Towards high-energy performance, resilient neighborhoods
The keynote will highlight the crucial role of neighborhood design in achieving high energy performance and resilience. A holistic approach, integrating building design, components, and neighborhood-level strategies, is essential. This approach includes optimizing building envelopes for solar technology integration and analyzing their impact on overall performance. The development of resilient communities also necessitates considering transportation, policies, human factors, and economic aspects, which can be explored further through interdisciplinary research.
Examples will demonstrate the integration of solar technologies like PV modules and semi-transparent PV, and the implementation of solar strategies considering spatial design and local energy systems. The study showcases solar energy's potential to achieve net-zero energy status in various North American neighborhood archetypes, fulfilling 36%-100% of electrical needs, even in high-density areas. Additionally, optimal combinations of neighborhood units can achieve net-zero electrical energy status, with minimal additional land required for solar thermal collectors. The research underscores the significant potential of solar energy and strategic neighborhood design in creating sustainable, resilient communities.
Speakers
Caroline Hachem-Vermette
Dr. Caroline Hachem-Vermette is an Associate Professor at the Department of Building, Civil & Environmental Engineering, at Concordia University. Dr. Hachem-Vermette’s research program is highly multidisciplinary, playing a bridging role between building engineering and architectural and urban design. Her current research program aims at developing concepts and strategies for integrative design of sustainable and resilient built environment. Her work adopts a holistic view of the built environment, considering the interactions and synergies between buildings, infrastructure, landscapes, and surrounding ecosystems. Her research attempts to balance between the technical aspects of sustainable built environment and the economic and social dimensions of sustainability aiming at improving quality of life and at promoting social interaction and connectivity.
She is currently leading a subtask on developing strategies for net-zero energy solar communities, within the International Agency Energy Task (IEA) 63- Planning Solar Neighborhoods. She was also an expert on 2 others IEA tasks on solar energy in architecture and urban planning. Dr. Hachem-Vermette is a recipient of several awards including the 2019 Peak Scholar Award, 2016 sustainability award, e-sim/ IBPSA award for innovation in modelling, and the international Hangai prize for young researchers.