The Sustainable Energy and Environments Laboratory aims to develop clean, resilient, and equitable energy systems at the nexus of built and natural environments to support the well-being of humans and ecosystems.

Our research advances fundamental scientific knowledge in thermo-fluid sciences and system-level design via computational modeling and simulation methods while delivering innovative energy system technologies for society. Our expertise includes advanced energy systems (buildings, districts, cities), system-level bio-inspired design (i.e., ecosystem biomimicry), environmental life cycle assessment, and human-centric design thinking.

Several of our modeling tools and software are open-source and have been integrated into major software ecosystems as part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s next generation simulation tools for building and community energy systems and controls, including Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Modelica Buildings Library and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s URBANopt Advanced Analytics Platform. Please see our papers and tools pages for examples across these exciting research avenues.