energy systems

Buildings may one day “breathe,” and be able to function in their own environment with the help of a type of “smart skin” developed by a team of Texas A&M University researchers.

An incredibly efficient evaporative cooling technique that requires half the energy of today’s air conditioning systems isn’t just a concept — it’s currently being tested by the Texas A&M University team that developed it.

For significantly improving how building energy efficiency is measured and numerous other achievements, Jeff Haberl, professor of architecture at Texas A&M, will receive the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station’s Center Fellows Award.

A model for measuring electricity savings and air quality improvements resulting from building code changes, developed by researchers at the Texas A&M Energy Systems Laboratory, was recently cited in a Harvard Law School Environmental Policy Initiative paper.

After almost three decades spent finding energy saving solutions for commercial and residential buildings, Jeff Haberl, professor of architecture at Texas A&M, was recently elevated to a fellow in the International Building Performance Simulation Association.

Texans enjoyed lower home electric bills and cleaner air after state legislators in 2001 adopted new energy and construction codes for single-family residences, according to a report from scientists from the Texas A&M Energy Systems Laboratory.

A building energy use "tune-up" procedure developed by researchers at the Texas A&M Energy Systems Lab has so far yielded more than $100 million in energy savings from little more than 300 client buildings, said Charles Culp, professor of architecture and ESL associate director.

Significant energy savings could be realized in small homes in hot climates with an air conditioning system being researched by Simge Andolsun, a Ph.D. architecture student at Texas A&M, that cools rooms based on where people are at different times during the day.

Students developed a software tool that can determine a building’s potential energy use from its design, as well as its rainwater harvesting potential and other characteristics as part of a fall 2012 graduate architecture class.

Liliana Beltrán, associate professor of architecture at Texas A&M, is part of a global effort to lead renewable energy technology education, development and implementation as a new board member of the International Solar Energy Society.

Imagining New Futures, an event-packed forum sponsored by the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, drew students and urban planning practitioners to Texas A&M Nov. 17-19.

The Center for Housing and Urban Development at Texas A&M’s College of Architecture is part of a new research, educational and engagement network focusing on providing sustainability science to South Texas policymakers and communities.

A single Navajo mother and her 10-year old son are living in The Windcatcher House, a sustainable home in southwest Colorado co-designed by Mark Olsen ’07, a former Texas A&M environmental design student completing his graduate work in the University of Colorado at Denver.

The Department of Construction Science recently unveiled its newest facility, the “BIM-CAVE,” which provides a unique high-tech vantage point for viewing details of an imagined building and its infrastructure, including heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, plumbing, electrical and other systems.

Charles Culp and Jeff Haberl, professors of architecture at Texas A&M and associate directors of the Energy Systems Laboratory, welcomed visitors at the lab’s June 2001 open house in at is new facility in Valley Park Center II, 402 Harvey Mitchell Parkway.