Recently, the Department of Energy announced $74 million for 63 selected projects to research, develop, and test energy-efficient and flexible building technologies, systems, and construction practices to improve the energy performance of buildings and electric grid.
According to DoE, this fund is awarded to include National Laboratories, universities, small businesses, and industry partners.
It is reported that America’s 125 million residential and commercial buildings use more energy than any other sector in the country, accounting for 40% of the Nation’s energy and nearly 75% of its electricity.
Now, the aim of the research partnerships is to pursue new technologies to enhance the energy productivity of buildings and improve the capacity of buildings to operate their energy consumption more flexibly….. (fantastic 👌👌).
Many of the projects announced will advance technologies to unlock deep energy savings through grid-interactive efficient buildings and advanced building construction technologies and practices, without sacrificing the comfort of building occupants or the performance of labor-saving devices and equipment.
One of the beneficiaries is a grid interactive efficiency which plans to advance technologies to link buildings to one another across the internet and the power grid, which would enable a greater degree of flexibility over conventional buildings to reschedule operations to periods of the day when energy is cheaper and more efficient to use (NB: we are not talking of Nigeria oooo 😥😥)
More importantly, some of the projects are also required to address the cybersecurity of flexible buildings and verify the performance of their equipment. As more buildings get connected to the internet and smart grid, there is now greater need to incorporate cybersecurity measures to prevent any “hacking” or any other attack.
Other projects will focus on:
1. Developing novel thermal energy storage materials,
2. Advancements in non-vapor compression HVAC technologies,
3. Fuel-driven building equipment, and
4. Solid-state lighting.
Source: US DoE