Building Energy Measurement and Performance Analysis

Building Energy Measurement and Performance Analysis specializes in the measured and simulated energy use of buildings and equipment, and has expertise extending to evaluation of energy efficiency programs, mitigation of urban heat islands, and modeling urban air sheds. There are about twenty staff in Building Energy Measurement and Performance Analysis (including 8 PhDs), with backgrounds in engineering, architecture, building science, physics, and sociology. Some of the major capabilities are listed below.

Capabilities of Building Energy Measurement and Performance Analysis

Measured Energy Use of Buildings and Equipment
Building Energy Measurement and Performance Analysis staff are constantly compiling data on the measured performance of buildings and appliances. Recent energy compilations have included: new commercial buildings, impact of commissioning, office equipment, residential refrigerators,"miscellaneous" appliances, and new, low-energy homes. Building Energy Measurement and Performance Analysis staff are familiar with the intricacies of the actual building performance, monitoring, data bases to hold the data, and procedures to evaluate energy use and savings.

Building Simulation
Building Energy Measurement and Performance Analysis possesses considerable experience simulating energy use in commercial and residential buildings. Building Energy Measurement and Performance Analysis has created one of the most extensive libraries of commercial and residential building prototypes, allowing staff to quickly estimate the impact of efficiency improvements and design changes. Recent work has focused on creating national estimates of heating and cooling loads by building components, evaluating the abilities of technologies to cool buildings without use of compressor-based machines, and estimating air conditioning savings from low-albedo roofs and walls.

Mitigation of Urban Heat Islands
Research in Mitigation of Heat Islands in Building Energy Measurement and Performance Analysis is developing techniques to reduce the impacts of urban heat islands through low-albedo surfaces, vegetation, and improved building design. The Project employs a wide range of monitoring, simulation, and laboratory measurements. As a result, Building Energy Measurement and Performance Analysis has unique experience in both theoretical and practical aspects of building climatology.

Urban Air Shed Modeling
Building Energy Measurement and Performance Analysis possesses one of the most sophisticated collections of linked models to simulate urban atmosphere. It can examine the impact of policies affecting transportation, land use and building energy design on air temperatures and pollution levels.

Program Evaluation
Building Energy Measurement and Performance Analysis staff have conducted numerous evaluations of utility and government programs. Most recently, they have examined the success of utility DSM programs aimed at commercial buildings and new homes. Building Energy Measurement and Performance Analysis staff wrote EPA's conservation verification protocols.

Building Energy Measurement and Performance Analysis staff are constantly collaborating in other building science projects underway at the Berkeley Lab and elsewhere, by providing expertise on building simulation, monitoring and program evaluation. Current projects are underway with various institutions in the United States, China, Japan, Bahrain, and Thailand. Building Energy Measurement and Performance Analysis regularly hosts visiting researchers from the United States and abroad. Recent foreign visitors have been from Japan, Germany, Italy, Czech Republic, and Canada.

For further information, questions, or comments, please contact Alan Meier, AKMeier@LBL.gov, at +1 (510) 486-4740, or view the Building Energy Measurement and Performance Analysis home page.

Some Building Energy Measurement and Performance Analysis projects

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