Cutting-edge research on zero energy buildings
The mission of the CZEBS is to reduce the environmental impact of buildings while enhancing their safety and comfort by advancing knowledge through research and the building engineering discipline in Canada, by enriching the learning and research experience of students, and by assisting industry in implementing research results and innovations.
Concordia-Vietnam Seed Grant visits
Following the visit by Dr. Hua Ge and Dr. Liangzhu (Leon) Wang to HUST and HCMUT in Vietnam, a delegation of researchers the two Vietnam universities came to CZEBS and Concordia University to further establish links with researchers and explore areas of mutual interest.
Concordia-led partnership looks to transform energy management in buildings across Canada
Prof Andreas Athienitis heads the $2M+ initiative, co-funded by NSERC, Hydro-Québec and Mitacs. The program builds on progress achieved under Athienitis’ NSERC Industrial Chair program, with significant contributions from Concordia’s team in modeling and quantifying building energy flexibility. Expected outcomes include novel model predictive control strategies and retrofit measures to reduce peak demand and facilitate renewable energy integration.
Dr. Ouf received 2023-2024 GCS Teaching Excellence Award
On August 28th, 2024, Dr. Mohamed Ouf was honoured to receive the GCS Teaching Excellence Award for junior faculty members, a testament to his outstanding contributions to teaching in BCEE, GCS. Dr. Ouf also won this year the GCS Research Excellence Award - Tier III for his excellence in both teaching and research.
Dr. Hachem-Vermett published articles on The Hill Time and Le Devoir
From potential to power: how Canada can lead with solar energy legislation - The Hill Times, May 31, 2024, link
Charting a new energy-efficiency pathway for schools
A news article was published by Canada's National Observer on March 4, 2024. It reported the work by CZEBS's PhD student Navid Morovat on developing and applying MPC (model predictive control) methodology to reduce peak energy demands in a Quebec school. Navid is co-supervised by Dr. Andreas Athienitis of CZEBS, BCEE and Dr. José Candanedo of Université de Sherbrooke.
Young visitors to the solar simulator
A group of young students from the robotic club located in Montreal West Island visited the solar simulator lab of Concordia University as an immersion session to learn about energy generation, storage and distribution, October 14, 2022.
CZEBS professor Ted Stathopoulos awarded the Honoris Genius by OIQ
Dr. Stathopoulos was awarded the Honoris Genius for Engineering Research or Education by the Ordre des Ingénieurs du Québec on November 25. The prize was created this year to celebrate the order’s 100th anniversary.
A CBC news article featured BIPV/T at Concordia's JMSB building and Varennes library
The BIPV/T installation on the facade of JMSB building of Concordia University and the PV & BIPV/T roof on Varennes library were featured in a CBS News article by Emily Chung on June 2, 2021, entitled "Solar windows, shingles and cladding; the building itself is now the solar panel".
Conference on Building Energy & Environment (COBEE 2022)
The 5th COBEE conference will be hosted by the CZEBS, Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, 25th-29th July 2022 Chaired Dr. Liangzhu (Leon) Wang, with two co-chairs, Dr. Ge from CZEBS, and Dr. Zhai from University of Colorado Boulder, USA. Dr. Athienitis, Dr. Stathopoulos, and Dr. Zmeureanu serve as Program Chairs for organizing and chairing different expertise programs. See more on Concordia news article on COBEE 2022 and view photo slideshow and gallery of COBEE 2022.
Best Presentation Award to Dingyang Geng with Dr. Leon Wang's team for the publication
Qin S., Zhan D., Marey A., Geng D., Potsis T., Wang L. (2025). "Data-efficient rapid prediction of urban airflow and temperature fields for complex building geometries." The research, presented by Dingyang Geng, received the Best Presentation Award at BAS2025. The presented method introduced a fast and accurate framework for predicting urban wind and temperature fields based solely on building geometry to effectively capture complex airflow patterns using minimal CFD input, and thus achieved high accuracy and a 500-fold speedup compared to traditional simulations.
IBPSA president Dr. Dru Crawley visited CZEBS
On October 23, 2024. Dr. Leon Wang and Dr. Mohamed Ouf welcomed Dr. Crawley and engaged in discussions on collaborative research topics on urban digital twins, building decarbonization and electrification and climate resilience and weather simulations. Dr. Crawley toured the Solar Simulator - Environmental Chamber Lab and the Building Aerodynamics Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel. He commended the contributions made by our faculty and students to the IBPSA community and expressed strong interest in collaborating with Concordia University on society-wide decarbonization and electrification initiatives. [IBPSA: International Building Performance Simulation Association]
Best Student Paper Award by Andrea Petrucci
Andrea Petrucci received the Best Student Paper Award for his co-authored publication: Petrucci A., Vallianos C., Candanedo J., Delcroix B., Buonomano A., Athienitis A. (2024). "Towards dynamic pricing algorithm for residential buildings: A Model Predictive Control framework for load aggregation", the 3rd International Conference on Energy Transition in the Mediterranean Area SyNERGY MED 2024, October 21-23, Limassol, Cyprus.
Roadmap to Resilient, Ultra-Low Energy Built Environment with Deep Integration of Renewables in 2050
The final Canadian Academy of Engineering Roadmap report is available for download.
Athienitis, A. K., Bambara, J., Rosamund, H., Kennedy, C., & Pape-Salmon, A. (2024). Roadmap to Resilient Ultra-Low-Energy Buildings with Deep Integration of Renewables (p. 243). The Canadian Academy of Engineering.
The CAE Resilient Built Environment Roadmap project was officially launched in 2019 to develop strategic recommendations for the energy transition of buildings toward net-zero operating emissions. This project was co-chaired by Andreas Athienitis and Andrew Pape-Salmon. Our Centre for Zero Energy Building Studies (CZEBS) co-organized with CAE at Concordia the planning workshop on March 22, 2019. A webinar on October 12, 2021 focused on lessons learned and experiences from existing and ongoing developments in high profile low-carbon and positive energy communities in Canada and Europe, and on informing the CAE Roadmap on current status and future opportunities and challenges. The proceedings is available at Spectrum Research Repositor of Concordia University.
CZEBS invited speaker, Dr. Michele Zinzi, on countering urban overheating with cool materials
In response to an invitation from CZEBS, Dr. Michele Zinzi presented a webinar entitled "Countering urban overheating with cool materials: solutions and impacts". Dr. Zinzi is a representative of the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development. Dr. Zinzi presented the development and testing of new coating materials for building envelopes and roofs that reflect infrared energy in solar radiation and reduce urban heat island impacts on buildings and communities. [2023-05-08]
Students of two classes visited the Varennes Library
Students of two classes, BLDG 6951 by Dr. Athienitis on Passive solar building designs and BLDG 691 by Dr. Ouf on Occupant centric building design and operation, visited the Varennes Library on March 16, 2024. Read more about this first net-zero institutional building in Quebec in articles below:
Recent research
Labs and equipment
The Solar Simulator–Environmental Chamber is the only facility of its kind worldwide.
News
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June 12, 2024
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March 25, 2024
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February 6, 2024
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