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This SERDP and ESTCP webinar focuses on DoD-funded research efforts to build upon energy efficiency at DoD installations. Specifically, investigators will cover retrofitting LED lighting controls and insulating secondary window attachments at DoD installations.
Abstracts
“Validating the Digital Lumens Wireless LED Lighting Control Retrofit” by Mr. Bryan Urban (ESTCP Project EW-201718)
Smart lighting controls can cut energy usage by 50% or more through task tuning, daylight dimming, and occupancy-based controls. However, DoD adoption has been slow due to cost concerns and integration challenges. Recently, at Westover Air Reserve Base, a fully integrated wireless LED controls platform by Digital Lumens cut lighting energy use by more than 80%, while boosting illumination, safety, and user satisfaction. Before and after lighting performance were measured in an aircraft maintenance hangar, supply warehouse, and gymnasium, totaling 200,000 square feet. Installed costs, including hardware, controls, and commissioning, were less than $2 per square foot in high-bay applications. Lifetime energy savings of over $1M is expected on a $300,000 investment. This presentation will cover the design, implementation, and performance benefits of integrated LED lighting controls, with the goal of promoting higher awareness and adoption in DoD applications.
“Demonstration of Window Energy Management Systems (WEMS™)” by Mr. John Slagter
Through an award from ARPA-E and ESTCP, The Mackinac Technology Company is demonstrating the effectiveness of Window Energy Management Systems (WEMS™), highly insulating secondary window attachments, at three DoD facilities (U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado, Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Michigan, and a GSA Green Proving Ground site in Denver. Data is gathered from test and control rooms to calculate R-values, SHGC, and visible transmission. Differences in energy flow between the control rooms and the insulated rooms are quantified using interior and exterior temperatures, as well as solar irradiance levels. The demonstration objective is to reduce energy loss through the existing double pane baseline windows by 65%. The glazing target goals for double pane glass windows augmented with double pane WEMS™ units are that R-value is increased by R-5.5; the solar heat gain coefficient ratio is 0.60; the visible transmittance ratio is 0.65; and there are energy savings/heat flux improvements of 55,000 Btu per square foot per year (window retrofit area). Mackinac’s WEMS™ units enhance the economic and energy security of DoD buildings by reducing energy loss through windows and enabling more efficient use of other energy demands such as HVAC and artificial lighting.
Speaker Biographies
Mr. Bryan Urban is a Senior Engineer at the Fraunhofer USA Center for Manufacturing Innovation in Boston, Massachusetts. He has more than 15 years of experience in applied research related to building technology, energy systems, and cyber security. Mr. Urban has served as principal investigator on several ESTCP Installation Energy and Water demonstrations, including an HVAC analytics platform, cybersecurity tools for facility-related control systems, and an award-winning wireless lighting controls retrofit for high-bay applications. Other notable projects include field testing of phase change insulation materials, a net-zero solar elevator, and energy modeling of dynamic building systems. Mr. Urban received a bachelor’s from Cornell University and a master’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, both in mechanical engineering.
Mr. John Slagter is CEO of The Mackinac Technology Company in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He founded Mackinac in 2007, working in partnership with Fraunhofer USA to develop insulation and energy management systems for fenestration. Mackinac has since grown into a multinational business with research and development operations in North America and Europe. Mr. Slagter is currently serving as a principal investigator for a partnership project funded by ARPA-E and ESTCP on demonstrating the energy savings of Mackinac’s Window Energy Management Systems (WEMS™), a secondary window attachment system. He also served as a PI for an ARPA-E OPEN award resulting in the core technology for the WEMS™ innovation, a low-e coating for architectural membranes. Mr. Slagter further developed the WEMS™ technology for DoD use with blast mitigation through a contract with the USACE Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) and blast testing at ERDC’s Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory in Vicksburg, Mississippi.
