Themes
Research Themes
BEST Center Mission
Advancing energy systems through university-industry partnerships to engineer the intelligent and efficient cities of tomorrow.
The Building Energy Smart Technologies (BEST) Center brings together universities and industries in transforming the building industry through the development and adoption of sustainable and intelligent technologies.
The BEST Center is supporting the U.S. building industry’s efforts to meet increasingly stringent building energy-efficiency regulations and society’s expectations for improved sustainability, resiliency, and security in communities and cities. The center aims to educate and train a skilled and diverse workforce to address current and future employment needs for the U.S. building industry.
To cover the rich and wide diversity of the building industry needs, the center has six research themes:
1. Innovative Building Materials
Dynamically adaptive building shells and envelope systems adjust to changes in indoor and outdoor environments and effectively meet structural & efficiency requirements.
2. Advanced Energy Systems
Enhance the energy efficiency of various building systems and equipment to meet occupants’ comfort and health needs and increase their productivity.
3. Integrated Energy Generation and Storage Systems
Integrated energy generation and storage systems include solar power generation integrated into building envelopes, combined heat and power systems, and thermo-electric generators.
4. Smart Buildings & Cities
Integrate energy efficiency technologies, advanced controls, and renewable energy resources to improve building and city design and operation.
5. Intelligent Grid Systems
Operate an increasing number of distributed energy resources to exchange energy optimally and efficiently between the electric grid and buildings.
6. Building Retrofit Applications
Improve energy efficiency and operation of existing buildings, including upgrades of the electrical, lighting, envelop, thermal systems, and controls in an existing building.
