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 151 - 175 of 204

Optimization of Energy Efficiency to Achieve Zero-Net Energy in Multifamily and Commercial Buildings

The recipient will use EnergyPlus, a building energy modeling tool, to analyze the costeffectiveness of various electricity saving/generation measures for multifamily and commercial buildings in California. For each building type and climate zone, the results will include a cost-benefit analysis for each measure individually and for an optimized package of measures that reduces net electricity consumption to achieve as close to zero net energy as is cost-effectively possible.

Pennsylvania Residential Energy Code Field Study

Performance Systems Development 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.

Performance Testing of Phase Change Material in US Army Reserve Buildings

The objective of the research is to test the energy performance and demand reduction capabilities of phase change material (PCM) in conditioned buildings at a USAR site. PCM is a substance used to increase the thermal mass of a building due to its ability to melt and solidify at certain temperatures, providing the capability to store and release large amounts of thermal energy. PCM works in conjunction with traditional insulation to decrease heat gain (or loss) by storing and releasing heat to the conditioned space at different times of the day

Performance-Based IAQ and Optimized Venilation

Southface Energy Institute and partners will develop and validate a performance-based indoor air quality assessment protocol for homes. The assessment protocol and smart ERV solution will achieve annual HVAC energy cost savings of approximately $100 compared to central fan integrated supply system, as well as a 50% reduction in ventilation-related latent loads compared to supply or exhaust ventilation strategies.

Physics-based Interval Data Models to Automate and Scale Home Energy Performance Evaluations

Fraunhofer USA Center for Sustainable Energy Systems Inc. and partners will develop models that use communicating thermostat data and interval electricity and gas data to remotely identify homes with significant energy savings opportunities. The tool will identify the top 20% of homes with the greatest potential for energy savings from insulation, air sealing, and/or heating system upgrades, reducing the number of unnecessary energy audits.

Pilot-Scale Evaluation of an Integrated Building Control Retrofit Package

This project will test an Integrated Building Control Package that maximizes energy efficiency for existing commercial buildings. The project will refine novel control algorithms that utilize shared device state and environmental data for lighting, fenestration and heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. Sharing and considering data from multiple device types will further improve overall, sustained, system performance and operation. Control algorithms will prioritize lighting or heating/cooling savings based on climate and building design. HVAC system management will leverage passive ventilatio

Pilot-Scale Evaluation of an Integrated Building Control Retrofit Package

This project will test an Integrated Building Control Package that maximizes energy efficiency for existing commercial buildings. The project will refine novel control algorithms that utilize shared device state and environmental data for lighting, fenestration and heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. Sharing and considering data from multiple device types will further improve overall, sustained, system performance and operation. Control algorithms will prioritize lighting or heating/cooling savings based on climate and building design. HVAC system management will leverage passive ventilatio

Plug & Play Component and Smart Control Pre-Assembly for Biomass Boilers

Hydronic Specialty Supply will develop an interface module that organizes the hydronics layout of a biomass-fired boiler and integrates smart control options for multi-boiler systems. The controls will be able to optimally manage the operation of the existing fossil fuel boiler, new biomass boiler, thermal storage tank, space heating, and even DHW. This interface module will be comprised of standardized hardware components, therefore reducing net installed cost to consumers and taking advantage of economies of scale. The project will bring the proposed solution through the prototyping phase into laboratory and field tests.

Power Management User Interface

This project seeks to reduce computers' energy consumption by improving how users employ existing power management capabilities. Although all computers have the capacity to enter low-power modes such as sleep, and can be shut down when not in use, this potential for energy savings has not been realized in the majority of desktop computers. The majority of desktop computers remain on at full power when they are not being used. The problem is one of user behavior. The project will use a software solution to change user behavior by changing the tool they are using. This approach is firmly based in behavior theory and human-computer interaction research, which have long demonstrated that the interface of a device can change users' behavior. The energy savings of applying such an interface is estimated to be as high as 50 percent per computer, between 139 and 321 kWh per year.

Power Management User Interface

This project seeks to reduce computers' energy consumption by improving how users employ existing power management capabilities. Although all computers have the capacity to enter low-power modes such as sleep, and can be shut down when not in use, this potential for energy savings has not been realized in the majority of desktop computers. The majority of desktop computers remain on at full power when they are not being used. The problem is one of user behavior. The project will use a software solution to change user behavior by changing the tool they are using. This approach is firmly based in behavior theory and human-computer interaction research, which have long demonstrated that the interface of a device can change users' behavior. The energy savings of applying such an interface is estimated to be as high as 50 percent per computer, between 139 and 321 kWh per year.

