About Us

Sustainable cities need buildings that are energy efficient and a workforce that’s trained to manage them for optimal performance. As New York City’s only public university, CUNY has a special role to play in helping to meet the city’s needs. Its Building Performance Lab, supported in part by NYSERDA, is ideally positioned and equipped to serve as a catalyst for change. Through collaborations with other parties, we work to accelerate market transformation in the buildings sector.

One focus of our work is greening existing commercial properties by promoting advanced building system technologies and best practices that reduce energy use and improve indoor environmental conditions and waste management practices. Greater tenant satisfaction is one result. A crucial best practice is the monitoring and verification that ensure that, once achieved, optimum building performance is maintained.

Training

Another focus of our work is long-term workforce development, which we pursue through curriculum development, internships, and other technology training. BP Lab capitalizes on CUNY’s ability to deliver education and training to multiple audiences: engineering students through degree programs, practicing engineers, building operators, and property managers via continuing education.

Since 2006, the Lab’s Intern Energy Program has placed CUNY students in a variety of energy measurement, management, and research projects. The program is the start of a career ladder that has led, for many of our students, from an associate degree program to a bachelor’s degree program. The program gives students exposure to the many professional pathways presented by advanced property and energy management, and sets them up as leaders in the new green economy.

Continuing education classes enable building technicians to learn about new methodologies for system monitoring and optimization that can be directly applied in their work settings.

Research

The Lab’s multi-track approach also includes stimulating applied research, promoting technology transfer, and conducting outreach to the real estate sector to raise awareness of sustainability goals and how they can be achieved. One of our particular interests is Building Automation Systems. In 2011, we began a partnership with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratories to study adoption of advanced BAS.

Industry Collaboration

Since early 2007, through a stakeholder process, over 100 representatives of a diverse cross-section of the real estate sector have guided the Lab’s development. This Building Performance Stakeholder Consortium meets several times a year to identify best practices, market needs, and topics for curriculum development and applied research.

The Lab focuses CUNY research competencies on the buildings sector, and collaborations can be pursued with building research institutions beyond CUNY, generating opportunities for technology transfers into the local market.