The Zerofootprint Foundation is offering the $10 Million* ZEROprize™ to the design team who can take an older concrete high-rise structure* and, using reskinning along with other retrofitting technologies, reduce its carbon, water, and energy footprint to net zero while also maintaining the highest architectural design standards. To secure the ZEROprize™, a candidate building will be required to have an audited net zero footprint for one year. Zerofootprint is also offering the annual Re-Skinning Award for buildings that are exceptional but are not net zero in their carbon performance. Refer to our website for more information: www.zerofootprint.net/communities/building-re-skinning-competition/
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		The purpose of the ZEROprize™ is to move the state-of-the-art in our challenge to retrofit entire cities. This goal will be reached through newly evolving technologies and building systems that improve the energy efficiency, sustainability, and livability of older buildings. Upgrading our existing inventory of high carbon footprint and water wasting buildings will reinvent our cities and make them more livable.
		Eligible buildings can be submitted at any time. To win the ZEROprize™ a building will be monitored for a period of one year after the submission is approved. If the building performs to specifications while satisfying the other competition criteria, the project team will be awarded the ZEROprize™. The winning team will be part of a global promotional campaign celebrating the design.
		A traveling exhibition will promote the winning ZEROprize™ design. The exhibition will contain construction materials, designs, images and other materials pertaining to retrofitting technologies used in the project. We know that there are hundreds of thousands of existing buildings worldwide that need retrofitting, and the exhibition will showcase solutions that represent state-of-the-art practices in the field.
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		The Zerofootprint Foundation is looking for donations to fund the ZEROprize. Please contact Dr. Ron Dembo at ron.dembo@zerofootprint.net for more information. The buildings must be of reinforced concrete construction, be built between 1945 and 1990, and must have a minimum of 150 units or 150,000 square feet of floor space. All the energy required to power household amenities, cool, heat, and light the building must be provided on a net zero basis. Possible onsite energy systems can include wind, solar, bio-fuel cells (from occupant produced organic waste), hydrogen cells, etc. Energy must be produced by devices located within the building and its nearby property, and cannot be powered by fuel brought to the building. The building can contribute excess energy to the grid and, when necessary, access an equivalent amount, but no more. Building intelligence technologies like communications, systems monitoring, Internet connections, fire alarms, etc. can have continuous access to emergency power from external sources for safety and backup reasons. The building can be connected to the municipal water supply for fire protection and fresh water, but an equivalent amount must be provided in gray water and/or rainwater.
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www.zerofootprint.net   The ZEROprize™