From downtown structures that reach toward the sky to to homes that shape our communities
buildings are one of the great energy challenges of out time.
Buildings use approximately 40% of our nation's energy and are also responsible for about
the same, 40% of our carbon emissions. Energy use in buildings is actually the single
largest contributor to carbon in our environment so if we can reduce the amount of energy in
our buildings, we're also reducing the amount of carbon going into our atmosphere.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Buildings Research Group is developing and
advancing renewable energy technologies and energy-saving strategies.
In labs like this, we develop more energy efficient equipment - like better air conditioning
equipment - and then, we work with large companies who utilize that equipment to save
on their energy bills. Improving building efficiency is the most
cost-effective way to dramatically decrease energy use in our commercial and residential
spaces. The homes of today are bigger, and they house
more high-tech appliances and gadgets than ever before.
We're looking to really transform America by making American homes better in every way.
That means making homes that not only consume less energy but are less expensive to operate,
are safer, are more durable, are more comfortable, and more convenient.
To make both new and existing homes more efficient, NREL is creating, advancing, and validating
an array of technologies and practices. Then, we take those systems into the field
and we put them in real houses, and we evaluate sort of the real world performance of those
technologies. Sophisticated analysis is leading to higher performing,
energy-saving homes and residential systems at lower costs.
Modern-day conveniences in the homes of tomorrow will integrate with one another - and with
the utility grid - to save both energy and money.
Everything is sort of seamlessly automating itself for the best performance possible.
We're looking at ways that in the home, we can better not only reduce the electricity
use - but control when it's used. The laboratory is partnering with the building
industry to make sustainability foundational - from concept to construction.
communities devastated in natural disasters are being re-built efficiently and homes in
the U.S. now produce as much energy as they consume.
Net-zero energy buildings are a reality today. We've done it here on our campus. We've
done it in Habitat for Humanity homes. We helped create an entire village in Hawaii
of net-zero energy homes and a community center. From the places we live to the spaces in which
we work, conserving energy and cutting carbon emissions requires a whole-building approach.
As we try to develop more energy efficient buildings - in fact, net-zero energy buildings
ultimately - what we look at is having the architects and the engineers work together
right from the beginning to design those buildings so they'll be energy efficient.
The commercial buildings research group attracts international attention but even more so
since the debut of the research support facility on the NREL campus.
It is the nation's largest net-zero energy building, which means it uses less energy
each year than generated from on-site renewable sources.
The RSF has been one of the most published and reported on buildings in the country and
that means we're doing our job in telling the world how to do high-performance, large-scale
net-zero energy. The RSF is research in action, a working
demonstration of renewable energy and energy efficiency.
One of our key strategies to reduce the amount of energy for lighting systems is to dim the
lights and turn them off based on the amount of daylighting we have - the light we're
able to bring in from the sun. Lighting and cooling consume a lot of energy
but smarter strategies in the RSF like daylighting, light-reflective spaces and natural ventilation
Are making a difference. Scientists here pioneered next-generation
window glazing. These are what we call electro-chromic windows.
The electro-chromic technology created at NREL and now, commercially available, reacts
to the sun to manage light and heat. When they're on, they go into a darkened
state that blocks sunlight coming into the building. Really probably the biggest impact
is in the cooling. Cooling loads are a tremendous problem in buildings and that's one the things
you need to try to mitigate. Efficiency is part of nearly every aspect
of the RSF, but this is about more than each individual technology.
Nrel took a novel path to planning and construction. It's the energy performance-based design-build
approach. It's the process, and the process allows
your design-build teams to innovate and integrate so they can meet your goals for your budget
and your climate and so it is scalable from the process side.
By demonstrating these technologies in the RSF, researchers can study their energy performance
and their effect on the people inside. This is a living laboratory.
It is meant to be a blueprint. Having all of that is existence-proof of a
large-scale net-zero energy building is the most powerful replication agent that we can
create. ESIF is our Energy Systems Integration Facility
and the purpose of ESIF is to work with industry, work with manufacturers, work with utilities
and really study how renewables will integrate on a large scale.
the energy systems integration facility is NREL's newest tool for moving energy efficiency
and renewable energy technologies toward mass adoption.
We're in one of the visualization labs in the Energy Systems Integration Facility.
Researchers here are customizing advanced software tools and web applications to visualize
energy flow. They can just quickly look at it and get a
sense for how the building is performing. That real-time information allows users to
react to - and direct energy. Energy performance is just one part of the
equation; the other is comfort. That's why buildings exist, so people are comfortable
and productive. Controlling energy use, optimizing system
interactions and better managing loads are the purpose of the smart power lab.
The smart power lab in the new ESIF is both a powerful research tool and also a showcase
for an end-to-end energy ecosystem. Green energy relies on natural resources
so, seamless grid integration and energy management are critical when adding another element of
variability. So, how do we control all of these different
things so we're not only minimizing the amount of electricity they pull off the grid, but
using the electricity at a time that matches when large-scale renewables are providing
that electricity. Xcel Energy leveraged NREL's expertise and
unique skill set, which is providing buildings science as well as solutions for energy efficiency
in buildings coupled with software development. NREL's broad capabilities and expertise in
buildings research is a valuable resource for academic and industry partners.
That kind of allows us a one-stop shop to marry those two capabilities and bring them
into our energy efficiency programs - really to optimize the benefits to our customers.
Laboratory partnerships help entrepreneurs reduce risks associated with product development
and support industry in proving new technologies. We have a wealth of knowledge in material
development, in testing - field testing, prototype testing, lab testing. We cover the full gamut
from component to system to building to community.
The buildings research group is framing a future where buildings consume less energy and more of that power is provided by renewable
resources. We certainly could make a huge dent if we
actually produce as much energy as we use in buildings, and that is achievable today.
The innovative research at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the results it inspires
in our buildings makes an impact that moves our nation closer to its clean energy goals.
We're going to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and foreign oil and really work toward
energy independence. We really enjoy the fact that what we're
doing helps the nation as a whole. The bottom line is to reduce our nation's energy use.