Hi there! I am a PhD student studying at the School of Engineering, The University of British Columbia. I am currently working as a Graduate Research Assistant and UBC Sustainability Scholar. My research interest includes building energy efficiency, energy retrofits, occupant-centric building management, and grid-interactive buildings. I have published 7 papers at top Built Environment journals and conferences. I enjoy playing basketball and watching NBA games and Athletics during my leisure time. I am a big fan of the best basketball player in the world, Black Mamba-Kobe Bryant.

🔥 News

2024.11: The HomeZero team has received fundings from municipalities to support 500 families for implementing energy retrofits in the City!
2024.10: The HomeZero team has completed energy retrofits for 11 pilot homes. We are currently working on analyzing the post-retrofit building energy performance by collecting data from various sensors.

HomeZero Team

2024.07: The HomeZero team has completed energy retrofits for three houses, and one of them has achieved the net-zero energy use target!

2024.05: I have joined the City of Vernon as a building energy researcher working on the city-level energy retrofit planning project.

📝 Publications

H. Zhang, K. Hewage, H. Karunathilake, Q. Sun, and R. Sadiq (2024) Retrofitting for humans: An occupant-centric energy retrofit planning framework for residential buildings. Submitted to Building and Environment.
Q. Sun, H. Chen, H. Zhang, H. Rashid Mian, K. Hewage, and R. Sadiq (2024) Clean energy alternative technologies in thermal power plants: Disruptive technology diffusion based on complex network evolutionary game. Submitted to Journal of Environmental Management.
H. Zhang, K. Hewage, S. Hussain, and R. Sadiq (2023). A data-driven approach to predict building energy performance for identifying optimal energy retrofit scenarios. Canadian Society of Civil Engineering Annual Conference, 2023, Moncton, Canada.
H.Zhang and E.Haghi (2023). Life cycle cost analysis of energy-efficient upgrades for new residential buildings in urban Indigenous communities. UBC Sustainability. https://sustain.ubc.ca/about/resources/lifecycle-cost-analysis-new-single-family-building-construction-and-electrification
H. Zhang (2023) Leveraging policy instruments and financial incentives to reduce embodied carbon in energy retrofits. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2304.03403
H. Zhang (2023) Life cycle costing analysis of deep energy retrofits of a mid-rise building to understand the impact of energy conservation measures. https://arxiv.org/abs/2304.00456
H. Zhang, H. Feng, K. Hewage, and M. Arashpour (2022) Artificial neural network for predicting building energy performance: A surrogate energy retrofit decision support framework. Journal of Buildings. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12060829.
H. Feng, J. Zhao, H. Zhang, S. Zhu, and D. Li (2022) Uncertainties in Whole-building Life Cycle Assessment: A Systematic Review. Journal of Building Engineering. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jobe.2022.104191.
Thesis: H. Zhang (2021) Energy retrofit evaluation in residential construction : a life cycle thinking approach. The University of British Columbia. https://open.library.ubc.ca/soa/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/24/items/1.0401894
H. Zhang, K. Hewage, T. Prabatha, and R. Sadiq (2021) Life cycle thinking-based Energy Retrofit Evaluation Framework for Canadian Residences: A Pareto Optimization Approach. Building and Environment. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2021.108115.
H. Zhang, K. Hewage, H. Karunathilake, H.B. Feng and R. Sadiq (2021) Research on Policy Strategies for Implementing Energy Retrofits in the Residential Buildings. Journal of Building Engineering. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jobe.2021.103161.
H. Zhang (2018) Virtual trial assembly of high-rise air corridor using BIM and terrestrial laser scanning. 18th International Conference on Construction Applications of Virtual Reality, 2018, Auckland, New Zealand.

🎖 Honors and Awards

2024.5 UBC Graduate Research Scholarship
2023.8 UBC Graduate Research Scholarship
2022.8 UBC Graduate Research Scholarship
2021.8 UBC Graduate Research Scholarship
2020.8 UBC Graduate Research Scholarship
2019.6 Outstanding Undergraduate Thesis
2017.10 National College Student Scholarship of China
2016.10 National College Student Scholarship of China

📖 Presentations

2024.8, Developing a Building Energy Retrofit Toolkit for Homeowners, Vernon, Canada
2023.5, A Data-Driven Approach To Predict Building Energy Performance For Identifying Optimal Energy Retrofit Scenarios, Moncton, Canada

💬 Academic Service

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, Reviewer
Building and Environment, Elsevier, Reviewer
Journal of Building Engineering, Elsevier, Reviewer
Scientific Reports, Springer Nature, Reviewer
Energy Informatics, Springer Nature, Reviewer
Discover Cities, Springer Nature, Reviewer
Journal of Infrastructure, Policy and Development, EnPress, Reviewer
2025 Building Simulation Conference, IPBSA, Brisbane, Australia, Reviewer
42nd International Symposium on Automation and Robotics in Construction, Montreal, Canada, Reviewer
2025 ASCE International Conference on Computing in Civil Engineering, ASCE, New Orleans, United States, Reviewer
2023 ASCE International Conference on Computing in Civil Engineering, ASCE,Corvallis, United States, Reviewer

💻 Internships