The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded more than $76 million in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to support advanced energy-efficient building technology projects and the development of training programs for commercial building equipment technicians, building operators, and energy auditors, according to a government press release.
The awards will fund 58 projects throughout the country to make buildings buildings more energy efficient and cost-effective, while supporting new worker training to service and operate the buildings.
The nation's 114 million households and more than 74 million square feet of commercial floor space account for approximately 40 percent of U.S. primary energy consumption, as well as 39 percent of carbon dioxide, 18 percent of nitrogen oxides, and 55 percent of sulfur dioxide emissions. Of the awards, $68.4 million will go toward advanced energy-efficient building technology projects, including improving analysis, design and technical tools, improving the efficiency in residential and commercial buildings through window and envelope components, and increasing the efficiency of HVAC systems.
The awards include an approximately $3.5 million to Soladigm in California and almost $3 million for Dow Chemical in Michigan.
The DOE recently launched the Highly-Insulating R-5 Windows and Low-e Storm Windows Volume Purchase Program, as part of a multi-year integrated strategy to help drive the use of high-efficiency windows, and elected 48 research and development projects as the winners of the agency’s Industrial Energy Efficiency Grand Challenge. The $13 million in funding will be shared across the award winners to develop “transformational” industrial processes and technologies that can significantly reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions throughout the industrial sector.
