Fifth Annual Competition Will Award up to $25,000 in Prizes and Supports State Goals for Energy Efficiency

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) and the American Institute of Architects, California Council (AIACC) announce the fifth annual Architecture at Zero competition for zero net energy (ZNE) building design. Open to students and professionals worldwide, the competition engages architecture, engineering and planning experts in the pursuit of designing energy efficient buildings.

This is the fifth year that PG&E has sponsored the Architecture at Zero competition. Contestants will design a ZNE building at a housing site on University of California, San Francisco’s (UCSF) Mission Bay campus. Contestants will have the unique opportunity to design multi-family housing that will be a ZNE structure, which produces as much clean energy as it uses during a year through a combination of energy efficiency and on-site renewable energy generation.

"The American Institute of Architects, California Council is delighted to be the competition organizer,” said Lee Salin, President, AIACC. “The winning designs will be not only be aesthetically interesting but also create ZNE spaces that will help UCSF Mission Bay continue its leadership in driving community change through innovative design solutions."

A panel of international experts will jury the competition and award up to $25,000 in total prizes in October 2015. The intent is to generate new, innovative ideas for ZNE construction to help achieve the California Public Utilities Commission’s goal for all new residential construction in California to be ZNE by 2020 and all new commercial construction to be ZNE by 2030. Last year’s competition spurred state-of-the-art designs for a mixed-use site in Oakland adjacent to the Jack London Gateway seniors’ community.

“The Architecture at Zero competition pushes the boundaries with innovative efficiency technologies integrated with beautifully designed buildings that are at the forefront of creating a more sustainable future for our customers,” said Vincent Davis, senior director of Energy Efficiency Programs at PG&E. “We are proud to sponsor this competition and build a better California by giving our customers an exciting view into the home of the future.”

To learn more, visit architectureatzero.com.

About the American Institute of Architects, California Council

The American Institute of Architects, California Council (AIACC) is the voice of the architecture profession, dedicated to serving its members, advancing their value, and improving the quality of the built environment. The AIACC is an association of individuals in California, with more than 11,000 members including licensed architects, emerging professionals, and allied partners in design. All share their commitment to excellence and livability in the nation's buildings and communities.

About the University of California, San Francisco

The leading university exclusively focused on health, UC San Francisco (UCSF) is driven by the idea that when the best research, the best education and the best patient care converge, great breakthroughs are achieved.

A hallmark of its excellence is UCSF's spirit of collaboration that is carried through its partnerships across the campus and the world in pursuit of its advancing health worldwide™ mission. Its faculty include five Nobel laureates, who have made seminal contributions to advance the understanding of cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, aging and stem cell research.

About PG&E

Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is one of the largest combined natural gas and electric utilities in the United States. Based in San Francisco, with more than 20,000 employees, the company delivers some of the nation’s cleanest energy to nearly 16 million people in Northern and Central California. For more information, visit www.pge.com and www.pge.com/en/about/newsroom/index.page.

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Source: PG&E