About

Prof. Juliana Felkner leads the sustainable built environment group at the University of Texas at Austin. Her team addresses some of society’s greatest challenges through the efficient use of land, construction materials, and energy. Her research focuses on integrating design and technology to improve urban conditions, building performance, and human comfort. The group emphasizes holistic strategies for smart urban growth, including historic preservation, spatial development, architecture as a materialization of the planning process, and energy-related questions pertaining to a sustainable built environment.

Research topics

• Environmental science
• Civil engineering
• Engineering
• Environmental economics
• Geography
• Architectural engineering
• Computer Science
• Economics
• Environmental resource management
• Physical geography
• Atmospheric sciences
• Business
• Mathematics
• Environmental planning
• Meteorology

Selected publications

• From awareness to adoption: a theoretically grounded analysis of professional pathways in sustainable construction material usage in Nigeria

  Journal of Engineering Design and Technology · 2026-04-06

  articleSenior author

  Purpose This study aims to examine why awareness of sustainable construction materials (SCM) fails to translate into adoption among Nigerian architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) professionals despite widespread environmental recognition, testing whether barriers are profession-specific or sector-wide. Design/methodology/approach Cross-sectional survey of 273 AEC professionals (architects, civil engineers, builders, quantity surveyors, construction managers) across the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria. Validated composite indices measured awareness and adoption. Differences across professional groups were examined using the Kruskal–Wallis H test, Spearman’s rank correlation was used to evaluate the relationship between awareness and adoption, and hierarchical regression was used to examine the predictors of adoption. Findings Results reveal substantial awareness-adoption gap: 47.3% demonstrate high awareness versus only 11.4% high adoption (35.9 pp difference). Moderate correlation exists (ρ = 0.455, p < 0.001, r2 = 0.207), with awareness explaining merely 20.7% of adoption variance. Critically, no significant professional differences exist for awareness (H = 8.255, p = 0.083) or adoption (H = 4.178, p = 0.382). Regression confirms awareness as the sole significant predictor (β = 0.478, p < 0.001); professional affiliation adds negligible variance (ΔR2 = 0.016, p = 0.220). The 77.8% unexplained variance indicates institutional barriers as primary constraints. Practical implications With awareness already high, education-focused interventions show limited returns. Evidence-based recommendations include mandatory green building codes (20–40% SCM requirements), financial incentives (10–15% tax breaks, subsidized loans) and supply chain development through government procurement guarantees. Originality/value The first quantitative cross-professional mapping of SCM awareness-adoption patterns in Nigeria reveals sector-wide institutional constraints transcending professional boundaries. Findings challenge awareness-raising paradigms and redirect policy toward systemic reforms.

  PublisherDOI

• Optimizing mid-rise building facades: The role of balconies in achieving carbon reduction

  Journal of Physics Conference Series · 2025-11-01

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Abstract Achieving net-zero carbon emission goals in the built environment requires optimizing design decisions by considering both embodied and operational carbon impacts. This study addresses this challenge by proposing a multi-objective optimization workflow that integrates the EnergyPlus engine, Grasshopper-Ladybug, Cardinal LCA, and Wallacei tools. The optimization process focuses on balconies, which are key building components that significantly influence both embodied and operational carbon footprints in mid-rise residential buildings. The study parametrically models various balcony aspects, including width, depth, construction materials, orientation, and whether they are open or closed. The results show that balconies can offset their embodied carbon footprint, while also contributing to significant reductions in space conditioning energy consumption for residential units in 5A ASHRAE climate regions. The research presents a multi-objective optimization workflow for refining individual building component designs to minimize carbon emissions, making it applicable to both new construction and renovation projects.

