energy sustainability

A building energy use "tune-up" procedure developed by researchers at the Texas A&M Energy Systems Lab has so far yielded more than $100 million in energy savings from little more than 300 client buildings, said Charles Culp, professor of architecture and ESL associate director.

Significant energy savings could be realized in small homes in hot climates with an air conditioning system being researched by Simge Andolsun, a Ph.D. architecture student at Texas A&M, that cools rooms based on where people are at different times during the day.

Houston ranks as the sixth-worst U.S. city for traffic congestion in the Texas A&M Transportation Institute’s 2012 Urban Mobility Report, which includes a comprehensive database of traffic congestion, its effects on air quality and its costs to drivers in all 101 U.S. urban areas with populations above 500,000.

Students developed a software tool that can determine a building’s potential energy use from its design, as well as its rainwater harvesting potential and other characteristics as part of a fall 2012 graduate architecture class.

Last spring, Texas A&M graduate architecture students assisted sustainability specialists at Lake|Flato Architects with evaluating designs for a visitors’ center at Hardberger Park, a new 311-acre natural area in north San Antonio, for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification.