Abstract The paper starts from the results of one of the six case-studies of the SubTask B in the International Energy Agency joint Solar Heating and Cooling Task40 and Energy Conservation in Buildings and Community Systems Annex 52, whose purpose is to document state of the art and needs for current thermo-physical simulation tools in application to Net Zero Energy Buildings. The authors extend the Net Zero Energy Buildings (Net ZEB) methodological framework, introducing the life-cycle perspective in the energy balance and thus including the embodied energy of building and its components. The case study is an Italian building, tailored to be a Net ZEB, in which the magnitude of the deficit from the net zero energy target is assessed according to a life-cycle approach. The annual final energy balance, assessed with regard to electricity, shows a deficit which makes the case study a nearly Net ZEB, when the encountered energy flows are measured at the final level. Shifting from final to primary energy balance the case-study moves to a non-Net ZEB condition, because of the large difference between the conversion factors of photovoltaics generated electricity and imported electricity. The adoption of a life cycle perspective and the addition of embodied energy to the balance causes an even largest shift from the nearly ZEB target: the primary energy demand is nearly doubled in comparison to the primary energy case.