Indoor amenities that improve consumer health and productivity—such as heating, cooling, hot water, and refrigeration—can be satisfied while consuming less energy through advances in building equipment. These amenities represent more than half of the energy used in U.S. residential and commercial buildings. ORNL’s R&D supports the development of affordable next-generation transformative energy efficient technologies enabling building equipment and system to play an active role in grid-interactive efficient buildings. Since the 1970s, ORNL has executed numerous equipment technology research and development collaborations with industry and university partners. Through use of extensive experimental facilities, advanced hardware-based design models, and incorporation of emerging materials, our research has helped industry launch some of the most energy-efficient building equipment technologies on the market today.
- Vapor-compression cycles (including trans-critical, ejector, and other variations)
- Non vapor-compression cycles (magnetocaloric/electrocaloric)
- Absorption/adsorption/desiccant cycles
- Working fluids, materials
- Heat Pumps, air conditioners, dehumidifiers
- Packaged rooftop units
- Appliances
- Water heaters
- Supermarket refrigeration systems
- Ground-source space conditioning and water heating systems
- Multi-zone heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems
- Wireless communications, sensors, controls, fault detection and diagnostics
- Combined Heating and Power
- Next-generation heat exchangers