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.

Publications

Publications By Research Area

2017

Maccarini, Alessandro, Michael Wetter, Alireza Afshari, Goran Hultmark, Niels Bergsoe, and Anders Vorre."Energy saving potential of a two-pipe system for simultaneous heating and cooling of office buildings."Energy and Buildings 134 (2017) 234 - 247. DOI

Wang, Na, Patrick E. Phelan, Jorge Gonzalez, Chioke B. Harris, Gregor P. Henze, Robert Hutchinson, Jared Langevin, Mary Ann Lazarus, Brent Nelson, Christopher Pyke, Kurt Roth, David Rouse, Karma Sawyer, and Stephen E. Selkowitz."Ten questions concerning future buildings beyond zero energy and carbon neutrality."Building and Environment 119 (2017) 169 - 182. DOI

Chen, Yixing, Tianzhen Hong, and Xuan Luo."An Agent-Based Stochastic Occupancy Simulator." (2017).

Walker, Iain S., Yang-Seon Kim, Brett C. Singer, and Wanyu R. Chan."Assessing Occupant and Outdoor Air Impacts on Indoor Air Quality in New California Homes."AIVC Conference (2017). DOI

Chen, Yixing, Tianzhen Hong, and Mary Ann Piette."Automatic Generation and Simulation of Urban Building Energy Models Based on City Datasets for City-Scale Building Retrofit Analysis." (2017).

Rojas, Gabriel, Iain S. Walker, and Brett C. Singer."Comparing extracting and recirculating residential kitchen range hoods for the use in high energy efficient housing."AIVC Conference (2017). DOI

Luo, Na, Tianzhen Hong, Hui Li, Rouxi Jia, and Wenguo Weng."Data Analytics and Optimization of an Ice-Based Energy Storage System for Commercial Buildings." (2017).

Luo, Xuan, Tianzhen Hong, Yixing Chen, and Mary Ann Piette."Electric Load Shape Benchmarking for Small- and Medium-Sized Commercial Buildings." (2017).

Walker, Iain S., Gariel Rojas, Jordan D. Clark, and Max H. Sherman."Evaluating the Performance of Island Kitchen Range Hoods."AIVC Conference (2017). DOI

Sun, Kaiyu, and Tianzhen Hong."A Framework for Quantifying the Impact of Occupant Behavior on Energy Savings of Energy Conservation Measures." (2017).

D'Oca, Simona, Tianzhen Hong, and Jared Langevin."The Human Dimensions of Energy Use in Buildings: A Review." (2017).

Yoshino, Hiroshi, Tianzhen Hong, and Natasa Nord."IEA EBC Annex 53: Total Energy Use in Buildings – Analysis and Evaluation Methods."Energy and Buildings 152 (2017). DOI

Yan, Da, Tianzhen Hong, Bing Dong, Ardeshir Mahdavi, Simona D'Oca, Isabella Gaetani, and Xiaohang Feng."IEA EBC Annex 66: Definition and simulation of occupant behavior in buildings."Energy and Building 156 (2017). DOI

Zhang, Rongpeng, and Tianzhen Hong."Modeling of HVAC Operational Faults in Building Performance Simulation." (2017).

An, Jingjing, Da Yan, Tianzhen Hong, and Kaiyu Sun."A Novel Stochastic Modeling Method to Simulate Cooling Loads in Residential Districts." (2017).

Hong, Tianzhen, Yixing Chen, Zsofia Belafi, and Simona D'Oca."Occupant behavior models: A critical review of implementation and representation approaches in building performance simulation programs." (2017).

Wen, John T., Sandipan Mishra, Marco Pritoni, and David M. Auslander."Operating Systems for Small/Medium Commercial Buildings."Intelligent Building Control Systems (2017) 45 - 69. DOI

Xue, Peng, Tianzhen Hong, Bing Dong, and Cheuk Ming Mak."A Preliminary Investigation of Water Usage Behavior in Single-Family Homes." (2017).

Walker, Iain S., Max H. Sherman, Jordan D. Clark, and Gaelle Guyot."Residential Smart Ventilation: A Review." (2017).

Less, Brennan, and Iain S. Walker."Smart Ventilation Controls for Occupancy and Auxiliary Fan Use Across U.S. Climates." (2017).

Zhang, Qi, Da Yan, Jingjing An, Tianzhen Hong, Wei Tian, and Kaiyu Sun."Spatial Distribution of Internal Heat Gains: A Probabilistic Representation and Evaluation of Its Influence on Cooling Equipment Sizing in Large Office Buildings."Energy and Buildings (2017). DOI

D'Oca, Simona, Chien-Fen Chen, Tianzhen Hong, and Zsofia Belafi."Synthesizing building physics with social psychology: An interdisciplinary framework for context and occupant behavior in office buildings." (2017).

Cui, Ying, Da Yan, Tianzhen Hong, and Jingjin Ma."Temporal and spatial characteristics of the urban heat island in Beijing and the impact on building design and energy performance." (2017).

Hong, Tianzhen, Da Yan, Simona D'Oca, and Chien-Fei Chen."Ten Questions Concerning Occupant Behavior in Buildings: The Big Picture."Building and Environment (2017).

Koyanagi, Hidemitsu, and Alan K. Meier."VALIDITY OF ENERGY SIMULATIONS AND ENERGY MEASUREMENTS IN A NET ZERO ENERGY OFFICE BUILDING: A CASE STUDY."ASHRAE Annual Conference. (2017).