Centerline See all
Measuring Workplace Productivity: Key Variables and Future Directions
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the publication of a seminal paper from Rocky Mountain Institute, “Greening the Building and the Bottom Line,” making the case that green buildings’ unique features may improve employee productivity. Since then interest in this topic has remained strong, and several studies by CBE and others have contributed to our collective understanding of workplace productivity; in this post we describe our related work with a focus on key variables.
New Partner Red Car Analytics: Solutions to Decarbonize Today’s Buildings
Joining CBE’s industry consortium this spring, Red Car Analytics specializes in building systems advising, performance diagnostics, policy and research, commissioning, and energy modeling. Their mission is to help create an industry feedback loop of effective solutions to decarbonize today’s buildings.
New R&D Collaborations on Building Analysis Tools and Occupant-Centric Controls
This spring CBE’s research team received funding to support two new projects that will create new ways to gather, analyze and monetize data from commercial buildings, yielding energy cost savings and more comfort for building users.
CBE Rad Tool Enables Better Design of High-Mass Radiant Systems
CBE has released an interactive web-based tool for the early phases of design of high thermal mass radiant systems, that may be used to predict steady-state conditions for both heating and cooling modes, greatly facilitating a standard design practice. However it can also predict dynamic (transient) performance for cooling, taking into account the effects of changing loads and the effects of thermal mass of the building structure.
CBE in the News See all
Eliminating Overcooling Discomfort While Saving Energy
CBE researchers and collaborators from TRC and Comfy wrote an article in the April issue of the ASHRAE Journal focused on eliminating overcooling to increase comfort and decrease energy use.
Building Design for All Senses
Boost Happiness and Save Energy with Adaptive Thermal Comfort
This article builds on a 15-year-old BuildingGreen classic, with updates on thermal comfort in mixed-mode buildings, featuring much of Gail Brager’s research on the development of the adaptive model.
Livable Buildings Awards
Now in its twelfth year, the Livable Buildings Awards recognize projects that demonstrate high occupant satisfaction, excellent design, and innovative operation strategies.