DOE Funds Retrofit Technologies
DOE Funds Retrofit Technologies
As was stated in the most recent IPCC report, retrofitting is the single most effective strategy for developed countries to limit emissions from the building sector. In a push to smooth the path toward faster and less costly low-carbon building renovations, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently announced the release of $32 million to fund next-generation building retrofit projects.
The awardees are:
Fraunhofer USA Center for Manufacturing Innovation (Massachusetts) will test prefabricated, super-insulated wall retrofit panel blocks with a suite of high-performance building technologies across four locations in Massachusetts, Vermont, and Pennsylvania. (Award Amount: $4.9 million)
Home Innovation Research Labs, Inc. (Maryland) will test an innovative wall system with vacuum insulated panels in three residential, multi-family public housing buildings in Albany, New York. (Award Amount: $4.5 million)
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (Colorado) will use software tools to properly size and install retrofit packages in two residential low-income, multi-family buildings in Arvada, Colorado. (Award Amount: $4.4 million)
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Tennessee) will demonstrate 3D-printed modular overclad panels with heat pump systems in 8 to 12 single-family attached public housing homes and one commercial building in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Award Amount: $5 million)
Rocky Mountain Institute (Colorado) will demonstrate an integrated retrofit package of envelope panels, a heat pump pod, and innovative financing in a mid-rise, 120-unit low-income multifamily building in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (Award Amount: $4.4 million)
The University of Central Florida Board of Trustees (Florida) will demonstrate a solar photovoltaic-integrated multi-functional heat pump system for space and water heating in 4 single-family homes and 8 manufactured homes across numerous locations in six states. (Award Amount: $3.6 million)
Syracuse University (New York) will pair overclad panels with real-time performance monitoring capabilities and an “HVAC pod” in single-family attached dormitories in Syracuse, New York. (Award Amount: $5 million) The HVAC pod, developed by tkFabricate, came out of the RetrofitNY Round 1 Pilot Projects and was further prototyped with the help of NYSERDA’s Advanced Buildings NexGen HVAC Innovation Challenge.
The Building Technologies Office (BTO) in DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) created the Advanced Building Construction (ABC) Initiative to reinvent the “ABCs” of building construction and renovation. The awarded projects are among the first whole-building demonstrations of the ABC Initiative’s efforts.