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Recent CBE Work Contributes to Understanding Occupant Health, Comfort and Decarbonization of the Built Environment
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. Much of this work benefits from the invaluable contributions of our industry partners and research affiliates that include companies and academic institutions from around the world.
New Funding Will Advance Research on Personal Comfort and Advanced HVAC Solutions
This spring CBE’s research team was thrilled to learn we had won two major funding awards from the California Energy Commission. These winning proposals were led by the California Institute for Energy and Environment (CIEE) who will lead the future work in close collaboration with CBE researchers and other contributors. Both projects are multi-year efforts, each with a wide range of research activities and deliverables, and leverage CBE’s collective knowledge, capabilities and our extensive network of industry and academic partners.
Reflecting on CBE’s Key Milestones of 2023
As we gear up for our year-end rituals and activities, here at CBE we can take a moment to reflect on our efforts during 2023, and remember our purpose — to contribute towards making a more sustainable and equitable world. We are pleased to report on such wide ranging work, and also note that this would not be possible without the participation of CBE’s Industry Partners. We are grateful for their support and the ongoing contributions of our colleagues, students and affiliates. We wish you all the best for 2024, and in this post share some of our major accomplishments and milestones.
2023 Livable Building Awards Recognize Community Focused Residence Hall and Healthy Adaptive Reuse
The 2023 Livable Buildings Award has been awarded to VMDO Architects for their Paul Jennings Residence Hall, a 500-bed student housing facility at James Madison University completed in 2019. This project is the first residential building to be recognized by this award program, held annually since 2007. The awards also recognized the Bay Area Offices for SERA Architects with an honorable mention. SERA designed a full-floor office in a historic building in downtown Oakland, Calif., with a focus on creating a flexible and healthy workspace.
CBE in the News See all
Fans first and related strategies described at Singapore forum on heat and health.
The Straits Times writes about presentations at the GHHIN Southeast Asia Heat Health Forum. The four-day event gathered experts to explore solutions for protecting people from extreme heat due to rising temperatures. CBE’s Stefano Schiavon presented the results of a study of a hybrid cooling strategy with fans and air conditioning. Office occupants experienced two conditions: 79°F (26.5°C) with ceiling fans and air conditioning, and also at 75°F (24°C) with only air conditioning. The study found similar comfort levels in both settings, with the fan-plus-AC method reducing energy use by 30%.
Cities are getting hotter. Designing them to be windier could help.
The article highlights the growing importance of wind-centric urban design in response to extreme urban heat caused by climate change. Innovations like Hong Kong’s wind-optimized campus and Singapore’s breezeways exemplify how architecture can harness wind effectively. CBE’s Stefano Schiavon is quoted in the article, and he notes that air movement improves thermal comfort even in hot conditions, and that wind should be actively integrated into urban design considerations.
How to keep cool while saving energy (and money)
Stefano Schiavon spoke with NPR’s Ayesha Rascoe on Weekend Edition Sunday about the benefits of fans to stay cool while saving energy, as well as other strategies to adapt to rising temperatures.
Livable Buildings Awards
Now in its fourteenth year, the Livable Buildings Awards recognize projects that demonstrate high occupant satisfaction, excellent design, and innovative operation strategies.