The General Services Administration and the U.S. Department of Energy have selected 17 innovative building technologies to evaluate in real-world settings throughout GSA’s real estate portfolio.
This year, field validation will be conducted on five of these technologies that will support commercial buildings decarbonization and the implementation of DOE’s recently released Decarbonizing the U.S. Economy by 2050: A National Blueprint for the Buildings Sector. The technologies include modular ice-based energy storage from Nostromo Energy, a modular cold-climate air-source heat pump from Trane Technologies, an air conditioning system incorporating a liquid desiccant and evaporative cooling from Blue Frontier, a refrigerant life cycle management strategy from êffecterra, and an internet-of-things based building management system from 75F.
The evaluation will consider how well products reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. HVAC in commercial buildings consumes up to 44% of on-site energy, according to a DOE news release.
GSA anticipates that the results of this year’s evaluations will be available in 2026. DOE and GSA have partnered through the same program since 2015. Since 2011, the program has evaluated 107 technologies, 23 of which have been deployed across more than a third of GSA’s federally owned portfolio.
Related Stories
Codes and Standards | May 24, 2019
USGBC receives funding for LEED for Cities and Communities Program
Bank of America provides $500,000 grant to certify 15 U.S. cities.
Codes and Standards | May 24, 2019
AIA updates Interiors Contract Documents
Six revised documents available for interior construction projects.
Codes and Standards | May 23, 2019
Northern California casino offers a template for resilient microgrids
Solar power with batteries and backup generators provide weeks of self-reliance.
Codes and Standards | May 23, 2019
Austin creates innovative plan to boost affordable housing
Approach includes loosened zoning, incentives for higher density in lower-cost and mixed-income developments.
Codes and Standards | May 20, 2019
Effort launched to develop better process for zero-carbon retrofits in multifamily sector
Rocky Mountain Institute, Dept. of Energy, California Energy Commission join forces.
Codes and Standards | May 20, 2019
Property lenders shouldn’t invest for 30 years in most of Florida, expert warns
Climate ignorance driving some ‘insane’ deals.
Codes and Standards | May 17, 2019
NIMBYism is the biggest multifamily construction barrier
National Apartment Assn. report assesses reasons for difficulty in creating more apartments.
Codes and Standards | May 17, 2019
Dept. of Energy to award up to $33.5 million for advanced construction R&D
Focus is on techniques to reduce energy bills.
Codes and Standards | May 16, 2019
Mixed reviews on targeted tax break for San Francisco neighborhood
“Twitter tax break” may have worsened some of the area’s problems.
Codes and Standards | May 15, 2019
OSHA inspections to increase, says Secretary of Labor
Newly hired inspectors getting up to speed.