News

September 4, 2013
Daylighting is the strategy of admitting light from the sun and sky to reduce use of electric lighting in buildings. Since lighting energy use represents 13 percent of the total primary energy used by buildings in the United States or 5.42 quadrillion Btus in 2010, these technologies can play a significant role towards meeting U.S. and state energy-efficiency and greenhouse gas emission reduction... Read more
February 5, 2013
Designing a building holistically, and making sure that its components and systems work together according to design intent, can pay big dividends in energy savings and occupant satisfaction, according to a study by scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) of the performance of The New York Times Building in New York City.Measured results from the post-occupancy... Read more
January 22, 2013
California's residential ventilation requirements in Title 24 (the State energy code for buildings) are designed to balance healthy home ventilation with efficient energy use, but some studies suggest that whole-house ventilation systems don't always meet their expected performance in either category. Commissioning, a systematic evaluation of the installed system to identify deficiencies and offer... Read more
December 21, 2012
The U.S. Department of Energy today announced that it will fund the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) to develop a highly insulated energy-efficient window system with a smart automated shading. The project’s principal investigator is Stephen Selkowitz of the Environmental Energy Technologies Division (EETD), and leader of the Windows and Envelope Materials Group. Berkeley Lab... Read more
December 3, 2012
ARPA-E (Advanced Research Projects – Energy) has announced 66 research grants to develop transformational energy technologies. Two projects were awarded to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) researchers. Researchers from Berkeley Lab's Environmental Energy Technologies Division (EETD) will also participate in a third project awarded to the University of California,... Read more
November 29, 2012
This article was originally published on the website of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's Molecular Foundry:Heliotrope Technologies, a Molecular Foundry spinoff company, has been declared the winner of the 2012 NOVA Innovation Competition. An Oakland, CA based start-up, Heliotrope works to develop energy-efficient electrochromic window coatings that can switch reversibly between three... Read more
October 25, 2012
The RESAVE website is a guide for homebuilders and energy auditors working in California on how to improve ventilation in existing residential buildings. A good mechanical ventilation system can help protect buildings and their occupants. Inadequate ventilation often leads to increased levels of moisture and pollutants in a home.https://homes.lbl.gov/ventilate-rightRESAVE is a California Energy... Read more
July 18, 2012
Help the Residential Building Systems Group of the Environmental Energy Technologies Division to model exposures to air pollutants in homes! Please take a few minutes and fill out our cooking survey.The survey asks questions about what and how you have cooked in past 24 hours in your home. The survey does not ask for any private information and should only take 10 minutes of your time. Previous... Read more
July 9, 2012
Alan Meier, a scientist in EETD and at the University of California, Davis, as well as Executive Editor of Home Energy magazine, has published an article there titled "Why Japan's ELectricity Crisis Matter." Here's an excerpt and a link to the full piece:You may not read about it on the front page of the newspapers, but Japan is undergoing a second electricity crisis. The first took place last... Read more
January 12, 2012
Developed by Berkeley Lab Scientists to Help Building Managers Get Started Using These Systems to Increase Building Energy EfficiencyThe Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and U.S. Department of Energy have released The Energy Information Handbook: Applications for Energy-Efficient Buildings Operations. This free book guides commercial building owners and operators who have no experience with... Read more
December 2, 2011
The Department of Defense’s Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP) recently announced the funding of 27 projects to demonstrate emerging energy technologies on military installations through its Installation Energy Test Bed initiative.Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Environmental Energy Technologies Division (EETD) and partner organizations were awarded two of... Read more
December 2, 2011
Congratulations to Francis Rubinstein and Dennis DiBartolomeo of the Environmental Energy Technologies Division, and Yao-Jun Wen of Philips Research North America. Their paper, "Co-simulation Based Building Controls Implementation with Networked Sensors and Actuators," won the Best Paper Award at the recent BuildSys 2011 meeting. Buildsys 2011 was the 3rd ACM (Association for Computing Machinery)... Read more
November 22, 2011
