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Since energy involves dollars and cents, net zero energy will be what is attractive to building owners. And it's not unrealistic. Proper site orientation, energy model the design for proper insulation, glazing, daylighting, high efficiency lighting/appliances, power with solar pv, and voila... Net zero (possibly positive!)
I mean that a lot of those things are not under your control as an architect, not unrealistic as in unachieveable. If you are going to be bankrolling building construction, you can request all that. If you are a cog, you get to control your part.
And energy costs are important to owners but not that important - ie, most people don't choose a house based on utility bills first and most outfits don't build buildings with that as a first requirement either. You can offer recommendations for any building in regards to site orientation, glazing, and daylight requirements. You don't need to only strive for net-zero buildings (or be un or underemployed as it sounds you are now).
Net-zero buildings are growing in popularity in California. A cluster of net-zero homes just got built a few blocks away from my neighborhood--small buildings, 1200-1600 square feet, with solar panels on top and a big lithium battery in the basement. Plenty of insulation, detached single-family homes but they could have even greater energy efficiencies as attached row houses. They sold like hotcakes, almost as fast as they were built. Hope to see more of them.
The regional electric utility company in Sacramento is very active in net zero design. Their newest expansion is a net zero building. I've been in it and it is really neat. The parking lot is used as a solar panel farm.
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