PNNL has developed a decision tool that provides contractors and installers with the information they need to properly select and install cold climate heat pumps, which are a key technology for achieving decarbonization.

Scientists have developed a way to detect tiny amounts of hard-to-detect explosives more than eight feet away.

The Heat Pump Water Heater Installation Tool, developed at PNNL, has been released by the Department of Energy for public use.

PNNL’s Fatih Evren receives an ASHRAE best paper award for buildings-related research.

Andrew White goes back to his alma mater, Georgia Tech, as young alumni keynote speaker for the Sustainability Showcase, part of the university’s larger Sustainable Development Goals Action & Awareness Week.

Tennessee State University received Department of Energy funding to establish an academy focused on preparing students and professionals to work in an emerging field: clean energy systems. PNNL is helping with that effort and others.

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.

PNNL researchers are working to provide the technical assistance and expertise needed for communities to shape their clean energy future.

PNNL helps deliver efficiency-related rules and requirements that steadily improve performance of America’s buildings, saving energy and costs and reducing carbon emissions.

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.

A larger HVAC workforce with training on modern heat pump technology will be pivotal to achieving the mass-scale electrification of household HVAC systems needed to meet building decarbonization goals.

Leaders from the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy visited PNNL October 19–20 for a firsthand look at capabilities and research progress.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Launch Point CDC, Inc. are developing a framework to empower disadvantaged communities with clean energy technology—along with a set of resources to give other community organizations a head start.

PNNL’s Andrea Mengual co-chaired a working group that produced Building Performance Standards: A Technical Resource Guide. PNNL’s Kim Cheslak, Bing Liu, and Jian Zhang contributed to the effort.

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.

The Quick Building Assessment Tool is a simplified building energy analysis tool designed specifically for users with no experience in buildings.

PNNL’s building science research and technology deployment initiatives were highlighted at the HUD Innovative Housing Showcase.

The PNNL-managed Building America Solution Center translates research into actionable considerations for homeowners and builders to provide two solutions in one: increasing energy efficiency while also enhancing disaster resistance.

A PNNL team’s analysis of new-housing data concludes that single-family homes in lower-income counties are less energy-code-compliant than in higher-income counties, a finding that could shape strategies for enhanced code adoption.

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.