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

2025

Rao, Prakash, Heidi Fuchs, Amal Alsaffar, Kristina Armstrong, Sravan Chalasani, Sujit Das, Susana Garcia Gonzalez, Diane J Graziano, Unique Karki, Mini Malhotra, James McCall, Sachin Nimbalkar, Frédéric Petit, Lino Sanchez, Rob Spencer, Sarang Supekar, and Kiran Thirumaran."Advancing Manufacturing Water Resilience: Addressing Risks through New Approaches and Technologies." (2025). DOI

Office, U.S Department of Energy Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization, Heidi Fuchs, Unique Karki, Tae-Hwan Lim, Peng Peng, Prakash Rao, Arman Shehabi, and Jibran Zuberi."Transformative Pathways for U.S. Industry: Unlocking American Innovation." (2025). DOI

Earni, Shankar, Alex Hubbard, Amy Pevzner, Paul Sheaffer, Prakash Rao, Sean Wynne, and Ross Charland."Field Validation of Thermoelectric Generation System at Holcim Cement Plant in Alpena, Michigan." (2025). DOI

Rao, Prakash, Thomas P Hendrickson, Elizabeth Wachs, Shubhankar Upasani, and Alberta Carpenter."Testing a method for developing facility-level greenhouse gas emissions intensities of U.S. traded goods." (2025).

2024

Earni, Shankar, Amy Pevzner, Paul Sheaffer, Prakash Rao, Jeff Davis, Josh Weissert, Mike Christianson, and Katie Roessler."FIELD VALIDATION OF A Pilot-Scale Black Liquor Membrane for Water Removal at a Paper Mill." (2024). DOI

Earni, Shankar, Amy Pevzner, Paul Sheaffer, Prakash Rao, Jeff Davis, Josh Weissert, Mike Christianson, and Katie Roessler."Field Validation of a Pilot-scale Black Liquor Membrane for Water Removal at Ahlstrom-Munksjö Paper Mill in Mosinee, WI." (2024).

Earni, Shankar, Amy Pevzner, Unique Karki, Prakash Rao, Ross Charland, and Josh Weissert."FIELD VALIDATION OF Electrochemical Water Filtration System on an Open Loop Cooling Tower at Automotive Plants." (2024). DOI

Earni, Shankar, Amy Pevzner, Paul Sheaffer, Prakash Rao, Ross Charland, and Josh Weissert."Field Validation of Electrochemical Water Filtration System on an Open Loop Cooling Tower at Nissan Manufacturing Plant in Canton, Mississippi." (2024). DOI

Earni, Shankar, Amy Pevzner, Unique Karki, Prakash Rao, Ross Charland, and Josh Weissert."Field Validation of Electrochemical Water Filtration System on an Open Loop Cooling Tower at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Plant in Blue Springs,Mississippi." (2024).

Earni, Shankar, Amy Pevzner, Unique Karki, Paul Sheaffer, Prakash Rao, CD Nayak, and Amit Kanungo."FIELD VALIDATION OF Electrocoagulation Treatment for Oily Wastewater at a Steel Mill." (2024). DOI

Earni, Shankar, Amy Pevzner, Unique Karki, Paul Sheaffer, Prakash Rao, CD Nayak, and Amit Kanungo."Field Validation of Electrocoagulation Treatment for Oily Wastewater at Cleveland-Cliffs Steel Mill in Cleveland, Ohio." (2024).

2023

Karki, Unique, and Prakash Rao."Techno-economic analysis of the water, energy, and greenhouse gas emissions impacts from the adoption of water efficiency practices in the U.S. manufacturing sector."Resources, Conservation and Recycling 196 (2023) 107054. DOI

Das, Sujit, Heidi Fuchs, Ritu Philip, and Prakash Rao."A review of water valuation metrics: Supporting sustainable water use in manufacturing."Water Resources and Industry 29 (2023) 100199. DOI

Fitzgerald, Patrick, Peter L Therkelsen, Paul Sheaffer, and Prakash Rao."Deeper and persistent energy savings and carbon dioxide reductions achieved through ISO 50001 in the manufacturing sector."Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 57 (2023) 103280. DOI

2022

Moudio, Marie Pelagie Elimbi, Richard Bolin, Alberta Carpenter, Samantha Bench Reese, Arman Shehabi, and Prakash Rao."Characterizing manufacturing sector disruptions with targeted mitigation strategiesAbstract."Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability 2.4 (2022) 042001. DOI

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

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

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

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

2019

Rao, Prakash, Darren Sholes, and Joe Cresko."Evaluation of U.S. Manufacturing Subsectors at Risk of Physical Water Shortages."Environmental Science & Technology (2019). DOI

2018

Rao, Prakash, William R Morrow III, Arian Aghajanzadeh, Paul Sheaffer, Caroline Dollinger, Sabine Brueske, and Joe Cresko."Energy considerations associated with increased adoption of seawater desalination in the United States."Desalination 445 (2018) 213 - 224. DOI

2017

Rao, Prakash, Robert Kostecki, Larry L Dale, and Ashok J Gadgil."Technology and Engineering of the Water-Energy Nexus."Annual Review of Environment and Resources 42.1 (2017) 407 - 437. DOI