What It Takes to Become a Net-Zero Development: Case Study of Serenbe, Georgia

Authors

  • Haleh Moghaddasi Texas A&M University
  • Phillip James Tabb
  • Hazem Rashed-Ali University of Texas at San Antonio

Keywords:

Net-zero energy community, sustainable precedent studies, solution sets, net-zero indicators, design strategies

Abstract

With increased efforts toward planning for climate change mitigation, and design of carbon-neutral and Net-Zero (NZ) buildings, quite little has been improved regarding communities and nations. With integrated design and planning of primary sustainable measures, including energy generation, energy use in buildings, and energy use in transposition, Net-Zero Community (NZC) can be feasible. The purpose of this study is to generate a NZC Model residential development in the U.S. and to identify NZC sustainable planning and design measures. A case study at Serenbe, in north Georgia, is going to be evaluated to promote its sustainable measures toward NZC. To understand NZC planning measures, two notable sustainable developments were studied, BedZED in London and UC Davis West Village in California, to identify their sustainable measures necessary to create a NZC. The existing communities are assessed in the power, building, and transportation sectors (PBT). The outcome will be an effective Model achieving NZC, through promoting major sustainable measures including agriculture, transportation network, density, housing typology, use of renewable energy, mixes of use, pedestrian and biking route, and land preservation.

Author Biography

  • Hazem Rashed-Ali, University of Texas at San Antonio

    Professor Rashed-Ali is an Associate Professor in the Department of Architecture, and the Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Studies in the College of Architecture, Construction, and Planning, UTSA. He joined UTSA in 2006 where he teaches design studios as well as building technology, environmental systems, and building performance simulation and evaluation courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. He has supervised thesis students in both the Architecture and Urban Planning programs. In 2014, Professor Rashed-Ali was the recipient of the University of Texas System Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award, among the largest in the nation for rewarding outstanding faculty performance.

    Professor Rashed-Ali’s current research focuses on sustainable architecture and urbanism with an emphasis on minimizing the negative environmental impacts of the built environment through the design of high-performance, energy efficient, and carbon neutral buildings and communities. He is the recipient of several research grants both individually and as part of interdisciplinary collaborative teams representing more than half a million dollars of research funding. Examples of his projects include conducting a neighborhood sustainability assessment for the City of San Antonio, developing an augmented reality system for the teaching of passive energy and energy efficiency principles, and investigating the energy efficiency potential of historic homes in humid climates. Professor Rashed-Ali’s work was published in prominent national and international conferences and journals. Professor Rashed-Ali is Vice President of the Architectural Research Centers Consortium, an international association of architectural research centers committed to the expansion of research culture in architecture and related disciplines.

    Professor Rashed-Ali holds a PhD in Architecture from Texas A&M University. He also has a M.S. in Architecture from Oxford Brookes University in the UK focusing on Energy Efficient Buildings, and a B.S. in Architecture from Ain Shams University in Egypt. He is a registered architect in Egypt.

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Published

2020-05-25

Issue

Vol. 4 (2020): Buildings, Cities, and Performance II

Section

Articles