Happy Earth Day!

The real challenge in building net-zero energy and net-zero carbon buildings is not the technology or science but the unit economics due to higher material costs. Reframe Systems is developing a novel robotic microfactory with software-driven manufacturing that significantly improves labor productivity and reduces construction costs for net-zero homes by absorbing the incremental cost of better materials. In doing so, we get one step closer in solving our mission of building net-zero carbon homes for all, at massive scale.

Earth Day 2023

On the occasion of Earth Day, April 22nd, it's crucial to reflect on the significance of preserving the health and sustainability of our planet. At Reframe Systems, we are thrilled to unveil our decarbonization strategy that promises to enable the creation of healthy, climate-friendly buildings. Our aim is to expedite the construction of net-zero carbon homes that are accessible to everyone. We are grateful to be supported by our seed investors, Eclipse Ventures and Foundamental Ventures, and we are well on our way to establish a prototype microfactory in the Greater Boston area by the end of this year. We have selected Boston as our starting point, which is one of the many cities under the C40 global network of leading cities committed to tackling the climate crisis. Additionally, we are proud to be situated in Somerville, MA's Greentown Labs, which is one of the largest climate tech startup incubators in North America. Read more about our origin story here.

We thought it might be fun to ask ChatGPT to write us a poem and it delivered!

Earth Day, a time to reflect,

On our planet and its neglect,

Let's remember the importance of our role,

In protecting the environment as a whole.

Reframe Systems has a mission to fulfill,

To build net-zero carbon homes with skill,

Their decarbonization strategy will pave the way,

For healthy and climate-friendly buildings each day.

Seed-funded by Eclipse and Foundamental Ventures,

Their prototype microfactory is set to emerge,

In Boston, where the C40 network stands strong,

Cities uniting to confront the climate crisis head-on.

Greentown Labs, their home base,

North America's largest climate tech incubator in place,

They're working hard to accelerate and scale,

A sustainable future that we can all unveil.

- ChatGPT

Why do we need to decarbonize the built environment?

Decarbonization emphasizes the shift in focus from energy efficiency to directly reducing global warming by avoiding greenhouse gas emissions. Buildings represent nearly 40% of annual greenhouse gas emissions. To meet the Paris Agreement objectives and limit global warming to 1.5˚C compared to pre-industrial levels, we must halve emissions from the built environment by 2030 and fully decarbonize it by 2050 (Source: WEF, IPCC, EIA). Over the next 40 years, it is estimated that another 2.5 trillion square feet of new building space will be built, that roughly amounts to a brand-new New York City every 30 days. While operating carbon emissions can be reduced over the lifetime of a building through efficiency measures, embodied carbon emissions are locked in as soon as new buildings are constructed (Source: The Climate Reality Project). In addition, by 2050, it is estimated that two-thirds of current building space will still be here, meaning the inefficient buildings and technologies that exist today will still be present and polluting – unless we upgrade them or fully rebuild.

What are the challenges (technical vs economical)?

The building industry has the means, methods, and tools to achieve a net-zero-carbon future. This can be accomplished by limiting high embodied carbon materials, choosing sustainable timber, and designing buildings to be grid-interactive with on-site solar generation, battery storage, and advanced controls. Existing buildings can undergo deep energy retrofits to improve thermal performance, moisture management, and air-tightness while transitioning to all-electric heat pump systems. Technical challenges have been largely solved through years of research, innovation, demonstration, and deployment.

The challenge now lies in the economics of deploying net-zero carbon buildings at scale. As the momentum behind net-zero carbon builds and more buildings are demonstrating that net-zero carbon is an achievable goal, there is a growing need to identify approaches that will enable affordability and scalability. The prevailing perception is that net-zero carbon is cost prohibitive.

In fact, a major barrier to decarbonization of the built environment has been the incremental costs of net-zero carbon strategies added to the total construction cost of projects (mainly contributed by additional and better materials and components).

Passive House and net-zero energy projects in the United States typically cost about 2%–10% more than code-minimum projects, depending on project size, location, and furnishings (Passive House Institute U.S., 2015; Zero Energy Buildings in Massachusetts: Saving Money from the Start, 2019). Today, incentives from national programs such as IRA as well as state level programs such as MassSave continue to provide public sector support at this front.

What is a Passive House?

Passive house is a construction standard that emphasizes high energy efficiency and comfort while minimizing energy consumption. Passive buildings achieve this by using airtight envelopes, high-performance insulation, high-efficiency windows and doors, and energy-efficient ventilation systems to create a comfortable indoor environment while using very little energy for heating and cooling. The Passive House standard was developed in Germany in the 1990s and has since been adopted globally as a leading standard for energy-efficient construction.

Reframe’s building system is intended to meet the high-performance, energy-efficiency standards of Passive House as required by Passive House Institute US (PHIUS). PHIUS covers a wide range of other standards such as ENERGY STAR, Indoor airPLUS, EPA Watersense, and other certifications such as DOE Zero Energy Ready Homes. We foresee energy codes becoming increasingly stringent, and we are seeing Passive House compliant buildings as part of some states’ energy stretch codes, including MA, NY, IL (including City of Chicago), and VT. We are taking a platform approach where our parameterizable building system takes into the integration of all the additional and better materials and components required by stretch codes.

