Skip to main content
EERE » BTO » Building America » Solution Center Home » Research Tracker

Research Tracker

This tool is intended for researchers and program managers to quickly find research projects around the country that are relevant to their work. The four organizations who provided content for this purpose represent the largest energy efficient buildings research portfolios in the country. These organizations each provided the content that they were comfortable sharing publically. Therefore, upon clicking on a particular project, it is possible that certain pieces of content are not present. Where possible, a point of contact is provided so that specific questions can be directed to that person. We welcome your comments! If you would like to provide any feedback on this tool (positive or constructive) please email basc@pnnl.gov.

Showing results 1 - 25 of 289

2030 District Program and Small Commercial Toolkit

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will provide a suite of organizational, analysis, implementation, and verification methodologies, tools, and resources to help small commercial buildings meet the 2030 District Challenge to reduce energy by 20%. This support aims to help small commercial buildings in major U.S. cities save up to 2.4 billion kBtu a year.

A Combined Water Heater, Dehumidifier, and Cooler

The University of Florida will develop a technology for compact, low-cost combined water heating, dehumidification, and space cooling. This technology has the potential to save 480 TBtu/year in water heating and an additional 135 TBtu/year by reducing the air conditioning load.

A New Generation of Building Insulation by Foaming Polymer Blend Materials

The Industrial Science & Technology Network, Inc. will develop an environmentally clean, cost-effective building insulation with superior performance. Commercialization of this technology would reduce U.S. energy consumption related to building envelope components by 7%, equal to $8 billion in annual economic savings.

A New Hybrid Approach to Energy Modeling

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will identify an alternative method to estimate two difficult-to-measure inputs used in building energy modeling. The end product will simplify and help automate the process of creating a calibrated model for existing buildings.

A Renewable Based Direct Current Building Scale Microgrid

This renewable-based direct current (DC) microgrid will connect on-site generation with loads and provide a low cost, energy-efficient solution to save costs. Solar PV will be directly connected to energy-efficient DC lighting, DC energy storage systems, and ventilation on a 380 V DC bus to form a DC building microgrid. This microgrid system proposed for the Honda Distribution Center in Chino, California reduces the need for inverters for PV and rectification equipment in the loads, thus improving the overall utilization of solar energy by 7-10% as compared to conventional AC systems, while lowering component complexity and costs.

Accelerate Performance

Seventhwave's Accelerate Performance scales owner demand for energy performance at a cost comparable to current construction by eliminating key market bariers. This program will achieve an average of 50% realized savings compared to traditional 30% modeled savings for aggressive new construction projects.

Acoustic Building Infiltration Measurement System (ABIMS)

Argonne National Laboratory will develop an acoustic method of measuring the infiltration of a building envelope. The method will enable infiltration measurement of all buildings, which could lead to decreased building energy use.

Advance Rooftop Controls (ARC) LightFan Savings Only Utility Grants

This work will determine the savings and the cost-effectiveness of advanced rooftop unit controller (ARC) Light Retrofits. This work will support a new evaluated measure through the development of a Standard Protocol, based on 38 Zeros meters and the ARC retrofit fan-only analysis. Utility grants will fully fund the installation of up to 30 ARC Light Retrofits, where 38 Zeros meter installations are also fully funded, with one-year of data hosting. (ARC Light Retrofits are expected to cost around $2,000, while the 38 Zeros meter installations are expected to cost around $1,500, including one year of data-hosting and retrieval of the 38 Zeros meter.) All grants will be paid by 9/15/15 because of the inability to spend money in the new rate period. Based on EER feedback, utilities will claim self-funded (non-EEI) savings as FY15 custom projects.

Advanced Commercial Buildings Initiative

Southface Energy Institute will develop energy efficiency evaluation and upgrade tools that provide at least a 50% energy improvement in new construction and a 20% energy improvement from upgrades to existing buildings, as well as develop energy audit training materials. These tools and training materials will help spur energy efficiency gains in new and existing buildings.

Advanced Plug Load Controls and Management in the Educational Environment

This project deploys APMD technology over a large sample size, at approximately 55,000 computer workstations at several Community Colleges, and focuses on integrating the technology with facility operations to ensure that they meet the needs of the sites and staff. Key features of the proposed project include outreach and individual education programs to California Community College Districts, evaluation of sites for participation in the project, purchase and installation of APMDs at approved sites, measurement and verification (M&V) activities both pre- and post-APMD implementation at the selected demonstration sites, and stakeholder satisfaction information from demonstration facilities staff and APMD end-users through interviews and surveys.

