Originally published by National Geographic. The Marcel—named for its celebrated modernist architect Marcel Breuer—opens in New Haven in May as an all-electric hotel that generates its own power with a rooftop solar array and solar parking canopies. It holds lithium-ion batteries that store power created during the day to use at night.

It will take a year of measuring the building’s energy production and use before Hotel Marcel can confirm it is truly net-zero. Unlike some certifications that allow hotels to self-certify their efforts, net-zero validation comes from the New Building Institute, which will take twelve months of readouts from the solar panels and then make sure the energy created either matches or exceeds the Marcel’s energy bills.

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