Regenerative design is an important aspect to mention that can be seen to be one step ahead of sustainable design, which is a type of building design that creates no waste and provides more output than consumed input. As regenerative design projects do not use any more energy than they produce, they are able to return the excess energy to the utility (projects that only use their own generated renewable energy are called net-zero energy projects.) In addition to their sustainable features, they can also contribute to the restoration of the lost environment and habitat, thereby taking regenerative design one step ahead of sustainable design.