About Us +
Researchers in the Building Technology & Urban Systems Division (BTUS) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory develop data and technologies that increase energy efficiency and improve the health, safety and comfort of building occupants, in the United States and worldwide.

We work closely with industry partners, academics and government officials to achieve these goals, and share our research widely
Research +
We are at the forefront of cutting-edge research that redefines building technology and explores all areas of urban systems.

We have been leaders for decades in developing energy-efficient windows, improving indoor air quality, coming up with new ideas to fix the nation's electricity grid, and so much more.

Visit our research areas at the right to find out more.
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Publications +
Enjoy presentations from Building Technology & Urban systems research experts on a wide variety of topics in the areas of building energy efficiency, the electricity grid and how it relates to buildings and much more.
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News
Tools & Guides +
Explore our tools, guidebooks and software and download for free.

We offer a variety of technologies designed to simulate and model real-world circumstances to assist in energy-saving programs and help building owners build better buildings. These tools can help calculate performance of building systems like windows and shades, help consumers and builders pick the best windows for a variety of applications and much more.

Publications

Publications By Research Area

2023

Karki, Unique, and Prakash Rao."Techno-economic analysis of the water, energy, and greenhouse gas emissions impacts from the adoption of water efficiency practices in the U.S. manufacturing sector."Resources, Conservation and Recycling 196 (2023) 107054. DOI

Das, Sujit, Heidi Fuchs, Ritu Philip, and Prakash Rao."A review of water valuation metrics: Supporting sustainable water use in manufacturing."Water Resources and Industry 29 (2023) 100199. DOI

2022

Moudio, Marie Pelagie Elimbi, Richard Bolin, Alberta Carpenter, Samantha Bench Reese, Arman Shehabi, and Prakash Rao."Characterizing manufacturing sector disruptions with targeted mitigation strategiesAbstract."Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability 2.4 (2022) 042001. DOI

Rao, Prakash, Paul Sheaffer, Yuting Chen, Unique Karki, and Patrick Fitzgerald."U.S. Industrial and Commercial Motor System Market Assessment Report Volume 3: Energy Saving Opportunity." (2022). DOI

2021

Fuchs, Heidi, and Prakash Rao."Survey of Available Information on U.S. Manufacturing Wastewater and Energy Requirements for Reuse." (2021). DOI

Newkirk, Alexander, Prakash Rao, and Paul Sheaffer."U.S. Industrial and Commercial Motor System Market Assessment Report Volume 2: Advanced Motors and Drives Supply Chain Review." (2021). DOI

McCall, James, Prakash Rao, Susana Garcia Gonzalez, Sachin Nimbalkar, Sujit Das, Sarang Supekar, and Joe Cresko."U.S. Manufacturing Water Use Data and Estimates: Current State, Limitations, and Future Needs for Supporting Manufacturing Research and Development."ACS ES&T Water (2021). DOI

Fuchs, Heidi, and Prakash Rao."Characterizing manufacturing wastewater in the United States for the purpose of analyzing energy requirements for reuse."Journal of Industrial Ecology (2021). DOI

Booten, Chuck, Prakash Rao, Vi H. Rapp, Roderick Jackson, and Ravi S. Prasher."Theoretical Minimum Thermal Load in Buildings."Joule 5.1 (2021) 24 - 46. DOI

2019

Rao, Prakash, Darren Sholes, and Joe Cresko."Evaluation of U.S. Manufacturing Subsectors at Risk of Physical Water Shortages."Environmental Science & Technology (2019). DOI

2018

Rao, Prakash, William R. Morrow III, Arian Aghajanzadeh, Paul Sheaffer, Caroline Dollinger, Sabine Brueske, and Joe Cresko."Energy considerations associated with increased adoption of seawater desalination in the United States."Desalination 445 (2018) 213 - 224. DOI

2017

Aghajanzadeh, Arian, Aimee T. McKane, Paul Sheaffer, Peter L. Therkelsen, and Prakash Rao."AUTOMATED REGISTER V1.0.3: User Manual for Using the Automated Register of Implemented Actions." (2017).

Liu, Jingjing, Prakash Rao, Peter L. Therkelsen, Paul Sheaffer, Paul Scheihing, and Yannick Tamm."ISO 50001 and SEP Faster and Cheaper - Exploring the Enterprise-Wide Approach." (2017).

2016

Rao, Prakash, Arian Aghajanzadeh, Paul Sheaffer, William R. Morrow III, Sabine Brueske, Caroline Dollinger, Kevin Price, Prateeti Sarker, Nicholas Ward, and Joe Cresko."Volume 1: Survey of Available Information in Support of the Energy-Water Bandwidth Study of Desalination Systems." (2016).

Aghajanzadeh, Arian, Peter L. Therkelsen, Prakash Rao, and Aimee T. McKane."Global Impact Estimation of ISO 50001 Energy Management System for Industrial and Service Sectors." (2016).

Therkelsen, Peter L., Prakash Rao, Arian Aghajanzadeh, and Aimee T. McKane."The ISO 50001 Impact Estimator Tool (IET 50001 V1.1.4) - User Guide and Introduction to the ISO 50001 Impacts Methodology." (2016).

2015

Therkelsen, Peter L., Prakash Rao, Aimee T. McKane, Ridah Sabouni, Yannick Tamm, and Paul Scheihing."Development of an Enhanced Payback Function for the Superior Energy Performance Program."2015 American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Industry (2015).

Rao, Prakash, Aimee T. McKane, and Andre de Fontaine."Energy Savings from Industrial Water Reductions."2015 ACEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Industry (2015).