The 2015 Energy Exchange held in Phoenix, Arizona was the perfect setting to present ESTCP’s mission in the Energy and Water (EW) program area. Organized by the Federal Energy Management Program and hosted by the United States Department of Energy, the Energy Exchange brought together energy managers and sustainability professionals working to improve facility performance, advance the use of renewable energy, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions at federal sites.
ESTCP technical advisor Mr. Scott Clark was a speaker for the opening session of the Energy Technologies track. Mr. Clark presented a detailed overview of the ESTCP EW program area including the history, funding process, and opportunities for technology transfer.
Three Principal Investigators (PIs) in the EW area presented progress on cutting-edge energy technology demonstrations during sessions:
Mr. Charles Hammock is the PI for the project “Coupling Geothermal Heat Pumps with Underground Seasonal Thermal Energy Storage” (EW-201135). He provided a descriptive overview of a new technology in the United States, Underground Seasonal Thermal Energy Storage (USTES). The objective of this project is to demonstrate that a high-efficiency geothermal heat pump (GHP) system coupled with a USTES system can provide higher energy savings than traditional geothermal systems and with lower installation and lifecycle costs.
Dr. Michael West is currently the PI for the project “Demonstration and Testing of an Energy Efficiency Ratio (EER) Optimizer System for DX Air-Conditioners” (EW-201338). With a focus on Direct Expansion air conditioners, the objective of this project is to demonstrate a simple but effective EER measurement and feedback control technology for reducing the energy consumption across a large portfolio of these units across the Department of Defense (DoD). He was also the PI for the 2013 ESTCP Project of the Year, “Demonstration and Testing of ClimaStat® for Improved DX Air-Conditioning Efficiency” (EW-201144).
Mr. Scot Duncan is a Co-PI for the project “High Efficiency Dehumidification System (HEDS)" (EW-201344). The objective of this project is to demonstrate the HEDS in DoD buildings at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and Tinker AFB, Oklahoma. This technology can cut peak day cooling loads by approximately 30% and completely eliminate the reheat energy required for proper relative humidity control on peak load days.
In addition, a session on ground-breaking energy auditing technologies featured recently completed ESTCP demonstrations:
“Kinetic Super-Resolution Long-Wave Infrared Thermography Diagnostic for Building Envelopes” (EW-201241) demonstrated a unique drive-by thermal imaging process that can enable the identification of cost-effective energy conservation measures in building envelopes at a much larger scale than other commercially available techniques of measuring thermal losses.
“Electronic Auditing Tool with Geometry Capture“ (EW-201260) demonstrated a tablet-based tool called simuwatt™ Energy Auditor, which concept3D now offers as a commercial product.
”Rapid Building Assessment” (EW-201261) demonstrated remote energy audits that can be accomplished in hours – regardless of size or type of building – and at a fraction of the cost without a site visit, while simultaneously yielding performance analysis results similar to ASHRAE Level II on-site audits. FirstFuel received the ESTCP Project of the Year award in 2014.
