The Building Technologies Office (BTO) Emerging Technologies Program has announced the availability of up to $19.5 million for the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) DE-FOA-0001632, “Building Energy Efficiency Frontiers and Innovation Technologies (BENEFIT) – 2017.” BTO will select projects in four topic areas: two targeted “Frontiers” topics in Advanced Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration (HVAC&R) and Miscellaneous Electric Loads (MELs), and two “Open” topics. The Open topics comprise early-stage research and development (R&D) (“Innovations”) and pre-commercial prototype development and scale-up (“Scale-Up”) that complement the core program activities and balance the R&D portfolio.
The Open Innovations topic targets proof-of-concept stage hardware and software technology solutions to building energy efficiency. The Open Scale-Up topic seeks to develop fully functional, pre-commercial products that are ready for demonstration in operational, occupied buildings. The Frontier Advanced HVAC&R topic seeks to accelerate development of next generation technologies, including both electric- and fuel-driven (natural gas, propane, as well as other alternative fuels) solutions. The Frontier MELs topic seeks to reduce the energy consumption of electric loads outside of a building’s core functions of lighting, HVAC&R, and water heating. This FOA seeks overarching technology approaches that target diverse MELs, because each individual type of MEL represents only a small portion (<1000 TBtu) of the overall energy usage.
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DETAILS
- Submission deadline for concept papers: January 4, 2017
- Submission deadline for full applications: March 8, 2017
- Informational webinar: December 6, 2016, at 3:00PM ET — Register now
- Question about FOA: email BENEFIT17@ee.doe.gov
- Learn more about: our Emerging Technologies program