Zerofootprint Software, a for profit provider of carbon footprint measurements, and the Zerofootprint Foundation, a climate change nonprofit, have combined to offer the ZEROprize™ to the design team who can take an older concrete high-rise structure and, using re-skinning (a term they coined to describe a holistic approach) along with other retrofitting technologies, reduce its carbon, water and energy footprint to net zero while also maintaining the highest architectural design standards. Their goal is to inspire designers and developers everywhere to create exceptionally beautiful, energy-efficient buildings.

For more information about the contest, go to: http://www.thezeroprize.net/images/ZEROprize.pdf

The entry deadline is February 22, 2010. To qualify, the building must be of reinforced concrete construction and have been built between 1945 and 1990.  It must have a minimum of 150,000 square feet of floor space.

The entry must include the following materials along:

1. A 1,000 word description of the overall project including location, building age, construction type, date the project was completed, etc.
2. A 500 word description of who the client is and their objectives for the project.
3. A 500 word description of the design and engineering teams and their prior work.
4. A detailed breakdown of the building’s environmental footprint prior to the re- skinning and retrofitting process.
5. LEED Certifications / Triple Bottom Line analysis if applicable.
6. Engineering analysis specifying desired environmental footprint performance for the post-retrofitted building, and also detailing what systems will be used to achieve those targets.
7. Return on Investment analysis detailing the project payback schedule (Note that the retrofitting costs have to be amortizable over a period of not greater than 20 years and be paid for by the energy and water savings realized by the retrofit).
8. A description of how the critical technologies used in the project are replicable on a global scale.
9. A description of how the building uses “smart” technologies to help achieve its environmental footprint goals.

Entries should be submitted to: robert.ouellette@zerofootprint.net

To win the prize, the candidate building will be required to have a net zero footprint for one year.