UC Davis gets grant for net-zero community

An artist's rendering of UC Davis' planned West Village.

In August, the University of California, Davis announced that a new $280 million community called West Village it plans to build west of its campus is aiming for net-zero energy use, thanks to an almost $2 million grant from the California Energy Commission.

West Village is planned on 200 acres of university-owned land. The privately funded mixed development is expected to include affordable homes for about 475 faculty and staff and apartments that would be rented to about 3,000 students.

Planners estimate the baseline energy use for the first phase would be about 16,500 megawatt hours. The energy commission grant supports analysis and design to minimize energy by using passive solar and prevailing breezes on the community and home levels. Developers say they want to offset demand with renewable power generated on site using solar panels and a biodigester developed at UC Davis.

One of the main design drivers of the project is the promotion of alternative forms of transportation, especially bicycles, says Nolan Zaile, senior vice president of development for Carmel Partners, one of the project’s developers. Carmel is assuming 1.5 bicycles for every student resident at West Village.