Research Tracker

IBACOS will investigate a simplified residential air delivery system to resolve comfort issues reported in low-load, production-built homes. This project could result in state-of-the-art comfort distribution systems, as well as a thermal comfort metric that helps builders and HVAC contractors measure and communicate the value of improved comfort delivery systems.

Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL), with its partner 3M, is developing adhesive chemistries for bonding aluminum and copper during heat exchanger manufacture, resulting in enhanced bonding and significant energy savings.

The purpose of this research is to develop and demonstrate an integrated humidity and ventilation control solution to improve indoor air quality, comfort, and energy performance for low-load homes in hot-humid and mixed-humid climates.

Optimized Thermal Systems, with their partners Heat Transfer Technologies, LLC, and interest from United Technologies Research Center, will develop a manufacturing procedure for a serpentine heat exchanger for heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems that has 90% fewer joints than current heat exchangers.

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.

This project entails the measurement of time-integrated concentrations and temporal profiles of humidity and established contaminants of concern in a minimum of 64 new homes located in cold and marine climate zones.

This project is part of a national study aimed at characterizing indoor air quality in occupied homes. The homes will be up to current energy codes, and researchers will closely monitor the use and performance of mechanical ventilation systems in those homes. Indoor and outdoor air will be sampled for formaldehyde, nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxide, and particulates as part of the indoor air quality characterization.

The University of Central Florida will demonstrate and validate energy-efficient residential ventilation and space conditioning systems. Advanced whole-house residential construction practices can achieve 50% energy savings compared to houses built to code in hot/humid climates.

This project picks up on an ET project with long-term performance monitoring of a cold climate heat pump in Fairbanks, AK. In the United States, approximately 14.4 million dwellings use electricity for heating in cold and very cold regions, consuming 0.16 quads of energy annually. A high-performance cold climate heat pump (CCHP) can result in significant savings over current technologies (greater than 70% compared to strip heating) and in annual primary energy savings of 0.1 quads when fully deployed, which is equivalent to a reduction of 5.9 million tons of annual carbon dioxide emissions. A case study will be created for submission to the Building America Solution Center that documents how the equipment performed during the field study, including estimated HSPF and SEER ratings for this type of technology in order to provide a reference for comparison to existing equipment.

NEEP conducted a market assessment of existing installer practices as well as existing guidance tools, protocols and resources specific to cold climates. Using the market assessment findings, NEEP developed ccashp design and installation guidance for trade contractors. The documents are developed to assist installers around sizing and selecting ASHPs for cold climate applications, while preserving high efficiency, performance, and customer satisfaction. HI Cat will cross-promote and link to the guidance.

Maryland Energy and Sensor Technologies, LLC will develop a compact, high-efficiency thermoelastic cooling system. This next-generation HVAC technology will have low environmental impact and a small carbon footprint and could lead to substantial efficiency gains in building heating and cooling.

The University of Maryland will develop the next generation air-to-refrigerant heat exchangers using non-round tubes that are 25% smaller, 25% lighter and 30% reduced charge than state-of-the-art heat exchangers.

The goal of this project is to develop laboratory test methods for performance verification of low-cost IAQ sensors and provide technical support to industry stakeholders during the development of an ASTM standard based on these test methods.

Newport Partners, in partnership with Broan-NuTone, will develop and validate a smart range hood that senses pollutants and automatically operates to remove the contaminants efficiently. The proposed smart range hood will be quiet (<1 sone), five times more energy efficient than todays ENERGY STAR models, and will capture nearly 100% of pollutants.

This project will study selected software and hardware platforms that apply algorithms to identify, diagnose, and sometimes fix broken electric cooling, ventilation and refrigeration systems in buildings. If widely used, the fault detection and diagnosis tools validated in this project could have savings of 927 Tbtu per year.

This project is developing a gas-fired absorption heat pump that offers a significant advancement for space and water heating technologies when compared to conventional gas heating technologies (an Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency (AFUE) of 140% versus 100%, respectively). This heat pump will provide efficient space and water heating for single and multi-family homes in most climate zones.

United Technologies Research Center will demonstrate a compressor design that will enable high-efficiency small commercial rooftop air conditioning systems. This technology could provide 30% annual energy savings and reduce energy use by 2.5 quads by 2030.

