UF selected for Department of Energy project

August 16, 2010

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The University of Florida has been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory as one of the 15 research and deployment partnerships to participate in a four-year $90 million research project. The objective is to deliver innovative energy efficiency strategies to the residential market and address barriers to bringing high-efficiency homes within reach for all Americans.

Researchers in the UF College of Design, Construction and Planning will partner with a multi-disciplinary research team consisting of researchers from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln as well as prominent leaders in the residential industry.

Their proposal, titled Building Energy Efficient Homes for America, intends to explore and deliver solutions by: (1) identifying existing energy efficiency measures and developing advanced measures; (2) testing and validating measures; (3) installing measures in homes and communities; (4) addressing barriers and potential risks associated with installation of measures in new homes as well as existing homes and (5) training and educating homeowners and building professionals for a broad deployment of energy efficiency measures.

Abdol Chini, director of UF’s Rinker School of Building Construction, said that a project like this is needed in the U.S.

“There are approximately 113 million residential buildings in the United States that account for 21 percent of primary energy consumption and 20 percent of carbon dioxide emissions,” Chini said. “The overall goal of this project is to develop cost-effective solutions that reduce the average energy use of housing by 30 to 50 percent while improving comfort and quality.”

More specifically, he said, the UF team will focus on energy efficient measures for buildings that have to withstand conditions similar to Florida’s hot and humid climate.

The project will start in September 2010 and should be completed by December 2014. The budget for each of the 15 partnerships is between $1.5 and $7.5 million depending on the team’s performance.

Chini will lead the UF team which also includes building construction professors Charles Kibert, Paul Oppenheim, Robert Ries, Jim Sullivan and Russ Walters and Pierce Jones, director of the Program for Resource Efficient Communities, an interdisciplinary, entrepreneurial group at UF. The industry partners from Florida are Barry Rutenberg and Associates, G.W. Robinson Homes and Tommy Williams Homes.