Center for the Built Environment (CBE)

Registration is still open for this virtual event coming up this Thursday: 𝗘𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗴𝘆 𝗥𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗲𝘀 & 𝗚𝗿𝗶𝗱 𝗥𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗶𝗻 𝗠𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶-𝗙𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴:  𝗢𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟯𝟭, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟰 𝗮𝘁 𝟭:𝟯𝟬 - 𝟯:𝟯𝟬 𝗽𝗺 𝗣𝗗𝗧 Join us for a deep dive into cutting-edge solutions being developed by UC Berkeley researchers and others to advance energy efficiency and grid reliability in urban environments. Our panel of experts will discuss opportunities to reduce homeowners’ utility bills and cut greenhouse gas emissions through innovative sustainability strategies and technologies. Therese Peffer will present the Oakland EcoBlock project — a scalable urban block retrofit focused on energy-efficient, electrified infrastructure and potential community microgrids. Chitra Nambiar will discuss new research on residential demand flexibility and its impact on grid reliability, based on field studies from rural Alaska and California’s Central Valley. Carlos Duarte will demonstrate energy simulations and optimizations for mixed-use building design focusing on reducing HVAC loads and optimizing energy storage. This event is free and open to the public, and co-sponsored by the PG&E Energy Centers and UC Berkeley’s Center for the Built Environment (CBE). https://lnkd.in/gUWt2GMS #Sustainability #EnergyEfficiency #GridReliability #BuildingSector #UCResearch #EcoBlock #DemandFlexibility #MixedUseDevelopment

Last week CBE’s consortium members arrived from across California, the U.S. and internationally to represent the members of our Industry Advisory Board. We launched the events with a Wednesday evening happy hour with a tour of the environmental test chamber led by Hui Zhang Hui. The Thursday Plenary Session featured talks from 14 faculty, researchers and students on core research topics such as comfort, HVAC design and view quality, and many new topics such as generative design methods and embodied water impacts in landscape design. Nobel Peace Prize laureate with Daniel Kammen providing a stimulating keynote. At Friday’s Executive Session we engaged in what we term a "posterless" breakout session to consider future directions; members selected Patrick Thibaudeau, LEED FELLOW, LFA, CCS to be the new partner vice-chair, as Shruti Kasarekar takes over as partner chair. From all of us at CBE, we thank our consortium members, industry leaders from 45 companies and organizations, who share their ongoing support, insight and guidance. Just a few of the ~150 participants captured in photos here include Robert Kline, Eric Solrain, Matt Roberts, Gail Brager, kevin hydes, Paul Raftery, Kit Elsworth, Stefano Schiavon, Jon Mohle, Isabelle Hens, and many more.

Thank you Patrick for sharing this post about CBE's work, and also for taking on the role as the new partner vice-chair. We look forward to your leadership as we advance our research portfolio.

Thank you Seema Bhangar for your participation and sharing your enthusiasm for the presentations and networking last week. (We have plenty of photos and videos and will post them soon!)

Last week the Facade Tectonics 2024 World Congress was an intense deep dive into facade technology, design and performance, with great networking in a rather intimate setting. It was an honor to co-present with my colleague and CBE visiting scholar Vito Lamberti CBE’s “Facade Map” case study project. Please see the links below to visit the website and see our paper. I also enjoyed seeing old friends and meet new building industry leaders such as Isabelle Hens, Andrea Zani, Helen Sanders, Sophie Pennetier, Wolfgang Pech, Eric Watters, Kyle Faron, Francesco Giovine, Dr. Isabelle Paparo, Christopher Payne, AIA, LEED AP, Assoc. DBIA, Mary Ben Bonham, Jamie Reyes and others from Permasteelisa North America Corp. Visit the FacadeMap website: https://bit.ly/facademap        Read the paper [Lehrer, D. & Lamberti, V. (2024). ‘Mapping Advanced Facades: Creating a Building Taxonomy and Documenting Global Case Studies’] https://lnkd.in/g7-ySS6K

This is a good quiz of sorts from Paul Raftery, showing that HVAC training can be valuable and entertaining! These sessions are informed by years of CBE research and other resources and are offered free of charge.

At CBE's fall Industry Advisory Board meeting we will share our latest research findings and progress and get feedback to help focus our efforts on topics of relevance to our consortium members and the building industry at large. The events on October 23-25, 2024, take place at the UC Berkeley campus and will include research presentations, keynotes and breakout sessions, networking plus a happy hour and banquet. The session is open to current members and invited guests. See an outline and a full agenda at: https://lnkd.in/gV_pmsdS For more information contact David Lehrer or Allison Herbert via DM or see contact info here: https://lnkd.in/gMsKUbeW Stefano Schiavon, Paul Raftery, Gail Brager, Ramon Weber, Daniel Kammen, charlie huizenga, Matt Roberts, Carlos Duarte, Tobias Kramer, Jiayu Li, Yan Wang, Vito Lamberti

The design of a building's facade must balance numerous conflicting goals, from lofty goals of aesthetic expression to the rather mundane (but important!) task of keeping out moisture. While we benefit from decades of research on engineering properties and ongoing innovation in fenestration technologies, new research is being done to provide insights and design guidance related to views. This post summarizes research done by CBE faculty, student researchers and our network of research affiliates around the world. Authors include: Michael Kent, Won Hee Ko, Stefano Schiavon, Isabel Burgess, Piers MacNaughton, ScD, Chai Yoon Um, Susana Chung https://lnkd.in/gQwhsYA7

Thank you Matt Roberts for posting about this event, and also your ongoing leadership and outreach efforts!