This outdoor test facility contains three, thermally-isolated chambers that have been instrumented to measure thermal, daylighting, and occupant impacts of advanced window technologies. In this setup, LBNL staff are evaluating a heat recovery/ ventilation unit (left), a switchable electrochromic window (middle), and a spectrally-selective low-emittance window (right).
Photo courtesy of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
2/2ORNL's Building Technologies Research & Integration Center
ORNL's facility contains a Large-Scale Climate Simulator (pictured above)—a huge apparatus that can enclose building components, such as roof or wall sections, within a highly customizable micro-climate. While most large-scale test facilities can control temperature, the LSCS offers researchers the added benefit of controlling relative humidity, sunlight, rainfall and other variables—ensuring a higher reliability of test results.