Buildings and Grid Manufacturing

NREL is researching new manufacturing approaches for producing advanced building materials and technologies, developing standardized energy efficiency protocols, and optimizing manufacturing facility interoperability with the grid.

Capabilities

NREL supports advanced manufacturing through various buildings- and grid-related capabilities and projects.

Cellphone Tower Power System Prototype Testing

NREL validated a cellphone tower power system based on DC interconnection and photovoltaics to reduce operating costs and environmental impacts. This work was enabled through a cooperative research and development agreement between NREL and Verizon Wireless.

Both wearing eyewear and blue shirts, two researchers communicate while standing on the side of a long piece of machinery, one holding a blue and white object while the other points to the machinery.

High-Performance Computing and Advanced Air-Conditioning Technology

NREL is using its molecular dynamics capabilities to help an HVAC technology company improve its energy-efficient solutions for air-conditioning technologies. NREL's efforts support industry efforts to reduce costs, enhance building-user performance, and limit greenhouse-gas emissions.

District Energy Systems

NREL researchers and collaborators are developing advanced capabilities for district-scale simulation of heating and waste heat recovery energy systems in support of NREL's Urban Renewable Building and Neighborhood Optimization (URBANopt) tool and other modeling tools.

Roof of the the Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF) at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado.

Uniform Methods Project

NREL supports the Department of Energy in publishing protocols for evaluating, measuring, and verifying savings for its energy efficiency programs. These protocols bring uniformity to the way states, utilities, programs, administrators, and evaluators calculate energy savings.