*** BENEFIT FOA 2nd Informational Webinar will be held Tuesday, March 25, 2014 3:00-4:00 ET. Register at: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/344478633 ***
The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) has issued, on behalf of the Building Technologies Office (BTO), a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) entitled Building Energy Efficiency Frontiers and Incubator Technologies (BENEFIT) - 2014, Number DE-FOA-0001027. The FOA is posted on the EERE eXCHANGE website at https://eere-exchange.energy.gov.
Mandatory concept papers must be submitted through the EERE eXCHANGE website by March 6, 2014, followed by full applications due by April 21, 2014. Applicants must first register and create an account on the EERE eXCHANGE website. A User Guide for EERE eXCHANGE can be found at https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/Manuals.aspx after logging in to the system.
The BENEFIT FOA includes the following Areas of Interest:
Incubators (Off-Roadmap):
Area of Interest 1: Open Topic for Energy Efficiency Solutions for Residential and Commercial Buildings
Innovative energy-efficiency technologies, approaches, or design tools NOT already supported or targeted by BTO are eligible to apply under this area of interest, providing they show a clear application to residential and/or commercial buildings with significant primary energy savings potential.
Area of Interest 2: Innovative Sensors & Sensor Systems
Develop open architecture sensors and sensor systems that easily share data to enable building operators and owners to cost effectively capture energy and cost savings through the use of new and existing control system applications. Major goals in this development area are low cost, data sharing, and ease of deployment (plug-n-play methodologies).
Frontiers (Roadmap-Driven):
Area of Interest 3: Advanced Energy-Efficient Clothes Dryers
Applications are sought for advanced energy-efficient clothes dryers (vented and ventless). Economic and technical goals are defined for this area. Furthermore, concepts with measurable non-energy benefits, which are important for market success, are particularly encouraged.
Area of Interest 4: Highly Insulating Building Envelope Components
Subtopic 1, Visibly transparent building envelope components: There are technical and economic goals for this area that are significant improvements of current technology. Performance metrics include ≥ R-7 (residential) and ≥ R-5 (commercial).
Subtopic 2, Opaque building envelope components: The metrics and targets for this subtopic are > R-8/inch building envelope thermal insulation material that can be added to either the exterior or interior walls in existing buildings at < $0.30/ft2 installed cost premium (labor and material).