UC Davis West Village, the largest planned zero net energy community in the United States, will hold an open house and ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating its $300 million first phase:

315 apartments
42,500 square feet of commercial space
a recreation center and village square.

Zero net energy means the community is designed to generate as much energy as it consumes. All in the course of a year. This will be done through a combination of energy efficiency measures. As well as a 4 megawatt solar photovoltaic system.

Source: UC Davis

So Phase I of the community’s construction has generated some 300 jobs. It also created new apartments that also currently house 846 students, faculty and staff. Moreover, Phase I also includes the Sacramento City College Davis Center. In addition, the first community college satellite on a University of California campus.

Phase I also includes the Sacramento City College Center. So the first community college satellite on a University of California campus.

The retail/commercial space will house a campus energy “uHub,” which will aggregate several campus energy research centers and help facilitate future public-private collaborations.

UC Davis West Village is the result of an innovative public-private partnership between UC Davis and West Village Community Partnership (a joint venture of Carmel Partners of San Francisco and Urban Villages of Denver).

Grant funding for the UC Davis West Village energy initiative came from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Community Renewable Energy Deployment program, the California Energy Commission, California Public Utility Commission’s California Solar Initiative, and California Energy Commission’s PIER Renewable-Based Energy Secure Community program.

PG&E, Chevron Energy Solutions, Energy + Environmental Engineering and Davis Energy Group, together with UC Davis faculty and staff, played key roles in the zero net energy planning and feasibility
studies.