On July 1, 2020, DOE’s EERE announced that the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) issued a Notice of Opportunity (NOO) providing small businesses and other industry partners with more affordable access to ORNL’s Building Technologies Research and Integration Center (BTRIC). The NOO allows small businesses to undertake collaborative, short-term R&D projects that accelerate the development of new energy-efficient building technologies. Funded by DOE’s Building Technologies Office (BTO), selected participants will have access to ORNL’s experienced staff, equipment, and research capabilities. This NOO is particularly designed to significantly reduce the time, cost, and risk of bringing a novel product to market and to accelerate and streamline partnering processes. Each project cost share will be reduced from 50 percent to 20 percent to encourage innovation despite economic hardships caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
ORNL is requesting proposals from industry to assess whether their technological approaches could contribute to BTO’s goal of 30 percent reduction in building energy usage by 2030 relative to the 2010 baseline. Technology areas of interest include:
- Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC), water heating, and appliances;
- Windows and building envelope;
- Solid-state lighting;
- Building energy modeling;
- Sensors and controls;
- Grid-interactive efficient buildings; and
- Residential and commercial building integration.