Colegio ZNE Village
Self-Help Enterprises
Recipient
Visalia, CA
Recipient Location
12th
Senate District
32nd
Assembly District
$939,978
Amount Spent
Completed
Project Status
Project Result
In 2023, the project team completed the design development phase, following a series of charrettes held at the end of 2022 and a community Open House in 2023 which facilitated the identification of appropriate emerging energy technologies and strategies. The project team has conducted assessments on future climate hazards, operational energy, carbon analysis, and schematic design, including a lifecycle cost-benefit analysis of the schematic design.
Despite not being selected for the Build Phase, the project team worked on obtaining funding to start construction in 2025, utilizing some of the technology selected for the project. The project has received site plan approval from the city and final closeout items for the Design Phase have been completed.
This project was part of the CEC Next Epic Challenge – Design Phase. The project design was featured at the 2023 Annual CEC EPIC Symposium as viewable here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HTMxBwUHy4&list=PLIcSRKAeCVRjlZYqQRteN…
View Final ReportThe Issue
California is experiencing an affordable housing shortage and subsequently grappling with an ever-increasing homeless population. Simultaneously, the worsening climate crisis disproportionately affects low-income populations and community members experiencing homelessness. Combined, these realities demonstrate the urgent demand for creating affordable, climate-resilient communities for people to live. These developments need to not only be rapidly scalable; they must also be fully decarbonized, zero net energy projects, so as not to further contribute to the climate catastrophe.
This is easier said than done. The reality is that evaluating and implementing the emerging energy technologies required for all-electric, zero net energy construction is typically cost-prohibitive in affordable development. In most cases, there is not sufficient funding to deviate from the business-as-usual approach, and the projects that manage to do so tend to be one-offs. Project teams that are able to achieve progressive sustainability goals in affordable development projects must prioritize replicability and dissemination. Highly innovative, rapidly buildable, broadly replicable, climate-resilient design outcomes are needed.
Project Innovation
Self-Help Enterprises engaged a multi-disciplinary team to design a zero net energy, all-electric, mixed-use, transit-oriented affordable housing community in California's Central Valley. This project will enable the evaluation and integration of emerging energy technologies and construction practices using advanced analysis methods to create an affordable, equitable, decarbonized, resilient, replicable development.
Project Goals
Project Benefits
The project provides all-electric, energy-efficient, and grid-reliability innovations to tenants to income-qualified tenants. The project will help increase greater electricity reliability by providing reductions in daily peak demand through on-site renewable energy coupled with energy storage. Additionally, microgrid control technologies will provide power for Tier 1 critical loads during power shutoff events. Colegio Village demonstrates that affordable housing projects can achieve ambitious carbon and sustainability targets through the thoughtful and flexible integration of known and emerging energy technologies. This approach can be translated to future affordable housing development opportunities and lower utility costs for residents.
Equity
The project provides all-electric, energy-efficient, and grid-reliability innovations to tenants to income-qualified tenants.
Reliability
The project will help increase greater electricity reliability by providing reductions in daily peak demand through on-site renewable energy coupled with energy storage. Additionally, microgrid control technologies will provide power for Tier 1 critical loads during power shutoff events.
Affordability
Colegio Village demonstrates that affordable housing projects can achieve ambitious carbon and sustainability targets through the thoughtful and flexible integration of known and emerging energy technologies. This approach can be translated to future affordable housing development opportunities and lower utility costs for residents.
Key Project Members
Heather Mendonca
Jose Flores
Betsy McGovern-Garcia
Subrecipients
Enterprise Community Partners, Inc.
Association for Energy Affordability
Mogavero Architects, Inc.
Arup US, Inc.
Ashwood Construction Inc.
4 Creeks, Inc.
Capital Engineering Consultants, Inc.
Harris & Sloan Consulting Engineers, Inc.
KLA, Inc.
Melas Energy Engineering
designTECH Interior Design Services, Inc.
Match Partners
Self-Help Enterprises
Ashwood Construction Inc.
