Researchers from PNNL have been assessing installation and use of electric heat pumps in an Alaskan community that relies on fuel oil for heat. The resulting information could advance electrification in cold rural areas across the nation.
Mandy Mahoney, director of the DOE Building Technologies Office, visited PNNL in late November. One key agenda item involved meeting with staff for a discussion of effective equity and justice integration in buildings-related research.
PNNL is at the midpoint of a study focused on the installation of electric heat pump water heaters in New Orleans homes. The efficient water heaters offer a unique capability that could help speed the transition from fossil fuels.
For her most recent efforts, Bruckner-Lea, a senior technical advisor at PNNL, received the Secretary’s Appreciation Award from the U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm in July.
PNNL’s extensive portfolio of buildings-grid research included three projects that helped answer some of the technical questions related to leveraging energy consumption in buildings to enhance grid operations.
The Northwest Connected Communities Summit brought together representatives of five Department of Energy-funded Connected Communities Projects to share ideas and discuss potential collaboration opportunities.
Staff at PNNL recently completed a report highlighting commercial products enabled through projects funded by the Department of Energy’s Building Technologies Office.
PNNL’s Ján Drgoňa and Draguna Vrabie are part of an international team that authored a most-cited paper on Model Predictive Control, an approach for improving operations, energy efficiency, and comfort in buildings.
PNNL’s Reid Hart and Bing Liu have earned individual Champions of Energy Efficiency in Buildings awards from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.
The first customized resource of its kind, H-BEST analyzes the indoor environmental quality profile for buildings and helps its users identify the costs and benefits of improvements.
PNNL-developed Water Balance Tool estimates consumption for major water end-uses. Understanding the breakout of water use identifies water efficiency opportunities and allows facility managers to spot potential system losses.
Buildings account for around 40 percent of our nation's energy use and consume 75 percent of our nation’s electricity each year. Energy use is also one of the biggest costs for facility owners.
PNNL’s longstanding grid and buildings capabilities are driving two projects that test transactive energy concepts on a grand scale and lay the groundwork for a more efficient U.S. energy system.
Following the energy crisis of 2000-2001, the State of Washington received financial settlements from six energy companies, a fraction of which was used for energy-efficiency research.
