Skip Navigation to main content U.S. Department of Energy Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
Building Technologies Program
 
About the ProgramProgram AreasInformation ResourcesFinancial OpportunitiesTechnologiesDeploymentHome
About the Program: Photo of the outside of an office building. About the Program

National Laboratories

DOE's national laboratories offer extensive scientific and technical R&D expertise for new building technologies and improved building practices. DOE labs work to enhance energy efficiency nationwide by conducting advanced research, technology development and demonstration, market transformation, energy codes and standards modeling, and industry and consumer education. DOE labs also test, measure, analyze, and qualify advanced technologies and products, leading to energy usage standards and ratings for buildings and building components. The principal laboratories involved in the Building Technologies Program's R&D are:

Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL

Argonne National Laboratory's mission is to apply a unique mix of world-class science, engineering and user facilities to deliver innovative research and technologies. Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC, for the U.S. Department of Energy.

Research at Argonne centers around three principal areas:

  • Energy
    • Energy Storage: Argonne develops transformational energy storage systems that enable and enhance electric-drive vehicles and a green-energy grid through electrical energy storage development, prototype and manufacturing process engineering, stationary storage and grid management, and electric transportation systems.
    • Alternative Energy and Efficiency: Argonne is developing the next generation of alternative energy sources to promote energy independence through improved chemical fuels, advanced biofuels, and solar energy systems, as well as through the optimization of fuel and engine dynamics.
    • Nuclear Energy: Argonne develops advanced reactor and fuel cycle systems — including fast reactor and fuel cycle technologies, advanced modeling and simulation methods, and innovative nuclear energy systems — to enable the safe and sustainable generation of nuclear energy.
  • Biological and Environmental Systems
  • National Security

Argonne scientists and engineers carry out both fundamental and applied scientific projects and maintain a number of large scientific user facilities that enhance research, especially projects that use hard X-rays and advanced computers.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, California

Building technologies R&D at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) focuses on windows, daylighting, advanced lighting systems, and indoor air quality. Maintaining facilities and equipment for cooperative and sponsored R&D, the lab develops window, lighting, and glazing technologies that save energy and improve visual and thermal comfort of building occupants. The lab also develops software that allows architects and building engineers to design or retrofit buildings for maximum energy efficiency and occupant comfort.

Some of LBNL's specialized R&D facilities and equipment include:

  • The Energy-Efficient Lighting Laboratory for development of efficient lamps, ballasts and fixture systems, and measurement and testing of thermal and photometric performance of advanced lighting systems
  • Environmental chambers and pollutant dispersion facilities for studying sources and behavior of indoor air pollution

National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), Pittsburgh, PA

The National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) has expertise in coal, natural gas, and oil technologies, contract and project management, analysis of energy systems, and international energy issues.

NETL manages research and development projects for the Building Technologies Program. This project management responsibility is done as part of the Project Management Center, along with the Golden Field Office.

NETL's years of project management excellence and significant technical knowledge help EERE achieve its mission. NETL provides project, procurement, and financial management to support EERE's programs.

The scope of NETL's project management work includes soliciting for technology R&D or support needs, managing the selection process, creating statements of work, developing project milestones, tracking project budgets, and participating in project continuation decisions.

NETL participated in the creation of the Project Management Center, EERE's first dedicated field resource for project management capability.

National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, Colorado

Established in 1977 to pursue solar energy R&D, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) advances national goals for energy-efficient buildings through advanced materials research in switchable window technologies, research in building heat transfer, thermodynamics, and systems engineering, and facilitation of strategic planning with a multitude of public- and private-sector stakeholders. NREL researchers and engineers also work with industry to test and evaluate new building designs, technologies, and equipment that increase the overall energy efficiency of both residential and commercial buildings.

NREL Building Technologies Program's overall research goal is to develop advanced systems that reduce energy loads by 60% and integrate onsite power systems including photovoltaics, fuel cells, and biomass power generators. Major priorities are improvements in residential and commercial buildings, in building equipment and components, building energy analysis tools, manufacturing, and in lighting and appliance standards. Key initiatives include Solid State Lighting, Zero Energy Buildings, Electrochromic Windows, and Building America Phase III.

As the primary field agent for the DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, the Golden Field Office builds partnerships to develop, commercialize and encourage the use of those technologies, and in doing so, works closely with NREL, other national laboratories, the private sector, state and local governments, and many other stakeholders across the nation.

