Evaluating the Potential of Net Positive Energy and Carbon Houses: A Melbourne based Case Study

The building sector is responsible for $36{{\% }}$ of total energy consumption and one-third of the energy related greenhouse gas emissions around the world. There is an urgent need to reduce energy consumption and emissions from this sector. Previous studies investigated various ways to reduce operational carbon emissions by constructing net zero energy and emissions buildings. Nonetheless, reducing and offsetting embodied carbon emissions is still a challenge. This research investigated the potential of a Net Positive House to offset its embodied and operational carbon emission through two real world case studies. Net Positive Houses produce more energy than they consume, offering the potential to offset carbon emissions. The results revealed that the operation of these Net Positive Houses produced on average 6.6 times and 4.2 times more energy than they consumed over a full year. Net Positive Houses have the potential to not only achieve carbon neutrality in their operational phase, but also generate carbon credits for offsetting other carbon emissions. The two case study houses can offset their embodied carbon within approximately 3 years and 4.5 years depending on the occupants behavior. The battery storage was found to be more effective in terms of energy, cost and emissions savings for houses with higher energy consumption. These finding suggests that Net Positive Houses can play a crucial role in mitigating carbon emissions and advancing sustainability goals.