Advanced Rooftop Controls (ARC) Verification Protocol

The goal is to develop a standard protocol to verify site-based savings for advanced rooftop unit (RTU) control (ARC) retrofits, based on manufacturer variable frequency drive (VFD) data. This will streamline the acquisition of 1 aMW of ARC retrofits and lower the cost of the impact evaluation. This project will draft a standard protocol to verify ARC retrofit site-based savings using Catalyst controller data. The project will compare best practice (unit-level, true-power over one-year with daily baseline cycling, as reported in Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) study) and four simplified savings methods, to determine a simplest-reliable method. Deliverables include a draft protocol and presentations to the RTUG and, if appropriate, to the RTF. Once approved, the standard protocol would allow the streamlined acquisition of ARC retrofits because baseline metering and long-term baseline cycling would not be required. Once 1 aMW of ARC retrofits (approximately 1,000 RTUs) are reported, several years of Catalyst controller data would be available for most of the units for the impact evaluation. Using the standard protocol and manufacturer data, no post-post cycling or additional instrumentation, such as Wattnodes for unit-level true-power, will be required.

Aerosol Sealing in New Construction

The Center for Energy and Environment and partners will field test and optimize an innovative new method for whole house air-sealing using aerosol sealant. This aerosol sealant method is already a proven duct sealing solution, and can reduce time and labor costs by simultaneously measuring, locating, and sealing leaks.

Alabama Residential Energy Code Field Study

The Institute for Market Transformation will investigate whether investing in statewide building energy code education, training, and outreach programs can produce a significant change in residential building code compliance rates. The results of these activities provide the necessary business case to influence non-government entities, particularly utilities, to make investments in similar programs, which could lead to substantial national energy savings.

All-Digital Plug and Play Passive RFID Sensors for Energy Efficient Building Control

Clemson University, with their partners Harvard University, Phase IV Engineering Corp., and Iowa Energy Center, will develop, demonstrate and pre-commercialize low-cost, digital plug-and-play, passive radio frequency identification sensors for measuring indoor and outdoor temperature and humidity, which will improve building operations and cut energy costs.

Amber and White OLED Lighting for the Healthcare Industry

The objective of this project to develop and commercialize white and amber OLED lighting solutions that are uniquely tailored to the health care industry, ranging from hospital to senior assisted living centers. This project will include five main deliverables: 1) Voice of customer (VOC) exploration with hospital and healthcare personnel including nurses, facilities and other medical staff to identify lighting applications in which OLED would provide unique value. 2) Tuning amber OLED panels, if necessary for large scale production specifically for healthcare, 3) Designing and fabricating OLED fixture prototypes based on VOC 4) obtaining feedback from medical staff on prototypes including performance and effects on workflow, patients or other concerns and define launch product 5) establishing path for full commercialization of product(s).

America Saves! Energizing Main Street's Small Businesses

The National Trust for Historic Preservation will provide low-cost energy efficiency services to small businesses in California, Wisconsin, New York, and Washington State. These efforts aim to increase small business participation in energy retrofit programs and could lead to up to $30 billion in annual energy savings.

Assessing the Market and Space-Conditioning Needs of Low-Load Homes

High performance, low-load homes face unique space conditioning challenges that are not adequately addressed by HVAC design practices and equipment offerings. Equipment manufacturers have yet to include a diverse set of low-capacity equipment in their product offerings due to a lack of understanding of (1) where the low-load home market is headed and (2) the load profiles typical to low-load homes. This project looks to address both of these information gaps and ultimately send the necessary low-capacity equipment market signals to manufacturers, enabling them to design better products to meet production builder needs. The team will develop a technical whitepaper and presentation on the performance and cost tradeoffs of various equipment types/systems at meeting the comfort requirements of low-load homes, and forecasting the market penetration and equipment needs for these low-load homes.

Automated Cloud-Based Continuously Optimizing Building Energy Management System

The Automated Cloud-based Continuously Optimizing Building Energy Management System (ACCO-BEMS) overcomes limitations of existing energy management systems by automating optimized control of building systems and devices. The technology overcomes limitations of existing energy management systems and eliminates the need for expensive reprogramming needed to implement optimization measures. As such, the technology can co-exist with existing systems in retrofit applications, or it can be implemented as a new installation.

Bench Test for Inverter Driven Package Terminal Heat Pump

During BPA's 2016 Multifamily Technical Advisory Group, this technology was evaluated and recommended for future research. BPA is joining with NEEA and Ecotope to conduct a bench test to determine if this will be a viable alternative to conduct future field tests in the Pacific Northwest. The bench test will be document the system performance and noise levels to determine if the unit is ready for more lab and field tests.

Best-in-Class: Demonstrating Scalable Operational Efficiency through Optimized Controls Sequences and Plug-and-Play Solutions

This project optimizes and simplifies control upgrades to demonstrate energy savings while improving occupant comfort. This demonstration uses automated fault detection and diagnostics and continuous commissioning with the use of advanced measurement and verification procedures. The agreement includes recommendations for strategies, tools, and initiatives to address market barriers and promote large scale market adoption.