In the past, buildings and appliances have been
constructed to last. Now, they also must be made more efficient to save energy
and money. Energy efficiency also has important environmental benefits. Use of
less fuel reduces emissions of pollutants that threaten the health of people,
animals, plants, and ecosystems. Also, it can delay potentially undesirable
changes to the global climate that might occur if atmospheric carbon dioxide
emissions from fossil-fuel combustion increase enough to raise the earth's
surface temperature significantly. 
About 50 Oak Ridge National Laboratory
researchers and numerous industrial researchers have been working together on
improving U.S. building energy efficiency at the Buildings Technology Center (BTC), national user facility in ORNL's Energy Division that is
supported by DOE's Office of Building Technologies.
This aerial view of ORNL shows the Buildings Technology Center—the three
buildings with white roofs approximately in the center of the photograph.
The BTC provides the building and appliance industries with broad access
to a unique collection of testing and analysis capabilities. The special focus
of these capabilities is energy-efficiency improvements.
BTC is devoted to building envelope research, development of heating and
cooling technology, and existing buildings research. Here are some of its
achievements.
In building envelope research, BTC participants determined the thermal
performance of different types of roof, attic, wall, and foundation
insulations, including alternative insulations that do not contain
chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which threaten the earth's protective ozone layer.
They developed decision guides and databases for roof, wall, and foundation
construction; with this information, for example, a building designer can
determine if the selected roof color and slope are cost effective. They found
the cause of significant heat losses from low-density loose-fill insulation in
attics in cold climates and identified insulation strategies that reduce these
losses. As a result, improved attic insulations have been installed in affected
homes in northern states.
In heating and cooling technology, BTC researchers evaluate high-efficiency
electric and gas heat pumps in the laboratory and field. They assess options
for improving energy efficiency of central heating plants and cogeneration
plants that provide both heat and electricity. They design and test
modifications to refrigerator-freezers that improve their energy efficiency and
eliminate CFC refrigerants. They assess the global-warming impact of CFC
alternatives.
In existing buildings studies, the researchers develop and field-test
energy diagnostic procedures for residential and commercial buildings. They
have discovered ways in which to improve dramatically the energy evaluation and
performance of the building structure, its heating and cooling equipment, and
its thermal distribution system. As a result, they have provided important
advanced technologies for major initiatives like the Weatherization Assistance
Program, the Affordable Homes Partnership of the departments of Energy and
Housing and Urban Development, Rebuild America, and Energy Efficiency in
Military Family Housing.
The following articles are devoted to special BTC topics: refurbishment of
old roofs, energy audit software, energy losses from ducts in homes, energy use
in commercial buildings, and refrigeration and heat pump research.
Where to?
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