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Research Theme: Green Building & Infrastructure

Methods and scholarship such as carbon sequestration and green infrastructure, in the built environment, at the scales of the building to the region

Carbon Leadership Forum among Finalists Selected for $10 Million 2030 Climate Challenge

On February 9, Lever for Change announced that the College of Built Environment’s Carbon Leadership Forum (CLF) and four other finalist teams will advance to the next stage of the 2030 Climate Challenge, a $10 million award launched last year to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. by 2030. The Challenge, sponsored by an anonymous donor, will fund proven, data-driven solutions tackling greenhouse gas emissions in the buildings, industry, and/or transportation sectors in communities across the country. Sixty-eight proposals…

Dian Prasetyawati

Understanding how communities plan and adopt green solutions including technologies that are sustainable and fit in the framework of green neighborhood development

PhD in the Built Environment

The College of Built Environments consists of five departments that together provide one of the country’s few comprehensive built environment programs within one academic unit: Architecture, Construction Management, Landscape Architecture, Real Estate, and Urban Design and Planning. Together, this combination of departments enable faculty and students to engage almost the entire development process, from economic and environmental planning, real estate, regulatory processes, siting and design, through actual financing and construction, to facility management and adaptive reuse in subsequent stages. Thus, the college is inherently multi-disciplinary, not only in terms of the dimensions of reality that it treats, but also in regard to the specialized disciplines, methods, and practices that it employs: history, theory, cultural criticism, engineering, design, planning, urban design, energy sciences, acoustics, lighting, environmental psychology, ecology, real estate analysis, statistics, management, horticulture, soil science, law, public policy, and ethics. In addition, because of the College’s focus on comprehensive analysis and practice concerning the built environment and its interrelation with society, it is substantially engaged in interdisciplinary work with other units on campus and outside of the campus, including mechanical, civil, and electrical engineering; with public policy and the health sciences; with art and art history; with textual interpretation in the humanities; with many of the computing and digitization activities that range from digital arts to the information school and technical communications; with education and social studies and services; with sustainability and ecological programs, including urban ecology, geography, the College of Forest Resources (especially urban horticulture and urban forestry), and Ocean Science and Fisheries; with environmental and land use law.

The College’s interdisciplinary character is a good fit with the emerging trends in today’s complex world, where only a pluralistic and collaborative approach will generate the necessary learning and teaching, research, and service. If we are to provide, in the end, both disciplinary and professional means to promote environmental well-being, the diverse environmental specializations must be fully integrated. Thus, working outside traditional disciplinary and departmental categories, the College’s faculty will advance solutions to problems that demand interdisciplinary perspectives and expertise. Other UW units bring much to bear on the built environment and students are wholeheartedly encouraged to explore possible cross-campus connections both in obvious and seemingly unlikely places. The Technology and Project Design/Delivery specialization especially connects with Psychology, the Information School, Technical Communication, Computer Science and Engineering, and Industrial Engineering; the Sustainable Systems and Prototypes field with Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, the Information School, Technical Communication, the College of Forest Resources (especially Eco-System Science and Conservation, Urban Horticulture and Urban Forestry), the Evans School of Public Affairs, Geography, Public Health, Ocean Science and Fisheries, and Social Work, Urban Ecology, and perhaps Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Processes and Nanotechnology; the area of History, Theory, and Representation with Textual Studies, Art History, Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences at Tacoma, and Comparative History of Ideas.

Keith Harris

Harris’ research hovers around critical urban theory and investigates the political, economic, ethical, and aesthetic dimensions of the urbanization process. An erstwhile civil engineer, he writes on complex and contradictory landscapes and infrastructure, such as South Lake Union, the Elliott Bay Seawall, and the Los Angeles River, but also about grassroots urban politics in our region and he translates critical theory and fiction that relates to the built environment from French and Spanish into English. This range of research corresponds, in part, to his wide variety of teaching experiences over the last decade in all of the CBE departments (except real estate), in the School of Urban Studies at UW-Tacoma, and especially in the Comparative History of Ideas (CHID) department on our campus.

