Research Tracker

The proposal will design, develop, and pilot an Intelligent Connected aggregator platform beginning with selected Residential Connected Smart Thermostats. The objective will be to develop and test a connected device platform that can provide a PNW regional infrastructure to simultaneously manage smart thermostats and other connected devices.

Smart Residential Thermostats Pilot with Franklin PUD. In partnership with Franklin PUD, BPA is conducting a Nest Learning ThermostatTM field pilot study. One hundred seventy three (173) thermostats were installed with the goal of evaluating the thermostats ability to control Residential Air Source Heat Pump operation and realize electricity savings through a pre/post utility billing regressions analysis study. Metering devices were installed in 9 homes to better understand how the Nest Thermostats control the heat pump systems and how people are interacting with these devices. Study results will be available mid year 2016.

Will proven strategies from residential behavioral programs provide savings in a small commercial application? Snohomish County Public Utility District's pilot will test behavior change in the commercial sector. A solution for this sector would be highly attractive to utilities with small commercial facility end users, which represent a significant untapped energy savings resource with unique barriers to participation in behavior change programs. The pilot project is a joint venture between Snohomish County Public Utility District, PECI, Lucid, and Starbucks. The pilot will be implemented at several Puget Sound area Starbucks stores and involves providing staff with frequent energy use data and between-store competitions. If successful, the approach could be scaled to similar facilities across the region. Starbucks has over 700 stores in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana. Improvement on previous work: Very little work has been done in the small commercial arena and no pilots have been done with a large chain, such as Starbucks.

This data gathering and analysis project will develop reliable estimates of energy savings for Networked Lighting Controls (NLC) project and on a larger scale, accelerate the deployment and market adoption of NLC in Commercial Buildings. Advanced Lighting Controls has significant potential to accelerate LED lighting adoption. In a recent study by LBNL, multiple lighting control strategies saved an average of 38% of energy savings. However, market adoption on NLC/Advance Lighting Controls is estimated to be less then 1%. This project is designed to help BPA determine appropriate program designs, incentives, training and Qualified Products to increase deployment of NLC. The project will request data from several utilities including BPA about energy savings achieved in recent projects. BPA is partnering with Efficiency Forward (formerly DLC) to complete this project.

This project will develop a technique to automatically construct new contextual information for sensing and control points based on point names and the raw time series value. This will allow for integration and connectivity from building analytics engines to commercial building management systems with minimal or no manual point mapping.

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 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.

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.