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DOE OSTI2024

Building Performance Software: Portfolio-Level Capabilities and Applications

Navigating the broad and rapidly evolving market landscape of software solutions is complex whether you are a sustainability leader, building owner, energy manager, or building engineer with energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction goals for a portfolio of buildings. The Department of Energy’s Better Buildings partners have noted this complexity and the associated lack of publicly available information. In response, this report reviews the ecosystem of environmental, social, and governance (ESG), energy management information systems (EMIS), and decarbonization software with the goal of orienting prospective users to current offerings. Organizations can utilize this guidance to determine the specific capabilities needed to support decarbonization efforts and procure appropriate software to streamline the GHG emissions reduction process. In this paper, we refer to “decarbonization software” as the category of software that meets an organization’s needs for decarbonization planning, implementation, and tracking. This software may have a heritage in ESG or EMIS, or it may be an entirely new product. This report offers a snapshot of today’s rapidly evolving decarbonization software capabilities, along with guidance for procuring and utilizing it that will remain relevant despite any future software changes. Exploratory research was conducted on over 100 software providers, and interviews were held with 28 of them. Note that inclusion in this report does not indicate an endorsement, nor does a product’s absence from this report indicate a lack of suitability

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

DOE OSTI2025

Building Datasets and Training Methods for ML Based Magnet Quench Detection

Detecting quenches in superconducting (SC) magnets during training is a challenging process that involves capturing physical events that occur at different frequencies and appear as various signal features. These events may be correlated across instrumentation type, thermal cycle, and ramp. These events together build a more complete picture of continuous processes occurring in the magnet, and may allow us to flag potential precursors for quench detection. We present our work on building an automatic machine learning (ML) based quench detection system. We build upon our existing work on unsupervised auto-encoders for acoustic sensors and quench antenna (QA) by first establishing a supervised ML training pipeline. We show the results of an event tagging, analysis, and simulation framework on our QA and acoustic data which are used concurrently to build a training dataset for a supervised implementation. We then show how this supervised training can be used as a prior in a semi-supervised framework and compare this to the unsupervised neural network auto-encoder performance.This allows us to have a more concrete understanding of the performance of our algorithms relative to physical events occurring in the magnet, and also provides a baseline software tool to generically evaluate our quench prediction autoencoders under completely unsupervised, supervised, and semi-supervised training conditions.

Khan, Maira [Fermilab]↗

DOE OSTI2025

Dynamic Analysis of a Six-Cable Parallel Robot for Automated Panelized Building Retrofits

Cable-Driven Parallel Robots (CDPRs) are highly suitable for automated panelized building retrofits, thanks to their compact footprint and high payload-to-weight ratio. A common CDPR configuration featuring eight cables, where the anchors form a rectangular prism in front of the building facade, offers a large wrench feasible workspace and good control versatility. However, installing upper anchor points requires additional support structures, such as towers or beams, increasing setup complexity and posing logistical challenges in construction settings. To mitigate these challenges, we propose a six-cable CDPR model specifically designed for automated panelized building retrofits. Although the feasible workspace is limited, our analysis shows that the proposed CDPR adequately covers the critical areas required for panel installation. To validate that the six-cable system can effectively transport the end effector to the desired installation pose, we calculated optimal trajectories based on a constrained dynamic model. The simulation results of the six-cable CDPR demonstrate promising potential for automated panelized building retrofits, effectively balancing simplicity, cost-effectiveness, and functionality.

