Last week we wrote about a couple funding opportunities through the Department of Energy. Another $33.5 million is now available through the Building Technologies Office for energy efficient, advanced building construction technologies and practices. The BTO’s focus will be to “develop deep energy retrofit and new construction technologies that holistically tackle a combination of envelope, heating, cooling, water heating, and ventilation issues, and hold appeal for both building owners and occupants.” Concept papers are due 6/10/19.
The topics of interest for this FOA are:
- Integrated Building Retrofits
- New Construction Technologies
- Advanced Technology Integration
Why should you care about these types of announcements? Because they are opportunities for us to advance our industry and to take advantage of the energy breakthroughs that are continuing to push down the cost of renewable energy.
Solar farms are showing up in communities and large corporations are signing contracts with wind farms. A deal in Chile was recently signed that should supply solar energy at 2.91 cents per kWh and drop energy costs for businesses there to around 25% by 2021.
Last fall, a northern Indiana utility company announced it will invest in renewable energy and by 2028 they expect 65% of the electricity they generate will come from wind, solar, and battery storage... and 0% from coal. Additionally, JinkoSolar recently made a deal with the largest power generator in the U.S., which will be purchasing around 7 million panels over four years.
Both decisions were based on the economic case for renewable energy.
These advancements we’re seeing, including improvements in areas like battery storage, will only create greater opportunity in our industry to push innovation further - and get us closer to 100% renewable energy and a world filled with zero energy homes.