Submissions

You are here: Home / Awards / Zero Net Energy Building Award / Submissions

Deadline: December 15

The drop-dead date for getting all Zero Net Energy Building Award materials submitted to NESEA is always December 15th.

Where to send everything

All forms and supporting materials (except hard copy of presentation boards) should be submitted by email to Jennifer Marrapese, NESEA’s executive director, at jmarrapese@nesea.org or posted to an online file sharing service such as Dropbox. Please put “Zero Net Energy Building Award” in the subject line.

Hard copy of presentation boards must be snail-mailed:

NESEA
Attn. Jennifer Marrapese/ZNEBA
50 Miles Street
Greenfield, MA 01301

How we’ll use your materials

All material submitted to NESEA will remain the property of the applicant and will be used by NESEA and the Zero Net Energy Building Award only for judging, publicity, and educational purposes. By submitting an application, you agree to allow NESEA and the Zero Net Energy Building Award to publish your materials without compensation on this website, in BuildingEnergy (our member magazine), and in advertising or other promotional or educational materials. If there is a photographer you’d like us to credit in conjunction with any of the images, please provide us with the details when you submit them.

The five things you need to submit

1. Presentation board

Submit one 20″ x 30″ presentation board in either a vertical or horizontal format.

  • You must include sectional information showing building envelope details, floor plans, elevations, and at least one exterior and one interior image of the completed building.
  • You must submit both a hard copy and an electronic version in JPG, TIFF, PNG or PDF format.

2. Building images

Photographs are used to judge the building’s design in terms of aesthetics, marketability, practicality, and usefulness. Digital images are required—the judges are located in multiple states. Please follow the naming convention for your photographs found here.

  • You may send up to five interior and five exterior digital images in JPG, TIFF or PNG format.
  • Please send each photo in two forms: high- resolution (300 dpi) and web resolution (72 dpi).
  • If possible, please submit at least one vertical image of the building for potential use on the cover of the fall issue of BuildingEnergy.
  • Please follow the naming convention when naming and giving credit to your photos, found here.

Submitted images may be used for promotional purposes, and/or you may be asked to allow NESEA to send a professional photographer to photograph your building for promotional purposes. NESEA reserves the right to use any photographs. If there is a photographer you’d like us to credit in conjunction with any of the images, please provide us with the details when you submit them.

3. Energy performance data forms

To substantiate net-zero energy use, we require detailed data. Download and complete the Zero Net Energy Performance Data Forms and submit the workbook by email.  See the Forms section.

4. Supporting data

Please provide back-up documentation—a printout from the utility that reflects your building’s energy usage for at least 12 full months so that the judges can verify your stated energy usage. We encourage you to submit up to 14 months of supporting data if possible, just to ensure that we get a full 12.

Sometimes, the judges need further information; these materials should be submitted by email. Any related images should be sent in PDF, JPG, TIFF, or PNG format.

5. Narrative description

The narrative and additional responses are to be saved as a Word or RTF document.

  • Summary narrative of no more than 500 words describing your building. This narrative should include a description of the building’s location, its key sustainable design features, and any other information that will help our judges assess its comfort and replicability. If you like, explain your intentions in undertaking the project. What motivated you to build or retrofit for net zero? This information may be helpful to us in promoting the Zero Net Energy Building Award and your specific entry.
  • Brief occupancy statement explaining how the building is used, including:

Days of occupancy: number of days anyone is present in the building for the 12-month period during which net zero data is collected)

Person days of occupancy: one person present for one day equals one person day, two people for two days is four person days, and so on

  • Cost of building construction, excluding design fees, site preparation, and unconditioned space. State the square footage of the conditioned space, measured from the exterior.
  • The five major energy-related systems. Please list the following:

Building envelope: For each applicable item below, please list insulation material used and thickness/assembly R-value.

  • Subslab
  • Slab edge
  • Foundation wall
  • Above-grade wall
  • Flat attic
  • Cathedral ceiling

Doors/windows: List window U-value and SHGC.

Mechanicals: For each of the subsystems below, please list component make and model number, plus any comments that might be of interest.

  • Space heating
  • Space cooling
  • Hot water
  • Ventilation

Lighting

Renewable energy

  • Make/model/number of major components (e.g. PV panels, inverter, solar hot water panels, tank, other renewable features)
  • Peak power of the PV array (kW) or other renewable feature
  • Projected annual production of the PV array (kWh) or other renewable features
  • If known, the actual annual production of the PV array (kWh) or other renewable features