University of California, Davis
August 10, 2009

CONSTRUCTION STARTS AT UC DAVIS' WEST VILLAGE; GRANT SUPPORTS GOAL OF
'ZERO NET ENERGY' COMMUNITY

[Editor's note: To request artwork, please e-mail jaeasley@ucdavis.edu.]

A new $280 million community at the University of California, Davis
-- already innovative for its plan to mix student and employee
housing, retail space and a community college center -- is breaking
ground in more ways than one, thanks to an almost $2 million grant
from the California Energy Commission.

The planners for West Village, now under construction just west of
the Davis campus, are now analyzing how to combine energy-saving
measures with a sophisticated "smart grid" or network for generating,
storing and distributing energy. The goal of the project is to create
a great place to live and a "zero net energy" community with
aggressive energy efficiency measures and on-site renewable resources
to meet the community's annual energy demand.

"We are thrilled to be supporting this project with a university so
committed to teaching, research and public service," Karen Douglas,
chairman of the energy commission, said at a news conference on
campus today (Aug. 10). "West Village promises to lead us toward a
new state of the art for community-based energy strategy."

The university held the news conference to announce the ambitious
project and mark the start of construction by first-phase developer
West Village Community Partnership LCC.

Douglas said the energy commission is dedicated to improving the
quality of life for Californians through energy research, development
and demonstration projects. The $1,994,322 grant, made through the
commission's Public Interest Energy Research Program, will help the
university to analyze and design energy technologies and the smart
grid that will integrate them.

UC Davis Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef said the university is very
grateful for the commission's support. "The project will be a
showpiece of the university's commitment to sustainability and help
advance energy solutions," he said.

"Those who are helping to create West Village, those who will call it
home, all of us -- we can take great pride in how West Village will
demonstrate the best in community living and stewardship of the
environment."

The start of construction marks a milestone, said Vanderhoef, who is
retiring Aug. 16 after 15 years as chancellor. Planning for West
Village began in the 1990s as a way to provide affordable home
ownership opportunities for faculty and staff and additional housing
for students.

"My motivation," the chancellor said, "was to keep UC Davis a place
where faculty, staff and students can continue to live locally and
benefit from everything our campus has to offer."

The community

About 200 acres in all, the privately funded development is located
on campus land west of Highway 113 and south of Russell Boulevard.
With a village square at its heart, the community will include
affordable homes for faculty and staff and apartment-style housing
for students.

In addition, the development will offer up to 45,000 square feet of
commercial space and generous green space with bicycle and pedestrian
paths connecting to the campus. Features will include a site for the
Davis Center of Sacramento City College in the Los Rios Community
College District -- the first community college center on a UC campus
-- and sites for the Davis Joint Unified School District and a small
day care or preschool facility.

West Village will be built in two phases. When completed, it will
provide housing for an estimated 4,350 people: 475 new homes for
faculty and staff and housing for 3,000 students. The developer has
broken ground on the first 130-acre phase and plans to start building
the village square and apartments for 600 students in spring 2010 for
occupancy in fall 2011.

Balancing energy demand and sources

Planners estimate the baseline energy use for the first phase would
be about 16,500 megawatt hours, including 11,100 for gas and 5,400
for electric. The new energy commission grant will fund analysis and
design to minimize energy use by facilities and to offset demand with
renewable power generated on site. One of the renewable energy
technologies that will be evaluated is the biodigester developed at
UC Davis.

Others include:

* energy-efficiency measures in building design (passive and
active);
* demand response;
* distributed solar photovoltaic to create electricity from the
sun;
* distributed solar thermal on homes to pre-heat water;
* biogas coupled with a fuel cell to generate electricity; and
* advanced energy storage using modern battery technologies.

Chevron Energy Solutions, which is leading the energy team, has
helped shape the energy strategy. Local energy consulting firm Davis
Energy Group also is collaborating on the project.

Jim Davis, president of Chevron Energy Solutions, said the company is
pleased to be participating. "Chevron Energy Solutions applauds UC
Davis and WVCP in their long-term, strategic goal to create a pathway
to an innovative, affordable, zero net energy community," he said.

Pacific Gas and Electric Company is also part of the team. Helen
Burt, senior vice president and chief customer officer, said, "PG&E
is proud to be a part of this innovative development that will be a
real-world living laboratory to benefit consumers here, as well as
throughout the state and country."

Collaboration and financing

West Village Community Partnership LLC is a joint venture of Carmel
Partners of San Francisco and Urban Villages-Davis of Denver.

"West Village is the product of a remarkable collaboration of
institutions and individuals," said Nolan Zail, senior vice president
of development for Carmel Partners. "We share a vision to create a
quality and sustainable living environment -- a wonderful place to
live, learn, work and play."

While the campus retains ownership of the land, the developer will
design, finance and construct the project and sell units to faculty
and staff and rent housing to students.

Zail estimated that construction of the first phase will employ up to
300 people.

UC Davis is investing $14.5 million in roadways and utility
infrastructure to connect West Village to campus systems; future
residents will repay this investment over time.

The project draws on the nationally recognized expertise of the
university, particularly from eight research centers including the UC
Davis Center for Entrepreneurship, the UC Davis Water Efficiency
Center, the UC Davis Energy Institute, the UC Davis Energy Efficiency
Center, the UC Cooperative Extension Livestock Air Quality Program;
the UC Davis Western Cooling Efficiency Center, the UC Davis
California Lighting Technology Center and the UC Davis Biogas Energy
Project.

Home ownership

West Village plans to sell homes at a starting price of about
$400,000, below the market for comparable homes in Davis. The homes
will be used as a major tool for recruiting and retaining top faculty
and staff. Already, more than 1,500 people have expressed interest.

Homes will be allocated by lottery to four pools of employees, with
50 percent for recently recruited faculty and staff members and an
additional 20 percent for employees with the lowest incomes.

For more information, visit <http://www.westvillage.ucdavis.edu>.

About UC Davis

For 100 years, UC Davis has engaged in teaching, research and public
service that matter to California and transform the world. Located
close to the state capital, UC Davis has 31,000 students, an annual
research budget that exceeds $500 million, a comprehensive health
system and 13 specialized research centers. The university offers
interdisciplinary graduate study and more than 100 undergraduate
majors in four colleges -- Agricultural and Environmental Sciences,
Biological Sciences, Engineering, and Letters and Science -- and
advanced degrees from six professional schools -- Education, Law,
Management, Medicine, Veterinary Medicine and the Betty Irene Moore
School of Nursing.

Media contact(s):
* Sid England, Resource Management and Planning, UC Davis, (530)
752-2432, asengland@ucdavis.edu (Grant PI and assistant vice
chancellor for environmental stewardship and sustainability)
* Nolan Zail, West Village Community Partnership, (415) 516-4895,
nzail@carmelpartners.net
* Adam Gottlieb, California Energy Commission, (916) 654-4989
* Julia Ann Easley, UC Davis News Service, (530) 752-8248,
jaeasley@ucdavis.edu, cell (530) 219-4545

< BACK