Liu, Yifang [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000190817417)↗

DOE OSTI2026

Sand-Based Thermal Storage for Building Heating Applications: A District Energy Case Study

Buildings account for 40% of global energy consumption and contribute to 30% of global carbon emissions. As energy from renewable sources increases in availability and building designers push for increased electrification, thermal energy storage (TES) systems will play a crucial role in extending the usable time horizon of renewable energy. While water, molten salt, and phase change materials are typically used for building TES heating applications, silica-sand has emerged as an alternative medium for concentrated solar power applications due to its low cost, wide availability, and comparable system efficiency. This paper proposes a new silica-sand particle-based TES system for building heating applications. In this work, a novel steam plant for district heating applications is first designed to utilize silica-sand TES, which can be used for different district energy systems. To demonstrate the silica-sand TES plant performance, the design is modelled in Modelica based on a case study on the University of Colorado Boulder’s campus. The simulation results show that the sand TES plant is more costly to operate than a gas-boiler based plant due to the low cost of natural gas, while the site EUI and carbon intensity can be improved. This novel system shows initial promise as a low-carbon alternative to conventional natural gas steam boilers but will require further modelling and follow-up research to improve its energy efficiency. An eventual rise in natural gas prices, and reduction of electricity prices, could improve the economic viability of this system.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

DOE OSTI2024

Importance of Window Installation in Residential Building Envelopes Having Continuous External Insulation in Order to Realize Energy Efficiency

Residential buildings are one of the prime candidates in the United States for reducing energy consumption. Continuous exterior insulation (CEI) is being used increasingly often in residential buildings to improve energy efficiency. Windows constitute 15–40% of a building envelope and are the weakest component in energy performance. The installation of windows in walls with CEI has not been well evaluated. We identified four cases of installing windows in walls with CEI of 25–76 mm (1–3 in.) thickness and analyzed the energy loss between the window and wall interface (flanking loss), structural issues, air leakage, and moisture penetration. Thermal analysis showed that the insulation value (RSI) of the 305 mm (12 in.) perimeter wall surrounding a window decreased by 7.6–34.5% in the four cases when compared with the RSI of the wall without the window. A window installation method is proposed to address the issues likely to occur with installation methods currently being used in the field. An out-of-the-box installation system was also designed to achieve a better thermal performance, cost effectiveness, and structural performance in high-performance residential buildings.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

DOE OSTI2026

Improving Building Footprint Extraction Using NAIP and 3DEP Lidar Derived Features with Deep Learning

Accurate building footprint extraction is critical for applications ranging from population estimation to disaster management. Although optical imagery provides detailed spectral information, it often struggles with shadows, occlusions, and background clutter in dense urban environments. Lidar data, by contrast, offer precise elevation and structural attributes but face challenges such as variable point density and noise. This study integrates multispectral imagery from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) with lidar-derived feature height and intensity from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) to improve footprint extraction using a U-Net–based deep learning model. A six-band input stack (RGB, near-infrared, height, intensity) was developed, normalized, and tiled for training and evaluation against Microsoft Global Building Footprints (GBF). Results from the Houston, TX test site show that the six-band model achieved a precision of 0.86, recall of 0.88, F1 score of 0.87, and Intersection-over-Union (IoU) of 0.76, consistently outperforming four-band baselines by reducing false positives while maintaining sensitivity. Predictions on withheld Houston tiles confirmed strong within-region generalization, yielded a precision of 0.78, recall of 0.81, F1 score of 0.79, and IoU of 0.66. Qualitative analysis further revealed limitations stemming from both training label quality and vegetation–building confusion. These findings demonstrate the complementary value of integrating spectral and structural information for robust building footprint extraction and how domain adaptation strategies can be used to enhance cross-regional transferability.

Liu, Jung Kuan [United States Geological Survey (U↗

DOE OSTI2026

Exploring Building Retrofit Strategies Using AutoBEM Under Future Weather Scenarios

This study evaluates the long-term effectiveness of energy conservation measures (ECMs) on building energy consumption using AutoBEM, a scalable modeling framework driven by the high-resolution Model America dataset. We simulated 18,951 buildings in Flagstaff, Arizona under four climate scenarios using Future Typical Meteorological Year (fTMY) weather files for six time periods spanning from 1980 to 2099. Six ECMs were analyzed across electricity and gas usage, including HVAC fuel-switching, insulation upgrades, and infiltration control. While some measures, such as reducing space infiltration by percentage, showed minimal or even negative impact on total energy savings at the aggregate level, they proved highly effective for specific building types. Conversely, HVAC electrification offers high gas reduction but shifts demand to electricity, highlighting critical trade-offs under different climate trajectories. Building-type-specific analysis under SSP5-RCP8.5 (2080–2099) revealed significant variation in ECM performance, underscoring the need for targeted retrofit strategies. This study demonstrates the power of combining fTMY projections with large-scale simulations to inform data-driven retrofit planning.