Energy & Sustainability in Construction (ESC) Lab

The Energy and Sustainability in Construction (ESC) Lab promotes energy efficiency and sustainability (EES) in the built environment through the development of sustainable design, innovative project delivery practices, and risk-based financial models for EES investments. Our work focuses on integrating advanced financial analysis, project development, and management strategies to enhance the delivery of energy-efficient buildings and sustainable infrastructure.
Through innovative solutions, the ESC Lab addresses complex challenges in current project development practices that slow the transition toward a more sustainable society. Our research spans a wide range of critical areas, including commercial energy retrofits, community solar projects, green datacenters, healthy commercial buildings, and electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure. By tackling these pressing issues, the ESC Lab is at the forefront of driving transformative changes in the built environment.

Financial and Management Questions that Lead to Sustainable Solutions

The ESC Lab targets to help project stakeholders evaluate the risks and rewards of energy efficiency and sustainability (EES) investments by addressing some of the industry’s most pressing financial and management challenges, including:

  • What policies, financing mechanisms, and project delivery systems best support the advancement of EES?
  • How can we categorize and accurately model the unique risks associated with EES investments?
  • What analytical modeling methods can be applied to ensure the effective implementation of EES measures in projects?
  • How can we optimize investment strategies to balance environmental benefits with financial returns?
  • What best practices can enhance stakeholder engagement and collaboration to drive successful EES project outcomes?

Pursuing Innovative Solutions to Energy Efficiency and Sustainability

The ESC Lab has developed a series of analytical models and evaluation practices that facilitate the effective delivery of energy-efficient commercial buildings and sustainable infrastructure, including:

  • Cost and power demand model for electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure
  • Conceptual cost and carbon estimating model for mass timber structure
  • Energy-Related Risk Management in Integrated Project Delivery
  • Phased Investment for Energy Retrofit (PIER)
  • Energy Retrofit Loan Analysis Model (ERLAM)
  • An optimized portfolio analysis for community-based photovoltaic investment

ESC Research Funders and Selected Projects:

  • UW Clean Energy Institute: “Equitable Public Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Expansion—From the Tribal Community Perspective”
  • King County Metro–Sound Transit–Seattle City Light: “Electrified Mobility Hubs: A Blueprint for the Future of Transit Infrastructure”
  • UW Global Innovation Fund: “Mitigating Effects of Future Pandemics with the Use of Risk-Responsive Building Codes: A Developing Country Framework”
  • King County Metro: “Evaluation of a Public/Private Partnership (P3) Model for Bus Base Electrification”
  • UW CBE INSPIRE Fund: “Investigating the Health Requirements and Risk-Responsiveness Criteria in Office Building Codes for Mitigating COVID-19 and Future Airborne Diseases”
  • UW CBE INSPIRE Fund: “Investigating Energy Justice in Washington State in Terms of Photovoltaic (PV) Systems and Electric Vehicle (EV) Chargers”
  • Google: “A Proposal to Grow a Greener Data Center with Google”
  • UW Population Health: “Economic Impact of Office Workplace Transformation due to COVID-19: How Can Buildings and Surrounding Areas Recover?”
  • UW Transportation: “UW Transportation Electrification and Solar Study”
  • RERI–LBNL–DOE: “Effect of Energy Benchmarking and Disclosure on Office Building Marketability”
  • Pankow–Skanska–Oregon DEQ: “Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for Low Carbon Construction Commercial Office Building MEP & Interiors Data”
  • BE Innovation: “Impact of Energy Benchmarking and Disclosure on the Performance of Office Buildings”

Selected Journal Publications:

