Hey friends,

A few weeks back, we talked about avoiding carbon washing by using clear terminology. As we covered, the terms "carbon neutral" and "net zero" are sometimes murky, ambiguous, questionable, and misleading.

I've continued to dig into this topic, and when it comes to using similar terms to describe our buildings, it gets even more confusing!

Beyond carbon neutral and net zero, there are at least 25 more that are specifically for buildings. Examples include: Net Zero Carbon, Zero Net Carbon, Zero Energy, Zero Net Energy, Net Zero Site Energy, Net Zero Source Energy, Zero Emissions. You get the idea.

Well... do you? I didn't.

Turns out, official definitions for these terms differ based on six core questions:

Is site vs. source energy considered?
Do the renewables need to be generated on site?
Are offsets or credits allowed?
Is it an annual or hourly target?
Are we talking about zero energy or zero carbon?
Are we talking about both embodied and operational carbon or just operational?

It seems like most recent commitments are focusing on “Net Zero Emissions” or “Net Zero Carbon”. “Nearly Nero” is used in the EU and it’s very similar. These terms mean something like this:

“a highly energy efficient building that produces on-site, or procures, enough carbon-free renewable energy to meet building operations energy consumption annually.”
carbon-based energy consumption is reduced first through building design strategies and efficiency measures, then through on-site renewable energy generation, and finally through procurement of locally produced off-site renewable energy.
includes embodied energy and therefore applies to new buildings too

This represents the state of the art today and if every building was on its way there, we'd be making great progress. But, but, but...

As more and more are realizing, we can and should still do better than annual carbon accounting. As one Google employee put it in the Bloomberg article below:

“Take this data center, at this time... Clearly it is using coal.”

And clearly they needed a better goal: 24/7 carbon free. I expect that realization to continue and spread across corporate and government commitments. Microsoft has followed Google's lead. Who's next?

—James

P.S. I'm at IBcon for the next two days. If you're here too, hit reply and let's find a time to meet in person.

✖ At the Nexus

Here’s everything we published this week:

★ PODCAST (REPOST): Andrew Rodgers on what "open" really means for smart buildings—We took a break from podcasting this week to focus on onboarding our new team member and IBcon, which starts today. If you haven't listened to this episode from 2020, you should... it's one of James' favorites.

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★ PRO MEMBER GATHERING: Anto Budiardjo on the Smarter Stack framework (Pro members only)—The members of Monday Live! have been collaborating on a framework for communicating how different pieces of the smart building puzzle fit together. Anto shared that journey and we had a great Q&A.

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★ MEMBER DIGEST: September/October Member Review (Pro members only)—These roundups are designed to catch our members up on everything that happened in the Nexus Labs universe over the last few months. One highlight: we now have a searchable and filterable member directory.

Not a member? Join now to start connecting.

🔎 Signal vs. Noise

Only the best smart building resources we consumed this week…

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★ DECARBONIZATION: Google’s New Green Campus Brings Sustainability to Silicon Valley—On the quest to run a giant company without emissions around the clock. Last year, Google met 67% of its data center electricity needs with renewable sources on an hourly basis, a 6% jump from the prior year. Data centers in certain places, such as Oklahoma and Oregon, run on close to or above 90% clean sources. But getting off carbon elsewhere is a bigger challenge, and Google is aiming well beyond typical corporate targets.

“If you don’t do this correctly, you won’t be able to attract talent,” he says. “When I look at the younger generation, people who are teenagers now, I can’t see them making the choice to work for a company which they feel is polluting.”

👀 👀

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★ WORKFORCE: Designing the Internet of Things: role for enterprise architects, IoT architects, or both?—Interesting take on a workforce need I've seen but few have talked about. Enterprise IoT architects will be critical to enable technology to reach its full potential.

"These individuals will be hard to find," according to Gartner analyst Erik Heidt. "As with any emerging technology, the recipe for success involves a mix of technical knowledge, business acumen and delivery skills. Those having such capabilities in two or more of these areas will be in extremely high demand."

Before you think this is overly technical, here's their list of in-demand skills:

Innovation and ideation
Developing business cases and scenarios
Risk management
Collaboration and interoperability
Delivering superior user experience

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★ TENANT EXPERIENCE: EV Chargers, A Hot Tenant Amenity—Quick podcast on the latest trends at the intersection of electrification and real estate tenant experience. Hint: it's all about creating a simple, frictionless, and connected experience.

"The cost of doing something is incredibly expensive and the cost of doing nothing is incredibly expensive."

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★ NEW-TO-ME: New startups sliding across my desk this week...

Let's talk people counters. Here are 3 new sensors that were recently shared by Nexus Pro members recently:

Eurecam—Seemingly API-first manufacturer out of France
Eta Compute—California manufacturer
IM Buildings—Dutch LoRaWAN sensor manufacturer

👉 The Nexus Pro chatroom is really heating up lately with discussions like this. Not a member? Join now to get access to the conversation and the archive.