PPPL is Part of Energy Innovation Hub Team Receiving $122 Million

Photo: Elle Starkman, PPPL

PPPL Science Education Head Andrew Zwicker at his lab.

The DOE Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) is part of a research consortium awarded $122 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to 
establish an Energy Innovation Hub focused on developing technologies to make buildings more energy efficient. PPPL will receive $1.2 million over five years to lead the Hub's education and workforce development task.

"We are delighted to be part of this Hub, and in training the next generation in energy efficient technologies,” said PPPL Director Stewart Prager. "Our mission at PPPL is to develop a clean energy source — fusion — and to nurture future plasma and fusion scientists. This Hub goes hand-in-hand with that mission by supporting green building technologies and applying our education expertise and techniques to energy efficiency training."

The Energy Innovation Hub will be located at the Philadelphia Navy Yard Clean Energy campus, and will bring together leading researchers from academia, two U.S. National Laboratories — PPPL and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory — and the private sector in an ambitious effort to develop energy efficient building designs that will save energy, cut pollution, and position the United States as a leader in this industry. The Pennsylvania State University will lead the Hub team.

"The Energy Innovation Hubs are a key part of our effort to harness the power of American ingenuity to achieve transformative energy breakthroughs," said U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu. "By bringing together some of our brightest minds, we can develop cutting-edge building energy efficiency technologies that will reduce energy bills, cut carbon pollution and create jobs. This important investment will help Philadelphia become a leader in the global clean energy economy."

Workforce development will receive $8M over five years. PPPL Science Education Head Andrew Zwicker will oversee the creation of education programs to train present and future workforces about energy efficiency technology and systems. This would include educational models to integrate HUB research activities into secondary and college-level curricula, as well as training programs that incorporate energy efficient building systems concepts into traditional occupations for present workers.

"We've developed educational models for twenty-first century energy sources. These models will be tailored for energy efficiency training,” said Zwicker.

Buildings account for nearly 40 percent of U.S. energy consumption and carbon emissions. Developing systems to improve building efficiency will provide significant benefits — reducing energy use and bills, cutting pollution, and creating jobs in the building efficiency industry.

"Our vision for a world powered by clean, safe, abundant fusion power is clear. We must recognize that the technologies and science needed to make such a world a reality — and the programs needed to support our research endeavor — can be applied in other energy-related areas, such as what will be done for building efficiency as part of this Hub," said PPPL Deputy Director for Operations Adam Cohen.

He noted that along the path toward developing fusion, the Laboratory has implemented and innovated energy efficiency into its operations. "This gives PPPL a strong experience base for creating training models in energy efficiency," Cohen said.

The mission of this Energy Innovation Hub is to research, develop and demonstrate highly efficient building components, systems, and models that are applicable to both retrofit and new construction. The Hub team will pursue a research, development and demonstration (RD—amp;D) program targeting technologies for single buildings and district-wide systems.

These technologies include computer simulation and design tools to enable integrated project teams of architects, engineers, contractors and building operators to work collaboratively on retrofit, renovation and new building design projects; advanced combined heat and power (CHP) systems; building-integrated photovoltaic systems for energy generation; advanced HVAC systems with integrated indoor air quality management; and sensor and control networks to monitor building conditions and optimize energy use. The RD&D program will also incorporate a systematic analysis of the role of policy, markets and behavior in driving the adoption and use of energy technologies in buildings.

The Energy-Efficient Building Systems Design Hub is one of three Hubs that will receive funding in FY10. In May, the Department announced that a team led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory will establish a Hub on modeling and simulation for nuclear reactors. In July, the Department announced that a team led by the California Institute of Technology will establish a Hub focused on developing Fuels from Sunlight. The Energy Innovation Hubs are large, multidisciplinary, highly collaborative teams of scientists and engineers working over a longer time frame to achieve a specific high-priority technical goal. They will be managed by top teams of scientists and engineers with enough resources and authority to move quickly in response to new developments.

The team, led by Dr. Henry C. Foley, will use the Navy Yard campus, which has over 200 buildings and operates an independent electric microgrid as a "virtual municipality" to test and validate the technologies developed by the RD&D program in real buildings.

The Energy Innovation Hub will be funded by the Department of Energy at up to $22 million this fiscal year. The Hub will then be funded at an estimated $25 million per year for the next four years, subject to Congressional appropriations.