Industry-Government Partnership Funds
New
Energy-Saving and Building Technologies
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 23, 2000 |
Contact: John
Blair, NIST Stephanie Carnes,
PATH
|
The Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Commerce today announced grants totaling nearly $1.1 million for six industry projects under the Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing that promise new or improved energy-saving and homebuilding technologies within 18 months. The research and development grants will fund further development of the following technologies:
The awards inaugurate a new program called the PATH Cooperative Research Program, or PATH-CoRP. As a part of PATH, PATH-CoRP forges multi-year cooperative research and development agreements with industry, designed to further PATH's goals. PATH is public-private initiative launched by President Clinton in 1998 to speed the creation and use of new housing technologies to improve the quality, affordability, durability, energy efficiency and environmental performance of homes. PATH's main mission is to reduce the monthly cost of new housing by 20 percent or more by 2010. PATH is managed by the HUD. PATH-CoRP is administered by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, an agency of the Commerce Department's Technology Administration. In addition to HUD and DoC, PATH partners include 10 additional federal agencies and a number of housing industry representatives. HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo said, "These inaugural PATH-CoRP awards will help to transform good ideas into useable products. Homebuyers, remodelers, builders and manufacturers all gain when new technology makes its mark in the housing industry." Commerce Secretary William M. Daley said, "PATH-CoRP taps into the American genius for technology innovation. By providing vital matching seed money for research, PATH-CoRP spurs the residential product development and commercialization effort." HUD will fund up to 70 percent of the PATH-CoRP projects. Industry participants will match the PATH funds with an additional $984,000. Following is a list showing each of the PATH-CoRP grant awardees, the company location, the PATH-CoRP project, the amount of the federal cost share, the amount of company cost share, and the total partnership investment: W. Brandt Goldsworthy & Associates, Inc. AeRock, LLC Benchmark Resources, Inc. PowerLight Corporation Steven Winter Associates, Inc. Persimmon Homes, LLC The selection process was highly competitive, with over 50 applicants. To be chosen for the PATH-CoRP grants, projects had to address at least one of the following seven PATH areas of interest:
In addition to the Departments of Commerce and HUD, other federal agencies participating in PATH include the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Labor and Transportation; the Environmental Protection Agency; the Federal Emergency Management Agency; the National Science Foundation; the Federal Housing Finance Board and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Private-sector members include leading homebuilding, real estate, product manufacturing, insurance and financial firms. For more information, visit PATH on the World Wide Web at www.pathnet.org or go to the NIST web site at www.bfrl.nist.gov. |