Chowdhury, Shovan [ORNL]↗

DOE OSTI2026

Advancing Building Performance: Field Results of Thin-Glass Triple-Pane Window Demonstrations

To meet California and the nation's ambitious energy targets, energy use in the building sector must drop dramatically. Windows continue to be the lowest thermally performing envelope system in the nation's buildings, resulting in poor overall envelope performance and potential impacts to human health and comfort. Current best practice new window performance is typically met by double-pane low-solar-gain glazing. Thin-glass triple-pane windows are a highly promising next step forward in performance and have been deployed in two California multi-family sites to quantify field performance and building energy savings. The technology assessed offers the performance benefits of traditional triple-pane but with little increase in weight or cost, enabling incremental costs competitive with alternative energy reduction solutions for the building envelope. This paper covers a detailed investigation into the demonstration project and measured performance benefits of the windows after a full year of data collection.

Hart, Robert↗

DOE OSTI2026

High Contrast Pattern Projection To Enable Background Oriented Schlieren Based Air Leak Detection Through Any Interior Or Exterior Building Surface

Air leakage in buildings wastes an estimated 4 quads of energy per year in the United States. Finding and sealing leakage sites is critical in existing buildings. Previous work has shown that background oriented Schlieren (BOS) imaging can be used to visualize air leakage but requires the leak to exit through a high contrast surface like a brick wall. To remedy this, different techniques of projecting various high contrast patterns on low contrast building surfaces like interior gypsum walls or vinyl siding were investigated. For each technique, the background quality was measured and compared to an ideal printed random dot background. The background quality metrics were correlated with the measured visualization metrics to understand which metrics are most important for maximizing air leak visualization performance. In this work, leakage visualization performance is presented for these various projected backgrounds with an aim to expand the building surfaces suitable for the BOS leak detector.

Jatana, Gurneesh [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000288903225)↗

NASA NTRS1972

Sonic-boom-induced building structure responses including damage.

Concepts of sonic-boom pressure loading of building structures and the associated responses are reviewed, and results of pertinent theoretical and experimental research programs are summarized. The significance of sonic-boom load time histories, including waveshape effects, are illustrated with the aid of simple structural elements such as beams and plates. Also included are discussions of the significance of such other phenomena as three-dimensional loading effects, air cavity coupling, multimodal responses, and structural nonlinearities. Measured deflection, acceleration, and strain data from laboratory models and full-scale building tests are summarized, and these data are compared, where possible, with predicted values. Damage complaint and claim experience due both to controlled and uncontrolled supersonic flights over communities are summarized with particular reference to residential, commercial, and historic buildings. Sonic-boom-induced building responses are compared with those from other impulsive loadings due to natural and cultural events and from laboratory simulation tests.

Clarkson, B. L.↗

NASA NTRS1976

Initial comparisons of modular-sized, integrated utility systems and conventional systems for several building types

The results of a study of the application of a modular integrated utility system to six typical building types are compared with the application of a conventional utility system to the same facilities. The effects of varying the size and climatic location of the buildings and the size of the powerplants are presented. Construction details of the six building types (garden apartments, a high rise office building, high rise apartments, a shopping center, a high school, and a hospital) and typical site and floor plans are provided. The environmental effects, the unit size determination, and the market potential are discussed. The cost effectiveness of the various design options is not considered.