  PublisherDOI

• Toward urban decarbonization: environmental and financial evaluation of neighborhood-scale multifamily retrofit strategies

  Building Simulation Conference proceedings · 2025-08-24

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Urban-scale residential retrofits are critical for reducing energy demand and advancing city-level decarbonization; however, financial and logistical barriers often limit their adoption. In this regard, this study examines the environmental and financial performance of three retrofit scenarios: high-efficiency heat pumps (HP), heat pump water heater (HPWH), and rooftop photovoltaic (PV) systems, in multifamily buildings at the neighbourhood scale, in Austin, Texas. The study employs Urban Building Energy Modelling (UBEM) and Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) to model energy consumption, CO₂ emissions, and cost-effectiveness for each retrofit scenario. The simulation results show acceptable payback periods (PBP) of approximately 9.1 years for HP, 2.8 years for HPWTs, and 4.1 years for the PV scenario. The results also show how financial incentives such as local rebates, federal tax credits, and bulk discounts reduce upfront costs substantially and lessen economic barriers to implementation. The findings underscore the potential of integrated, neighbourhood-scale retrofits as effective tools for meeting municipal climate goals and advancing urban energy equity.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• IMPACT pathways – a bottom-up modelling framework to guide sustainable growth and avoid carbon lock-in of cities

  Journal of Building Performance Simulation · 2024 · 4 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Environmental economics
  • Business
  • Environmental planning

  Increasing urbanization puts pressure on cities to prioritize sustainable growth and avoid carbon lock-in. Available modelling frameworks fall acutely short of guiding such pivotal decision-making at the local level. Financial incentives, behavioural interventions, and mandates drive sustainable technology adoption, while land-use zoning plays a critical role in carbon emissions from the built environment. Researchers typically evaluate the impacts of policies top down, on a national scale, or else post-hoc on developments vis-à-vis different polices in the past. Such analyses cannot forecast emission pathways for specific cities, and hence cannot serve as input to local policymakers. Here, we present IMPACT pathways, from a bottom-up model with residence level granularity, that integrate technology adoption policies with zoning policies, climate change, and grid decarbonization scenarios. With the city at the heart of our analysis, we identify an emission Premium for Sprawl and show that adverse policy combinations exist that can lead to rebounding emissions over time.

  PublisherDOI

• IMPACT: Integrated Bottom-Up Greenhouse Gas Emission Pathways for Cities

  arXiv (Cornell University) · 2022-01-31

  preprintOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Increasing urbanization puts pressure on cities to prioritize sustainable growth and avoid carbon lock-in. Available modeling frameworks fall acutely of guiding such pivotal decision-making at the local level. Financial incentives, behavioral interventions, and mandates drive sustainable technology adoption, while land-use zoning plays a critical role in carbon emissions from the built environment. Researchers typically evaluate impacts of policies top down, on a national scale, or else post-hoc on developments vis-à-vis different polices in the past. Such analyses cannot forecast emission pathways for specific cities, and hence cannot serve as input to local policymakers. Here, we present IMPACT pathways, from a bottom-up model with residence level granularity, that integrate technology adoption policies with zoning policies, climate change, and grid decarbonization scenarios. With the city at the heart of our analysis, we identify an emission premium for sprawling and show that adverse policy combinations exist that can exhibit rebounding emissions over time.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Linking urban scenarios with energy simulations for dense urban planning under climate change

  Journal of Physics Conference Series · 2021 · 1 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Computer Science
  • Computer Science
  • Environmental science

  Abstract This research aims at linking Urban Planning, Energy Simulations and Climate Change projections into the year 2100 for hot climates. The workflow of going back and forth between urban and city scale plans and individual neighborhood parcels to building scale, for the sake of simulating energy demand for a given city into the future is complex. It is prone to rely on many assumptions and simplifications in order to aid the simulations. In this work, we streamline the process with new computational tools, with the goal of communicating a more precise impact of building scale and neighborhood morphological scale design and retrofit strategies in order to meet energy reduction and carbon emission targets focusing on 2030, 2050 and 2100. Urban scenarios are developed using Envision Tomorrow. The building archetypes used therein are associated with energy demand profiles which we simulate using EnergyPlus for various climate change scenarios to improve the forecasting ability of Envision Tomorrow. Denser developments yield far lower neighborhood energy use.

