BTO Adds 6 Projects Led by Small Businesses for More Efficient, Equitable, Healthy, and Resilient Buildings

On July 10, 2023, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $72 million in funding for small businesses to pursue scientific, clean energy, and climate research, development, and demonstration projects, nearly 300 in all (296) across 44 states. This year, the Building Technologies Office (BTO) is investing $1.4 million into six of those projects, with one project co-funded by the Advanced Materials & Manufacturing Technologies Office. Together, these projects will pursue innovations to accelerate building decarbonization across three research areas including decision tools, distributed energy resources, and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems.

America’s small businesses play a critical role in facilitating the transition from discovery to innovation, helping create a bridge between the scientific laboratory and the commercial marketplace. DOE’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs aim to transform science and technology breakthroughs into viable products and services that can be utilized by the American people and across all sectors of the nation’s economy. Small businesses with selected projects will receive Phase I Release 2 grants that demonstrated technology feasibility for innovations during the first phase of their research. Phase I awards are up to $200,000 over the duration of 6 to 12 months.

This year’s Phase I selections in BTO’s portfolio:

Topic C56-10b: Buildings Decarbonization

• ADC Technology, San Jose, California – “Advanced Microencapsulated Carbon Sorbents for Distributed Carbon Capture in Buildings.” ADC Technology will develop a system for distributed carbon capture that enables buildings to remove carbon from the atmosphere by augmenting HVAC ductwork and the air handling unit to include carbon capture systems. If successful, ADC Technology’s carbon capture system will help decarbonize buildings by removing CO₂ from the buildings’ indoor air at a much faster rate than existing technologies, which helps reduce energy use on exhaust ventilation from increased recycling of conditioned indoor air.
• ecoLong LLC, Slingerlands, New York – “Equitable Decarbonization and Evaluation Program.” ecolong will develop a community-centric equitable decarbonization and evaluation program, which includes energy efficiency retrofits, technology evaluations, community virtual power plant developments, and distributed energy resources management systems for residential buildings. Upon successful development, ecolong’s program will provide municipalities, community-based organizations, technology vendors, and low-and median-income households across the nation with decarbonization strategies that are replicable, scalable, and sustainable.
• INFRANERGY LLC, Wellington, Florida – “Virtual Power Plant Utilization to Drive Energy Efficiency and Power Market Optimization for Multifamily Buildings.” INFRAENERGY will develop software that leverages the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's VOLTTRON to control and optimize energy use in multifamily buildings. If successful, INFRAENERGY’s technology could buttress the grid’s operational reliability by creating readily dispatchable, mixed-asset virtual power plants, which are composed of diverse buildings and their distributed energy resources.
• Energy Wall, Lancaster, Pennsylvania – “Molecular Air Conditioner.” Energy Wall will develop a Molecular Air Conditioner—a hybrid solution that combines the benefits of heat pump technologies with desiccant-based dehumidification, which doubles as a technology to sequester atmospheric carbon during its operation. Upon successful development, Energy Wall’s technology will offer the capabilities to operate as carbon scrubbers that effectively remove and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere while reducing energy consumption associated with HVAC systems’ operation in a single unit.
• Veritel Energy, LLC, Cheyenne, Wyoming – “A Platform to Decarbonize Multifamily Housing with Adaptive Battery Optimization Creating a Resilient and Equitable Electrical Grid.” Veritel Energy will develop a hardware and software package for multimetered and/or multifamily properties with electrical data management systems to minimize the required capacity of local battery storage systems and provide resiliency and cost-savings to tenants. If successful, Veritel Energy’s package could increase the adoption of local energy storage in multimetered and/or multifamily buildings by providing a one-stop shop solution for utilities, property owners, and tenants that simplifies the management of energy (including storage) usage, accounting, and billing.

Topic C56-20c: Other Subtopic for Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies

• AeroShield Materials, Hyde Park, Massachusetts – “Improved Manufacturability and Throughput of Ultra-Transparent, Super-Insulating Aerogels.” AeroShield will develop a new and environmentally friendly manufacturing process of ultra-transparent and super-insulating silica-based aerogels for insulated glass unit windows. AeroShield’s new manufacturing process will increase production volumes of these aerogels without significant changing its performance, which will significantly decrease costs. If successful, AeroShield’s silica aerogel and manufacturing process could increase the adoption of ultra-high-performance double-pane windows in energy-efficient buildings by surpassing typical triple-pane window performance. These advancements would make high-performance windows more affordable and attractive while removing barriers associated with triple-pane windows, such as high assembly weight, low product availability, and total system cost.

Small businesses play a major role in spurring innovation and creating jobs in the U.S. economy. The SBIR and STTR programs were created by Congress to leverage small businesses in advancing innovation through federal agencies. Read more about DOE’s SBIR and STTR programs and the full list of projects announced on July 10, 2023.