Henry County

Henry County, along with its research partners at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Clayton State University, will develop the Henry County Smart Resilience Decision Support Tool, in short “DST”.  The DST will be an interactive web-based tool designed to assist the county planners, policy makers, and county officials assess and explore the impact and potential of new greenspace, warehousing, and freight-related infrastructure projects. It will be designed with the following question in mind: How can Henry County reconcile its community objectives with regard to economic development, quality of life, and energy resilience?  This Tool will primarily pursue its objectives in the two following brackets:

Smart Sustainability: Explore the interaction of proposed developments with quality-of-life indicators such as environmental impact, health and equity to create a comprehensive case for future resilience and inclusive innovation. Mapping the loss of carbon sequestration through greenspace inventorying  could be a potential functionality.

Smart Energy: Map and monitor the potential for new growth in public services and buildings while simultaneously exploring their potential to serve as intelligent energy infrastructure. For instance, modelling warehouse growth can provide the opportunity to assess roof-based solar harvesting potential while the development of new roadways can create piezoelectric energy potential for renewable energy generation.

“We are so excited and honored that Henry County has been chosen to receive the Georgia Smart Award. We continue to look for ways to improve and enhance transportation for Henry County residents and this continued partnership with Georgia Smart allows us to do just that.” – Carlotta Harrell, Chair, Henry County Board of Commissioners

The DST in these two facets of sustainability and energy will provide a support tool to facilitate decision makers in assessing growth options that rephrase the narrative of development to include multidimensional and smart assessments. Henry County can capitalize on its economic strength in logistics and control development to champion sustainable objectives thereby furthering the community’s aspirations of proactive growth.