P2S Engineering Joins Integral Group Team

Fullerton College Library
renovation by P2S Engineering.  

We are happy to welcome P2S Engineering to CBE, who joined as part of the Integral Group team. CBE members may remember P2S founder Kent Peterson, who was our guest speaker at CBE's October 2010 advisory board meeting. P2S offers engineering services including MEP, energy efficiency, commissioning and technology for both new and retrofit construction projects. The firm’s practice includes a broad range of project types including education, government, laboratory, industrial, clean energy, infrastructure, and more. 

P2S’ technical staff, comprised of over 50% LEED Accredited Professionals, are passionate about providing sustainable solutions and expertise in high-performance green building projects, and helping clients reach their sustainability goals. The firm has been named for three years in a row as one of the best places to work in Los Angeles, by the Los Angeles Business Journal. The recognition cites the firm’s offices in Long Beach, CA, located in a LEED-Gold tenant improvement project that includes morale boosting features such as a fitness center and green workstations.

2012 Livable Buildings Award Winners Announced

Winner: Clif Bar Headquarters

This summer, a jury of CBE partners selected the winners for the 2012 Livable Buildings Award. Now in its sixth year, this annual award is given to buildings that demonstrate exceptional performance in terms of occupant satisfaction (using CBE's Occupant Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) Survey), resource efficiency, and overall design.

The top award was given to the Clif Bar Headquarters, located in Emeryville, California, and designed by CBE partner ZGF Architects. The project has many outstanding features, including reused materials, open office space, natural light, and photovoltaic panels that generate most of the energy needed for the tenant spaces. 

Honorable Mention: Midtown
Community Elementary School

An honorable mention was also awarded to the Midtown Community Elementary School in Neptune City, New Jersey. This school brings elements of sustainability education not only to the children, but the surrounding community as well.

>> Read more about the projects here.

Centerline: Summer 2012 Now Available

Check out the latest edition of Centerline, CBE's bi-annual e-magazine! You can download the PDF here: www.cbe.berkeley.edu/centerline/summer2012.pdf

This edition includes a feature article on measuring workplace productivity, news about many of our projects that are moving forward this summer, a welcome to the newest CBE Partner, and information about events planned for this fall around CBE's October conference and Greenbuild.

We hope you enjoy this issue! Looking for the Centerline archive? View it here.

Productivity and "Rules of Thumb"

We are exploring two topics, and are seeking feedback from industry professionals. Please send David Lehrer your thoughts, insights, and opinion on:

1) Workplace productivity in green buildings: Considered a compelling benefit in high-performance buildings by some, increased productivity has been difficult to quantify. What is your firm doing to improve, investigate, or document productivity (or effectiveness) in the workplace?

2) "Rules of thumb" for design and operation: What rules of thumb do you use, where did they come from, and when are they appropriate and useful? What problems do they cause?

Cubicle Culture

CBE researcher John Goins is gaining more national attention with his expertise on occupant comfort and indoor environmental quality. Last week, he was interviewed on the NPR show Radio Times, where he discussed his research on productivity and cubicle culture. John has surveyed over 65,000 office workers through our IEQ Survey, providing him with tips and insight on office design and maximizing worker productivity. You can listen to the full show here, with John's portion beginning at 15:00.


How is your company office arranged? What is your experience working in a cubicle? 

Plug Loads Research Project Seeks Energy Modelers

An ongoing CBE research project, Simulated and Actual Energy Use: The Role of Plug Loads, is seeking experienced energy modelers for a survey to assess modelers' assumptions when simulating plug load energy use. Since design teams are frequently left to estimate the annual receptacle load energy use and peak demand using rules of thumb or other standardized/generalized practice, this research will help to determine the accuracy of these rules of thumb as compared to actual energy use, or a more itemized energy projection.

We invite energy modelers to contribute to the research by taking this brief (9-question) survey by June 29, 2012. Take the survey.

Any questions can be directed to gfuertes@berkeley.edu.

CBE quoted on the Sunday NY Times front page

On the front page of last Sunday’s New York Times, CBE Researcher John Goins is quoted in John Tierney’s article about noise in open office environments. The article cites findings from CBE’s occupant survey research as evidence of the types of challenges people face with the growing prevalence of shared and collaborative workplaces. The author, who is a frequent contributor to the Times and writes about social sciences and controversies in science and medicine, interviewed researchers, managers and facility professionals about acoustical problems in today’s so called “cubicle culture.” He includes case studies such as Autodesk, and the collaborative “bullpen” created by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Read the entire article, From Cubicles, Cry for Quiet Pierces Office Buzz.