News

Project Air: Innovative Air Quality Technology Tested at HouseZero®

Tuesday, January 14, 2025

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, indoor air can be two to one hundred times more polluted than outdoor air (EPA, 2024). With the average person spending 90% of their time indoors (EPA, 2024), the health risks associated with these pollutants remain an ever-present concern, highlighting the urgent need for effective solutions to improve indoor air… Read more
Natures Urbaines Exhibition Presented at the Pavillion de L’Arsenal and in Published Book

Friday, July 19, 2024

GSD Professor and CGBC Affiliated Faculty Member Antoine Picon produces CGBC research project Urban Natures: Technological and Social History What is the role of nature in urban development? Why are urban natures important? In the exhibition Urban Natures: A Technological and Social History, 1660-2030, which is on display at the Pavillon de l’Arsenal in Paris, France from… Read more
HouseZero Performance Data Showcased at a Hackathon Workshop Conducted by AI Institute in Dynamic Systems

Tuesday, July 16, 2024

In an effort to showcase real-world examples of operating buildings using artificial intelligence (AI), the NSF AI Institute in Dynamic Systems used Harvard HouseZero performance data in their latest Hackathon. The Hackathon, which was part of a workshop conducted by the AI Institute in Dynamic Systems, was led by Na Li, Winokur Family Professor of Electrical Engineering… Read more
CGBC Researchers Recognized with Best Paper Award and Willis H. Carrier Award at the 2024 ASHRAE Conference

Monday, July 1, 2024

After the 2024 ASHRAE Annual Conference on June 22-26, 2024, Harvard Center for Green Buildings and Cities (CGBC) researchers returned with multiple accolades, including a Best Paper Award. Elence Xinzhu Chen, instructor in Architecture at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and postdoctoral research fellow at the Harvard Center for Green Buildings and Cities, was recognized… Read more
Core research faculty from the CGBC win Salata Institute grants for projects confronting climate change

Thursday, September 7, 2023

The Salata Institute recently announced the first cohort of awardees from their Seed Grant Program, which serves to enable interdisciplinary research in climate and sustainability. CGBC core faculty researchers Holly Samuelson and Martin Bechthold, alongside CGBC researcher David Tish, were among those awarded. In their project, “Insulating buildings with algae foam,” Kumagai Professor of Architectural Technology Martin… Read more
Publication by CGBC researchers is recognized with “Best Paper Award of Energy and Buildings published in the period from 2018 to 2022”

Thursday, September 7, 2023

“Optimal control of HVAC and window systems for natural ventilation through reinforcement learning,” authored by Yujiao Chen, Leslie Norford, and CGBC/GSD researchers Holly W. Samuelson and Ali Malkawi, was selected as one of the “Ten best research papers” between 2018-2022 in Energy and Buildings. The research paper explores issues of natural ventilation and energy efficiency, specifically… Read more
Cambridge enacts ambitious building emissions reduction standards

Thursday, August 3, 2023

Holly Samuelson, Harvard Center for Green Buildings and Cities core research faculty and Associate Professor of Architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, is quoted in a recent article that responds to building emissions reduction mandates in Cambridge, MA. Cambridge’s City Council set a measure that calls for reductions of greenhouse gas emissions among medium and… Read more
Publication by CGBC researchers selected as one of “Best of 2022” in Advanced Materials Technologies

Tuesday, June 6, 2023

“3D Printing of Hierarchical Porous Ceramics for Thermal Insulation and Evaporative Cooling,” authored by Alessandro Dutto, Michele Zanini, Etienne Jeoffroy, Elena Tervoort, André Studart, and CGBC researchers Saurabh Mhatre, Zachery B. Seibold, Martin Bechthold, was selected as one of the “Best of 2022” publications in Advanced Materials Technologies. Only 25 out of 2,000 submitted papers were selected… Read more
Bringing the CGBC to ASHRAE: Researchers from the Harvard CGBC present at the 2023 ASHRAE Winter Conference, one wins top student (Doctoral level) paper

Thursday, February 16, 2023

This past week, four researchers from the Harvard Center for Green Buildings and Cities (CGBC) attended the 2023 American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Winter Conference in Atlanta, GA. The ASHRAE Winter Conference, which took place from February 4-8, 2023, is a conference for those interested in creating a sustainable built environment through sciences… Read more
CGBC researchers recently received the Best Paper Award at the 5th International Conference on Building Energy & Environment (COBEE 2022)

Tuesday, August 2, 2022

“Model-Free Reinforcement Learning Based Control for Radiant Floor Heating Systems”, authored by Xu Han and Ali Malkawi, received the Best Paper Award at COBEE 2022 on July 27, 2022, in Montreal, Canada. Only three papers out of 400 were selected for the honor at the meeting. The award-winning research paper investigates the feasibility and strategies of using… Read more