PROGRESS IN ENERGY EFFICIENT BUILDINGS

Abstract

Recent accomplishments in buildings energy research by the diverse groups in the Energy Efficient Buildings Program at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL) are summarized. We review technological progress in the areas of ventilation and indoor air quality, buildings energy performance, computer modeling, windows, and artificial lighting. The need for actual consumption data to track accurately the improving energy efficiency of buildings is being addressed by the Buildings Energy Data (BED) Group at LBL. We summarize results to date from our Building Energy Use Compilation and Analysis (BECA) studies, which include time trends in the energy consumption of new commercial and new residential buildings, the measured savings being attained by both commercial and residential retrofits, and the cost-effectiveness of buildings energy conservation measures. We also examine recent comparisons of predicted vs. actual energy usage/savings, and present the case for building energy use labels