The platform approach puts us ahead of the stretch code requirements and we believe we can provide a cost effective Passive House as our baseline product, years before it is jurisdictionally required. We see this as a potentially costly decision in the short term but the right decision for our customers, our planet and our business in the long term.

What is Reframe’s approach?

At Reframe, our decarbonization strategy is centered around our parameterizable modular construction system and a network of microfactories that enable us to drive down costs and construction times of net-zero carbon housing to make it economically viable. We aim to reduce construction costs for net-zero homes by absorbing the incremental cost of better materials. We are significantly reducing energy burden and eliminating operational carbon by leveraging industry best practices for airtight, well-insulated, all-electric buildings with solar-ready roofs and small batteries.

Our objective is to develop a platform that delivers a building system capable of achieving low embodied carbon and zero operational carbon emissions from the outset, while also devising a plan to ultimately reach carbon-negative.

A crucial aspect is to adopt a comprehensive approach throughout the entire life-cycle of a building. Our aim is to deliver building systems that are both financially sustainable and scalable, while also achieving net-zero carbon emissions and potentially going carbon-negative over their life-cycle. This objective will be accomplished by creating a building envelope that functions as a carbon storage and sink, removing operational carbon by integrating on-site renewable energy sources like solar PV and batteries, and promoting circularity in end-of-life scenarios by designing the building for non-destructive disassembly.

Powered by the microfactories, all our projects will be designed and delivered as attainable, grid-efficient, net-zero carbon buildings. We want to serve as the scaling platform for a wide range of third-party products being developed for the building industry to enhance energy efficiency (Passive House rated and certified materials and components), monitor and improve indoor environmental quality (such as IAQ sensors and fresh air ventilation system), to reduce embodied carbon (such as wood fiber, hemp, sheep wool insulation), to reduce energy burden (such as all-electric heat pumps), and to render grid-interactivity (such as advanced controls and batteries). We are actively developing strategies to reduce construction waste from our microfactories, especially waste generated from drywall by considering efficient methods of installation and alternative materials.

Reframe Systems aims to help accelerate decarbonization of the built environment, ensure an equitable transition to clean energy, and support climate tech workforce in our microfactories.

We are looking to expand our network of Passive House experts, energy researchers, sustainability and life-cycle assessment specialists, emerging startups in climate tech with products for the built environment, and forward-looking architects and developers.

Let's decarbonize the world together!

Definitions/Glossary

Carbon-negative: Buildings can become carbon-negative through the utilization of atmospheric carbon in building materials that store carbon to not only nullify embodied emissions, but to also transform buildings into carbon sinks and to contribute to negative emissions strategies. This includes developing and demonstrating building materials and whole-building designs from a wide range of potential feedstocks (forestry and purpose-grown products, agricultural residues, direct carbon utilization) that are net carbon negative on a life-cycle basis by using atmospheric CO2 in the production process.

Net-zero energy: Net-zero energy buildings produce at least as much energy as they consume on an annual basis. They do this by incorporating state-of-the-art energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies. Such buildings use renewable technologies such as solar PV to produce energy while reducing the overall use of energy with highly efficient HVAC and lighting systems.

Net-zero carbon: As an extension to net-zero energy, a net-zero carbon building balances or cancels out any carbon emissions from the building through carbon-neutrality in both embodied and operational stages. As the Grid continues to decarbonize, solar-plus-storage systems for buildings become vital to achieve net-zero carbon.

Embodied carbon: Embodied carbon refers to the greenhouse gas emissions arising from the manufacturing, transportation, installation, maintenance, and disposal of building materials. Designing climate-friendly buildings with low carbon materials and products can significantly reduce environmental impact.

Operational carbon: The amount of carbon emitted during the operational or in-use phase of a building. This includes the use, management, and maintenance of a product or structure. In recent years, much attention has fallen on improving operational carbon and some huge leaps have been made.

About the Author

Ankur Podder is the Head of Design Integration at Reframe Systems. He is currently focused on leading the decarbonization strategy and developing the system architecture for our platform. Ankur is an MIT-trained architect, specialized in urbanism, embodied carbon, and digital design-fabrication. He was recently awarded with ENR Top 20 Under 40 Young Professionals national award (from the AEC industry). Prior to joining Reframe, he spent 3 years at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (affiliated with US Department of Energy) in Golden, CO as a research engineer, where he worked with US-based modular construction companies to integrate energy efficiency in factory-built units, develop decarbonization roadmaps, and perform discrete event simulation to improve existing factory layouts. Ankur was born and raised in Andaman & Nicobar Islands of India, where he experienced the importance of self-reliance and technological resilience in the face of climate change.

Build with Us

We are looking for developers and city officials in Massachusetts who would like to partner with us to develop a range of ADUs, triple-decker, and low-rise multifamily projects that are net-zero-carbon and include affordable units. Please reach out to us at hello@reframe.systems or on LinkedIn.

We are also looking for engineers and operators to design, deploy, and scale our factory of the future. If you’re interested, please visit our job board.