DOE launches crowdsourcing website for technology innovators

The U.S. Department of Energy launched a crowdsourcing website designed to aid technology innovators in collecting, sharing, and evaluating input from their customers and other stakeholders about next-generation building technologies.

The website, known as the Buildings Crowdsourcing Community, is administrated by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and can be used by start-ups, designers, buildings scientists, and students to share ideas that can be turned into energy-efficient technolgoeis for buildings and homes.

The website will remain open until 11:59 p.m. EST on May 31. Until then, the Buildings Crowdsourcing Community will accept new idea submissions, comments, and votes on submissions.

Some ideas that have been submitted so far include: modular building facades, improving air tightness in envelopes, and scalable mixed waste to energy conversion technology.

Those who are interested in participating on the site can register through the ORNL Buildings Crowdsoucing Community. The best ideas will be recognized during the DOE's Building Technologies Office Industry Day in September.

Gas and construction industry groups recently moved to dismiss a lawsuit they had filed to block new Washington state building codes that require heat pumps in new residential and commercial construction. The lawsuit contended that the codes harm the industry groups’ business, interfere with consumer energy choice, and don’t comply with federal law.

Green | Aug 7, 2023

Rooftop photovoltaic panels credited with propelling solar energy output to record high

Solar provided a record-high 7.3% of U.S. electrical generation in May, “driven in large part by growth in ‘estimated’ small-scale (e.g., rooftop) solar PV whose output increased by 25.6% and accounted for nearly a third (31.9%) of total solar production,” according to a report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Resiliency | Aug 7, 2023

Creative ways cities are seeking to beat urban heat gain

As temperatures in many areas hit record highs this summer, cities around the world are turning to creative solutions to cope with the heat. Here are several creative ways cities are seeking to beat urban heat gain.

Government Buildings | Aug 7, 2023

Nearly $1 billion earmarked for energy efficiency upgrades to federal buildings

The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) recently announced plans to use $975 million in Inflation Reduction Act funding for energy efficiency and clean energy upgrades to federal buildings across the country. The investment will impact about 40 million sf, or about 20% of GSA’s federal buildings portfolio.

Codes and Standards | Aug 7, 2023

Cambridge, Mass., requires net-zero emissions for some large buildings by 2035

The City of Cambridge, Mass., recently mandated that all non-residential buildings—including existing structures—larger than 100,000 sf meet a net-zero emissions requirement by 2035.