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

2007

Trcka, Marija, Michael Wetter, and Jan Hensen."Comparison of Co-Simulation Approaches for Building and HVAC/R System Simulation."Proceedings of the Building Simulation 2007 (2007).

Trcka, Marija, Michael Wetter, and Jan Hensen."Comparison of co-simulation approaches for building and HVAC/R system simulation. ."Proceedings of the 10th IBPSA Conference (2007) 1418-1425.

2006

Wetter, Michael."Multizone Airflow Model in Modelica."Proceedings of the 5th International Modelica Conference (2006) 431-440.

Wetter, Michael."Multizone Building Model for Thermal Building Simulation in Modelica."Proceedings of the 5th International Modelica Conference (2006) 517-526.

Wetter, Michael, and Christoph Haugstetter."Modelica versus TRNSYS — A Comparison Between an Equation-Based and a Procedural Modeling Language for Building Energy Simulation."Proceedings of the 2nd SimBuild Conference (2006).

Polak, Elijah, and Michael Wetter."Precision control for generalized pattern search algorithms with adaptive precision function evaluations."SIAM Journal on Optimization 16.3 (2006) 650-669 . DOI

2005

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

2004

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

Wetter, Michael, and Elijah Polak."A convergent optimization method using pattern search algorithms with adaptive precision simulation."Building Services Engineering Research and Technology 25.4 (2004) 327-338. DOI

Wetter, Michael, and Elijah Polak."Building Design Optimization Using a Convergent Pattern Search Algorithm with Adaptive Precision Simulations."Energy and Buildings 37 (2004) 603-612.

Wetter, Michael, and Jonathan A Wright."A comparison of deterministic and probabilistic optimization algorithms for nonsmooth simulation-based optimization ."Building and Environment 39.8 (2004) 989-999. DOI

Wetter, Michael, Elijah Polak, and Van P Carey."BuildOpt 1.0.1 validation." (2004).

Wetter, Michael."GenOpt 2.0.0 - Generic optimization program." (2004).

Wetter, Michael."Simulation-based building energy optimization." (2004).

Wetter, Michael."Simulation-Based Building Energy Optimization."Mechanical Engineering Ph.D. (2004).

2003

Wetter, Michael, Elijah Polak, Godfried Augenbroe, and Jan Hensen."A convergent optimization method using pattern search algorithms with adaptive precision simulation."Proceedings of the 8th IBPSA Conference III (2003) 1393-1400.

Wetter, Michael, Jonathan A Wright, Godfried Augenbroe, and Jan Hensen."Comparison of a generalized pattern search and a genetic algorithm optimization method."Proceedings of the 8th IBPSA Conference III (2003) 1401-1408.

2001

Wetter, Michael, Roberto Lamberts, Cezar O. R Negrão, and Jan Hensen."GenOpt - A Generic Optimization Program."Proceedings of the 7th IBPSA Conference I (2001) 601-608.