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This case study details the transition of the Euclid Avenue United Methodist Church in Oak Park, Illinois, toward net-zero energy through a series of phased upgrades. Starting in 2011, the church replaced an inefficient gas boiler with a geothermal heat pump system, followed by the installation of rooftop solar panels in 2014, LED lighting upgrades in 2020, and a subscription to a community solar farm in 2021.

This guide by RMI provides strategies for maintaining cool indoor temperatures while reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions, particularly during heat waves. It outlines passive cooling methods, natural ventilation techniques, and efficient cooling technologies, supported by two case studies of net-zero and super-insulated homes in Colorado.

This written testimony from the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations requests at least level funding for fiscal year 2021 for several U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) programs focused on climate change mitigation and adaptation.

This briefing by RMI argues that shifting the focus from individual net-zero energy buildings to net-zero energy districts allows for greater cost-effectiveness, better grid integration, and optimized clean mobility through urban-scale planning.

This case study describes the collaboration between Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) and the Lodha Group to apply a net-zero energy (NZE) district design framework to Palava City, a large-scale greenfield development near Mumbai, India. The project aims to demonstrate how integrated design across energy, mobility, and water systems can create sustainable, high-density urban environments in emerging markets.

This briefing by RMI argues that revitalizing old industrial sites using net-zero energy (NZE) design can drive urban economic development, improve resident quality of life, and reduce citywide carbon emissions. It highlights the advantages of 'district scale' redevelopment and provides several US-based examples of NZE projects transforming former manufacturing and steel sites into sustainable mixed-use communities.

This case study describes how the John Madden Company (JMC), a family-owned business in Colorado, implemented a large-scale energy efficiency project across two buildings in its portfolio. By utilizing Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) financing and bundling various efficiency measures, JMC achieved significant energy savings without upfront capital costs for the landlord or increased costs for tenants.

This executive summary by the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) outlines four key insights derived from interviews with eight leading net-zero energy (NZE) home builders in the US, who collectively account for 20 percent of the country's single-family NZE homes. The document discusses the economic viability of NZE homes, strategies for customer acquisition, the impact of labor shortages on construction methods, and the risk-mitigation benefits of building high-performance homes.

Boulder Commons is a 100,000 square foot multitenant net-zero energy (NZE) project in Boulder, Colorado, designed to demonstrate the financial viability of NZE leased buildings for developers, landlords, and tenants.

The Carbon-Free City Handbook: Buildings provides a set of five strategic actions for cities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the built environment, which accounts for nearly 50 percent of all GHG emissions in large cities.

This case study describes the development of a 400,000-square-foot net-zero-energy distribution center for the retailer REI in Goodyear, Arizona. The facility is the only distribution center in the U.S. to achieve both LEED Platinum certification and net-zero energy status, demonstrating that high-performance sustainability and business efficiency can coexist in large-scale logistics infrastructure.

This briefing by RMI describes a shift from traditional air temperature-centric building design to a targeted approach based on six variables of thermal comfort. Using the Rocky Mountain Institute's Innovation Center as a case study, the document explains how integrating these variables through the Predictive Mean Vote (PMV) metric and Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) can reduce energy use and support net-zero goals, while detailing the technical and contractual strategies needed to manage the associated risks of passive design.

This case study describes the Boulder Valley School District's (BVSD) strategy to achieve net-zero energy and an 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gases by 2050 through a combination of deep retrofits, retrocommissioning, and new construction funded by a 2014 voter-approved bond.

This case study describes an energy savings performance contract (ESPC) completed in 2014 by Lockheed Martin at the U.S. Embassy in Nicaragua. The project achieved a 54 percent energy reduction across nine buildings through a combination of LED lighting retrofits, HVAC optimizations, and the installation of a 956 kW solar PV system, which is the State Department’s largest overseas system.

This report by the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) details eight case studies of deep energy retrofits implemented via Energy Savings Performance Contracts (ESPCs) in federal and municipal settings. It identifies six best practices for achieving significant energy reductions—averaging 58% across the highlighted projects—without upfront capital costs or Congressional appropriations.

The report details the outcomes of the General Services Administration's (GSA) National Deep Energy Retrofit (NDER) program and a subsequent stakeholder workshop held in April 2014. It compares the energy savings of GSA's deep retrofits against other federal agencies and identifies systemic barriers and best practices in the Energy Saving Performance Contract (ESPC) process, focusing on project delivery, team dynamics, integrative design, operations and maintenance (O&M), and project economics.

This briefing is a transcript of an address by Amory B. Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) delivered on July 17, 2013, at Appalachian State University. Lovins advocates for the adoption of 'integrative design' and 'natural capitalism' within university campuses to eliminate energy and material waste. He argues that universities should serve as living laboratories where students use a 'beginner's mind' to redesign buildings, food systems, and infrastructure, while simultaneously breaking down academic silos to foster transdisciplinary learning.

This fact sheet from the Environmental and Energy Study Institute describes the energy efficiency and renewable energy initiatives of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and its branches. It details strategic goals for the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force to reduce fossil fuel reliance, improve operational security, and meet federal mandates for greenhouse gas reductions and renewable energy procurement.

This case study details the planned zero-carbon deep energy retrofit of Hano Homes, a 20-apartment affordable housing property in Boston, MA. The project aims to achieve Phius certification by implementing a superinsulated exterior shell, transitioning to all-electric mechanical systems, and installing a rooftop solar array to reach net-zero energy operations.