Zero Energy Communities: UC Davis’ West Village Community

摘要

West Village, a new multi-use project underway at the University of California Davis,rnrepresents a ground-breaking sustainable community incorporating aggressive energy efficiencyrnmeasures and on-site renewable generation to meet the total annual energy needs whilernminimizing summer peak energy demand from non-renewable sources. The planners for WestrnVillage (Chevron Energy Solutions, the developer West Village Community Partners, and UCrnDavis), have completed analysis on how to combine energy-saving measures with a sophisticatedrn"smart grid" network for generating, storing and distributing energy. As the energy consultantrnfor the project, Chevron worked with UC Davis and West Village Community Partners onrnachieving the ambitious goal of zero net energy on an annual "site" basis. Project generationrnwill be provided by approximately 5.4 MW of centralized photovoltaics and a 300 kW biogasrnfuel cell plant utilizing campus agricultural waste. A key component of the "zero net energy"rngoal relies on aggressive energy efficiency efforts to reduce the project’s overall energy demand.rnThis paper describes the strategies used for to develop cost effective packages of energyrnefficiency measures used to achieve the community zero energy goals, and additionalrneducational and feedback strategies to encourage behavior modifications that will contribute tornpromoting energy use reductions and help promote a sustainable community. Results from thisrnstudy show 57% savings due to the selected energy efficiency measures, with renewablerngeneration providing the remaining portion of the electrical energy use.