Lawrence Livermore lab receives grant to study building energy efficiency

Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) were awarded a grant of $3 million for a three-year project aimed at using building energy more efficiently to shave peak electric energy usage.

The grant was awarded by the Department of Energy’s Building Technologies Office (BTO) and the Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy (EERE).

LLNL’s project seeks to establish metrics of peak energy usage and energy shaving capabilities that can be used by grid operators to lower the cost of their services.

“With more data becoming available, we have more ideas about how buildings behave, and how the peak forms,” the project’s lead researcher Jhi-Young Joo Joo said. “We want to process that data to be able to estimate how much of the peak can be shaved or shifted to help with grid operations. We’d like for grid operators to have accurate metrics in terms of how much buildings can provide in peak shaving capabilities when the grid needs reduction of energy consumption.”

Joo said it is often difficult for grid operators to account for the buildings’ energy flexibility accurately. This project is designed to help them estimate buildings’ capability for grid efficiency.

Researchers will work with the Contra Costa County Public Works Department in California, which will provide energy consumption data on more than 50 buildings they manage. They will also work with New York University, which who will provide similar data on about 20 buildings.

The project is scheduled to begin in October.