The Department of Energy’s FLEXLAB® at Berkeley Lab partnered with Molly Duggan Associates to raise awareness, educate and expand the reach of the unique high-tech facility.
Solving complex problems is something that the Building Technology & Urban Systems Division at Berkeley Lab does well — especially when it comes to how to save energy and how to increase renewables for building environments.
Berkeley Lab relies on Molly Duggan Associates to reach its most important audiences. One of the most straightforward ways to communicate is through videos that help explain complexities in an approachable way. Our creative team at Molly Duggan produce videos such as this CGI video highlighting how users can test models and assumptions with real systems, test alternative methods and collect highly accurate, validated performance data for use in building design, utility customer incentive programs, new technology development, evaluation, and operations software development.
Learn how users can study and optimize integrated systems by watching the video below.
In the United States alone buildings account for
- The various building integrated system components and capabilities available at FLEXLAB®
- Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) in the form of photovoltaics, batteries, and two-way electric vehicle charging, integrated with emulated grid conditions
- How FLEXLAB can manage flexible building loads and other DERs to support a clean electricity grid while saving customers money
FLEXLAB® allows users to develop and test energy-efficient building and grid technologies individually or as an integrated system under real-world conditions. In a short animated film, Molly Duggan Associates helped Berkeley Lab convey how the FLEXLAB® testbeds can precisely monitor and assess all building systems, from plug loads to envelopes and controls, in any combination.
Through the development of a sophisticated animation, it is easy to understand the power of this scalable platform. Detailed annotated 3D scenes convey how FLEXLAB® can provide the environment to research a wide range of building-to-grid distributed energy resource technologies and controls for many types of grid applications. The narrated animation explains how users can test models and assumptions with real systems, test alternative methods, collect highly accurate validated performance data for use in building design, utility customer incentive programs, new technology development, evaluation, and operations software development.
IoT risks are expanding as multiple devices connect to complex systems. Creating CGI videos allows for better and immediate understanding of the vulnerabilities facing integrated systems."—Molly Duggan, CEO, Molly Duggan Associates
It was important to showcase how FLEXLAB® is an unparalleled facility with high granularity and holistic assembly.
Molly Duggan Associates helped the Lab reach essential audiences, such as manufacturers, utilities, building owners. Many manufacturers are often siloed through the building process, and it is hard for one to integrate with others, such as with lightning with HVAC manufacturers. FLEXLAB® provides the expertise and the concrete capabilities to look at the full spectrum of all major building end-uses combined with all renewables, storage, and the grid. That’s a lot of complex expertise needed for each of those individual elements, let alone all of those in one cohesive packaged system.
This is the world's most advanced integrated building and grid technologies testbed. It looks at buildings and systems as a whole, and discovers opportunities to integrate with renewables and the grid."—Cindy Regnier, Executive Director, FLEXLAB
About Flexlab
The Department of Energy’s FLEXLAB® is the most flexible, comprehensive and advanced building and grid technologies test facility in the world, and is unleashing the full potential of improved energy performance. FLEXLAB® allows users to develop and test energy-efficient building and grid technologies individually or as an integrated system under real-world conditions. FlesLab testbeds can precisely monitor and assess all building systems, from plug loads to envelopes and controls, in any combination. We offer a scalable platform to research a wide range of building-to-grid distributed energy resource technologies and controls for many types of grid applications.
