Wangda Zuo, Penn State professor of architectural engineering and associate director for research of the Global Building Network. Credit: Caleb Craig.
Q&A: Can a city be a research partner?
Penn State Professor of Architectural Engineering Wangda Zuo collaborates with international teams to implement research findings in the real world
Aug 6, 2025
By Sarah Small
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — What’s the best way to test how in-the-lab findings might translate to the real world? According to Wangda Zuo, Penn State professor of architectural engineering and associate director for research of the Global Building Network, the answer is obvious: The best way to see how research results will work beyond the lab is to implement them in the real world.
He is working with cities and communities internationally to achieve positive societal changes based on his research in net zero energy communities. By replacing the expensive diesel generators with solar panel and batteries, the research and community groups provide clean and low-cost renewable energy for local shrimp farms and water supply systems. The collaborative methods could serve as a model for others to put their research results into action through partnerships with governments and communities, he said.
Zuo, who recently was awarded the Penn State Engineering Alumni Society World-Class Engineering Faculty Award, has led international, collaborative teams on proof-of-concept projects such as a smart garden alley project and net-zero-carbon initiatives in Indonesia. In the following Q&A, Zuo spoke about his work and the ways that it creates instructive models of outreach, economic development and student engagement, focusing on his most recent net-zero-carbon project.
Q: Why did you partner with Makassar to test broad applications of results you had in the lab?
Zuo: Makassar City is working to achieve net-zero-emissions and focusing on supporting a “green economy.” Our U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF)- and Department of Energy-funded research in net zero energy communities is one of the key steps to achieve this goal since cities are responsible for more than 70% carbon emissions.
This partnership was made possible through the support from the NSF and the U.S.-ASEAN Smart Cities Partnership. We choose Makassar because it was one of the designated partner cities, and our Indonesian collaborators already had strong relationships with the city. This existing connection helped us quickly establish trust and move from lab-based research to real-world implementation.
Q: What are the metrics of success for the project, and what tactics do you use to achieve success?
Zuo: In Indonesia, 70% of electricity is from coal-fired power plants, with another 18% made up of other fossil fuels. The grid in Indonesia is also disjointed as the country consists of many different islands, posing a unique challenge. Our net-zero-carbon project focuses on producing clean energy onsite using solar photovoltaics as Indonesia has abundant solar resources.
In terms of metrics, we are looking at the amount of renewable energy being produced on site versus the amount of energy being consumed. From this, we can evaluate other metrics, such as carbon emission reductions and energy cost savings for the communities.
We work closely with Indonesian universities — Institut Teknologi Bandung and Universitas Gadjah Mada — as well as the city of Makassar. The universities collaboratively worked on the system design, installation and monitoring. The city helped identify three communities — Kallang Bayang Community, Mattoanging Fisheries Community and Berkah Butunsu Community — and engaged with the community members. By carefully selecting project sites to meet their needs, we obtained full community support. The city also provided us with support staff for system installation and maintenance. We installed four sets of solar photovoltaics panel, batteries and monitoring systems and connected the real-time monitoring system to the city’s command city. The systems we installed were able to replace the existing diesel generators and provide carbon free electricity to the communities.
Kallang Bayang Community members in front of a shrimp farm tank powered by solar photovoltaics. Credit: Provided by Wangda Zuo.
Kallang Bayang Community members in front of a shrimp farm tank powered by solar photovoltaics. Credit: Provided by Wangda Zuo.
Q: Can achieving net-zero carbon in cities in Southeast Asia translate into similar strategies in the U.S.?
Zuo: Absolutely — there are strong opportunities for this model to be adapted and scaled. I was recently interviewed for a story titled “The Bright Future of the All-Electric Neighborhood,” which highlights how some U.S. communities are already implementing net-zero carbon strategies. These examples show that lessons learned globally can inspire localized solutions across different regions.
Q: What are some of the aspects of economic development and outreach from your projects that could be applied in other scenarios?
Zuo: An ideal sustainability project is one that also drives economic development. In our case, the communities were able to reinvest savings from reduced electricity costs into expanding their shrimp farms, generating additional income. This immediate economic benefit has helped us gain strong support from both the local communities and government, while also promoting long-term project sustainability beyond the initial investment.
Q: What are the next projects with international collaboration and community buy-in?
Zuo: The success encourages us to develop a new collaborative project with Indonesian partners. The latest project is to deploy affordable and resilient houses for low-income families in Indonesia. Our Indonesian partner has invented a technology to build houses with prefabricated, customizable aluminum frame and envelop. Those houses can be built at half of the cost and one-third of the time compared to traditional method. In addition, they apply cool roof technology, which can keep the houses about 10 degrees Celsius cooler than traditional houses. We are applying our research in building energy modeling to help them improve the design and quantify the large-scale impacts.
If successful, we will have real-world data on how this technology moves from invention to application — data that could be used to support adopting the same technology elsewhere at an accelerated rate, since the decision makers would be able to see how well it translates to application.
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