United Technologies Research Center will develop a high-performance commercial cold climate heat pump system. The system could enable annual electricity use for building space heating in cold climates to decrease by at least 25%.

United Technologies Research Center will demonstrate a heat pump that is smaller, quieter, and cheaper to maintain than current models. The heat pump could result in annual energy savings of more than 1.5 quads and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 60 million metric tons.

United Technologies Research Center (UTRC) will develop and validate a high-efficiency, high-speed 5TR packed rooftop system that uses a sustainable, nonflammable, nontoxic and high-efficiency refrigerant.

QM Power, Inc. will develop advanced HVAC motors that are significantly more efficient and cheaper than current solutions for almost all electric motor compressor and fan applications. The technology will have the potential to save more than 0.62 quads of energy.

The Home Improvement Catalyst (HI Cat) is a new DOE initiative focused on high impact opportunities to achieve energy savings in home improvements already planned or being undertaken by homeowners. The Home Improvement Catalyst is designed to identify the multiple pathways to achieving an energy efficient home through energy upgrades and speed the adoption of market-ready energy improvements; resulting in greater energy savings over time.

Throughout the development of the AVS resources and meta-analysis, HI Cat will conduct outreach to EPA, utilities, CEE, REEOs, and program implementers seeking to advance programs that advance high performance HVAC and QI practices. DOE is partnering with MEEA to collect data and evaluate the HVAC SAVE program (Iowa), test approaches to offering additional services, and develop a case study of the HVAC SAVE program in Iowa.

This project will combine electrochemical compression technology with ionic liquid desiccant to provide the most efficient means of managing latent and sensible heat loads in air-conditioning (AC) systems. This technology replaces the standard mechanical compressor commonly found today in AC systems with an electrochemical compressor that utilizes fuel cell technology to enable efficient heat pump systems.

With a focus on typical business as usual HVAC trade practices, HI Cat seeks to capture greater efficiency at high volume within the home improvement transactions at key decision points. HI Cat will work in partnership with industry to design contractor ready resources via development of a Sequencing Tool that curates advisory content that can be applied during the sales transaction. The sequencing tool, designed for use by trade contractors, will identify opportunities to improve upon the current transaction in any given scenario, without disrupting it. Related resources, such as a contractor playbook, will provide ing relevant sales tools and tips; selection, specification, and field installation guidance; proposal and contract language; etc. It will also offer messaging about the energy efficiency pathway or customer journey, reference applicable DOE and industry technical standards/guidance and provide technical information to address follow on EE opportunities.

Trane, in partnership with the University of Illinois, will develop engineered microstructure surfaces that will reduce refrigerant leaks and enhance HVAC&R systems efficiency by improving the strength and quality of brazed joints.

the University of Miami, in partnership with Schneider Electric and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, will create a tool for dynamic cooling and airflow optimization that is customized for the design and operational requirements of data centers and computer rooms by integrating several open-source modeling packages: the Modeling Buildings Library/Spawn-of-EnergyPlus for flexible IT equipment and cooling system modeling; LBNLs GenOpt for optimization; and the University of Miamis Fast Fluid Dynamics package for airflow modeling.

This project will further refine a new approach to using mini-split heat pumps in existing homes. The team will focus on using a single, centrally located mini-split heat pump as the primary system, while only using the existing lower efficiency central system as needed.

This project focuses on establishing a framework and identifying priority R&D needs for coordination with industry, Emerging Technology and market deployment programs. PNNL will develop a white paper evaluating the state of the art of commercially available sensors and controls technology for operations, maintenance, and commissioning applications in residential HVAC. This work assesses technology gaps and market needs, and provides clear recommendations for government action and industry involvement in advancing sensors, controls, diagnostics, and automated fault correction. The task will explore opportunities for industry engagement to gain feedback on report findings, better identify industry development plans, and focus BA/BTO investments.

Xergy will develop electrochemical compression technology in combination with an energy recovery module to replace a solid-state compressor for use in heat pumps. This technology will enable heat pumps to use water as the refrigerant and could lead to efficiency improvements of 30% - 56%.

