrics6Operate with Zero GHG emission
In 2013, each square meter of building space contributed to 0.078 metric ton greenhouse gas emissions. The target (measuring operating GHG emission per unit floor area per year) for each building is to reduce its energy loads as much as feasible, so that the remaining can be met by renewable energy generated onsite or from the local grid.
7Reduce peak load by 50% and transact the remainder
In 2013, the nationwide peak summer demand in buildings was 29.7 W/m2. Transactable load measures the amount of energy that is dispatchable to serve other buildings within the grid. The future infrastructure for generation and demand should be highly flexible and controllable on a very short time scale.
8Operate 100% critical functions without grid
This metric measures the capability of connected buildings to use each other as backup systems to reach a certain redundancy level: 100% of critical loads can operate at full function for at least one week; 50% of noncritical loads can operate at reduced function for 48 hours (or 25% for one week).
Community
- Adapt to changing needs Multifunctional buildings accommodate the needs of changing demography (e.g., aging population) and provide services to enhance work-life balance.
- Connected by multimodal transportation network A multimodal transportation network efficiently connects buildings with reduced land use for automobile circulation and parking, leaving more space for pedestrians as well as green space that performs onsite ecological functions.
- Measure and disclose holistic performance Buildings' holistic performance, including embodied energy, impact on health, and life cycle assessment are measured, tracked, and recognized in the marketplace.
- Healthy and Productive
- Resilient and Resourceful
- Self-Learning and Monitoring
- Connected
- Adaptable
100 Year Targets and Metrics9Reconfigure functions with Zero GHG emission
In 2012, commercial buildings contributed to 0.003 metric ton to support every person hour. Fully utilization of existing buildings (measured in metric ton/person hour) will reduce waste of energy and other resources to maintain empty space and, more importantly, the demand for new constructions.
10Commute with Zero GHG emission
In 2013, on-road vehicles contributed to 4.8 metric ton greenhouse gas emissions per person. The zero transportation emission goal (measured in metric ton/person) relies on not only the new modes of transportation and communication, but also building location and how buildings are connected to services and supplies.
11100% disclose total cost of ownership
The total cost of ownership will include the total cost of design, construction, operation, maintenance or renewal, and decommissioning through its useful time, and measurable environmental impacts, operational benefits, improved productivity, and improved life-cycle flexibility.
Environment
- Fully harvest onsite resources Buildings fully harvest resources available onsite before utilizing infrastructure sources for heating, cooling, lighting, and electricity.
- Tied to health influencers Buildings are tied to the broader cycle of the region, including water cycles, nutrient load, manufacturing, and other factors that affect our health.
- Monitor environmental impacts Buildings constantly sense and control their outflows–such as water, heat, and air—and monitor the aggregated impact on the micro- and macro-environments.
- Healthy and Productive
- Resilient and Resourceful
- Self-Learning and Monitoring
- Connected
- Adaptable
100 Year Targets and Metrics12Maintain or improve biodiversity of building site
A building’s interaction with the natural environment can be measured by the extent to which a building allows the environment to persist in its unadulterated state. The richness and evenness of local species can be measured in indices such as Simpson’s Index of Diversity.
13Consume 80% less imported water
In 2010, buildings imported 518 liters (137 gallons) per person per day. With combined strategies for reducing water consumption for irrigation, sewage, and cooling and increasing capacity of onsite water treatment and storm water management, this number can be reduced to 20% of today’s level (measured in liters/person).
14100% Track consumptions and emissions
43% of the U.S. buildings today can track their energy use. Future buildings are expected to be equipped with active, real-time tracking and monitoring systems—such as those for energy, water, GHG, and indoor air quality—with sufficient systems and subsystems detail to support accurate diagnostics and prognostics.
