As this Eco-Leader demonstrates: When it comes to encouraging net-zero status with customers’ homes, it never hurts to start with your own.

Uponor, which manufactures plumbing and radiant heating systems and tools, recently took a big step when its Lakeville, Minn., distribution center became 100 percent wind-powered last spring. Since 2017, the company has been increasingly buying blocks of wind-produced renewable energy from local utilities.

An innovative approach to home solar storage is just one example of this company’s groundbreaking steps forward in sustainability.

It was only a decade ago when Christoph Ostermann and Torsten Stiefenhofer introduced a radical product that addressed a simple question: Why shouldn’t a homeowner’s solar power stay with their home instead of sending it back to the grid?

Training and education are setting the tone for this company’s sustainability efforts.

There’s no one way to go net zero—which is why Rheem Manufacturing is using three of them. The heating and cooling product manufacturer, under its “Greater Degree of Good” mantra, plans to meet 2025 sustainability goals through innovation, efficiency, and leadership.

Panasonic’s goal by 2050 is to create more energy than it uses. Projects on three continents showcase how it will get this done.

Call it “net-zero by the numbers.” For Panasonic, operating in a sustainable fashion means more than just implementing policy. It also means showing the world what happened when you did.

In the past three years, the electronics maker has made its home appliance recycling site, Panasonic ECO Technology Center (PETEC), and its battery manufacturing site, Panasonic Energy Belgium (PECBE), carbon emissions-neutral. Three more factories making up Panasonic do Brazil (PANABRAS) recently became the first on the American continent to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas status.

This company believes that with each net-zero project achieved, the United States gets that much closer to decarbonization and a fully electrified society.

For Mitsubishi Electric Trane HVAC US (METUS), developing effective solutions for high-performing net-zero buildings and homes is job one. It results in tangible outcomes such as: 

• A home that offsets a family’s energy usage and feeds the electric grid.
• A passive house multi-use commercial building that uses water-based technology for heating and cooling.
• An office space in Minnesota that doesn’t require cost-heavy and energy-intensive auxiliary heat to keep employees warm through frigid winters. 

This Eco-Leaders winner believes that net zero begins with bold environmental goals as well as teaching the public about the merits of going green.

Embracing a net zero imperative future beyond efficient products, LG Electronics USA is taking its environmental commitment to the next level, setting its sights on achieving carbon neutrality by 2030. It plans to do so through a variety of strategic initiatives such as:

This 2020 Eco-Leaders winner understands that honestly representing a green energy product means keeping your own act clean.

The world often assumes that solar panel manufacturers, by definition, have sustainable practices. However, just because a manufacturer produces a clean product such as solar pv does not necessarily mean that its manufacturing process and overall operation are always resource-conscious.

Large homes account for 25 percent more GHGs than those in modest neighborhoods, but they’re just part of the problem.

The homes and lifestyles of the wealthy represent a major contribution to global warming, according to a new study by the University of Michigan. The report notes that affluent suburbs produce up to 15 times the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as nearby, poorer districts. It also says larger homes are responsible for nearly 25 percent more GHGs through lighting, heating, and cooling than smaller ones.

The pattern of record-setting temperatures will worsen in coming months and years.

Nationwide, heat caused at least 10,000 deaths from 1999 to 2016–more than hurricanes, tornadoes, or floods in most years, according to research by the Columbia Journalism Investigations and the Center for Public Integrity. And although the heatwaves are likely to continue courtesy of global warming, the lead agency for dealing with the problem is getting increasingly less support from the White House.

The nation’s wind capacity can now supply electricity to 5 million homes per year.

Wind power’s growing popularity and innovations in energy technology have led to a record number of annual procurements in 2019. Commercial and industrial companies are buying almost 4,500 megawatt (MW) of U.S. wind capacity—enough to generate electricity for 5 million homes annually. Total corporate agreements are approaching 17,000, according to a new report from the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA).

Half of this season’s Atlantic storms may become hurricanes.

Leading weather experts predict heightened chance for major storms making landfall in North America this hurricane season. Meteorologists from Colorado State University predict 16 tropical storms will form, of which eight will become hurricanes. In an average season, there are 12 tropical storms, six of which are hurricanes.

New medical report cites major indoor air quality issues, courtesy of gas stoves.

People kept indoors by COVID-19 stay-at-home orders may have a higher risk of another airborne problem. According to a report by the Rocky Mountain Institute, Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR), Mothers Out Front, and the Sierra Club, gas stoves are likely exposing tens of millions of people to levels of indoor air pollution that would be illegal under outdoor air quality standards.

By applying a human-centric metric, cooling and heating can be optimized for the comfort of occupants.

Purdue University researchers have developed a sensor connected to the internet to help control and cut down on energy consumption through HVAC systems, particularly those used in large office and hospitality industry buildings, but also in smart homes.