AFWERX to Fund Branch Technology’s 3D-Printed Building Retrofit System

The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory’s AFWERX directorate has awarded a $1.13 million contract to Branch Technology under the USAF’s Small Business Innovation Research program. The funding calls for the development of a 3D-printed retrofit system for insulating the exterior walls of buildings.

Under the award, the Chattanooga, Tennessee-based company will work on a 3D-printed retrofit panel system that is fully scalable and customizable to match an existing building to enhance its energy efficiency significantly.

The design will be demonstrated on a building at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 2024, with further applications planned in other military buildings, Branch Technology said.

According to David Goodloe, the company’s program development manager, retrofitting existing buildings is the only feasible solution to “improve the performance of the Air Force’s built environment.” Constructing new buildings is often “more expensive, carbon-costly and wasteful,” he added.

Projects like Branch Technology’s get funding via competition in the SBIR and the Small Business Technology Transfer program to drive startups’ research and development of products and services.