by Brianna Crandall — October 15, 2014—The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced on October 10 nearly $8 million to support research and development of the next generation of heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) technologies. The R&D will focus on developing regionally appropriate HVAC solutions that would offer significant potential energy savings for new and existing buildings, and on developing innovative approaches that could replace current vapor-compression HVAC technologies and their use of refrigerants that harm the global environment.
Currently, HVAC systems account for the largest proportion of energy used in buildings, consuming almost 14 quadrillion British thermal units (quads) of primary energy annually—or nearly 30 percent of all energy used in commercial and residential buildings, says the Department. Developing non-vapor-compression HVAC systems could potentially lead to an estimated 40 percent primary energy savings over current technologies.
In addition to focusing on improving the efficiency of technologies using established ratings as measured by the Energy Efficiency Rating (EER) and/or the Seasonal Energy Efficiency Rating (SEER), the research is aimed at developing technologies or systems that improve partial load efficiency, as HVAC systems operate at partial load most of the time.
The Energy Department seeks proposals from businesses, universities, non-profits, and national laboratories. More information about the Building Energy Efficiency Frontiers and Innovation Technologies (BENEFIT) – 2015 Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) Number: DE-FOA-0001166 is available on the DOE Web site. Interested persons may also register for the upcoming Webinar explaining the funding opportunity.
The DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) accelerates development and facilitates deployment of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies and market-based solutions that strengthen U.S. energy security, environmental quality, and economic vitality. EERE supports innovative technologies for homes and buildings that reduce both risk and costs of bringing energy-efficient building technologies online; more information is available on the EERE’s Building Technologies Office Web site.
