Open Competition 3 - Information Technology

Integrated Concurrent Design of High Efficiency Commercial Buildings

Sponsor: United Technologies Research Center

• Project Performance Period: 5/1/2004 - 12/31/2007
• Total project (est.): $11,141,738.00
• Requested ATP funds: $5,570,804.00

Commercial buildings in the United States consume 15 to 20 percent of the total national energy production, and about 40 percent of this amount is spent on heating, cooling, ventilation, and hot water. Design and operation of these systems typically rely on practices many years old, resulting in efficiencies of only about 30 percent - much lower than potential efficiencies as high as 80 percent. Closing this gap has the potential to generate substantial national benefits through reduced energy use and emissions. United Technologies Research Center and Oculus Technologies Corp. (Boston, Mass.) plan a three-year project to develop and demonstrate a suite of software tools to advance the design-specify-build process for energy-efficient commercial and residential buildings, with an emphasis on heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) and cooling, heat, and power (CHP) technologies. The project is intended to produce the U.S. building industry's first top-down systems integration and concurrent engineering approach, addressing barriers to integration at both the physical level (energy and mass flows) and information level (controls and design process). The project initially will focus on development of simulation, analysis, and information technology tools for end-to-end HVAC design for new and reconfigured buildings. The scope then will be broadened to include CHP components and systems, such as microturbines and fuel cells. Carnegie-Mellon University's Department of Architecture (Pittsburgh, Pa.) will contribute knowledge of high-performance buildings and the design-build process. The ATP funding will accelerate the research by five to seven years and is needed because the project involves too much risk and too long a time frame for private investors. Once successfully concluded, the project will extend to the building industry the benefits of concurrent engineering, which has been documented to reduce engineering changes by 90 percent, development time by 30 to 70 percent, and time to market by 20 to 90 percent in other applications. Initial targets will include commercial market sectors such as supermarkets, office buildings, hospitals, hotels, and schools. While not the focus of the project, the new tools and methods also could have derivative applications in aerospace, automotive, consumer goods, health care, and other industries.

For project information:

Paul J. Vitello, (860) 610-7617
VitellPJ@utrc.utc.com

Active Project Participants

• Green Building Studio, Inc. (Santa Rosa, CA)
  [New Member since original JV was formed]
  
• Oculus Technologies Corporation (Boston, MA)
  [Original, Active Member]
  

ATP Project Manager

Carlos Grinspon, (301) 975-4448
carlos.grinspon@nist.gov