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.过去数年间，美国能源信息署（US Energy Information Administration, EIA）发布数据显示，建筑能耗约占总生产能源的40%。由此，建筑会排放大量二氧化碳（CO₂）。不断增长的人口需求意味着，若不采取恰当措施，建筑的能源消耗与温室气体排放量将持续维持在较高水平。美国联邦与州级机构推出各类财政激励政策，以激励房主采用节能替代方案。本研究明确了净零能耗住宅（Net Zero Energy Houses, NZEH）的主要现金流入与流出项，并针对两座气候条件差异显著的美国州份的住宅建造场景开展盈亏平衡分析。本研究纳入的现金流入项来自联邦与州级激励计划，以及采用净零能耗住宅所产生的节能收益。此外，本研究还开展了敏感性分析，以探究政府激励政策、市场利率、电价及建造成本的变动所带来的影响。研究结果显示，若启用部分激励政策，净零能耗住宅的建造盈亏平衡周期可缩短至4年以内。敏感性分析结果表明，盈亏平衡周期对政府激励政策与市场利率的变动最为敏感。