Stone Mountain Technologies will build and test a low-cost gas heat pump that is optimized for heating-dominated climates. The technology will reduce heating costs by 30% - 45% compared to conventional gas furnaces and boilers.

Mechanical Solutions, Inc. will develop a residential HVAC system featuring a highly efficient small centrifugal compressor. This project could provide a cheaper, more efficient, more environmentally friendly HVAC option for residential and commercial buildings.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) will investigate a novel dehumidification process to avoid the excessive energy utilized by conventional approaches, through high-frequency mechanical vibration of ultrasonic transducers to eject adsorbed water in a liquid form.

Dais Analytic Corporation will develop membrane HVAC technology that offers improved energy efficiency and eliminates harmful refrigerants. This technology has the potential to lead to notable energy usage reductions and environmental benefits.

The University of Maryland will develop a heat exchanger that is 20% better than current designs in terms of size, weight, and performance. This next-generation heat exchanger will be designed for use in heat pumps and air conditioners and will drive energy savings in those applications.

ThermoLift, Inc. will develop a natural-gas-driven heat pump/air conditioner that provides space heating, space cooling, and water heating for residential and commercial buildings. This device would offer 30% - 50% improved efficiency over standard heat pumps.

S-RAM Dynamics, LLC will develop a regenerative air source heat pump for commercial and industrial HVAC applications. Initial units of this heat pump could offer a 50% improvement over existing state-of-the-art technology, leading to substantial energy-use reductions.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory will develop a novel magnetocaloric air conditioner with the potential for efficiency improvements of up to 25% over conventional vapor compression systems. This new technology could save the U.S. 1 quad annually.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, along with its partners, will develop a platform for design and specification of HVAC control sequences that inter-operates with both whole-building energy simulation and automated control implementation workflows. OpenBuildingControl will unify control design, evaluation, and optimization via whole-building energy simulation with control implementation, eliminating the manual translation steps currently associated with HVAC control implementation, reducing both error as well as effort and cost.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Sandia National Laboratories will develop a vapor compression cycle architecture. This technology can lead to an estimated 20% decrease in energy consumption in air conditioners and even greater savings when used as a heat pump in cold climates.

The Building America Space Conditioning Standing Technical Committee and Expert Meeting reports identified high relative humidity as one of three issues with the highest technical priority for ensuring comfort in low-load homes. As such, the primary objective of this project is to evaluate factors that can contribute to high relative humidity in a home (variations in internal loads, equipment sizing, and equipment setup) and quantify their relative magnitude of impact on indoor relative humidity. A technical white paper will assess the sensitivity latent and sensible gains have on comfort and recommended system sizing. This will inform R&D needs for future BA/BTO work, provide actionable information to manufacturers on the equipment needs of low-load homes (see related project, Assessing the Market and Space-Conditioning Needs of Low-Load Homes), and provide system design and sizing guidance to contractors.

enVerid Systems will demonstrate modular air treatment systems that use less energy to remove indoor air pollutants, such as carbon dioxide, in order to drive widespread adoption of this technology. This approach could reduce the energy consumption in commercial and public buildings by up to 50%.

The team will integrate the developed sensing medium into PARCs previously developed flexible hybrid electronics (FHE) peel-and-stick platform that measures humidity, temperature, light, strain, and gases such as carbon monoxide, methane, ammonia, and hydrogen sulfide at an anticipated cost of <$15/node at scale

The University of California, Davis, will have undergraduate students work with industry partners to develop and validate a new solution to model rooftop air conditioners. This model could produce climate-specific advantages in comfort and efficiency.

This project will work directly with leading production builders and product manufacturers to demonstrate and validate high efficiency, variable capacity, ducted and ductless space conditioning systems with optimized comfort distribution and latent control for low load homes in humid climates. The team will investigate potential for better RH control via variable compressor speed, refrigerant flow, and coil air flow. The guidance and best practices from this work will result in 5-10% space conditioning energy savings in current DOE Zero Energy Ready Homes while maintaining or enhancing comfort.

Steven Winter Associates will work with manufacturing partner Mitsubishi Electric to develop, test, and demonstrate an integrated energy recovery ventilation and heat pump system for residential buildings.