Transforming Existing Communities into Net-Zero Status: A Life Cycle Thinking-Based Framework to Identify the Most Suitable Building Retrofits

“Net-zero communities” is a focus area with a high potential to act against global warming and climate change. Existing buildings and infrastructure become equally crucial as new construction develops net-zero communities. This study analyzes retrofitting strategies that could be used at the building level of an existing residential community to transform it into a net-zero community. The suitable retrofit packages were selected based on each strategy’s emissions, costs, and energy consumption. The application of life cycle thinking in retrofit selection was studied to emphasize the importance of considering the entire life cycle of products in decision-making. The suitable retrofit packages for net-zero communities with different targeted outcomes were selected based on parameters related to each retrofit’s production, operational, and disposal stages. The study underscored the significance of integrating life cycle thinking into net-zero concepts. This was achieved through a comparison of retrofit selection performance against both conventional net-zero definitions and definitions that incorporate life cycle thinking. In addition, recommendations on technologies that could be used for net-zero adoption in cold climate communities have been discussed.