Benson, H. E.↗

NASA NTRS1977

The design of a solar energy collection system to augment heating and cooling for a commercial office building

Analytical studies supported by experimental testing indicate that solar energy can be utilized to heat and cool commercial buildings. In a 50,000 square foot one-story office building at the Langley Research Center, 15,000 square feet of solar collectors are designed to provide the energy required to supply 79 percent of the building heating needs and 52 percent of its cooling needs. The experience gained from the space program is providing the technology base for this project. Included are some of the analytical studies made to make the building design changes necessary to utilize solar energy, the basic solar collector design, collector efficiencies, and the integrated system design.

Basford, R. C.↗

NASA NTRS1977

Mean horizontal wind profiles measured in the atmospheric boundary layer about a simulated block building

Instrumented wind towers are used to measure the three components of wind about a simulated block building. The mean horizontal wind profiles over the building are compared with wind profiles measured in the absence of the building and the wind speed deficit in the wake of the building is correlated. The turbulence intensity is of the order of 20% in the undisturbed flow whereas the free stream turbulence intensity of wind-tunnel studies is generally not more than 5%. The velocity profiles measured in the undisturbed flow zones support the representation of a neutrally stable atmospheric boundary layer with a logarithmic wind profile.

Frost, W.↗

NASA NTRS1977

Helicopter response in gusty winds about a building

In an earlier work Krynytzky (1971) investigated the performance of a helicopter landing in the steady-state mean flow-field behind a tall building in a wind tunnel. The present paper extends his method to the case of an unsteady flow field. A model is first developed for the gusty wind over a block two-dimensional geometry building. A set of simplified dynamic equations governing the motion of a helicopter is then derived. Finally the performance of the helicopter in an unsteady wind field about the building is computed for the helicopter landing or taking off on a 6 deg glide slope over the building.

Frost, W.↗

NASA NTRS1980

Wake characteristics of buildings in disturbed boundary layers

Measurements relevant to the effect of buildings on the low level atmospheric boundary layer are presented. Field measurements of velocity and turbulence in the wake of a block building 3.2 m high and 26.8 m long are presented which show an apparent increase in momentum flow above the upwind value. Velocity-deficit and turbulence-excess decay characteristics of the disturbed or nonequilibrium layer are correlated with power law exponents and apparent roughness length at various distances downstream of the disturbance. Model wake profiles from the simulated building are compared at various stations for equilibrium and nonequilibrium upstream profiles. Empirical correlations relating building wake profiles to upstream nonequilibrium parameters are presented. The relationship of the data to the smooth-rough transition is discussed, and a flow model is presented.

Logan, E., Jr.↗

NASA NTRS1982

Wind tunnel measurements of three-dimensional wakes of buildings

Measurements relevant to the effect of buildings on the low level atmospheric boundary layer are presented. A wind tunnel experiment was undertaken to determine the nature of the flow downstream from a gap between two transversely aligned, equal sized models of rectangular cross section. These building models were immersed in an equilibrium turbulent boundary layer which was developed on a smooth floor in a zero longitudinal pressure gradient. Measurements with an inclined (45 degree) hot-wire were made at key positions downstream of models arranged with a large, small, and no gap between them. Hot-wire theory is presented which enables computation of the three mean velocity components, U, V and W, as well as Reynolds stresses. These measurements permit understanding of the character of the wake downstream of laterally spaced buildings. Surface streamline patterns obtained by the oil film method were used to delineate the separation region to the rear of the buildings for a variety of spacings.

Logan, E., Jr.↗

NASA NTRS1982

Wakes from arrays of buildings

Experiments were carried out in a small wind tunnel in which atmospheric flow around buildings was simulated. Arrays of one, two, three, and four model buildings were tested, and wake profiles of velocity and turbulence were measured. The data indicate the effect of the buildings on the wind environment encountered by aircraft during landing or takeoff operations. It was possible to use the results to locate the boundaries of the air regions affected by the obstacles and to recommend preferred arrangements of buildings to maximize light safety.

Logan, E., Jr.↗

NASA NTRS1983

Wakes from arrays of buildings

Logan, E., Jr.↗