© Fraunhofer USA

Fraunhofer CSE: Applied R&D to Drive Clean Energy Technology Commercialization & Economic Development

June 2014

© Fraunhofer USA

Fraunhofer is the largest organization for applied research in Europe

More than 81 research institutions, including 60 Fraunhofer institutes

22,000 employees, the majority educated in the natural sciences or engineering

An annual research volume of 2 billion euros, of which 1.5 billion euros is generated through contract research.

2/3 of this research revenue derives from contracts with industry and from publicly financed research projects.

1/3 is contributed by the German federal government and the Länder governments in the form of institutional financing.

International collaboration through labs and representative offices in Europe, the US, Asia and the Middle East

© Fraunhofer USA

Fraunhofer Center for Sustainable Energy Systems (CSE)

501(c)(3) non-profit, applied R&D laboratory

Headquarters located in Boston (MA), additional laboratories in Revere (MA) and Albuquerque (NM)

~ 45 employees, including full-time staff and Fellows

Funded by:

Commonwealth of Massachusetts National Grid Fraunhofer ISE Fraunhofer Gesellschaft Anonymous private donors

Our Mission: Foster economic development through the commercialization of clean energy technologies for the benefit of society

© Fraunhofer USA

Fraunhofer CSE Energy Systems Research and Development

Building Energy Efficiency

Building Enclosures

Energy Management & Behavior

Field Testing & Evaluation

Technology Assessment

Distributed Electrical Energy Systems

Grid Impact of High PV and Wind Penetration

Microgrids

E-Mobility Integration

Supporting early-stage clean technology companies

Photovoltaic Technologies

Module Design

Module Manufacturing

Reliability

System Integration

Fraunhofer TechBridge

Generation Demand Distribution

Fraunhofer CSE’s research activities have continued to grow in the areas of energy generation, energy efficiency and distribution. Our work bridges academia and industry to develop commercializable technologies.

© Fraunhofer USA

Advanced Building Enclosure Materials

Building Data Acquisition

Building Integrated Photovoltaics

Human Behavior Lab

Fraunhofer CSE’s Research Facilities

Over the last 5 years, CSE has built interdisciplinary labs to support our mission.

PV Module Manufacturing

PV Performance and Durability

Smart Grid Test Field

Advanced Field Testing

© Fraunhofer USA

Building Energy Efficiency Group Mission

To accelerate the development, commercialization, and deployment of the next generation of energy-saving building technologies and practices.

Decrease primary energy consumption and CO2

emissions

Enhance Durability

Create a Productive and Healthy Indoor Environment

Areas of Focus:

Energy Management and Behavior

Building Enclosures

Building Technology Assessment

Source: Wotzak (2009).

© Fraunhofer USA

Energy Management & Behavior Working at the Intersection of Technology and People

Development of Behavioral Campaigns

Building Energy Consumption Characterization

Building Technology Assessment

Whole-Building Energy Modeling

Smart Meter Data Analytics and Algorithms

Field Testing and Evaluation

© Fraunhofer USA

Opportunity: Evaluate the side-effects of an energy efficiency campaign

Challenge: Most findings are based on lab experiments or surveys, not on actual real-world behaviors

Project Example: Field Evaluation of Spill-Over Effects of a Water Conservation Campaign

Investigated the impact of a water conservation campaign on electricity usage behaviors in the field

154 participating households in one apartment complex

Assigned households to treatment and control groups Provided feedback for 11 weeks

Measured water and electricity consumption per household

Findings: Residents lower their water usage by ~6%, but increased

electricity consumption by ~5.6%: Suggests moral licensing

Approach:

© Fraunhofer USA

Client: U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)

Opportunity: Programmable thermostats have a large energy savings potential

Challenge: Most home occupants do not effectively use their themostats – does usability increase use of energy-saving features?

Approach:

Recruited multifamily building for a field study with 90 households

Randomly installed high usability and basic thermostats in units

Installed non-intrusive sensors to monitor temperatures and HVAC activity

Applied data analysis algorithms to evaluate thermostat use

Project Example: Field Evaluation of Programmable Thermostats (1) 2

Source: Honeywell

© Fraunhofer USA

Findings:

Negligible use of nighttime setback in both groups

Comfort trumps energy: average 72oF at night

Suggests high usability alone is not sufficient

Need to increase motivation

Need trigger action

Project Example: Field Evaluation of Programmable Thermostats (2)

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for

personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. To copy otherwise, to republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee.

Persuasive’09, April 26-29, Claremont, California, USA.

