Department of Energy funds target energy efficient construction

The Department of Energy (DOE), through its Advanced Building Construction with Energy-Efficient Technologies & Practices (ABC) Funding Opportunity Announcement, is making up to $33.5 million available for construction initiatives.

The announcement seeks to develop deep energy retrofit and new construction technologies addressing a combination of envelope, heating, cooling, water heating, and ventilation issues. The first topic addressed is Integrated Building Retrofits, which focuses on integrating technologies as a means of achieving more affordable, deep energy savings in existing buildings. The second topic is New Construction Technologies, which focuses on building design, construction and installation to improve affordability, scalability, and performance of energy efficient building systems and methods. The third topic is Advanced Technology Integration, which focuses on field validation of new innovative technologies and building practices, workforce training, and service delivery methods suited to regional and/or local needs, including those related to building stock, regional climates and grid characteristics.

The DOE maintains the nation’s 118 million homes and 5.6 million commercial buildings account for 40 percent of the nation’s total energy demand and use 75 percent of its electricity while about half of America’s homes and commercial buildings were built before 1980, when most of today’s more efficient products and building construction practices did not yet exist.

Concept papers are due on June 10, 2019, by 5:00 p.m. ET to be eligible to submit a full application.