Renew-Wall

Lead Performer: New Jersey Institute of Technology – Newark, NJ
Partners:
-- BASF Corp. – Ludwigshafen, Germany
-- Alpen High Performance Products – Louisville, CO
-- BRINC Building Products – New Bethlehem, PA
Total Funding: $633,944
DOE Funding: $525,000
Cost Share: $138,944
Project Term: January 1, 2022 – June 30, 2025
Funding Type: BENEFIT 2020 Funding Opportunity Announcement

Project Objective

Every year more than 1 million homes in the U.S. are re-sided and 3.7 million homes have windows and or doors replaced. Very few of these jobs are optimized for improved enclosure performance. Consequently, opportunities for significant increases in energy performance are being routinely overlooked in hundreds of thousands of homes each year. Compounding the problem is the fact that re-siding and/or window replacement jobs typically occur only once every 25 years or so, with the result that current practice is locking in performance inefficiencies that won’t be remedied for decades to come.  

The Renew-Wall initiative aims to disrupt this pattern with cost-effective technologies with the power to transform any standard re-siding job into a whole building envelope energy upgrade. Through this project, Renew-Wall will design, prototype, install, test and evaluate a unique high-performance residential wall retrofit assembly that incorporates a cost-effective insulation/air barrier/water-resistive barrier system, an innovative, re-engineered thermally broken window surround, and a high-performance storm window – instead of window replacement – into standard re-siding projects. The assembly will also achieve estimated heating/cooling energy savings of 30% or more. This technology will significantly improve the energy efficiency of typical re-siding jobs in the U.S. 

Project Impact

Renew-Wall has the potential to catalyze a significant shift in how energy upgrades are implemented in existing homes. Instead of trying to “push” efficiency measures as stand-alone projects undertaken only for energy reasons, layering energy-efficiency upgrades into home improvement projects that are happening anyway could be a promising and cost-effective new approach for energy savings. In these cases, the incremental costs of the upgrades could be significantly reduced, since the bulk of the home improvement is being paid for anyway, and window replacement is avoided, resulting in shorter paybacks. 

Contacts

DOE Technology Manager: Sven Mumme
Lead Performer: Christine Liaukus, New Jersey Institute of Technology

Related Publications

C. Liaukus. 2014. Energy Efficiency Measures to Incorporate into Remodeling Projects. NREL/SR-5500-63154. https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy15osti/63154.pdf