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

2018

Liu, Jingjing, Arian Aghajanzadeh, Paul Sheaffer, Peter L Therkelsen, and Nathaniel Allen."Accelerating the Uptake of ISO 50001 in Commercial Buildings: Two Early Adopters Utilizing an “Enterprise-wide” Approach to Save Energy and Beyond."2018 ACEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings (2018).

Wang, Liyang, and Christopher T Payne."Changing Institutional Procurement Behavior to Achieve Energy Savings."2018 Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings (2018). DOI

Belafi, Zsofia, Tianzhen Hong, and Andras Reith."A critical review on questionnaire surveys in the field of energy-related occupant behaviour."Energy Efficiency (2018) 1-21. DOI

Aghajanzadeh, Arian, Marshall English, and Collin English."Opportunities for Electricity Demand Management in Irrigated Agriculture." (2018). DOI

Liu, Jingjing, and Paul Sheaffer."ISO 50001 for US Commercial Buildings – Current Status and Opportunities." (2018).

Pass, Rebecca Zarin, Michael Wetter, and Mary Ann Piette."A thermodynamic analysis of a novel bidirectional district heating and cooling network."Energy 144 (2018) 20 - 30. DOI

Taylor, Margaret, and K Sydny Fujita."Consumer Behavior and the Plug-In Electric Vehicle Purchase Decision Process: A Research Synthesis." (2018).

Singh, Reshma, Baptiste Ravache, and Dale A Sartor."Building Innovation: A Guide For High-Performance Energy Efficient Buildings In India." (2018).

Wang, Wei, Jiayu Chen, and Tianzhen Hong."Modeling occupancy distribution in large spaces with multi-feature classification algorithm."Building and Environment 137 (2018). DOI

2017

Luo, Xuan, Khee Poh Lam, Yixing Chen, and Tianzhen Hong."Performance Evaluation of an Agent-based Occupancy Simulation Model."Building and Environment 115 (2017). DOI

Shehabi, Arman, Mohan Ganeshalingam, Laurèn DeMates, Paul A Mathew, and Dale A Sartor."Characterizing the Laboratory Market." (2017).

Chen, Yixing, Xin Liang, Tianzhen Hong, and Xuan Luo."Simulation and visualization of energy-related occupant behavior in office buildings."Building Simulation 10.6 (2017) 785–798. DOI

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

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

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

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).

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

2016

Hong, Tianzhen, Sarah C Taylor-Lange, Simona D'Oca, Da Yan, and Stefano P Corgnati."Advances in research and applications of energy-related occupant behavior in buildings."Energy and Buildings 116 (2016) 694-702. DOI

Sun, Kaiyu, and Tianzhen Hong."A Simulation Approach to Estimate Energy Savings Potential of Occupant Behavior Measures."Energy and Buildings (2016).

Herrlin, Magnus, and Randall C Cole."Air Management in Small Data Centers." (2016).

Chen, Yixing, Xuan Luo, and Tianzhen Hong."An Agent-Based Occupancy Simulator for Building Performance Simulation." (2016).

Liang, Xin, Tianzhen Hong, and Geoffrey Qiping Shen."Improving the accuracy of energy baseline models for commercial buildings with occupancy data."Applied Energy (2016).