Lead Performer: Rocky Mountain Institute – Basalt, CO
Partners:
-- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory – Berkeley, CA
-- TK Fabricate – Syracuse, NY
-- Staengl Engineering – Crozet, VA
-- Syracuse Center of Excellence – Syracuse, NY
DOE Total Funding: $475,000
Cost Share: $125,000
Project Term: July 1, 2020 – January 31, 2022
Funding Type: Advanced Building Construction FOA Cooperative Agreement
Project Objective
The objective of this project is to design, fabricate, and commercialize integrated mechanical system pods (IMSPs) for small and large multifamily buildings across the U.S to facilitate rapid deployment of deep energy retrofits. While IMSPs have been developed in Europe, most notably as part of the Energiesprong program, they have not yet been manufactured to meet U.S. market needs. To address this gap, this project team will develop IMSPs that are applicable to America’s unique multifamily building typologies and climates.
The project team will develop two models of IMSPs: (1) the IMSP-U for buildings with individual apartment mechanical systems and (2) the IMSP-C for buildings with central mechanical systems. These pods will provide heating, cooling, ventilation, domestic hot water, dehumidification and grid-interactive controls in one simple, highly efficient, and easy to deploy package. Both IMSPs will be designed to be deployed in low-load applications driven by corresponding envelope improvements or mild climates.
Project Impact
The creation of an easily deployable IMSP that can commercialize and scale up quickly, adapt to a variety of existing conditions, and achieve cost compression at scale, will help unlock a dramatic increase in deep energy retrofit rates across the country. By eliminating the time-consuming, disruptive, costly, and bespoke nature of traditional retrofit approaches, there is a potential market of 16.1 million multifamily units and an estimated annual energy savings of up to $4.3 billion in ASHRAE climate zones 3, 4, and 5 alone.
The IMSPs alone are estimated to reduce site energy use by 27% (29% of heating energy reduction, 18% of cooling energy reduction, and 91% of domestic hot water energy use). If deployed across the targeted multifamily sector, the total technical potential savings is 463.7 TBtu per year. IMSPs, however, will not be designed to be deployed alone, but rather as part of an integrated retrofit with building envelope solutions. When integrated with a panelized envelope retrofit, the potential savings is approximately 1,009 TBtu a year.
Contacts
DOE Technology Manager: Charles Llenza, [email protected]
Lead Performer: Brett Webster, Rocky Mountain Institute
Related Publications
Prefabricated Zero Energy Retrofit Technologies
Next-Generation Building Mechanical Systems