About CREC

With the passage of AB32 and SB375, the State of California is now calling for dramatic improvements in community-scale resource efficiency. These improvements will need to draw upon – and extend – 30 years of accumulated research on creating livable, sustainable urban environments. They will come from an integrated mix of new designs, new technologies, new ways of operating and governing cities.

Recognizing this challenge, in July 2009 the California Energy Commission funded the Center for Resource Efficient Communities (CREC), a research center housed within the College of Environmental Design at the University of California, Berkeley. the goals of CREC are to:

• Assess and produce inter-disciplinary research that identifies the best strategies in the development of resource efficient communities;
  
  
• Engage and inform members of the public, private, and non-profit sectors in developing strategies and standards for resource efficient communities; and
  
  
• Articulate resource efficiency in regulatory and economic terms as an integrated component of community development in California.

CREC’s focus is on developing original research techniques and findings in several areas:

• Assessing the energy and water consumption associated with different land use patterns and urban design types;
  
  
• Identifying the design factors that are most effective in promoting walking, bicycling, and transit use in lieu of driving;
  
  
• Moderating urban heat island effects through urban design;

• Modeling urban microclimates and heat island effects;
  
  
• Exploring the economic, financial, and legal implications of resource-efficient land use and urban design; and
  
  
• Examining the co-benefits of of resource efficient communities.

Part of CREC's mission is to communicate research findings to members of the planning, design, and development professions throughout and to policy makers in state, regional and local government. To that end, we look forward to building partnerships with other public and private institutions in funding, research, and outreach.