The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), with technical assistance from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Building Technologies Office (BTO), is moving forward with pilot demonstrations of nine building technologies. The American-made technologies were chosen in response to the most recent request for information (RFI) seeking technologies for net-zero carbon buildings. The evaluations are intended to validate the technical and operational characteristics of the technologies and their potential for future deployment.

  • Additive that Increases Heat Transfer, Endo Enterprises/Pace49 (Bellingham, Washington) – This hydronic additive aims to improve the heat transfer properties of water to reduce energy use in closed-loop HVAC systems.
  • Bidirectional EV Charging, Fermata Energy (Charlottesville, Virginia) – This vehicle-to-everything technology aims to turn EVs into energy storage assets by charging EVs during off-peak hours and sending power back to the grid during peak hours, increasing resilience and lowering the cost of EV ownership.
  • Building Energy Management Systems AI+AER, The Building People (Leesburg, Virginia) – This control package of software is designed to reduce energy consumption, cost, and emissions while improving comfort. It provides real-time control to reduce emissions based upon the energy sources supplying power to the grid.
  • C02-Based Heat Pump, Dalrada (Escondido, California) – This combustion-free heat pump aims to increase heating and cooling efficiency by capturing and reusing thermal energy while reducing global warming potential. Using carbon dioxide as the refrigerant, this heat pump proposes to operate in temperatures between -22°F to 250°F.
  • Energy Management Information System – BAS, Sidewalk Labs (New York, New York) – This technology, Mesa, intends to function as a lower cost Building Automation System (BAS in-a-box) equipped with a variety of sensors to reach markets overlooked by traditional BAS systems (targeting ≤25k sq.ft).
  • EV Charge Management, WeaveGrid (San Francisco, California) – This EV charge management proposes to integrate embedded vehicle telematics with utility signals to optimize charging based on vehicle use, demand charges, and the carbon content of delivered power.
  • High Efficiency Dehumidification System (HEDS), Conservant (Laguna Hills, California) – HEDS is a simplified design for HVAC dehumidification that also improves chiller/boiler plant efficiency. The system connects to the chilled water loop to provide remove humidity while also using low-grade heat to serve as the reheat energy.
  • Non-Metalized Window Film, 3M (St. Paul, Minnesota) – This non-metalized window film aims to increase window thermal performance with increased durability and reduced reflectivity without cellular signal interference. The exterior film claims to block heat transmission, making it an efficient option even on coated or tinted glass.
  • Solar PV Tracking, Rocking Solar (Monroe, Ohio) – This single-axis solar tracker proposes to increase commercial rooftop solar photovoltaic energy production by adapting a proven utility tracking technology with a new low-profile rocker design that reduces friction, motor size, and the cost of sun-tracking.

About HIT Catalyst and GPG Programs

The DOE High Impact Technologies (HIT) Catalyst and GSA Green Proving Ground (GPG) competitively assess novel technologies annually for field validation and performance verification. Both programs partner with third-party evaluators to test the technologies in real-world applications within existing buildings. 

The DOE HIT Catalyst program partners with organizations across the commercial buildings industry for field validation to streamline the adoption of solutions with significant energy savings and greenhouse gas reduction potential. For more information on the HIT program, please visit the High Impact Technology Catalyst page.

The GSA GPG program enables GSA to make investment decisions in next-generation building technologies based on actual performance. Following favorable evaluation results, 23 GPG-evaluated technologies have been deployed in more than 500 facilities in GSA’s real-estate portfolio. For more information about the GPG program, please visit www.gsa.gov/gpg.