by Brianna Crandall — October 17, 2016 — In a move that will eventually have an impact on both government and commercial buildings, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently issued a joint Request for Information (RFI) for next-generation building technologies in support of their respective Green Proving Ground (GPG) and High Impact Technology (HIT) Catalyst programs. The RFI seeks information from industry on emerging and underutilized technologies that have the potential to improve economic and environmental performance in federal and commercial buildings.
The RFI invites technology manufacturers and industry stakeholders to submit information on emerging technologies, which will be used to identify technologies for evaluation through the GPG program, HIT Catalyst program, or both. Selected technologies will be matched with federally owned buildings or commercial buildings, respectively, to pilot measurement and verification by third-party evaluators. Project results are intended to help accelerate deployment of high-impact technologies, and to inform public- and private-sector investment decisions.
This year, the RFI is seeking technologies in the following five categories: smart energy analytics; cold climate heat pumps; fans and blowers; chillers, refrigerants, and alternatives to vapor compressor HVAC; and water conservation and reuse.
GSA’s Green Proving Ground (GPG) program works with third-party evaluators to test pre- and early-commercial sustainable building technologies in federally owned buildings. GPG provides deployment recommendations for effective technologies throughout GSA’s portfolio to help GSA meet its sustainability goals and lead market transformation. Following favorable evaluation results, nine GPG-evaluated technologies have been deployed across over 200 facilities in GSA’s portfolio.
DOE’s High Impact Technology (HIT) Catalyst program supports the adoption of cost-effective, underutilized commercial building energy efficiency technologies by facilitating the assessment of high-impact technologies in commercial buildings. The HIT Catalyst program aims to transform the market for these technologies through partnerships with the commercial buildings industry through the Better Buildings Alliance, federal leaders, regional nonprofits, utility programs, and energy efficiency organizations. For more information about HIT Catalyst, please visit buildings.energy.gov/hitcatalyst.
Concurrently with the issuance of this RFI, the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) intends to release a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) in cooperation with the GPG program. The anticipated funding opportunity will seek innovative partnerships to significantly and rapidly increase the uptake of emerging and underutilized energy efficient and cost-effective building technology packages. More information on the funding opportunity can be found on the EERE Funding Opportunity Exchange, under “Scaling Up the Next Generation of Building Efficiency Packages.”
The RFI will be open to applications until Friday, November 18, 2016. More information is available on FedBizOpps.gov.