From Liisa O'Neill, Department of Energy, Office of Public Affairs:Who knew leaks could be costing Americans $5 billion every year? And that's not water leaks—it's leaks you can't even see. Typical air duct systems, both residential and commercial, typically lose 25-40 percent of heating and cooling energy, accounting for billions added to utility bills.But what if there was a simple mist that... Read more
November 11, 2011
KQED Quest covered energy-efficient windows research at Berkeley Lab. EETD researchers Howdy Goudey and Stephen Selkowitz are quoted, along with Delia Milliorin of Berkeley Lab's Molecular Foundry. Read the story and listen to the audio report.... Read more
November 9, 2011
A recent Journal of Climate paper by Stanford's Mark Jacobson and John Ten Hoeve (2011) on urban heat islands and cool roofs is a useful contribution to the literature. However, their results regarding white roofs are preliminary and uncertain. Along with our own work at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, other published papers have addressed the broader benefits of white roofs. In our view,... Read more
November 5, 2011
Alex Doron, former science & technology editor of the Israeli daily newspaper Maariv, writes about the Heat Island Group's cool cars study for the Israeli energy newsletter EnergiaNews.com. Read the original Hebrew article here, or a Google translation into the language of your choice here.... Read more
October 27, 2011
The Energy Performance of Buildings group has a newly remodeled website. EPB works on problems associated with whole-building integration involving modeling, measurement, design and operation. Most of its tasks focus on the movement of air and associated penalties involving distribution of pollutants, energy and fresh air.... Read more
October 26, 2011
It's a grand challenge: develop clean, sustainable technologies that deliver a low-carbon energy future, and through innovation, create jobs, new markets, and exports, and increase America's energy security.Researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have made it their mission to develop low-carbon and energy-efficient technologies such as advanced materials and... Read more
October 17, 2011
Nearly all cars sold in California have air conditioners. Cars painted with reflective coatings stay cooler in the sun and are easier to air condition to a comfortable temperature, according to a recent study by researchers in Berkeley Lab's Environmental Energy Technologies Division."Solar reflective paints can decrease the ‘soak' temperature of the air in a car that has been parked in the sun.... Read more
October 13, 2011
Teaming up to fight against escalating energy costs, the Department of Defense, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), and Philips Corporation are demonstrating advanced energy-efficient lighting controls technologies in Fort Irwin, California."The purpose of this study is to demonstrate that these technologies work in typical applications and buildings at Fort Irwin, and to provide... Read more
September 22, 2011
NASA's Ames Research Center and the Department of Energy (DOE), at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, Calif. are collaborating on technologies and processes for what may be the "greenest," highest-performing building in the federal government. Originally developed for aerospace applications, NASA intelligent system software will be installed in the new building, called... Read more
August 16, 2011
Researchers, government agencies, and roofing manufacturers from around the world gathered in Berkeley last month (July 28-29, 2011) to discuss the latest research on cool roofs. These solar reflective materials reduce energy use, and help cool the planet by reflecting sunlight to outer space. Their use has begun to soar in markets around the world thanks to their economic and environmental... Read more
August 11, 2011
If you read the Doonesbury comic strip on Sunday, August 7, you might have seen Michael Doonesbury and Bernie discussing cool white roofs. Cool roofs are an energy-efficient technology developed here in the Environmental Energy Technologies Division of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). The characters also mention in passing a global initiative to help cool the earth by... Read more
August 9, 2011
Real-time control and continuous high-quality building performance data are the keys to reducing building energy use during day-to-day operations, and to maintaining energy-driven services and occupant comfort. Next-generation highly energy-efficient buildings will be dynamically controlled and monitored.Energy information systems (EIS) are one type of commercially available system that provides... Read more
July 12, 2011
Christopher Payne, an EETD scientist, will give a live webcast on energy-efficient product procurement for the federal government on August 4, 2011 from 1:30 to 3 pm EDT for the Federal Energy Management Program. He is joined by Amanda Sahl of FEMP.Energy-Efficient Product Procurement outlines how to meet executive order and Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) requirements on purchasing... Read more