Emerging Technology Deployment
The focus of the Emerging Technologies Program is on highly energy efficient products for residential and commercial buildings applications that have the potential for large energy savings on a national scale. The Program targets products requiring late-stage (two years or less) development prior to commercialization, as well as products recently commercialized, yet not established in the market.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) use a number of approaches to speed market introduction of new, energy-efficient products, including technology demonstrations, development of voluntary technical standards, product design competitions, and technology procurements.
Technology procurements, one of the more innovative approaches, pull new, highly efficient and affordable products into the marketplace through competitive procurements backed by large-volume buyers. Typical technology procurement projects take the following steps:
Organize selected large volume buyers and market influencers (such as utilities); Interact with buyers to understand their business and technology needs in detail; Develop technical specifications in consultation with both buyers and manufacturers of the technology; Issue a competitive solicitation to potential manufacturers/suppliers, requesting their bids to provide new products meeting the specifications; and Select one or more winners from those bids, then implement marketing and consumer education programs to maximize the purchase of the newly available products.
Successful projects include new apartment size refrigerators, subcompact fluorescent lamps, reflector compact fluorescent lamps, unitary air conditioners and other efficient products.
Sample of Current Emerging Technologies Project
High Performance Windows Volume Purchase
PNNL is supporting the DOE's Building Technologies Program (BTP) in coordinating a volume purchase of high performance windows, and low-e storm windows, to expand the market of these high efficiency products. Price is the principal barrier to more widespread market commercialization. The aim of the volume purchase initiative is to work with industry and potential buyers to make highly insulated windows more affordable. One of the tools that PNNL has developed to support this effort is the Windows Volume Purchase Products website. A buyer interested in purchasing a minimum quantity of windows can identify vendors offering the desired window types at the listed prices using the website’s search function. A windows energy savings estimator tool for residential buildings is also provided
For more information on what PNNL is doing to support high performance windows, please contact Katie Cort at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory at (509) 372-4374.
L-Prize – Bright Tomorrow Lighting Prizes
Through management and technical support, including competition design, specification development, test and evaluation, PNNL is supporting the U.S. Department of Energy's, L Prize energy efficient lighting competition. L Prize is the first government-sponsored technology competition designed to spur lighting manufacturers to develop high-quality, high-efficiency solid-state lighting products to replace the common light bulb. The L Prize competition will substantially accelerate America's shift from inefficient, dated lighting products to innovative, high-performance products.
The first L Prize winner was able to produce a commercially available product that met extensive L Prize technical performance criteria that centered on the production of a 60-watt equivalent light source that utilized less than 10-watts. The winner of the competition was awarded a $10 million dollar prize. The competition is now moving into its second phase as industry is being challenged to produce an L Prize compliant recessed down light.
For more information about on what PNNL is doing to support energy efficient lighting, please contact Kelly Gordon at (503) 417-7558.
Next Generation Lighting Design Competitions
Through management and technical support, PNNL represents the Department of Energy in co-sponsoring The Next Generation Luminaires™ (NGL) Solid State Lighting (SSL) Design Competition. The competition was created to recognize and promote excellence in the design of energy-efficient LED commercial lighting luminaires. The focus being that in order for the public to adopt energy efficient technology it not only has to perform well but also has to look good. DOE\PNNL partners with the Illuminating Engineering Society and the International Association of Lighting Designers in holding both an annual energy efficient interior and exterior lighting competition.
For further information on energy efficient lighting, please contact Ruth Taylor at (503) 417-7570.