by Shane Henson — May 15, 2013—The U.S. Navy has long been working to make its facilities more energy efficient, and now that it has partnered with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Navy officials expect to achieve their goals even faster, as well as to help advance new energy technologies to the commercial market. As the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) primary national laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development, the NREL is uniquely positioned to support the Department of Defenses’ (DoD) mission to reduce energy costs, decrease reliance on foreign oil, and ensure energy security, says the agency.
Together, the Navy and NREL are looking for solutions to meet the Navy’s ambitious energy goals, which include: evaluating energy efficiency and use when awarding Navy contracts for systems and buildings; increasing alternative energy use on shore by producing at least 50 percent of shore-based energy from alternative sources; and ensuring that 50 percent of Navy and Marine Corps installations will be net-zero energy. In addition, the NREL is also helping the Navy advance its energy goals by providing test beds to demonstrate energy technologies.
From the beginning, NREL and the Navy formed an integrated team to seamlessly manage the demonstration projects. The group is formally known as an Integrated Product Team (IPT): a multidisciplinary group of people who are collectively responsible for delivering project outcomes.
During the first phase of the partnership, NREL worked to identify what technologies would help meet Navy energy goals, along with the best locations to demonstrate them. The Navy specified that at least one demo must happen on Hawaii and another on Guam. In the end, eight technologies were chosen for demonstration with roughly half at each location. The technologies are now being installed and studied to see which are viable. The final phase will be to report on the technologies and help transition them to other sites and the commercial market.
The technologies being installed fall into three general categories: advanced heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC), building efficiency, and advanced renewables and facility integration.
In helping the Navy improve its energy use, NREL says it is also looking to cut the intensive HVAC use on bases. The teams will install a variety of advanced HVAC demonstrations, including energy-saving retrofit kits that can go on an existing rooftop air conditioner on a warehouse or office space. The team will also test a high-efficiency rooftop unit that, depending on the building type or climate, provides a possible second solution for energy savings.
Other future projects will try to cut energy use at the home and office by installing advanced plug-load controls and looking at whole-building retrofits, and focus on advancing renewable generation and facility integration, says the NREL.
