University of Maryland engineers, Ichiro Takeuchi, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) and Graduate Program Director, Reinhard Radermacher, Director of the Center for Environmental Energy Engineering (CEEE), and Vikrant Aute, Co-Director of CEEE, recently received awards from the U.S. Department of Energys (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Building Technologies Office (BTO).
BTO research is focused on reducing energy intensity with the most opportunity for energy savings, while balancing the need to maintain occupant comfort and productivity, and product performance. In the latest round of funding, BTO awarded USD 47.7M to 23 projects, two of which come from UMD.
Under the topic of Flexible Building Technologies, Autes project: A Novel Framework for Performance Evaluation and Design Optimization of PCM Embedded Heat Exchangers for the Built Environment will create a solid-state energy storage composite phase change material and heat exchanger.
Under BTOs Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning, Takeuchi and Radermachers project will develop thermoelastic active regenerators to advance the state of the art of thermoelastic cooling technology, a potentially more sustainable and efficient alternative to vapor compression cooling technology.