Research Projects

LBNL has a research team of over 200 scientists working on many aspects of building energy performance, with notable successes and market impacts over the last 25 years with new technologies, systems, tools, standards, etc. But the building sector remains responsible for about 40% of energy use and carbon emissions, and over 70% of electricity use. The ambitious goal of this new ZECBI is to transform the energy use of commercial buildings in the US to routinely achieve carbon-neutral building performance within a generation. To succeed, the program will need to address industry institutional inertia, foster technological innovation in equipment, materials, and controls, develop innovative tools and predictive models to support innovative design, enhance the education of design and engineering professionals, foster technology transfer from labs to industry, develop innovative processes for delivering and operating high performance buildings, identify deployment policies that will ensure widespread adoption of high performance buildings, and develop metrics and a framework to track long term progress toward goals. There are groups already working on many of these individual issues, but no one has approached the problem in a comprehensive, integrated manner. The role of the ZECBI will be to help unify new and existing projects under one multiyear framework, with a vastly expanded level of effort, and create a roadmap for building innovation, shared by the industry, that is capable of delivering the dramatic emissions reductions necessary to mitigate climate change. The ZECBI, initiated by LBNL, is now a joint effort with the Alliance to Save Energy, American Institute of Architects, American Society of Heating Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers, U.S. Green Building Council, and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. Financial support is being sought from a variety of sources. Opportunities for UCB Students to Participate The initial ZECBI effort is broad in scope and offers many opportunities for BERC students to participate. Topics include: • Technology: What technological innovations are required to develop robust, scaleable solution packages for commercial buildings, specific to building type and location • Financing: Are there innovative approaches to develop and finance zero-energy buildings (e.g. commoditizing life-cycle energy savings) • Design Process: What changes are required in current architectural/engineering practice and construction? How would these be implemented? • Operations: How would zero-energy buildings be operated? What are the human behavior considerations, both for users and operators? How do we measure and expose the real performance of buildings? • Policy: Are current and anticipated future green building policies adequate? How do we track the overall “state of the industry” and progress towards goals? There is flexibility in how student participation is structured – both formal and informal arrangements can be made depending upon academic program requirements. Interested students and faculty are encouraged to contact us to identify potential areas for collaboration.

It is envisioned that a Cap and Trade system would minimally involve: 1) improving the metering of buildings on campus and disaggregating electricity bills to building occupants, or departments 2) mandating users to pay for electricity, which would initially be supported by University funds 3) over time, the University electricity subsidy would be reduced in accordance with CalCAP targets 4) The money the University saves over the baseline energy bill would be allocated to an energy efficiency fund for capital improvements or energy efficiency initiatives 5) A cap and trade system could be established to provide further incentives for energy efficiency. Permits could be “grandfathered” based on past emissions, or another appropriate mechanism could be put in place. 6) Users would compete for energy savings and be recognized for their progresss. Such a program would set appropriate incentives for energy conservation and lead to a “culture of energy conservation” on campus. Users with the largest energy footprint, would have the most to gain by such a system. An initial feasibility study could be conducted over the summer 2007. A budget of $10-15k would perhaps suffice for this initial phase. The Berkeley Institute of the Environment could provide administrative support to the feasibility study team. Ultimately, the University would have to make a major commitment to implement such a system. The feasibility study would provide evidence to make such a decision. It is expected that the program would lead to zero net cost to the University.

As the old engineering addage goes, you can't manage what you don't measure. Urban sustainability efforts have been constrained by the ability of cities to cost-effectively monitor the quality of urban environments, in particular in relation to energy, water quality, sanitation, and air pollution. When this information is collected, differences in methods does not allow for comparison between cities for benchmarking. The United Nations and the World Bank have embarked on ambitious efforts to create networks of cities to collect sustainability information. Unfortunately, progress to coordinate the collection of environmental indicators has been hindered by cost, and lack of unified approach.