On July 16,2021, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) announced its intent to issue a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) on behalf of the Building Technologies Office (BTO) entitled, “Advanced Building Construction (ABC) – 2021.” This FOA would fund research that could accelerate the renovation and construction of affordable, appealing, and energy-efficient buildings to ensure America has a carbon-neutral building economy by 2050.
There are almost 129 million non-industrial buildings in the United States that collectively use 75% of the nation’s electricity and 40% of its energy. Energy use in our buildings is responsible for 35% of our country’s carbon dioxide emissions. To achieve the Biden Administration’s 2050 goal of a carbon-neutral building economy, the energy efficiency of our building stock must improve significantly.
This FOA, developed in support of BTO’s Advanced Building Construction Initiative, will seek R&D projects that can accelerate energy efficiency upgrades and benefit all Americans–including underserved communities. ABC seeks innovations that:
- result in high-performance, low-carbon buildings with lower energy bills, improved indoor air quality, improved comfort, and reduced maintenance;
- deliver faster building renovations with less disruption to building occupants; and,
- incorporate modernized construction and manufacturing techniques to drive down costs and scale production of both low carbon new buildings and retrofit components.
View the DOE announcement for more information on the upcoming opportunity.