Center for Building Science (located at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) is an international leader in developing and commercializing energy-efficient technologies and analytical techniques and in documenting ways of improving the energy efficiency and indoor environmental quality of residential and commercial buildings. The Center serves as a voice for energy efficiency, provides technical support to energy and environmental policymakers, supports and creates new institutions and demonstration programs, trains students in the energy field, and transfers information and technology to the private sector.
The Center is also very active on the World Wide Web. We have in fact listed your web site in our large index of sites related to energy efficiency, which is very popular among our 8,000 weekly visitors. We call the list Energy Crossroads and invite you to visit it, check for the accuracy and completeness of your listing, and notify of us of any changes you might desire. We invite you to establish a reciprocal pointer to our site, if you haven't already done so.
Please also visit the extensive web pages offered by each of our three Research Programs:
BTP develops window, lighting and glazing technologies that save energy and maximize visual and thermal comfort of building occupants. The Program also develops software that allows architects and building engineers to design or retrofit buildings for maximum energy efficiency and occupant comfort. Working closely with the U.S. building industry the Program aims to reduce building-sector energy use while improving the comfort, health, and productivity of building occupants.
*** WEB WORKS: The BTP Web site features selected publications, Fenestration R&D Newsletter, downloadable software, descriptions of research facilities, a publications list, and an Annual Report.
EAP examines energy use in the United States and abroad, and EAP research involves extensive data compilation and analysis, as well as computer modeling. Focusing on energy use, rather than extraction or conversion, the Energy Analysis Program has become an international center for research on the energy, economic, and environmental implications of energy efficient strategies in all major end-use sectors and end uses.
*** WEB WORKS: The EAP Web site offers information, contact links and details on publications ordering for all areas of the Program. New material includes the Program's 1995 Annual Report. Coming soon will be a fully downloadable set of recent publications in pdf format.
Indoor Environment Research Program researchers study ventilation, infiltration, and thermal distribution systems; the nature, sources, transport, transformation and deposition of indoor air pollutants; human exposure to indoor air pollutants; and the health risks associated with this exposure. Pollutants of particular interest include radon; volatile, semi-volatile and particulate organic compounds; and combustion emissions, including environmental tobacco smoke, CO, and NOx. A prime goal of the research is to identify ways of improving building energy efficiency and the quality of the indoor environment.
*** WEB WORKS: The IEP Web site includes descriptions of each current research project, brief articles describing new findings, and a publications list. Keep an eye open for the new set of results from the High-Radon Project, including full-color maps for the U.S.