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

Paul, Lazlo, Flavia De Andrade Pereira, Anand Prakash, Sang woo Ham, Jingjuan Feng, Rich Brown, and Marco Pritoni."Open building operating system: a grid-responsive semantics-driven control platform for buildings."Science and Technology for the Built Environment 31.3 (2025) 294-311. DOI

2024

Casillas, Armando, Thomas Defauw, Sang woo Ham, Dre Helmns, Lazlo Paul, Anand Prakash, Weiping Huang, Peter Grant, and Marco Pritoni."Demystifying Thermal Energy Storage Integrated Heat Pump Systems: Development of Generalized Sizing and Control Algorithms for Demand Flexibility."ACEEE Summer Study (2024).

Ham, Sang woo, Lazlo Paul, Armando Casillas, Anand Prakash, Donghun Kim, Richard E Brown, Marco Pritoni, and Peter Grant."Practical challenges of model predictive control (MPC) for grid interactive small and medium commercial buildings."ACEEE Summer Study (2024).

Ham, Sang woo, Lazlo Paul, Donghun Kim, Marco Pritoni, Richard E Brown, and Jingjuan Feng."Decarbonization of heat pump dual fuel systems using a practical model predictive control: Field demonstration in a small commercial building."Applied Energy 361 (2024) 122935. DOI

2023

Ham, Sang woo, Donghun Kim, Tanya Barham, and Kent Ramseyer."The first field application of a low-cost MPC for grid-interactive K-12 schools: Lessons-learned and savings assessment."Energy and Buildings 296 (2023) 113351. DOI

Paul, Lazlo, Flavia deAndrade Pereira, Sang woo Ham, Marco Pritoni, Richard E Brown, and Jingjuan Feng."Open Building Operating System: an Open-Source Grid Responsive Control Platform for Buildings."ASHRAE Annual Conference 2023 (2023).

Kim, Donghun, and Sang woo Ham."ActiveBAS: A Low-cost, Scalable Control Solution for Grid-Interactive Small and Medium Sized Commercial Buildings (CRADA Final Report)." (2023). DOI

Paul, Lazlo, Sang woo Ham, Marco Pritoni, Donghan Kim, Richard E Brown, and Jingjuan Feng."Field Implementation of MPC for Heat Pump-Based Duel Fuel Systems in Small Commercial Buildings for Decarbonization."ASHRAE (2023).