Senate panel looks at impact of new advanced building management, control systems on energy efficiency, resilience

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee explored the potential for new advanced building management and control systems to achieve greater energy efficiency, and the impact on homes and businesses in rural areas, during a hearing on Tuesday.

Representatives from the Department of Energy (DoE), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Cold Climate Housing Research Center, Southern Company, and Emerson Commercial and Residential Solutions testified about new smart technologies and made policy recommendations during the hearing.

While a recent DoE report found that new homes use approximately 20 percent less energy for space heating, and energy efficient equipment cuts household energy costs by $216 per year, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), the chairwoman of the committee, noted that the impact is even greater in rural communities.

“These numbers are dramatically different in Alaska, where energy costs are exorbitantly high, and some of our rural communities live dangerously close to, or are already in, energy insecurity,” Murkowski said. “Some Alaskan families pay thousands of dollars a month — up to half of their household budgets, on energy alone. The challenges in rural Alaska are unique, and that is certainly true when it comes to optimizing the way a building uses energy.”

Bruno Grunau, the chief programs officer of the Cold Climate Housing Research Center in Fairbanks, Alaska, testified that reducing energy consumption in homes and businesses is “a vast and untapped resource” with potential to drive job creation and investments, bolster grid security and resiliency, and promote financial security and social equality.

“New buildings can and should be designed to use much less energy than existing buildings at little additional cost,” Grunau testified. “Attention to siting, building form, window properties and location, material selection and the incorporation of natural heating, cooling, ventilation and daylighting are among the strategies we are using to achieve this end. After maximizing energy efficiency, a building’s energy demand can be met or supplemented by renewable sources such as solar, photovoltaic, wind, biomass and other viable sources.”

Grunau recommended that the federal government continue to fund energy efficiency programs and results-based research on building envelopes, heating and ventilation systems.

“These results are immediately utilized by building managers, homeowners and builders across the country,” Grunau said. “Smart controls and building automation systems are part of this integrated approach, but this approach alone may not be suitable for mass implementation. Lower-hanging fruit — insulation, better lighting — will have a much greater impact for mass implementation. At the same time, we need to fund research institutions for advanced control systems so they can be easily integrated with existing systems.”

Cooperative programs that incorporate public-private partnerships should also be encouraged, Grunau added, along with demonstration projects that can be leveraged to forge change in the building community.

“These critical research, development and demonstration projects usually involve, in one way or another, the donation of equipment, materials and labor from private-sector partners,” Grunau said. “This important private-sector contribution should be encouraged by offering tax incentives. Congress should consider tax incentives that encourage investment in projects that shift away from fossil fuels to clean energy sources. By engaging private-sector partners in this way, the burden of developing and expanding critical research in efficiency programs is not shouldered by industry or government alone.”