The application is due on August 18, 2009 at 8:00 PM Eastern Time. Please note: Important information regarding registration and other pre-submission requirements are included in the funding opportunity announcement (FOA). Please refer to the FOA for details.

Anticipated Notice of Selection: First and Second Quarters of Fiscal Year 2010

Anticipated Award Date: First and Second Quarters of Fiscal Year 2010

Total Funding Available: $25,000,000-$75,000,000
Number of Awards: 45-90
Award Size: $250,000-$2,000,000
Award Instrument: Cooperative Agreements

Eligibility Requirements

All types of entities are eligible to apply, except other than Federal agencies, Federally Funded Research and Development Center Contractors, and nonprofit organizations described in section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 that engaged in lobbying activities after December 31, 1995.

Program Description

The goal of the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Building Technology Program (BTP) is to achieve market ready net-zero energy residential buildings by 2020 and net-zero energy commercial buildings by 2025. Through this FOA, the DOE seeks to accelerate BTP’s goals through an increased focus on systems design, integration, and controls. This FOA also enables the DOE BTP to aggressively target existing residential and commercial buildings for energy efficiency enhancements. Each application should address a specific Technical Subtopic within a particular Area of Interest. Separate applications are required for each Technical Subtopic.

Program Areas of Interest

1) Advanced Building Control Strategies, Communications, and Information Technologies for Net-Zero Energy Buildings: The first Area of Interest seeks to support the development of advanced building control strategies, communications, and information technologies to transform the design, operation, and maintenance of both new and existing buildings. Proposed technologies must be economically justified through a lifecycle cost analysis; must be durable, reliable, and demonstrate a credible pathway to energy savings in a variety of building types and operational modes; and must be easily integrated into residential and/or commercial buildings.

Technical Subtopics include:

1.1: Advanced Building Control Strategies and Interfaces (20% cost share)

1.2: Advanced Whole-Building Control Systems and Information Technology (20% cost share)

1.3: Advanced Component Level Software and Hardware Development (20% cost share)

1.4: Energy Control and Optimization Algorithms and Tools (20% cost share)

2) Analysis, Design, and Technical Tools: The second Area of Interest seeks to improve the capability and availability of analysis, design, and technical tools for both residential and commercial buildings. Tools that optimize the interactions of advanced building technologies and ensure they are installed and operated effectively are critical to building operations. Projects should consider compatibility with other building design and energy simulation tools to facilitate their deployment, and concepts applicable to both new construction and building retrofits are of particular interest.

Technical Subtopics include:

2.1: Systems Engineering Tools for Very-Low Energy Buildings (20% cost share)

2.2: Scientific and Engineering Foundations for Designing and Operating Very-Low Energy Buildings (20% cost share)

2.3: Miscellaneous Electric Load Prediction and Modeling (20% cost share)

3) Building Envelope and Windows: The third Area of Interest seeks to improve the energy efficiency of residential and commercial building windows and envelope components. Whole-house or building case studies are applicable to this area of interest, but the intent is to promote improvements to a specific or group of envelope components. Technologies that have broad application across climate regions will be considered the most promising.

Technical Subtopics include:

3.1: Window and Daylighting Technology Development (20% cost share)

3.2: Envelope Technology Development (20% cost share)

3.3: Building Envelope and Window Case Studies and Demonstrations (50% cost share)

3.4: Production Engineering for R5 and Higher Windows (50% cost share)

4) Residential and Commercial HVAC and Crosscutting Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Research: The fourth Area of Interest seeks to dramatically increase the efficiency of HVAC systems and pursue technologies that apply to both air conditioning and refrigeration. Rather than focusing solely on rated equipment efficiency, it is necessary to understand and improve the energy consumption of entire systems throughout the entire operating regime to reduce annual energy consumption of the complete HVAC system. Technologies or systems that maximize partial load efficiency, but not to a measurable decrement of the peak load performance, are of particular interest.

Technical Subtopics include:

4.1: Residential HVAC (20% cost share)

4.2: Commercial HVAC (20% cost share)

4.3: Crosscutting Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Research (20% cost share)

5) Water Heating, Residential and Commercial Appliances, and MELs: The fifth Area of Interest seeks to increase the efficiency of water heating equipment and appliances and to reduce parasitic miscellaneous electric loads.

Technical Subtopics include:

5.1: Water Heating (20% cost share)

5.2: Residential Appliances (20% cost share)

5.3: Commercial Appliances (20% cost share)

5.4: Miscellaneous Electric Load Reduction (20% cost share)

6) Solar Heating and Cooling (SHC): The sixth Area of Interest seeks to develop and deploy the next generation of solar heating, cooling, dehumidification, energy storage, and hot water heating products and installations in support of the DOE BTP net-zero energy buildings goals. Enhanced integration of SHC products into the building envelope, conventional building HVAC systems, and the building construction process is critical. Concepts which are applicable to both new construction and building retrofits are particularly encouraged.

Technical Subtopics include:

6.1: Residential SHC R&D (20% cost share)

6.2: Commercial SHC R&D (20% cost share)

Cost Sharing

The recipient cost share is required to be at least 20% of the total allowable costs for research and development projects, and at least 50% for demonstration and commercial application projects. However, for demonstration and commercial application projects, the DOE will accept cost share of not less than 25% for private industry recipients. All cost share must come from non-federal sources unless otherwise allowed by law.