Zahra Fallahi is a research associate at University of Colorado Boulder in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering. She researches the interactions between buildings and the electricity grid. Her work involves valuating the buildings' potential for providing load flexibility to the grid while considering the buildings performance such as the equipment efficiencies and occupant comfort. Reduction in the building's electricity cost and indirect emission production are results of benefiting from the load flexibility in the built environment. Also, this work aims at assisting the modern grid to achieve higher renewable penetration for sustainable electricity production.
Prior to her position at University of Colorado, Fallahi graduated with a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering in University of Utah. As a graduate assistant, she researched the operation and design energy saving retrofits for emission reductions n commercial buildings. Also, as a part of her graduate studies she thought and mentored several undergraduate students in topics of thermodynamics, heat transfer, and statics.