CAMBRIDGE, Mass., October 30, 2023 – The Harvard Center for Green Buildings and Cities (CGBC) and the Harvard Office for Sustainability (OFS) are collaborating on a new live-data dashboard based on real-time performance data by HouseZero™, the ultra-energy efficient on-campus lab that also is home to the CGBC. The live data is based on HouseZero’s carbon emissions estimates, and the Center’s real-time dashboard shares such data to enhance understanding of carbon balance and its relationship to building performance and green buildings.

 

“HouseZero™ is a unique, self-contained research facility that is related to the Harvard campus building infrastructure, which itself serves as a large-scale sustainability living lab,” explained Ali Malkawi, Founding Director of the CGBC. “We are especially excited about this collaboration which is enhancing a greater understanding of how buildings, relative to their location and other factors, perform in regard to carbon emissions.” He added, “We hope this new dashboard will allow others, including those beyond the Harvard community, to observe, analyze, and apply this shared information about the crucial nature of site-specific carbon balance to make more informed decisions about their buildings.”

Through the dashboard, viewers can monitor the energy performance of HouseZero™, the CGBC’s net-zero carbon lab/headquarters building. The dashboard display includes an array of real-time data related to local weather, photovoltaic (PV/solar) production, indoor and outdoor air temperature. Importantly, the Harvard Office for Sustainability has contributed information about the University’s carbon emissions, which allows the data dashboard to promote site-specific understanding.

 

“Harvard has a holistic University-wide Sustainability Action Plan, including climate goals to fossil fuel-neutral by 2026 and fossil fuel-free by 2050, and we work collaboratively with our community to achieve our goals,” said Heather Henriksen, Harvard’s chief sustainability officer. “We engage our faculty and students with expert staff to use the campus as a testbed to pilot and prove scalable solutions. HouseZero is a terrific example of how Harvard’s campus operations can support cutting-edge research.”

Information on the live data dashboard is updated in real-time. View the live data dashboard, and learn more about HouseZero’s second year performance data.