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

2015

Li, Cheng, Tianzhen Hong, and Da Yan."An Insight into Actual Energy Use and Its Drivers in High-Performance Buildings." (2015).

Lee, Sang Hoon, Tianzhen Hong, Geof Sawaya, Yixing Chen, and Mary Ann Piette."DEEP: A Database of Energy Efficiency Performance to Accelerate Energy Retrofitting of Commercial Buildings." (2015).

Wetter, Michael, Marcus Fuchs, and Thierry Stephane Nouidui."Design choices for thermofluid flow components and systems that are exported as Functional Mockup Units." (2015).

Wetter, Michael, Wangda Zuo, Thierry Stephane Nouidui, and Xiufeng Pang."Modelica Buildings Library." (2015).

Jorissen, Filip, Michael Wetter, and Lieve Helsen."Simulation Speed Analysis and Improvements of Modelica Models for Building Energy Simulation." (2015).

2014

Mills, Evan, Norman Bourassa, Leo I Rainer, Gregory K Homan, Noel Market, Danny S Parker, Glenn Dickey, and Joan Glickman."Asset Rating with the Home Energy Scoring Tool."Energy and Building 80 (2014) 441-450. DOI

Haves, Philip, Craig P Wray, David A Jump, Daniel Veronica, and Christopher Farley."Development of Diagnostic and Measurement and Verification Tools for Commercial Buildings." (2014).

Xia, Jianjun, Tianzhen Hong, Qi Shen, Wei Feng, Le Yang, Piljae Im, Alison Lu, and Mahabir Bhandari."Comparison of Building Energy Use Data Between the United States and China."Energy and Buildings 78 (2014) 165-175. DOI

Hong, Tianzhen, Le Yang, David Hill, and Wei Feng."Data and Analytics to Inform Energy Retrofit of High Performance Buildings."Applied Energy 126 (2014) 90-106. DOI

Li, Cheng, and Tianzhen Hong."Revisit of Energy Use and Technologies of High Performance Buildings."2014 ASHRAE Annual Conference (2014).

Parrish, Kristen, Reshma Singh, and Szu-Cheng Chien."The Role of International Partnerships in Delivering Low- Energy Building Design: A Case Study of the Singapore Scientific Planning Process."Sustainable Cities and Society 14.1 (2014). DOI

Hong, Tianzhen, Xiufeng Pang, Oren Schetrit, Liping Wang, Shinichi Kasahara, Yoshinori Yura, and Ryohei Hinokuma."A New Model to Simulate Energy Performance of VRF Systems." (2014).

Hong, Tianzhen, Cheng Li, Richard C Diamond, Da Yan, Qi Zhang, Xin Zhou, Siyue Guo, Kaiyu Sun, and Jingyi Wang."Integrated Design for High Performance Buildings." (2014).

Lee, Sang Hoon, Tianzhen Hong, and Mary Ann Piette."Review of Existing Energy Retrofit Tools." (2014).

Sun, Kaiyu, Tianzhen Hong, and Siyue Guo."Stochastic Modeling of Overtime Occupancy and Its Application in Building Energy Simulation and Calibration." (2014).

2013

Hong, Tianzhen, Wen-Kuei Chang, and Hung-Wen Lin."A Fresh Look at Weather Impact on Peak Electricity Demand and Energy Use of Buildings Using 30-Year Actual Weather Data."Applied Energy 111 (2013) 333-350. DOI

Zhou, Xin, Tianzhen Hong, and Da Yan."Comparison of Building Energy Modeling Programs: HVAC Systems." (2013).

Nouidui, Thierry Stephane, Michael Wetter, and Wangda Zuo."Functional Mock-Up Unit Import in EnergyPlus For Co-Simulation."13th Conference of International Building Performance Simulation (2013).

Hong, Tianzhen, Wei Feng, Alison Lu, Jianjun Xia, Le Yang, Qi Shen, Piljae Im, and Mahabir Bhandari."Building Energy Monitoring and Analysis." (2013).

Chang, Wen-Kuei, and Tianzhen Hong."Statistical Analysis and Modeling of Occupancy Patterns in Open-Plan Offices using Measured Lighting-Switch Data."Building Simulation 6.1 (2013) 23–32. DOI

O'Donnell, James, Tobias Maile, Cody Rose, Natasa Mrazovic, Elmer Morrissey, Cynthia Regnier, Kristen Parrish, and Vladimir Bazjanac."Transforming BIM to BEM: Generation of Building Geometry for the NASA Ames Sustainability Base BIM." (2013).

Zhou, Xin, Da Yan, Tianzhen Hong, and Dandan Zhu."Building energy modeling programs comparison Research on HVAC systems simulation part." (2013).

Zhou, Xin, Da Yan, Xiaoxin Ren, and Tianzhen Hong."Data Analysis and Modeling of Lighting Energy Use in Large Office Buildings." (2013).

Hong, Tianzhen, William J. N Turner, and Cheng Li."The Two-Day CERC-BEE Forum on Building Integrated Design and Occupant Behavior: Presentations and Summary." (2013).

2012

Earni, Shankar, Spencer Woodworth, Xiufeng Pang, Jorge Hernandez-Maldonado, Rongxin Yin, Liping Wang, Steve E Greenberg, John Fiegel, and Alma Rubalcava."Monitoring-based HVAC Commissioning of an Existing Office Building for Energy Efficiency." (2012).