Planning net-zero energy communities: Housing strategies for post-disaster resettlement in Sri Lanka - a narrative review

Abstract

Construction industry is a major contributor to global energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, while simultaneously being core of post-disaster recovery processes. Net Zero Energy Buildings (NZEB) have become as a key strategy for minimizing environmental impact of this sector, and the concept has increasingly expanded to the community scale as Net Zero Energy Communities (NZEC). Despite the significant potential of NZEC principles for addressing sustainability, resilience, and energy poverty, their application in post-disaster resettlement (PDR) contexts in developing countries remains largely unexplored. PDR communities provide a unique greenfield opportunity in Sri Lanka to integrate community-scale Net Zero Energy Housing (NZEH) at the earliest planning stages. However, there is no comprehensive framework exists to guide this integration. Through a narrative literature review, this paper explores the concepts and principles of NZEH and NZEC, analyses the socio-economic characteristics, climatic conditions, and energy requirements of Sri Lankan PDR communities, and identifies appropriate passive design strategies and renewable energy technologies for tropical community-scale NZE housing. Findings show significant synergies between NZEC principles and PDR housing requirements, including community orientation, shared resources, and local climate adaptation. The paper proposes a conceptual framework incorporating technical, social, and policy aspects for the implementation of community-scale NZEH in PDR context in Sri Lanka, contributing to national sustainability goals and disaster resilience.