  • Min, Y. and Lee, H.W. (2024). “Adoption Inequalities and Causal Relationship between Residential Electric Vehicle Chargers and Heat Pumps.” ASCE Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 04024025.
  • Min, Y. and Lee, H.W. (2024). “Quantifying Clean Energy Justice: Impact of Solarize Programs on Rooftop Solar Disparities in the Pacific Northwest.” Sustainable Cities and Society, 105287.
  • Shang, L., Dermisi, S., Choe, Y., Lee, H.W., and Min, Y. (2023). “Assessing the Office Building Marketability Before and After the Implementation of Energy Benchmarking and Disclosure Policies – Lessons Learned from Major US Cities.” Sustainability, 15(11), 8883.
  • Min, Y. and Lee, H.W. (2023). “Characterization of Vulnerable Communities in Terms of the Benefits and Burdens of the Energy Transition in Pacific Northwest Cities.” Journal of Cleaner Production, 135949.
  • Min, Y., Lee, H.W., and Hurvitz, P.M.  (2023). “Clean Energy Justice: Different Adoption Characteristics of Underserved Communities in Rooftop Solar and Electric Vehicle Chargers in Seattle.” Energy Research and Social Science, 96(1), 102931.
  • Su, S., Li, X., Zhu, C., Lu, Y., and Lee, H.W. (2021). “Dynamic Life Cycle Assessment: A Review of Research for Temporal Variations in Life Cycle Assessment Studies.” Environmental Engineering Science, 38(11).
  • Droguett, B. X. R., Huang, M., Lee, H.W., Simonen, K., and Ditto, J. (2020). “Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing and Tenant Improvements Over the Building Lifetime: Estimating Material Quantities and Embodied Carbon for Climate Change Mitigation.” Energy and Buildings, 226, 110324.
  • Ho, C., Lee, H.W., and Gambatese, J. (2020). “Application of Prevention through Design (PtD) to Improve the Safety of Solar Installations on Small Buildings.” Safety Science, 125, 104633.
  • Gomez Cunya, L.A., Fardhosseini, M.S., Lee, H.W., and Choi, K. (2020). “Analyzing Investments in Flood Protection Structures: A Real Options Approach.” International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 43(2), 101377.
  • Shang, L., Lee H.W., Dermisi, S., and Choe, Y., (2020). “Impact of Energy Benchmarking and Disclosure Policy on Office Buildings.” Journal of Cleaner Production, 250, 119500.
  • Shakouri, M., Lee, H.W., and Kim, Y.-W. (2017). “A Probabilistic Portfolio-based Model for Financial Valuation of Community Solar.” Applied Energy, 191(1), 709-726.
  • Shakouri, M. and Lee, H.W. (2016). “Mean-Variance Portfolio Analysis Data for Optimizing Community-based Photovoltaic Investment.” Data in Brief, 6(1), 840-842.\

Current and Former Lab Members:

  • Abdul-Razak Alidu
  • Byungju Jeon
  • Chitika Vasudeva
  • Yohan Min
  • Matt Wiggins
  • Novi T.I. Bramono
  • Yong-Hyuk Oh
  • Chuou Zhang
  • Jonghyeob Kim
  • Wenqi Zhu
  • Julie Knorr
  • Zhila Mohammady

 

Stephanie Carlisle

Stephanie’s work investigates the interaction between the natural and constructed environment, including embodied carbon, life cycle assessment (LCA), urban ecology, landscape performance and supply chains and toxicity of building materials. Combining a background in environmental science and architectural design, she builds bridges between research and practice, bringing data-driven analysis and topical research to complex design problems. This experience will be applied towards improving the EC3 tool as well as other carbon data initiatives at the Carbon Leadership Forum.

She most recently was a Principal at KieranTimberlake Architects where she was an environmental researcher in the firm’s interdisciplinary research group. She is also a lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design and a Co-Editor-In-Chief of Scenario Journal.

Meghan Lewis

Meghan uses her background in architecture, supply chain sustainability, and life cycle assessment to pursue broad, system-wide policies and initiatives that support the vision of carbon neutral, circular building material supply chains. Meghan has been an active contributor at the Carbon Leadership Forum, and played a crucial role as a contributing editor to the Practice Guide for the Life Cycle Assessment of Buildings. She also chairs the Building Focus Group in the CLF Online Community. As a staff member she’ll be responsible for leading policy research to support Buy Clean initiatives.

