by Brianna Crandall — September 6, 2010—A team led by The Pennsylvania State University will receive up to $122 million over the next five years from the Department of Energy (DOE) to establish an Energy Innovation Hub focused on developing technologies to make buildings more energy efficient.
The Hub will be located at the Philadelphia Navy Yard Clean Energy campus, and will bring together leading researchers from academia, two U.S. National Laboratories and the private sector in an ambitious effort to develop energy-efficient building designs that will save energy, cut pollution, and position the United States as a leader in this industry, says DOE.
The mission of this Hub is to research, develop and demonstrate highly efficient building components, systems, and models that are applicable to both retrofit and new construction. The Hub team will pursue a research, development and demonstration (RD&D) program targeting technologies for single buildings and district-wide systems.
These technologies include computer simulation and design tools to enable integrated project teams of architects, engineers, contractors and building operators to work collaboratively on retrofit, renovation and new building design projects; advanced combined heat and power (CHP) systems; building-integrated photovoltaic systems for energy generation; advanced HVAC systems with integrated indoor air quality management; and sensor and control networks to monitor building conditions and optimize energy use.
The RD&D program will also incorporate a systematic analysis of the role of policy, markets and behavior in driving the adoption and use of energy technologies in buildings. Two other Hubs announced recently will be led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory and focused on modeling and simulation for nuclear reactors, and by the California Institute of Technology focused on developing fuels from sunlight.
