Research Tracker

This project will identify, quantify and evaluate the incremental costs and benefits of demand responsive (DR) lighting controls system requirements in the California Energy Code across existing, non-residential building stock. The project will focus on the incremental costs and benefits associated with adding the DR functionality to enhance general lighting upgrades in existing, non-residential buildings to enable them to act as DR resources.

Hydronic Specialty Supply is developing a thermal storage system with enhanced stratification and smart controls. The thermal storage system will have features that account for many of the known issues affecting current thermal storage tanks. The design and layout of the tank, including inlet and outlet ports, will be optimized for temperature stratification necessary for a hydronic heating system. However, the system will also include features allowing it to easily integrate with optional heat transfer capabilities, including solar thermal input or DHW output. The overall goal is to develop an enhanced solution for the biomass heating marketplace at an economical price point, while improving overall system performance. After design and prototype fabrication, the thermal storage system will be evaluated in an independent laboratory and field tested, with the final product being ASME certified.

Case Western Reserve University will design and demonstrate low-cost, compact, easy-to-deploy, maintenance-free sensors that will transform buildings into "smart" buildings. This technology has the potential to reduce building energy use, lower buildings' environmental impact, and increase building occupant comfort, all at a low cost.

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

Pennsylvania State University will develop a way to better understand and predict the occurrence of short circuits in OLED lighting panels, in order to reduce failure rates by means of new, more-informative panel diagnostics, a modeling capability to predict mean time to failure, and new anti-shorting strategies that address the root cause of the problem.

This project will develop an interoperable protocol that can be implemented in all plug-load devices, unhampered by proprietary restrictions which will implement energy reporting to enable plug-load devices to transmit operating information - such as identity, power consumption, and functional state - through a communications network to a central entity. After a communication infrastructure is established for plug-load devices, the data flow can be reversed to send control signals to individual devices. The central management system that this project will demonstrate is well positioned to provide comprehensive control over diverse plug-load devices.

This project will develop an interoperable protocol that can be implemented in all plug-load devices, unhampered by proprietary restrictions which will implement energy reporting to enable plug-load devices to transmit operating information - such as identity, power consumption, and functional state - through a communications network to a central entity. After a communication infrastructure is established for plug-load devices, the data flow can be reversed to send control signals to individual devices. The central management system that this project will demonstrate is well positioned to provide comprehensive control over diverse plug-load devices.

This project is working to develop and validate new low-cost, low-toxicity additives for A2L refrigerants to reduce flammability and lower global warming potential (GWP). This proposed refrigerant formulation would be more difficult to ignite, minimizing the probability and severity of any events and lessening existing safety concerns.

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 is funding the planning, permitting, and preliminary engineering needed for the integration of advanced energy technologies in a disadvantaged community. The design will provide locally generated, GHG-free electricity from community solar and storage to offset electricity consumption of participants who opt in to the AEC. The design will also enable participants to benefit from savings resulting from various onsite Integrated Demand Side Management (IDSM) actions at no up-front cost, including energy efficiency retrofits, demand response, energy management systems, and an energy education and support program. Participants will pay back retrofit costs and cost of capital for solar and storage assets through an on-bill financing mechanism, including a first-of-its-kind virtual net metering (VNEM) tariff across multiple county-owned sites and residential buildings piloted by Los Angeles Community Choice Energy (LACCE). The project has a strong focus on local outreach and engagement to promote community participation in the AEC, as well as robust data evaluation methods facilitated through the LA County Energy Atlas to ensure design and financing features are optimized.

The Minnesota Center for Energy and Environment will research and validate energy and cost savings opportunities using power over Ethernet (PoE) infrastructure to power and automate lighting, plugs, and HVAC system controls.

The goal is to develop a minimally invasive retrofit insulation technology for enclosed roof cavities such as cathedral ceilings, flat roofs, and dormer roofs.

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.

Variable Capacity Heat Pump Test Protocol for Northern Climates. BPA is collaborating with 7 Canadian utilities and Natural Resources Canada, with the assistance of the Canadian Standards Association, and US industry partners Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), NEEA and Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) to develop a test protocol standard for Variable Capacity Heat Pumps (VCHP) designed for Cold Climates. This test protocol means BPA will be able to confidently predict the performance of new VCHP market entrant without expensive field testing. BPA has engaged EPRI to participate in the international proceedings and to test and verify the final protocol recommendation before formal adoption by BPA.

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.

This project will develop low-cost, low power, accurate, calibration-free, and compact airflow sensors (anemometers) for measuring: (1) room airflow in occupied commercial buildings; and (2) volumetric air flow in heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. The technology will save energy by using the collected data to correct current wasteful HVAC malfunctions that result in inefficient systems and uncomfortable buildings. The anemometers will be wireless, able to be inexpensively installed in existing buildings, and operate on a battery for years and communicate wirelessly via the internet to the building's control system. The device will also sense temperature, its orientation, and its location

This project will develop low-cost, low power, accurate, calibration-free, and compact airflow sensors (anemometers) for measuring: (1) room airflow in occupied commercial buildings; and (2) volumetric air flow in heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. The technology will save energy by using the collected data to correct current wasteful HVAC malfunctions that result in inefficient systems and uncomfortable buildings. The anemometers will be wireless, able to be inexpensively installed in existing buildings, and operate on a battery for years and communicate wirelessly via the internet to the building's control system. The device will also sense temperature, its orientation, and its location

Drexel University will develop an innovative and cost-effective automated fault detection and diagnostics tool that better identifies issues related to building energy use. This project is expected to impact a total energy market of 7,306 TBTU, with projected national energy savings of 1,096 TBTU with a simple payback time per installation of less than 1 year.

This federal cost share project demonstrates the benefits of the VOLTTRON platform for DER management through the testing of the VOLTTRON Testing Tool Kit. VOLTTRON is a US Department of Energy funded open source platform intended to provide a software base for integrating management of energy demand in buildings, distributed energy resources, and the electrical grid. The tool kit expands the VOLTTRON platform beyond its original set of developers and encourages adoption by other organizations and private entities. By lowering implementation costs and adding additional features such as simulation test suites and debugging tools, the tool kit promotes wider use of the VOLTTRON platform.

BPA has not provided any variable refrigerant flow (VRF) system incentives because of challenges estimating and verifying energy savings. This project will leverage BPAs AirNW Trade Ally network to identify and document VRF installations so that billing analysis can be done to determine energy savings. Activities include: billing analyses on 10 sites where the VRF system installation was the only change affecting electricity use.

Ecotope, in partnership with Vulcan Real Estate and Seattle City Light proposes to design, pilot and verify a heat pump water heating system for large multifamily buildings using the building sewage as a heat source. The waste water heat pump (WWHP) will recover waste heat streams from the building and heat water for domestic use at extremely high performance levels. The system will be built in a large multifamily building with approximately 400 apartment units. The project team will conduct a feasibility study of the system concept and a numerical model to predict the best equipment sizing and control algorithms. With the feasibility demonstrated the team will move on to full system design in a multifamily building. The team will write a measurement plan to monitor the energy use of the system. The team will commission the system, optimize its operation and prepare a set of design guidelines to be used throughout the engineering community.

HI Cat will coordinate with Building America and Weatherization to advance access by home improvement trades to the array of technical resources from DOE.