PNNL

The 2026 Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings will bring together professionals from around the globe to share research, spark new ideas and collaborations, and advance the technologies and practices needed to transform the building sector to improve affordability and efficiency. The conference will cover innovative approaches for addressing today’s biggest challenges related to buildings’ energy use, such as building energy-efficient data centers, reducing consumer energy costs, and increasing grid reliability for businesses and homeowners. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory researchers attending the conference will share the latest in emerging technologies and approaches that support energy cost savings, consumer choice, and American competitiveness in the buildings sector.

Panel 1: Residential Buildings: Technologies, Design, Operations, and Industry Trends

Friday, August 7, 10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. 

Session 2: Innovations in Building Envelopes and Efficiency

Theresa Gilbride (presenter)
Katherine Cort and Theresa Gilbride
Thin-Triple Windows - Now a Cost-Effective Envelope Trade-Off for High-Performance Homes

Patti Gunderson (presenter)
Patti Gunderson and Katherine Cort
Closing the Retrofit Gap: Integrating Existing Windows with New, Thick Continuous Insulation

Panel 2: Residential Buildings: Program Design, Implementation, and Evaluation

Monday, August 3, 8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.

Session 1: Cold Climate Heat Pumps

Patti Gunderson (presenter)
Vrushali Mendon
Home Heating in Cold Climates: Synergistic Benefits of Advanced HVAC, Weatherization, and Grid-Responsive Controls

Friday, August 7, 10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Session 2: Heat Pump Water Heaters

Joshua Butzbaugh (presenter)
Joshua Butzbaugh, Tyler Pilet, and Tabitha Artuso
This Must Be The Place: Plug-in 120-volt Heat Pump Water Heater Retrofits and Associated Costs

Panel 3: Commercial Buildings: Technologies, Design, Operations, and Industry Trends

Monday, August 3, 8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.

Session 1: Diving Deep into Data: Advances in Resources, Visualization, and Prototypes

Paula Zimin (presenter)
Michael Tillou 
Bill of Material Characterization for DOE Commercial Building Prototypes

Tuesday, August 4, 8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.

Session 1: Fiddling with the Roof(top Unit): Advancing RTU Performance

Scott Unger (presenter) 
Scott Unger and Kate Hickcox
Quantifying Thermal Systems: Solutions for Smarter Materials, Energy Use, and Design

Thursday, August 6, 10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Session 2: Ramping Up Retrofits: From Audits to Outcomes

Supriya Goel* (presenter)
Simon Foucher, Juan Gonzalez Matamoros, Kefei Mo, and Sudha Eswaran 
Audit Template: A Modular, Interoperable Web-Based Platform for Building Energy Audits and Retrofit Planning

Panel 6: Utilities and the Future

Friday, August 7, 8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.

Session 1: The Menu is Changing: What’s New on the Utility Program Offerings

Christian Valoria (presenter)
Christian Valoria and Christian Kaltreider
CCX Marks the Spot: Unearthing HVAC Savings & Performance

Panel 8: Human Dimensions of Energy Use

Panel Leaders: Chrissi Antonopoulos, of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and Karen Ehrhardt-Martinez

Panel 10: New Construction

Wednesday, August 5, 10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Session 2: From Impressive to Impassive: Energy Code Meets Passive House

Paula Zimin
Energy Impacts and Documentation of Thermal Bridges in ASHRAE 90.1-2022

Panel 12b: Data Centers: Load Growth and Solutions

Thursday, August 6, 8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.

Session 1: Frontiers in Data Center Energy Efficiency

Kieren McCord (presenter)
Kieren McCord and Bing Liu
Growing Data Center Capacity and Reducing Grid Impact: Strategies for Efficient, Safe, and Reliable Facilities

Panel 13a: Workforce

Thursday, August 6, 8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.

Session 1: Let’s Get Down to Business: Employing Workers to Upgrade Commercial Buildings

Christian Valoria (presenter)
Alison Shereda and Christian Valoria
Stay Tuned: Emerging HVAC Business Models that Enable Commissioning

Panel 13b: Innovations to Scale Retrofits and New Construction 

Thursday, August 6, 10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Session 2: From Clipboard to Cloud: Digital Tools to Enable Scaling

Chitra Nambiar (presenter)
Milan Jain, Xuechen Lei, and Chitra Nambiar
Data-Driven Decision Support for Building Retrofit Planning

Panel 14: Poster Display Presentations

• Chitra Nambiar, Tool to Estimate Financial Implications of Building Energy Retrofit Projects
• Christian Kaltreider, Improving Factory-Built Housing from the Inside Out
• Theresa Gilbride, Closing the Thermal Bridge in Concrete and Steel Construction
• Jess Kincaid, Energy Efficiency and Wildfire Mitigation: Surprise Synergy?

*formerly of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory