Buildings use 40 percent of America’s primary energy and 75 percent of its electricity, which can jump to 80 percent when a majority of the population is at home using heating or cooling systems and the seasons reach their extremes.
Buildings use 40 percent of America’s primary energy and 75 percent of its electricity, which can jump to 80 percent when a majority of the population is at home using heating or cooling systems and the seasons reach their extremes.
The US Department of Energy’s (DOE)’s Building Technologies Office (BTO), one of eight technology offices within DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, aims to reduce the energy consumption per square foot of American buildings by 30 percent from 2010 to 2030—a massive challenge considering that America is home to 124 million building structures.
At the same time, DOE’s Office of Electricity (OE) supports research for a more efficient, secure, and modern power grid, including research on ways to control electricity demand to keep the grid balanced and more resilient to disruption.
Read more at DOE / Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Image: ORNL-created Chattanooga building energy models. Image Credit: Joshua New, ORNL
