The U.S. Department of Energy launched a crowdsourcing website designed to aid technology innovators in collecting, sharing, and evaluating input from their customers and other stakeholders about next-generation building technologies.
The website, known as the Buildings Crowdsourcing Community, is administrated by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and can be used by start-ups, designers, buildings scientists, and students to share ideas that can be turned into energy-efficient technolgoeis for buildings and homes.
The website will remain open until 11:59 p.m. EST on May 31. Until then, the Buildings Crowdsourcing Community will accept new idea submissions, comments, and votes on submissions.
Some ideas that have been submitted so far include: modular building facades, improving air tightness in envelopes, and scalable mixed waste to energy conversion technology.
Those who are interested in participating on the site can register through the ORNL Buildings Crowdsoucing Community. The best ideas will be recognized during the DOE's Building Technologies Office Industry Day in September.
Related Stories
| Jun 1, 2011
Low-energy fans help combat disease in Rwandan clinic
Isis fans from Big Ass Fan Co. help kill airborne pathogens in Rwanda’s Butaro Health Clinic by passing air over UV lights.
| May 25, 2011
Smithsonian building $45 million green lab
Thanks to a $45 million federal appropriation to the Smithsonian Institution, the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, Md., has broken ground on what is expected to be one of the most energy-efficient laboratories in the country. The 69,000-sf lab is targeting LEED Gold and is expected to use 37% less energy and emit 37% less carbon dioxide than a similar building.
| May 18, 2011
Former Bronx railyard redeveloped as shared education campus
Four schools find strength in numbers at the new 2,310-student Mott Haven Campus in New York City. The schools—three high schools and a K-4 elementary school—coexist on the 6.5-acre South Bronx campus, which was once a railyard.
| May 17, 2011
Sustainability tops the syllabus at net-zero energy school in Texas
Texas-based firm Corgan designed the 152,200-sf Lady Bird Johnson Middle School in Irving, Texas, with the goal of creating the largest net-zero educational facility in the nation, and the first in the state. The facility is expected to use 50% less energy than a standard school.
| May 17, 2011
Gilbane partners with Steel Orca on ultra-green data center
Gilbane, along with Crabtree, Rohrbaugh & Associates, has been selected to partner with Steel Orca to design and build a 300,000-sf data center in Bucks County, Pa., that will be powered entirely through renewable energy sources--gas, solar, fuel cells, wind and geo-thermal. Completion is scheduled for 2013.
| May 16, 2011
Seattle unveils program to boost building efficiency
Seattle launched a new program that will help commercial property owners and managers assess and improve building energy efficiency. Under the program, all commercial and multifamily buildings larger than 10,000 sq. ft. will be measured for their energy performance using the EPA’s ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager.
