Japan’s Zero Energy Houses
In April 2014, the Japanese Government approved plans to encourage Zero Net Energy Houses (ZEH) with the goal of making them standard for new house construction by 2020. Zero energy houses are designed to use as much energy as they can create using renewable energy on-site.
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has also established an investigative commission to create guidelines and standards for construction.
However, there are some potential challenges. Solar power, for example, is not the most efficient option for all houses across Japan due to weather and environmental differences. Also, for houses on very small blocks of land, installing high capacity solar panels to offset energy consumption may not be physically possible due to the limited size of the site.Read more