  PublisherDOI

• Energy analysis of Texas Metropolitan Areas for climate change mitigation using LiDar

  Journal of Physics Conference Series · 2021-11-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract Buildings account for a large share of U.S. energy use making the building sector a prime candidate for efficiency measures. Obtaining accurate information about geometry and occupancy can prove computationally intense. We analyze different neighborhoods in Texas under a new methodology that allows for large scale implementation. This methodology uses PostgreSQL, QGIS, LiDar, Grasshopper and CitySim to generate, analyze and compare energy models under various climate change scenarios. An energy analysis was performed on over 100,000 buildings in Dallas, Texas, evaluating performance in terms of energy efficiency and overheating under several refurbishment scenarios. Neighborhoods in Dallas were analyzed under a modified methodology designed to scale the results of a previous, smaller study by the authors to a broader sample. This study found metropolitan areas performed similarly under various refurbishment scenarios; the more aggressive scenarios showing greater improvements for the same given amount of time. The results of the experiments show consistency between this expanded method and the original. This method must make concessions in terms of detail. While it is possible to achieve a more accurate estimate by taking into account variables such as enclosure composition, building systems and shading surfaces, it becomes difficult for larger simulation, making LiDar an effective alternative.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Analysis of supplemental dehumidification for increased energy efficiency of shoulder seasons based on climate change predictions in Austin Texas

  Journal of Physics Conference Series · 2021-11-01

  articleOpen accessCorresponding

  Abstract This research project compared a standard vapor compression system and a standard desiccant dehumidification system with heat wheel to determine if there was some potential energy savings for “shoulder season” hours in Austin Texas. “Shoulder season” hours as defined in the paper are hours during which the dry bulb temperature falls within the American Society of Heating Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) comfort bound but the humidity is above the comfortable humidity point. These hours are normally addressed with vapor compression systems which dehumidify by cooling the air under the comfort setpoint to dehumidify, which is wasteful of energy. The study found that for these shoulder season hours a desiccant dehumidification system was around 4.5 times more energy efficient at reaching comfort setpoints if free heating was used for drying the desiccant.

  PublisherDOI

• The impact of daylight presence on cooling strategies: energy simulations of a test room in Austin, Texas, and Geneva, Switzerland

  Journal of Physics Conference Series · 2021-11-01

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Abstract In order to understand how to reduce energy consumption in buildings, all factors affecting occupant comfort and behavior must be considered. Previous work from EPFL has elucidated the influence of daylight on thermal perception and its resulting potential to reduce cooling loads in a controlled test space in Geneva, Switzerland with three different illumination levels (130 lux, 600 lux, and 1400 lux) and under three different indoor air temperature levels (19°C, 23°C, 27°C). Occupants perceived the temperature as up to 2°C cooler when exposed to daylight, leading to reduced cooling loads. For climates with high cooling loads for much of the year, such as Austin, Texas, this reduction could yield significant benefits for low-energy building design. Simulations show the total amount of energy saved from adopting this strategy in Austin, Texas.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Retrofitting solutions for a campus building to mitigate urban heat island in a hot humid climate

  Journal of Physics Conference Series · 2021 · 2 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Environmental science
  • Meteorology
  • Atmospheric sciences

  Abstract In this study we examine the summer cooling effects of trees and green facades on reducing urban heat island effects. Using ENVI-met model simulations, we investigate the influence of added greenery on the surface and ambient air temperature and its role on air fluctuations in the hot humid climate of Austin, TX, at pedestrian height. Under the specific conditions considered in this model, the results show the combination of trees and green facades has a greater cooling effect. Added greenery to the building mostly impacts the building's surface temperature during the hottest hours of the day, registering a maximum surface temperature reduction of 20.33°C. Simulations also show a maximum overall potential air temperature reduction of 0.54°C, and a maximum potential air temperature cooling effect near the building of 0.91°C. Future research should be conducted to address this study's limitations. Nevertheless, these findings can provide architects, designers, planners, and policymakers with a better understanding of the many benefits trees and green facades have, and provide them with the necessary tools to implement new solutions across sectors and scales to reduce the impacts urban areas have on the environment and provide a better living for all.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• S. Richter

  The University of Texas at Austin

  6 shared

• Edward Mbata

  The University of Texas at Austin

  5 shared

• Zoltán Nagy

  5 shared

• Katherine Lieberknecht

  The University of Texas at Austin

  4 shared

• Eleni Chatzi

  ETH Zurich

  4 shared

• Stephen Zigmund

  The University of Texas at Austin

  3 shared

• Eli Ramthun

  The University of Texas at Austin

  3 shared

• Toni Kotnik

  Aalto University

  3 shared

Labs

• Juliana Felkner LabPI

Awards & honors

• Best Paper Award, Journal of Architectural Engineering