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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Recent CBE Work Contributes to Understanding Occupant Health, Comfort and Decarbonization of the Built Environment

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New Funding Will Advance Research on Personal Comfort and Advanced HVAC Solutions

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Reflecting on CBE’s Key Milestones of 2023

Paul Jennings Residence Hall at JMU

2023 Livable Building Awards Recognize Community Focused Residence Hall and Healthy Adaptive Reuse

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CBE Unveils Renovated Controlled Environment Chamber, Expanding Future Research

From CBE's Centerline

Research Updates Related to Occupant Health, Comfort and Decarbonization
As we wrap up 2024, we are excited to share updates on recent work and also about upcoming events where our research team will share our results with broad audiences from industry and academia.
Interface Base Camp Receives the 2024 Livable Building Award
The winning design team considered decarbonization of the building as well as impacts on the health and well-being of employees. An honorable mention went to DPR Construction’s Reston Offices.
We Can’t Wait Until 2050: Reaching Zero Embodied Carbon Today
We have posted slides decks that describe pathways toward radical embodied carbon reduction available now, including online tools to bring us to a fully zero-emission built environment.
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.
New Funding for Personal Comfort and Emerging HVAC Technology
This spring CBE’s research team won two major awards to support multi-year research programs, leveraging CBE’s capabilities and network of industry and academic collaborators.
Renovated Controlled Environment Chamber Expands Future Research
CBE’s controlled environment chamber used for keystone research was part of a major renovation completed this fall. In this post we acknowledge the recent contributors, and discuss past work and future directions.

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Interface Base Camp, Atlanta, exterior

Banner for We Can't Wait Until 2050: Reaching Zero Embodied Carbon Today

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CBE Centerline hospital photo and personal comfort graphic

Berkeley controlled environment chamber

Current and Milestone Projects

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Cost-Effectiveness and Mitigation Potential of Low-Carbon Building Material Alternatives

Research to support the development of impact reduction policies around embodied carbon.

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A Framework for View Quality and Related Research

Multi-project research to provide structure for design and research related to window views.

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California Safe Indoor Temperature Policy Study

Informing decision-making about indoor heat risks to human health.

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Decarbonizing Large Commercial Buildings through Heat Recovery and Storage

Demonstrating a new-to-market heat recovery chiller with ultra-low GWP in a large California hospital.

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Mainstreaming Personal Comfort Devices with Modular Controls

Developing a personal comfort ecosystem with a control hub integrating with multiple devices and building management systems.

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Embodied Carbon and Life Cycle Assessment

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

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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.

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.

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Facade Case Studies Interactive Map

Supporting the adoption of advanced facade design strategies and technologies.

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Personalized Environmental Solutions for Alleviating Surgeons’ Heat Stress in Operating Rooms

Lab testing personal cooling prototypes specifically designed for the unique conditions faced by surgeons.

IEQ

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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

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Cost-Responsive Supply Air Temperature Reset Strategy

Innovative control sequence for building automation systems widely applicable today.

HVAC

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CBE Thermal Comfort Tool

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

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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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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.

HI

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Using Wireless Power for Personal Comfort Devices

Developing the next generation of personal comfort devices.

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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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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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Thermal Comfort Automotive Research (TCAR)

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

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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

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

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

HVAC