The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has expanded its collaboration with Alaska’s Cold Climate Housing Research Center (CCHRC).
“The Arctic environment, with its high cost of energy in remote communities and challenging climates, provides a strategic platform for NREL’s research into renewable power, sustainable transportation, energy efficiency, and energy systems integration,” NREL says. Based in Fairbanks, Alaska, CCHRC has designed energy efficient, healthy homes in some of the harshest conditions on Earth.
Temperatures in the Fairbanks area range from minus 50 degrees to 80 degrees Fahrenheit each year. NREL and CCHRC have complementary research capabilities—whole-building energy use, building energy system integration, health and indoor air quality, and energy technology design and deployment in extreme and rural environments.
NREL’s 10-year strategy includes a focus on Integrated Energy Pathways, an expanding research area that guides solutions to enable the efficient and reliable operation of our future energy system. “The expanded collaboration between the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Cold Climate Housing Research Center will allow us to test the resiliency and reliability of energy-efficient and renewable energy technologies in extreme weather conditions,” said Daniel R. Simmons, assistant secretary for the office of energy efficiency and renewable energy.
Related Stories
| Aug 8, 2013
Bipartisan bill would strengthen model building codes to boost energy efficiency
The Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act, a bipartisan U.S. Senate bill, would strengthen model building codes to make new homes and commercial buildings more energy efficient.
| Aug 2, 2013
Design of world’s tallest wood skyscraper would be more sustainable than steel alternative
Architecture firm C. F. Møller has proposed building the tallest wooden building in the world in Stockholm, Sweden.
| Aug 2, 2013
Texas law expected to help reduce construction payroll fraud
Texas lawmakers want to get tough on construction companies that commit a certain form of payroll fraud, passing a new law recently signed by Gov. Rick Perry.
| Aug 2, 2013
Surveys show parking space requirements far in excess of what is necessary
Officials in the Northwest’s large metropolitan areas have sent survey takers out at night through apartment and condominium lots and garages, recording empty and full spaces, and comparing their tallies with the number of apartments.
| Aug 2, 2013
Netherlands Institute of Ecology built to zero waste principles
The Netherlands Institute of Ecology was designed and built to be the most sustainable building in Holland and incorporate the zero waste principles of Cradle-to-Cradle design.
| Aug 2, 2013
Threat of more powerful coastal storms could curtail development
Led by Stanford University’s Natural Capital Project, researchers mapped the intensity of hazards posed to communities living along America’s coastlines from rising seas and ferocious storms now and in the decades to come.
| Jul 26, 2013
AGC launches new coalition to help bring tax relief to construction sector
Associated General Contractor of America (AGC) has launched the Coalition for Fair Effective Tax Rates to bring tax relief to the construction sector.
| Jul 26, 2013
Legislation would revamp federal contracting policy impacting small design and construction firms
Legislation was introduced in the U.S. House of Representative this month to ban reverse auctions when an agency determines small businesses are qualified to bid on the solicitation.
| Jul 26, 2013
Detroit’s problems may make blue infrastructure codes more likely
The City of Detroit’s financial problems may make it more likely to adopt blue infrastructure standards.
| Jul 26, 2013
Cities should reconsider rooming houses to build affordable housing stock, says expert
Building codes have effectively outlawed the bottom end of the private housing market, driving up rents on everything above it, argues the Sightline Institute's Alan Durning.