BFRL Program

Healthy and Sustainable Buildings

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The building sector consumes enormous amounts of energy and is projected to consume as much energy as the combined usage of the industry and transportation sectors by 2050. Net-Zero Energy Buildings – buildings that produce as much energy as they consume – offer a means of significantly reducing the Nation’s energy usage.

The goal of the Healthy and Sustainable Buildings Program is to provide the measurement science that will enable the development, deployment, and use of building energy technologies that will move the Nation towards Net-Zero Energy Buildings while providing a healthy, productive, and safe indoor environment. The Program addresses building energy and indoor air quality measurement science in a holistic, integrated manner that considers system interactions involving weather, the building envelope, control systems, and space conditioning equipment. Research efforts are focused on the development of cost-effective building energy monitoring systems, improvements in the efficiency of space conditioning equipment through self diagnostics and enhanced design tools, providing accurate metrics to capture the performance of thermal insulation and renewable/distributed energy systems, and improved indoor air quality (IAQ) through measurement science advancements to address volatile organic compounds (VOC) emissions, air cleaning technology, and indoor air quality models. Metrics to assess the sustainability of buildings and to quantify the carbon footprint of buildings are an integral part of the program.

The Healthy and Sustainable Buildings program will transform U.S. innovation and competiveness in the building sector by enabling the introduction and widespread use of next-generation building energy technologies needed to achieve Net-Zero Energy buildings. Additional impacts of this program include significant reduction in the Nation’s CO₂ emissions and reduced stress on the electrical power grid. Previous impacts of this program have included methods of testing and rating procedures that are used exclusively throughout the appliance and solar thermal industries, leadership in the formation of the U.S. Green Building Council, identification of alternative refrigerants used throughout the refrigeration and air-conditioning industries in response to ozone depletion issues, and providing the technical foundation for energy and indoor air quality standards adopted by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE.)

Component Projects:

• Measurements and Standards Test Bed for Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the Large Fire Laboratory

• Energy Monitoring System for Net Zero Energy Buildings

• Nanofluids Heat Transfer Measurements

• Advanced Tools for Simulating Performance of Vapor Compression Systems

• Novel Methods for Optimization of HVAC & R Equipment

• Fully Automated Fault Detection and Diagnostic Methods for Residential Heat Pumps

• Alternative Cooling Technologies

• Solar Photovoltaic Performance Measurement and Predictions

• Development of a Rating Methodology for Micro-Cogeneration Technologies

• Development of New Standard Reference Materials for Testing of Thermal Insulation

• Ventilation and Indoor Air Quality in High-Performance Buildings

• Emissions Testing Standards for Volatile Organic Compounds

• Advanced Aerosol Transport Modeling for Indoor Environmental Analysis

• Air Cleaner Performance Measurements and Predictions

• Metrics and Tools for Sustainable Buildings

Contact:
A. Hunter Fanney
(301) 975-5864
hunter.fanney@nist.gov

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