Making Buildings Work Better: Research at Berkeley

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Making Buildings Work BetterResearch at
Berkeley

• Center for the Built EnvironmentUniversity of
  California BerkeleyCollege of Environmental
  Design

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Buildings Today

• Are primitive at serving their occupants.
• In large buildings (such as office buildings)
• Heating and cooling is done centrally.
• Air is ducted to rooms and introduced overhead.
• Mixing diffusers at the air inlets are designed
  to produce a uniform environment.
• Computers control the system but base the control
  on very few sensors. (hint running wires to
  sensors costs lots)
• The uniform environment often doesnt
  happenbut the control system and operators dont
  know.
• When an environment is at the ideal temperature,
  it cannot satisfy more than 80 of occupants!
• So even when a building achieves good control of
  the whole space, it still fails for many of its
  occupants.

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and worse yet,

• Building conditioning uses energy (40 of US
  total)
• Energy wasted conditioning unoccupied space.
• People only occupy the bottom half of rooms
• People often not present in rooms
• Energy spent to produce discomfort
• People vary
• Overcooling in summer
• Overheating in winter
• System faults go undetected
• Simultaneous heating and cooling
• Stuck dampers and valves

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What to do?

• Improve the way buildings are designed and
  controlled
• Design asymmetric and transient environments
• Decentralize control within rooms
• Involve the occupants in the control
• Provide sensor redundancy for error detection
• Simplify monitoring
• Portable instrument arrays for control and
  diagnosing
• Data logging over daily to monthly periods
• Instruments must measure conditions where people
  are
• On furniture and partitions
• Small and unobtrusive

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Berkeleys Program

• Building Science Laboratory since 1980
• Controlled Environment Chamber
• Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel
• Sky simulators
• Field investigations
• Research on
• Buildings
• Human comfort
• Energy-efficient design techniques
• Instruments for measuring indoor environments
• Since 1996, have an industry consortium, the
  Center for the Built Environment (CBE)

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Center for the Built Environment (CBE)

• MissionImprove the design, operation, and
  environmental quality of buildings.

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Who is CBE?Industry Partners

• Armstrong World Industries
• Calif. Dept. of General Services
• California Energy Commission
• Haworth Office Furniture
• HDR Architecture
• Intl Facility Management Assoc.
• Johnson Controls
• Lucent Technologies

• Ove Arup and Partners
• Pacific Gas and Electric Co.
• Skidmore, Owings and Merrill
• Tate Access Floors
• US Department of Energy
• US General Services Agency
• Webcor Team Webcor Builders, Alfa Tech
  Consulting Engineers, Critchfield Mechanical,
  Rosendin Electric
• York International

Founding Partners
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Who is CBE?Research Team
UCB Departments Affiliated Institutions

• Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center
• Berkeley Wireless Research Center
• Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban
  Economics
• Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
• Pacific Energy Center

• Architecture
• Haas Business School
• Civil Environmental Engineering
• Computer Science
• Electrical Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering
• School of Public Health

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How are we Organized?

• Industry Advisory Board helps establish research
  agenda
• Semi-annual meetings held in a relaxed
  setting,emphasizing interaction
• Ongoing communication throughout the year

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What kinds of Research do we do?

• Develop and evaluate new building technologies
• Focus on technologies that improve environmental
  quality, increase productivity and reduce energy
  use
• Contribute to industry standards and guidelines
• Take the pulse of buildings in operation.
• Everyone in the building process benefits from
  learning how a building actually performs.
• Compile benchmark data on building performance

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Projects New Building Technologies

• Underfloor Air Distribution
• Thermal and energy performance
• Occupant response
• Technology transfer to design industry
• Task/Ambient Conditioning Systems
• Field studies of performance
• ASHRAE design guide
• Wireless Sensing and Control
• Develop low cost, small wireless devices
• Track temperature, humidity, illumination and
  occupancy,
• Web-based Occupant Feedback
• Model-based complaint handling strategy
• Design occupant/facility manager interface

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Projects Measuring Building Performance

• Occupant Satisfaction Survey
• Modular, web based survey tool
• Mixed-Mode Buildings Occupant Satisfaction and
  Control
• Survey of real-world performance at three sites
• Team Spaces and Collaboration Links to the
  Physical Environment
• Field study of five office buildings
• The Impact of Ventilation on Productivity
• Field study at a call center
• Acoustics
• Speech Privacy in offices

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Underfloor Air Distribution (UFAD)

• Experiments
• Underfloor Plenum, Full-Scale Test Facility
• Modeling
• Plenum slab and air supply temperatures
• Room Air Stratification
• Field Studies
• Case studies of system design and performance
• Occupant satisfaction and productivity
• Supply fan energy use
• Website
• Description of UFAD technology

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Underfloor Air Technology Website

• Key Features
• - technical overviews explaining process,
  benefits and limitations
• - detailed summaries of research on
  UFAD and related technologies
• - guidelines for applying the
  technology
• - case studies of existing systems

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UFAD Room Air Stratification Model

• Objective
• Address key issue
• Determine airflow
• requirements to meet
• given comfort criteria
• for UFAD systems.
• Significance
• - Lowers energy use
• - Ensures comfort conditions are met
• - Decreases overdesign thus lowering cost
• - Decreases risk for designers

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Wireless Sensing and Control of the Indoor
Environment in Buildings

• Objective
• Study how small, wireless, multi-modal sensing
  technology could affect the operation of
  buildings
• Issues
• Size (small enough to embed in furniture, ceiling
  tiles, etc.)
• Wireless (lower cost, mobile)
• Sensors must operate unattended for ten years
• Collaboration
• Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center (BSAC)
• Berkeley Wireless Research Center (BWRC).

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Wireless Sensing and Control

• Tasks
• Develop control applications
• Test sensor arrays in buildings
• New ways to visualize data
• Powerbattery, photovoltaic, vibration
• Sensorstemperature, humidity, light, sound
• Sonic anemometer
• MEMS implementation of some sensors
• Picoradio, networking, integration

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Viewing data in 3D space
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Appendix Mixed-mode Buildings

• ObjectiveInvestigate occupant satisfaction and
  control in existing mixed-mode office buildings
• Methods Field Study- 3 buildings, 312 workers-
  web-based survey- on-site observations-
  interviews with architects, engineers, and
  facility managers

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Mixed-mode Buildings

• Operable Windows
• are opened primarily to bring in fresh air, and
  to create more air movement
• are kept closed primarily because of outdoor
  noises and other distractions
• are preferred to HVAC controls
• improve occupant satisfaction with air movement,
  ventilation and air quality
• - have smaller effect on temperature
  satisfaction
• need to be designed in conjunction with interior
  space planning to ensure accessibility
• bjective
• Determine the impact of ventilation rates on
  productivity, energy use, and human health
• Methods Field Study
• Call center, RNs and teleservice reps-
  Statistical analysis of existing productivity
  data- Field intervention
• Preliminary Findings
• Call handle time for nurses decreases
  significantly as ventilation rate is increased