The Net-Zero Energy topic is a live project carrying out in NIST:
Nothing Lost is Everyone's Gain
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)'s newest laboratory, the Net Zero Energy Residential Test Facility (NZERTF), is designed to demonstrate that a typical looking suburban home for a family of four can generate as much energy as it uses in a year. The two-story, four-bedroom, three-bath NZERTF looks and behaves like a house, while incorporating energy efficient construction and appliances as well as energy generating technologies such as solar water heating, higher-than-standard levels of insulation and solar photovoltaic systems.
http://www.nist.gov/el/nzertf/net_zero_91212.cfm
The program's topical focus is on three technology thrusts:
Space conditioning,
Renewable and distributed energy technologies,
Cleaning and control technologies for indoor air quality,
This last focus area is important and so included because the impact of net-zero energy technologies on the indoor environment must be assessed to ensure that indoor air quality is not compromised but perferably enhanced. The technical ideas pursued within these thrusts can be placed in the following four categories:
Cost-neutral energy savings
Apply advances in materials science - nanolubricants - to improve the energy efficiency of chillers used to cool commercial buildings.
Apply particle image velocimetry measurements, computational fluid dynamic modeling, and evolutionary computation methods for optimization space-conditioning heat exchangers. Since the concept of the net-zero energy building includes cost effectiveness on a life-time basis, advanced cos-neutral solutions are of particular interest.
Testing and rating methodologies
Reduce the measurement uncertainty associated with rating of photovoltaic modules.
Develop testing and rating procedures for micro-cogeneration systems.
Develop test methods for high-efficiency particle filtration devices.
Indoor air quality
Enhance NIST's multizone modeling tools for indoor environmental analysis to incorporate more complete particle transport.
Apply multizone building analysis to relate air cleaner performance as measured in the laboratory to contaminant exposure reduction in actual occupied environments.
Exploratory research
Identify measurement science barriers that impede market implementation of alternative, emerging cooling technologies.
Self-sufficient and surplus energy projects from around the globe:
http://www.constructiondigital.com/top_ten/top-ten-net-zero-buildings