Research Innovations
CBE's technology development and design guidance are improving building energy performance and occupant satisfaction.
Industry Collaborations
Our research is conducted in collaboration with industry leaders representing the diversity of the commercial building sector.
Building Performance Tools
CBE's online tools support advanced simulation and understanding of building energy performance and occupant experience.
Livable Buildings Awards
Recognizing projects that demonstrate high occupant satisfaction, sustainable design and innovative operation strategies.

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CBE membership meeting

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Livable Buildings Awards LWHS 2020

CBE is a place where prominent industry leaders and internationally recognized researchers cooperate to produce substantial, holistic, and far-sighted research on buildings. Together we work to improve the performance of buildings by providing timely, unbiased information on building technologies and design and operation techniques.

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Indoor Environments

CBE is developing new methods to measure the performance of buildings in terms of comfort, workplace efficiency, and operations.

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Building HVAC Systems

We study new and advanced HVAC systems that offer opportunities for energy savings and benefits to occupants.

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Building Facade Systems

CBE is developing tools and criteria for evaluating facade performance in terms of occupant comfort and energy efficiency.

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Human Interactions

New information technologies provide ways to optimize the performance of building systems.

From CBE's Centerline

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Alternatives to Air Conditioning: Fans as a Path to Resilience

CBE Alumni Approach Sustainability via Building Performance, Material Science and Data Management

Invisible Mountain Venice Biennale

‘Invisible Mountain’ by CBE faculty Giovanni Betti at the Venice Architecture Biennale

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Lessons Learned from 20 Years of the CBE Occupant Survey

CBE laboratory spaces

Funding for California Clean Energy Entrepreneurs: Deadline Extended to March 25, 2021

From CBE's Centerline

Alternatives to Air Conditioning: Fans as a Path to Resilience
Hurricanes, wildfires, and floods produce dramatic images of destruction, but heatwaves cause more deaths in the U.S. each year. Research and new tools help us understand how fans can provide resiliency during extreme heat events.
Keynote Talk by ULI Director Michelle Malanca Frey
Michelle Malanca Frey's talk to CBE’s Industry Advisory Board in October 2021 covered building electrification, distributed energy resources, vehicle-to grid-integration, and creative branding concepts.
Symposium on Research and Design of Window Views
Now posted online, presentations focus on the benefits of view, view-related research results, and ways designers can adapt these research findings to emerging building designs.
CBE Alumni Leaders Pursue Sustainability Through Multiple Angles
CBE’s graduates have gone on to highly successful careers, including leadership positions in the building sector and beyond. In this Centerline post we catch up with three alumni to learn about their current work roles, what inspires them, and future directions.
Lessons from 20 Years of CBE Occupant Surveys
In a recent paper we look at the CBE Occupant Survey tool and its database to evaluate its measurement and benchmarking properties, while also identifying new enhancements intended to support the creation of spaces that truly benefit those who use them.
2021 Seminar on Affordable and Sustainable Housing
The slide decks from four leading experts are posted, featuring strategies, details and case studies leading towards ZNE and equitable multi-family housing in CA and beyond.

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Michelle Malanca Frey

Symposium on Research and Design Practice Related to Window Views

CBE Alumni Approach Sustainability via Building Performance, Material Science and Data Management

CBE survey 20 year review infographic

Edwin M. Lee Apartments by LMS Architects

Current and Milestone Projects

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Occupant Indoor Environmental Quality Survey and Building Benchmarking

Occupant surveys are an invaluable source of information regarding occupant satisfaction and workplace effectiveness.

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Depiction of a radiant tubing option for CBE Rad Tool

CBE Rad Tool: Early Design Tool for High Thermal Mass Radiant Systems

Dynamic load calculator for the study of radiant system design and operation.

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CBE Clima Tool

An online climate analysis and visualization resource.

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CBE hot water reheat square highlighting gas consumption

Getting Out of Hot Water: Reducing Gas Consumption in Existing Large Commercial Buildings

Reduce natural gas consumption in large commercial buildings with a path to cost-efficient solutions.

HVAC

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Integrating Smart Ceiling Fans and Communicating Thermostats to Provide Energy-Efficient Comfort

Field demonstrations, laboratory studies and design resource development.

IEQ

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Facade Case Studies Interactive Map

Supporting the adoption of advanced facade design strategies and technologies.

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Ceiling-Fan Integrated Air Conditioning

An innovative design approach that takes advantage of fans for cooling and mixing supply air.

HVAC

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Using Brick to Enable Portable Analytics, Modeling and Controls

Skewering the Silos: Advancing the open-source data model Brick into a demonstrated and tested tool.

HVAC

Radiant system installation at the Exploratorium in San Francisco.

Radiant Systems Research

Providing guidelines and information for a promising and rapidly evolving building technology.

HVAC

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CBE Thermal Comfort Tool

An free online tool for evaluating comfort according to ASHRAE Standard 55.

IEQ

Personal comfort systems prototypes being assembled in CBE lab

Advanced Personal Comfort Systems Development and Testing

Providing local individual thermal comfort for occupant satisfaction and reduced energy consumption.

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Wireless power personal comfort chair team in lab

Using Wireless Power for Personal Comfort Devices

Developing the next generation of personal comfort devices.

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CBE thermal comfort simulation in automotive cabin

Thermal Comfort Automotive Research (TCAR)

Using CBE’s world-class thermal comfort resources to improve comfort in automobiles.

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Combined Analysis for Ventilation, Thermal and Luminous Autonomy

A novel integrated workflow that simultaneously considers thermal, luminous, and ventilation autonomy for the assessment of passive strategies.

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CBE measurement toolkit

Building Performance Evaluation Toolkit

An integrated building evaluation tool-kit for measuring numerous indoor environmental parameters.

IEQ

Time-Averaged Ventilation for Optimized Control of Variable-Air-Volume Systems

Saving energy in variable air volume systems by optimizing minimum airflow rates.

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