Cost effective zero net energy (ZNE) schemes exist for many types of residential and commercial buildings. Yet, today{\textquoteright}s alternating current (AC) based ZNE designs may be as much as 10\% to 20\% less efficient, more costly, and more complicated than a design based on direct current (DC) technologies. An increasing number of research organizations and manufacturers are just starting the process of developing products and conducting research and development (R\&D) efforts. These early R\&D efforts indicate that the use of DC technologies may deliver many energy and non-energy benefits relative to AC-based typologies. DC ZNE schemes may provide for an ideal integrating platform for natively DC-based onsite generation, storage, electric vehicle (EV) charging and end-use loads. Emerging empirical data suggest that DC end-use appliances are more efficient, simpler, more durable, and lower cost. DC technologies appear to provide ratepayers a lower cost pathway to achieve resilient ZNE buildings, and simultaneously yield a plethora of benefits.
This paper draws from the current research effort entitled "Direct Current as an Integrating and Enabling Platform," co-led by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), the California Institute for Energy and the Environment (CIEE), the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and funded under the California Energy Commission{\textquoteright}s Energy Program Investment Charge (CEC EPIC). The first phase of this EPIC research is focused on assembling and summarizing known global performance information on DC and DC-AC hybrid end-use appliances and power systems. This paper summarizes the information and insights gained from this research effort.
}, year = {2016}, booktitle = {ACEEE 2016 Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings}, journal = {ACEEE 2016 Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings}, series = {ACEEE 2016 Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings}, month = {08/2016}, address = {Pacific Grove, California}, url = {http://aceee.org/files/proceedings/2016/data/papers/10_780.pdf}, }