Print-Based Manufacturing of Integrated, Low Cost, High Performance SSL Luminaires

Eaton Corporation will develop a new low-cost, high-efficiency LED architecture made possible by advanced manufacturing techniques which will enable both high efficiency and high color quality. Reduced material costs and optimized manufacturing could reduce the integrated light engine price from $50/klm at the project's inception to less than $4/klm.

Putting Data to Work

The Institute for Market Transformation will develop an innovative toolkit and other resources to enable cities and energy efficiency program administrators to better analyze building energy data and subsequently deliver energy savings more successfully. This project could lead to substantial energy savings gains in U.S. cities.

R25 Polyisocyanurate Composite Insulation Material

Oak Ridge National Laboratory will develop a thin insulation material that demonstrates comparable performance to existing insulation technology. ORNL estimates the energy savings potential of this insulation to be 1,319 TBtu for retrofit-only commercial roof and residential wall applications.

Race to Zero Student Design Competition

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.

Reducing Plug-Load Electricity Footprint of Residential Buildings through Low-Cost, Non-Intrusive Sub-Metering and Personalized Feedback Technology

Columbia University, with partners Lucid, Siemens, and Microsoft, has developed a technology that encourages occupants to change their electricity use by reducing their load or shifting usage to non-peak hours. By utilizing a human-in-the-loop approach and occupant feedback strategies, this sub-metering and feedback technology can reduce residential energy use by at least 30%.

Residential Building Analysis Tools & Support

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory will work to significantly increase the capability, cost effectiveness, openness, and reach of the Residential Buildings Integration (RBI) programs tools and analysis methods to accelerate the adoption of zero energy ready homes.

Residential Cold Climate Heat Pump with Variable Speed Technology

Unico Systems will develop a highly efficient, cost-effective residential cold climate heat pump that maintains efficiency and reliability at very low temperatures. The technology could lead to annual energy savings of 0.1 quads, equal to a reduction of 5.9 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

Residential Gas-fired Cost-effective Triple-state Sorption Heat Pump

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), in partnership with ClimateWell and Rheem, will develop a residential, gas-fired split heat pump that will use an ammonia refrigerant, which is not a greenhouse gas and can convert chemical energy to heating and cooling without using any moving seals.

Reverse Cycle Chiller Distributed Heat Loss

This project proposes to research an issue which was identified during the current reverse cycle chiller (RCC) study regarding distributed heat loss. This project builds on an existing BPA funded multifamily heat pump reverse cycle chiller project, TIP 140. The results of this project have been good. This is a technology which has potential for multifamily and other applications in the Pacific Northwest. The TIP 140 project results identified that hot water recirculation systems can reduce efficiency by 30-40%. Additional work needs to be done to quantify the energy losses associated with typical hot water distribution systems. This research project contains a comprehensive approach to understanding and reducing energy losses in hot water recirculation systems. There are three work areas. The primary area is a pilot study to set up three different hot water distribution systems and understand the impact these three different approaches will have on the overall system efficiency. The second area is to meter actual heat loss from recirculation systems in two to three existing midrise multifamily buildings to better characterize the baseline. The third area is to directly measure performance of inverter-driven heat pump water heaters in the field with and without the impact of recirculation loops.

Robust Super Insulation at a Competitive Price

Heating and cooling represents the greatest energy consumption in buildings. This agreement develops thermal building insulation material with high R-value at a cost competitive to conventional insulation materials. The expected result provides a significant increase in energy efficiency for retrofitting buildings.

Robust Super Insulation at a Competitive Price

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, in partnership with Oak Ridge National Laboratory will develop insulation that is 2 to 4 times more efficient than conventional materials and at a comparable installed cost. This insulation technology has the potential of reaching an installed cost of $2.00 per square foot for R-12/inch and targets a technical potential of 1.7 quads.

Rotating Heat Exchanger Technology for Residential HVAC

Oak Ridge National Laboratory will develop a high-impact heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration (HVAC&R) technology that can be used in many applications. This technology could lead to 0.7 - 1.1 quads of energy savings.