© Fraunhofer USA

Project Example: Field Evaluation of Steam Control Technology

Client: Radiator Labs

Challenge: Steam heated buildings often overheat

People open windows, wasting energy

Insulating radiator technology delivers heat to rooms only when needed

Approach

Prototype field testing and evaluation in 100-unit building in New York City

Deploy additional instrumentation

Analyze field data, occupant surveys

Outcomes

Measured energy savings, thermal comfort, and occupant satisfaction

Identified technology improvements

Insulating Sleeve + Fan Control = Thermal Comfort + Energy Savings

© Fraunhofer USA

Building Enclosures High-Performance and Durable Retrofit Solutions

Energy, Thermal, and Hyrgrothermal Modeling

Steady-State and Dynamic Laboratory Thermal Testing

Whole-Building and Test Hut Field Testing

Hygrothermal Labs in Development

© Fraunhofer USA

Project Example: Field Testing of Exterior Insulation Finishing System (EIFS) Based on Vacuum Insulation Panels (VIPs)

Client: U.S. Department of Energy

Goal: To assess the field performance of the VIP-based EIFS technology in building retrofit applications.

Implemented VIP-based EIFS as a new retrofit strategy to selected test houses in Maine Climate

Deployed instrumentation for field testing to measure temperature and moisture gradients in the walls

Monitored field performance for one year

Evaluated and analyzed the field test data

Performed energy (EnergyPlus) simulations and hygrothermal (WUFI) analyses to validate and extend performance evaluation

Outcomes:

Found a low risk of moisture accumulation, with moisture contents of plank wood and plywood <12% based on modeling and measurements

Energy modeling found annual heating energy consumption savings of 49%, with savings of 71% achievable with improved air tightness

© Fraunhofer USA

Project Example – Guidelines for Cool Roofs

Client: Oak Ridge National Laboratory / DOE

Goal: Create science-based practical guidelines to help building owners to effectively consider cool roofs for commercial buildings

Assessed cool roof options for different roof types

Synthesized the technical literature on cool roof performance

Interviewed roof installers and product manufacturers

Evaluated cost and energy savings of cool roof options

Identify key factors and pros/cons for building owners to consider

Outcome:

Final Guidelines Document – Posted on DOE/BT website:

http://www1.eere.energy.gov/femp/pdfs/coolroofguide.pdf

© Fraunhofer USA

Project Example: Internal Roof and Attic Thermal Radiation Control Retrofit Strategies

Client: U.S. Department of Energy, RIMA

Goal: Evaluate how radiation control retrofit strategies for residential roof/attics in cooling-dominated climates can decrease cooling loads.

Implemented internal roof/attic radiation control technologies: Radiant Barrier (RB) & Internal Radiation Control Coating (IRCC) in two Texas test homes

Performed 6-month field test, measuring temperatures, heat fluxes, HVAC energy consumption

Analyzed measurements and performed energy simulations (EnergyPlus) to extend energy savings and cost effectiveness analyses

Outcomes:

34% reduction of attic-generated cooling load due to RBs and 24% reduction due to IRCC

Simple payback period of retrofits from 16 to 22 years

© Fraunhofer USA

The 5 Channel Center Living Laboratory Accelerating the transfer of building science into building practice

© Fraunhofer USA

Before … a 100 year-old former warehouse = historic building.

18

© Fraunhofer USA

1. Reduce building loads

2. Meet loads efficiently

Design Philosophy

19

© Fraunhofer USA

Historic Commissions

Boston and National Parks

Walls and windows

Two Projects

Core & shell

Tenant fit-out

Small building footprint

Design Constraints

20

© Fraunhofer USA

HVAC – Reduce Loads

Highly insulate walls (only interior allowed!) and roof

Reduce outdoor air (OA) volumes

OA pre-conditioning

High-performance windows

Reduce summer solar heat gain

HVAC –Meet HVAC loads efficiently

“Low-lift” cooling

Efficient chiller

Design Philosophy

21

© Fraunhofer USA

Lighting

Lower ambient light levels

Dim and turn off lighting when possible

Efficient lighting

Plug Loads

Regenerate energy from elevator

Turn plug loads off

Ongoing Commissioning

Design Philosophy

22

Source: Osram Sylvania

© Fraunhofer USA

5 Channel Center: A Living Laboratory for Building Energy Efficiency

Research:

Research and develop building energy technologies

Enclosures

HVAC

Energy management and behavior

Lighting / shading

Vertical transport

Demonstrate & Validate:

Monitor, test, and evaluate building system performance