Amanda Kirkeby is an energy engineer in NREL's Applied Engineering Group. She supports the development of resources for high-performance laboratories and other building-systems related initiatives across the lab. She also supports the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon Design Challenge. Kirkeby joined NREL in 2019 as a science undergraduate laboratory intern with the Commercial Building and Building Energy Science Groups and a research participant program intern with the Applied Engineering Group. Her interest in high-performance buildings began with the Race to Zero Competition, now the Solar Decathlon Design Challenge, in which she was part of the Middlebury undergraduate team that designed an award-winning zero energy elementary school.

Research Interests

High-performance buildings

Energy and resilience solutions for remote and rural locations

Sustainable design with people in mind

Thermo- and fluid dynamics of building systems

Biomimetic technologies

Education

B.A., Physics, Middlebury College

Featured Work

Brilliant Execution of Smart Labs: Employing Best Practices to Improve Safety and Reduce Energy for Sustainable Labs, ACEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings (2020)