NREL is home to the National Centers for Photovoltaics and Wind Technology. Other state-of-the-art labs and equipment at NREL include:

  • Advanced Heating, Ventilating, and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) Test Facility — measures realistic performance of desiccant dehumidifiers; air-conditioning components such as heat exchangers, heat pipes, and evaporators; and entire systems.
  • Concentrated Solar Radiation User Facility—with industry partners, researchers discover new ways to reduce manufacturing costs, increase product quality, and reduce pollution using sophisticated equipment such as a High-Flux Solar Furnace and a UV Concentrator.
  • Field Test Laboratory Building—contains 41 laboratories in which a wide range of research activities are conducted to help industry use renewable resources and waste more productively. Several of these laboratories focus on desiccant cooling and dehumidification technologies, including the Sorption Tests Facility, Heat and Mass Transfer Test Facility, and the Desiccant Contamination Test Facility.
  • Outdoor Test Facility—with industrial partners, researchers test the performance and reliability of over 3,500 photovoltaic cells and fabricated modules, using these state-of-the-art laboratories, outdoor test beds, and support services.
  • Thermal Test Facility—research includes study of advanced cooling, ventilation, ventilation pre-heat, and active solar systems. In addition to housing research facilities, the building itself was designed as a research model that provides data for application for buildings designed in the future.

Read about NREL buildings research.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Oak Ridge National Laboratory's (ORNL) Buildings Technology Center (BTC) is the premier U.S. research facility devoted to developing technologies that improve the energy efficiency and environmental compatibility of residential and commercial buildings. A designated National User Facility, BTC partners with industry and universities to identify, develop, and deploy energy-efficient building system technologies. BTC efforts focus on:

  • First-generation packages of combined cooling, heating, and power (CHP) systems for buildings
  • Laboratory and field research, design, and testing of heating and cooling systems, refrigeration systems, components, and replacement refrigerants
  • Thermal engineering, including geothermal heat pumps and heat pump water heaters, as well as R&D on frostless heat pump development, environmental control devices for buildings, and energy-efficient appliances
  • Envelope systems and materials (roofs, walls, foundations, insulation, fenestration), including advanced moisture engineering
  • Building design and performance, sustainable development approaches, and technical assistance to local and community partnerships
  • BTC facilities—20,000 square feet of state-of-the-art experimental equipment—include:
    • Cooling, Heating, and Power (CHP) Integration Laboratory—for research, development, and deployment of packaged, integrated CHP systems for buildings
    • Building Envelope Test Facilities—for studying temperature, pressure, humidity, thermal performance, and exposure of wall, window, roof, and floor systems
    • Heating and Cooling Equipment Test Facilities—with environmental chambers, compressor calorimeters, multipurpose vapor compression test loops, an air-to-refrigerant heat exchanger test loop, absorption heat and mass transfer rigs, and a corrosion test laboratory

More information on building technologies R&D can be found at the ORNL Building Technology Center.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, Washington

Building technology research and development at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) focuses on multi-disciplinary solutions that enhance the energy efficiency of the nation's buildings and improve the security, comfort, and health of building occupants. PNNL buildings R&D is concentrated in the areas of automated buildings diagnostics and control, energy codes and standards, market transformation, and energy program design and implementation. Emerging R&D areas are solid state lighting and microtechnology-based heat pumps. PNNL is an R&D leader in automated diagnostics and wireless technologies for building applications. In partnership with industry, PNNL is developing the technology and capabilities needed for intelligent buildings of the future.

PNNL helps devise improved national model energy codes, including promulgation of improved Federal building energy codes. The Laboratory works with government agencies, state and local jurisdictions, national code organizations, and industry to promote stronger building energy codes and helps states adopt, implement, and enforce those codes. PNNL supports code improvement with easy-to-use building energy code compliance tools and materials.

Through collaboration with industry partners, PNNL's market transformation programs help overcome barriers to the introduction of new energy-efficient products into the marketplace. Commercialization of the small, inexpensive compact fluorescent lights, widely available today, was accomplished through PNNL Technology Procurement efforts.

PNNL supports DOE and international agencies in the design and implementation of energy efficiency programs. PNNL-developed software is used to objectively identify and assess candidate building energy improvements. Energy-saving projects have been designed and implemented at federal facilities, domestic and foreign public housing, and public buildings.