STUDY AND ANALYSIS OF INCENTIVES FOR STATE-OF-THE-ART NET-ZERO ENERGY HOUSES

Over the past several years, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) has reported that buildings consume about 40% of the total energy produced. As a consequence, buildings emit high volumes of carbon dioxide (CO2). The everincreasing population demand implies that buildings will continue their consumption and emit gasses in high proportions if appropriate steps are not taken. Federal and state agencies offer various financial incentives to motivate homeowners to adopt energy efficient alternatives. In this research, major cash inflows and outflows are identified for Net Zero Energy Houses (NZEH) and breakeven analysis is conducted by considering that the houses are constructed in two US states having significantly different climatic conditions. The cash inflows considered in this research are from Federal and State incentive programs and savings generated by adopting NZEH. Sensitivity analysis is also conducted to determine the impact of variation in in government incentives, market interest rate, electricity rates and rate of construction. Results show that when some of the incentives are utilized the breakeven for a NZEH construction could be less than 4 years. Sensitivity analysis shows that the breakeven is most sensitive to changes in government incentives and market interest rate.