Building Technology and Urban Systems Division

About Us +
Researchers in the Building Technology & Urban Systems Division (BTUS) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory develop data and technologies that increase energy efficiency and improve the health, safety and comfort of building occupants, in the United States and worldwide.

We work closely with industry partners, academics and government officials to achieve these goals, and share our research widely
Research +
We are at the forefront of cutting-edge research that redefines building technology and explores all areas of urban systems.

We have been leaders for decades in developing energy-efficient windows, improving indoor air quality, coming up with new ideas to fix the nation's electricity grid, and so much more.

Visit our research areas at the right to find out more.
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Publications +
Enjoy presentations from Building Technology & Urban systems research experts on a wide variety of topics in the areas of building energy efficiency, the electricity grid and how it relates to buildings and much more.
- Presentations
News
Tools & Guides +
Explore our tools, guidebooks and software and download for free.

We offer a variety of technologies designed to simulate and model real-world circumstances to assist in energy-saving programs and help building owners build better buildings. These tools can help calculate performance of building systems like windows and shades, help consumers and builders pick the best windows for a variety of applications and much more.

2022

Rao, Prakash, Paul Sheaffer, Yuting Chen, Unique Karki, and Patrick Fitzgerald."U.S. Industrial and Commercial Motor System Market Assessment Report Volume 3: Energy Saving Opportunity." (2022). DOI

2021

Ahn, Hyeunguk, William Miller, Paul Sheaffer, Vestal Tutterow, and Vi H. Rapp."Opportunities for installed combined heat and power (CHP) to increase grid flexibility in the U.S.."Energy Policy 157 (2021) 112485. DOI

Fuchs, Heidi, and Prakash Rao."Survey of Available Information on U.S. Manufacturing Wastewater and Energy Requirements for Reuse." (2021). DOI

Newkirk, Alexander, Prakash Rao, and Paul Sheaffer."U.S. Industrial and Commercial Motor System Market Assessment Report Volume 2: Advanced Motors and Drives Supply Chain Review." (2021). DOI

McCall, James, Prakash Rao, Susana Garcia Gonzalez, Sachin Nimbalkar, Sujit Das, Sarang Supekar, and Joe Cresko."U.S. Manufacturing Water Use Data and Estimates: Current State, Limitations, and Future Needs for Supporting Manufacturing Research and Development."ACS ES&T Water (2021). DOI

Hedman, Bruce, David Jones, and Vestal Tutterow."Beneficial CHP – Is that a Thing? Considering CHP in the Context of Beneficial Electrification."ACEEE Summer Study for Energy Efficiency in Industry (2021).

Tutterow, Vestal, and Ethan Rogers."Energy Management and Product Sustainability Standards – A Key Link to Sustainable Supply Chains."ACEEE Summer Study for Energy Efficiency in Industry (2021).

."Strategic Energy Management Program Persistence and Cost Effectiveness An Analysis of the SEM Program Landscape." (2021).

Chen, Yuting, Heidi Fuchs, Jonah Schein, Victor H. Franco, Hannah Stratton, Thomas A. Burke, and Camilla Dunham."Water heating energy use reductions from EPA WaterSense lavatory plumbing fittings."Resources, Conservation and Recycling, Volume 174, 2021, 105781, ISSN 0921-3449. (2021). DOI

Fuchs, Heidi, and Prakash Rao."Characterizing manufacturing wastewater in the United States for the purpose of analyzing energy requirements for reuse."Journal of Industrial Ecology (2021). DOI

Feldhausen, John J., David C. Bell, Shane T. Kosir, Joshua S. Heyne, Corinne D. Scown, Vi H. Rapp, and Ana Comesana."The Co-Optimization of Sustainable Aviation Fuel: Cost, Emissions, and Performance."AIAA Scitech 2021 ForumAIAA Scitech 2021 Forum (2021). DOI

Booten, Chuck, Prakash Rao, Vi H. Rapp, Roderick Jackson, and Ravi S. Prasher."Theoretical Minimum Thermal Load in Buildings."Joule 5.1 (2021) 24 - 46. DOI

Rao, Prakash, Paul Sheaffer, Yuting Chen, Miriam L. Goldberg, Benjamin Jones, Jeff Cropp, and Jordan Hester."U.S. Industrial and Commercial Motor System Market Assessment Report Volume 1: Characteristics of the Installed Base." (2021). DOI

2020

Wang, Liyang, Molly Morabito, Christopher T. Payne, and Gerald Robinson."Identifying institutional barriers and policy implications for sustainable energy technology adoption among large organizations in California."Energy Policy 146 (2020) 111768. DOI

Wei, Max, Douglas R. Black, John Elliott, Howdy Goudey, Steve E. Greenberg, and Adam Z. Weber."Improving Energy System Resilience at Berkeley Lab and Beyond." (2020).

Earni, Shankar, and Peter L. Therkelsen."Non-routine adjustments – towards standardizing M&V approach for quantifying the effects of static factors."eceee Industrial Efficiency 2020 - DECARBONISE INDUSTRY! (2020). DOI

Earni, Shankar, and Steve E. Greenberg."The Installation of Direct Water-Cooling Systems to Reduce Cooling Energy Requirements for High-Performance Computing Centers."ACEEE 2020 Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings (2020). DOI

Chalasani, Sravan, Clayton Johnson, Molly Morabito, Alexander Newkirk, Liyang Wang, Ian M. Hoffman, and Christopher T. Payne."Messaging for Impact: Behavioral Science-Based Communication Strategies to Advance Energy Efficiency."ACEEE 2020 Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings (2020). DOI

Earni, Shankar, Philip Coleman, Elizabeth Stuart, and Peter H. Larsen."eProject Builder: Promoting wider adoption of energy savings performance contracts through standardization and transparency."energise 2020 ENERGY INNOVATION FOR A SUSTAINABLE ECONOMY (2020) 300-308.

Coleman, Philip, Shankar Earni, Bob Slattery, and Christine Walker."M&V in ESPC: The U.S. Federal Experience and Implications for Developing ESPC Markets."energise 2020 ENERGY INNOVATION FOR A SUSTAINABLE ECONOMY (2020) 216-221.

Caubel, Julien J., Vi H. Rapp, Sharon S. Chen, and Ashok J. Gadgil."Practical design considerations for secondary air injection in wood-burning cookstoves: An experimental study."Development Engineering 5 (2020) 100049. DOI

Piette, Mary Ann, Richard C. Diamond, Stephen E. Selkowitz, Stephane de la Rue du Can, Tianzhen Hong, Kaiyu Sun, Paul A. Mathew, Iain S. Walker, Alan K. Meier, Erik Page, Jessica Granderson, Nan Zhou, and Peter Alstone."Chapter 2: Global Opportunities and Challenges in Energy and Environmental Issues in the Buildings Sector."World Scientific Series in Current Energy Issues (2020). DOI

Morabito, Molly, Liyang Wang, Christopher T. Payne, and Luis L. Fernandes."National Mandates Won’t Save Us!: How to Design Energy Efficiency Policies that Address Institutional Barriers to Change."ACEEE Summer Study (2020). DOI

2019

Mayer, Morgan A., Tyler Huntington, Ana Comesana, Vi H. Rapp, and Kyle Niemeyer."Can machine learning predict fuel properties accurately?."2019 WSSCI Fall Technical Meeting (2019).

Aghajanzadeh, Arian, and Peter L. Therkelsen."Agricultural demand response for decarbonizing the electricity grid."Journal of Cleaner Production 220 (2019) 827 - 835. DOI