The most common and efficient way to do this is to use solar paneling (also known as PV or photovoltaic panels) on the roof and parking lot, and using “day-lighting” which is the process of lighting a building using just the Sun’s rays through proper positioning of windows and skylights. The Sun can also provide solar heated water for the building. Other methods include wind powered generators on the buildings, as is seen atop the ASU sustainability building on their Tempe campus, and hydroelectric energy sources. One important distinction to be made is that zero net buildings are not off-grid, they still require a connection to the electric power grid to maintain balance of power, but this is not going to be necessary forever, with other new technologies such as the molecules discussed in the previous post there may be a distinct possibility that these buildings might one day be able to function on their own.
Through these methods many companies have been able to become zero net, and soon enough it will be possible to do the same with housing on a large scale, currently there are houses in construction that are known as passive houses, these houses do the same thing that the much larger commercial buildings do just on a smaller scale. Imagine living in a house that never had an electric bill, wouldn’t that be wonderful?