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

Berkeley campus view for CBE 2022 year in review

2022 Year in Review: Returning to (the New) Normal

Arm France Receives 2022 Livable Buildings Award, a First Outside of North America

Smart Thermostat Innovation Will Help People Breathe Easier During Wildfires

CBE laboratory spaces

Funding for California Clean Energy Entrepreneurs: Extended to August 25, 2022

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New Study Throws Cold Water on Widely Accepted Relationship Between Temperature and Work Performance

From CBE's Centerline

Symposium on Modular and Industrial Low-Carbon Buildings
See slides from this event with practitioners who are implementing modular and industrialized buildings, and researchers studying their potential for decarbonizing the built environment.
Arm France Receives 2022 Livable Buildings Award, a First Outside of North America
Now in its sixteenth year, the Livable Buildings Awards recognize projects that demonstrate excellence in architecture, sustainability and occupant satisfaction.
2022 Year in Review: Returning to (the New) Normal
In 2022 CBE staff returned to the office, held Industry Advisory Board meetings both in-person and virtually, we welcomed new industry partners and staff, and launched new research directions.
Smart Thermostat Innovation Will Help People Breathe Easier During Wildfires
Researchers at CBE have created a novel software tool for smart thermostats to improve the air quality inside homes at times when outside air becomes unhealthy during wildfires.
CBE Research Collaboration Featured in Video
This short video to showcases how our research team works with industry leaders to advance new technologies and promising design and operation strategies.
Alternatives to Air Conditioning: Fans as a Path to Resilience
Research and new tools help us understand how fans can provide resiliency during extreme heat events. Fans may use 10 to 100 times less energy than air conditioning, reducing the impact on power grids during these events.
Paper Reveals the Lessons from 20 Years of CBE Occupant Surveys
This recent paper reviews the CBE survey's measurement and benchmarking properties, identifying enhancements to support the creation of spaces that benefit those who use them.
Study Finds No Relationship Between Temperature and Performance
The results of a new study challenges the idea of a relationship between work performance and temperatures commonly found in offices.

Modular/Industrial construction symposium, slides posted

Arm France

Berkeley campus view for CBE 2022 year in review

SF fire 2020

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Alternatives to Air Conditioning: Fans as a Path to Resilience

CBE survey 20 year review infographic

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Current and Milestone Projects

HCJR square: Using Biometric Sensors

Using Infrared Biometric Sensors to Improve Occupant Comfort and Reduce Overcooling

Using automatic detection of occupant comfort to create a 'humans-in-the-loop' HVAC control strategy.

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Embodied Carbon in the Built Environment

Applying life-cycle assessment and other tools to advance the rapid decarbonization of buildings.

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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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Mapping Commercial Building Electrification

Case studies with a focus on electrification of large existing commercial buildings

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Using Smart Thermostats to Improve Wildfire Resiliency in Californian Homes

Software for smart thermostats to leverage HVAC systems for health and indoor air quality during wildfires.

CBE Clima Tool

An online climate analysis and visualization resource.

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HVAC

IEQ

CBE hot water reheat square highlighting gas consumption

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

IEQ

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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

A 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.

IEQ

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 building performance measurement toolkit

Building Performance Evaluation Toolkit

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

IEQ

Time-Averaged Ventilation feature

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

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

HVAC