news 2014

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. A research team led by Kevin Houser, professor of architectural engineering, has determined that color and whiteness rendition has a profound effect on LED light source preference. The team's findings were published in Lighting Research & Technology in an article titled "Perceptual responses to LED illumination with colour rendering indices of 85 and 97" at: http://lrt.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/08/22/1477153514548089 .

Think working in an environmentally green building leads to greater satisfaction in the workplace?  Think again. People working in buildings certified under LEED's green building standard appear no more satisfied with the quality of their indoor workplace environments than those toiling in conventional buildings, according to new research from the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom.

o University research could shape Government housing policy o Study reveals inflexible parking on new estates leads to tension between neighbours o Research recommends wider streets with room for on-street parking Government policy on how future new housing estates should be designed could be shaped by leading research from the University of Sheffield.

When is a phone not a phone? When it's serving as an occupancy sensor for energy-saving purposes. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) researcher Bruce Nordman had an idea several years ago to take advantage of existing devices in office buildings by using them for energy efficiency purposes.