She was recently the Head of Global Energy and Sustainability at WeWork, where she also launched the supply chain sustainability program in 2018 to drive efforts to source sustainable materials across their global portfolio. Before joining WeWork, Meghan was an architect at Mithun, where she worked on a range of project types and developed office-wide sustainability guidelines as part of the firm’s sustainability team. She also led internal efforts to integrate whole building life cycle assessment and low carbon material selection into the design process, through R+D and implementation on active projects.

Julie Kriegh

As principal and founder of KRIEGH ARCHITECTURE STUDIOS | Design + Research, Julie Kriegh brings her clients’ project goals to fruition while adhering to the values of sustainability, high-performance construction principles, exceptional craft and attention to detail. These principles apply to custom single-family, multi-family, and residential community developments, as well as religious, medical, educational, and municipal facilities. She offers collaborative, team-oriented architectural services that result in custom designs that are aligned with her clients’ project needs. As a  passive house designer, Julie uses state of the art energy modeling software to design and consult on net-positive energy buildings.

Dr. Kriegh is currently working on several research initiatives at the University of Washington, Seattle. Collaborating with a team of  university researchers and industry partners on sustainability issues, Dr. Kriegh is leading research on building and occupant performance using wireless sensing devices and tailored feedback on energy use in residential settings. As a Research Scientist, she belongs to a consortium between UW, UA, Microsoft and Google researching the future of sustainable Data Centers. In addition, Dr. Kriegh worked with the UW Carbon Leadership Forum investigating materials for the Carbon Storing Data Center of the future to advance Microsoft’s goal to be carbon neutral by 2030 and carbon negative by 2050.

Julie received a PhD from the University of Washington in 2018, where her research focused on high-performance buildings, building user behavior and environmental psychology.

Teresa Moroseos

Teresa Moroseos is a Post-Doctoral Scholar at the Integrated Design Lab (IDL) in the University of Washington’s College of Built Environments. In this role, she provides daylighting and energy performance analysis for projects throughout the United States. She collaborates with design teams to find solutions that respond to the environment and maintain design intent, determines appropriate metrics of evaluation, and performs daylight and energy simulations. Teresa also conducts research related to building performance.

Teresa has a background in engineering, architecture, and academics, and enjoys combining the computational aspect of daylight and energy analysis with the qualitative aspect of design in her work. Prior to working at the IDL, she worked as a designer at a Seattle architecture office, where she worked on civic buildings from schematic design to construction administration. Teresa has also taught undergraduate students at the University of Washington in topics of climate analysis, energy principals for buildings, passive solar design, and daylight simulations.

Integrated Design Lab

The Integrated Design Lab (IDL) is operated by the Department of Architecture in the College of Built Environments at the University of Washington. IDL’s mission is to discover solutions that overcome the most difficult building performance barriers, and to meet the building industry’s goals of moving towards radically higher performing buildings and healthy urban environments. The IDL advances their mission through interconnected research, technical assistance, and professional educational and tour programs.

The Integrated Design Lab carries out research to advance knowledge and policies that support the healthiest and highest performing buildings and cities. It measures and analyzes modeled and actual building performance data so as to influence the building industry’s understanding of how to radically improve the design and operation performance of buildings. The performance research includes energy efficiency, daylighting, electric lighting, occupant energy use behavior, human health and productivity in buildings, and advanced building management systems.

The Integrated Design Lab connects its discoveries and the transformative knowledge of others to the building industry and public through education. These offerings include classes, workshops, focus-group meetings, leadership forums, and exhibits of breakthrough technologies intended to transform the market for the highest performing buildings by reaching out and educating current and future leaders on meeting 21st century building performance challenges with the knowledge and policies that favor renewable and regenerative buildings, neighborhoods and cities.

The IDL is a self-sustaining organization that includes interdisciplinary faculty, staff, students, professional collaborators, and partner organizations.