DOE Allocates $61M for Energy-Efficient Smart Building Projects

The Department of Energy has allocated $61 million in funding for 10 projects focused on the establishment of energy-efficient smart workplaces and smart homes.

The funding, which ranges between $4.2 million and $6.65 million, will go to a variety of organizations across the United States. The projects covered smart housing, energy distribution, renovations, clean energy production and facilities conversion. The funding opportunity is led by the Building Technologies Office and is done in collaboration with the Solar Energy Technologies Office, the Vehicle Technologies Office, the Office of Electricity and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, DOE said.

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said connecting workplaces would maximize convenience for workers, cut energy bills and help the country reach a carbon-neutral status by 2050. Rep. Mike Doyle noted that new technologies for connected communities will be key to establishing affordable and cleaner energy systems.

A connected community consists of grid-integrated efficient buildings, infrastructure that use flexible equipment and other distributed energy resources that work together to maximize energy efficiency. GEBs also use sensors and controls that could manage up to 30 percent of commercial buildings’ peak load. In an ideal scenario, connected community technologies could provide up to 29 percent in energy savings for commercial buildings. The savings could help the U.S. achieve its carbon neutrality goals, especially considering that buildings account for over 70 percent of the country’s electrical consumption and power sector carbon dioxide emissions.

The Energy Department introduced its GEB initiative to convert buildings in the U.S. into clean and flexible energy resources. It stays true to the connected community concept in which buildings would use smart technologies and two-way tech communications to ensure that work sites would operate as efficiently as possible without wasting energy.