| Building Technology and Urban Systems

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.

2005

Akbari, Hashem, and Andre Desjarlais."Cooling down the house: residential roofing products soon will boast "cool" surfaces."Professional Roofing (2005).

Gustavsen, Arlid, Dariush K Arasteh, Christian Kohler, and Dragan C Curcija."Two-Dimension Conduction and CFD Simulations for Heat Transfer in Horizontal Window Frame Cavities."2005 ASHRAE Winter Meeting 111 (2005).

Nytsch-Geusen, Christoph, Thierry Stephane Nouidui, Andreas Holm, and Wolfram Haupt."A hygrothermal building model based on the object-oriented modeling language Modelica."Ninth International IBPSA Conference (2005).

Pang, Xiufeng, B Zheng, and Mingsheng Liu."Building Pressure Control in VAV System with Relief Air Fan."the 5th International Conference of Enhanced Building Operations (2005).

Zheng, B, Mingsheng Liu, and Xiufeng Pang."Continuous Commissioning of an Office Building."the 5th International Conference of Enhanced Building Operations (2005).

Levinson, Ronnen M, Hashem Akbari, Steven J Konopacki, and Sarah E Bretz."Inclusion of cool roofs in nonresidential Title 24 prescriptive requirements."Energy Policy 33.2 (2005) 151-170. DOI

Wang, Liping, and Nyuk Hien Wong."The impacts of facade and ventilation strategies on indoor thermal environment for a naturally ventilated residential building in Singapore."the 10th International conference on Indoor Air Quality and Climate, Beijing (2005).

Wang, Liping, and Nyuk Hien Wong."Thermal analysis of climate environments based on weather data in Singapore for naturally ventilated buildings."the 10th International conference on Indoor Air Quality and Climate,Beijing (2005).

Hong, Tianzhen, Charles N Eley, and Erik Kolderup."Two DOE-2 functions."IBPSA Building Simulation (2005).

Zheng, B, Xiufeng Pang, and Mingsheng Liu."Using a Fan Air Flow Station to Control Building Static Pressure in a VAV System."the 2005 International Solar Energy Conference (2005).

Xu, Peng, Philip Haves, and Joseph J Deringer."A Simulation-Based Testing and Training Environment for Building Controls."SimBuild 2004, Building Sustainability and Performance Through Simulation (2005).

Xu, Peng, Philip Haves, and Moosung Kim."A Semi-Automated Functional Test Data Analysis Tool."Proceedings of the 13th National Conference on Building Commissioning (2005).

Inkarojrit, Vorapat."Balancing comfort: occupants' control of window blinds in private offices."Architecture (2005) 281.

Andersen, Marilyn, Michael D Rubin, Rebecca Powles, and Jean-Louis Scartezzini."Bi-Directional Transmission Properties of Venetian Blinds: Experimental Assessment Compared to Ray-Tracing Calculations."Solar Energy 78 (2005) 187-198.

Wetter, Michael, and Elijah Polak."Building design optimization using a convergent pattern search algorithm with adaptive precision simulations."Energy and Buildings 37.6 (2005) 603-612. DOI

Wetter, Michael."BuildOpt - A new building energy simulation program that is built on smooth models."Building and Environment 40.8 (2005) 1085-1092. DOI

Lee, Eleanor S, Dennis L DiBartolomeo, and Stephen E Selkowitz."Daylighting control performance of a thin-film ceramic electrochromic window: Field study results."Energy and Buildings 38 (2005) 30-44.

Koch, Edward, and Francis M Rubinstein."Evaluation of Alternative Field Buses for Lighting Control Applications." (2005).

Xu, Peng, Philip Haves, and Moosung Kim."Model-Based Automated Functional Testing-Methodology and Application to Air Handling Units."ASHRAE Transactions 111.Pt. 1 (2005).

Nytsch-Geusen, Christoph, Thilo Ernst, Peter Schneider, Mathias Vetter, Andreas Holm, Juergen Leopold, Ullrich Doll, Andre Nordwig, Peter Schwarz, Christoph Wittwer, Thierry Stephane Nouidui, Gerhardt Schmidt, and Alexander Mattes."MOSILAB: Development of a modelica based generic simulation tool supporting modal structural dynamics."4th International Modelica Conference (2005) pp.527-534.

Anders, André."Physics of Arcing, and Implications to Sputter Deposition."Thin Solid Films (2005).

Anders, André."Plasma and Ion Sources in Large Area Coatings: A Review." (2005).

Pelletier, Jacques, and André Anders."Plasma-Based Ion Implantation and Deposition: A Review of Physics, Technology, and Applications."IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science 33 (2005) 1944-1959.

Prasher, Ravi S, Prajesh Bhattacharya, and Patrick E Phelan."Thermal Conductivity of Nanoscale Colloidal Solutions (Nanofluids)."Physical Review Letters 94.025901-1 – 025901-4. (2005).

2004

Wetter, Michael."BuildOpt - A new building energy simulation program that is built on smooth models."Building and Environment 40.8 (2004). DOI