On Monday, July 10, 2017, the Harvard Club of France will present a lecture entitled “HouseZero: A first-of-its-kind, ultra-efficient retrofit on Harvard campus” by CGBC Founding Director Ali Malkawi. Professor Malkawi’s presentation will focus on the Harvard Center for Green Buildings and Cities’ HouseZero project: a retrofit of its headquarters, a pre-1940s stick-built house on Harvard campus in Cambridge, into a prototype of ultra-efficiency. The structure will use no HVAC system, no electric light use during the day, 100% natural ventilation, almost zero energy, and produce zero carbon emissions.
HouseZero will feature an ultra-healthy, flexible, comfortable indoors that works to fundamentally redefine how a home connects with and responds to its natural environment to promote health and efficiency. All components of the building contain sensors that essentially turn HouseZero into a living lab, generating data that will allow the building to adjust itself and fuel further CGBC research focused on actual data and simulated environments.
HouseZero hopes to prove that by retrofitting existing houses, we can help curb climate change, reduce building operating costs, and achieve new levels of efficiency. By using current technologies at our fingertips, we have the power to change the way we design, construct and operate buildings—leading to billion of dollars in savings per year and substantial shifts in the way we approach sustainable energy in our daily lives.
The event will be co-sponsored by Paris Sciences et Lettres, a world-class research university driven by innovation and value creation.
Event details are available here.