Oak Ridge Today

ORISE building earns EPA’s Energy Star certification for energy efficiency

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ORISE-EPA-Energy-Star-Certification-1

From left to right are Director of Facilities and Transportation Department Chad Becker, Facilities Management Services Manager Eddy Whitson, and Sustainability Manager Kevin Fritts display the new EPA Energy Star certification for the ORISE Facilities and Transportation Department office in background behind them. (Photo by ORAU)

 

The Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education’s Facilities and Transportation Department office building, managed by ORAU, has earned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star certification, which signifies that the building, located off Bethel Valley Road in Oak Ridge, performs in the top 25 percent of similar facilities nationwide for energy efficiency and meets strict energy-efficiency performance levels set by the EPA.

“We are pleased to accept the EPA’s Energy Star certification in recognition of ORISE’s energy-efficiency efforts,” said ORISE Director and ORAU President Andy Page. “Through this achievement along with our corporate office building earning the first new, gold-level LEED-certified office building in Tennessee, we have demonstrated our commitment to environmental stewardship while also lowering our energy costs.”

The EPA works with organizations to help them save money and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by making their buildings more energy-efficient, a press release said. [Read more…]

ORNL: Car, building are 3D-printed, can power each other

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ORNL 3D-Printed House and Vehicle on Sept. 24, 2015

A 3D-printed vehicle and building that were part of a nine-month research demonstration project were unveiled on Industry Day at ORNL on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2015. The natural gas-powered car and solar-powered building can provide electricity to each other. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

A car and house built using large-scale 3D printers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory can provide power to each other, and they’re part of a project designed to answer “what if” questions that could lead to innovations in building and car construction and energy use, storage, and consumption, researchers and officials said Wednesday.

The 210-square-foot house—it’s a solar-powered building—and the printed utility vehicle—officials affectionately call it a PUV—were printed at ORNL’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility on Hardin Valley Road.

They were unveiled at ORNL on Wednesday during the lab’s first-ever Industry Day. The building and PUV are part of a project called the Additive Manufacturing Integrated Energy, or AMIE, demonstration.

Additive manufacturing is the process used to build something one layer at a time. One of the most well-known examples is the Shelby Cobra car 3-D printed on a large-scale polymer printer at the MDF. President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden admired that vehicle—and joked about taking it for a spin—during a trip to East Tennessee in January. [Read more…]

Solar House opens July 10 at Children’s Museum

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Living Light House Ribbon-cutting

Chelsea, left, and Craig Myles walk to the Solar House with Carroll Welch, Children’s Museum deputy director, center, after a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new addition at the Children’s Museum. (Submitted photos)

The Living Light Solar House, an ambassador for good design and energy efficiency while at the University of Tennessee, will open to the public on July 10 at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge.

The Children’s Museum will host an open house from 7-9 p.m. Thursday, inviting visitors to tour the solar-powered house and the museum. Admission will be free that evening, as the museum shows the community its newest exhibit, the house built by University of Tennessee students.

UT donated the solar house to the Children’s Museum, where it arrived May 17. The new exhibit invites children and families to experience sustainability in an energy-efficient house recognized for its architectural design.

“Young people who see the Living Light house talk about wanting a place of their own like that someday,” said Carroll Welch, Children’s Museum deputy director. “The house is very inspiring for children, and it will offer many great learning opportunities.” [Read more…]

Startup company licenses ORNL tool that will help consumers lower energy bills

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Fiveworks Licenses ORNL Technology

Knoxville-based Fiveworx has licensed an Oak Ridge National Laboratory technology called CoNNECT that will help consumers reduce their utility bills by analyzing their home energy usage. CoNNECT inventors (from left) Olufemi Omitaomu and Budhendra Bhaduri talk with Fiveworx CEO Patrick Hunt. (Photo courtesy ORNL)

 

Knoxville-based Fiveworx has licensed an Oak Ridge National Laboratory technology that will help consumers reduce their utility bills by analyzing their home energy usage.

The ORNL technology, called Citizen Engagement for Energy Efficient Communities (CoNNECT), enables utility customers to easily monitor their energy consumption in a user-friendly Web-based platform. Fiveworx will apply the CoNNECT tool toward its mission to help utilities increase participation in their energy efficiency programs while reducing their marketing costs.

“Our goal is to motivate consumers to do five or more things to save money on their utility bills,” said Fiveworx CEO Patrick Hunt. “By combining principles of behavioral economics, consumer segmentation, big data, and predictive analytics, we help utilities give their customers a truly personalized energy savings plan that they’ll embrace and use to adopt energy efficient measures and behaviors.” [Read more…]

Living Light solar-powered home moves to Children’s Museum

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Living Light House Trailer

The University of Tennessee donated the Living Light House to the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge, and the 750-square-foot solar-powered home was moved Saturday.

 

The University of Tennessee in Knoxville has donated its Living Light House to the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge, and the 750-square-foot solar-powered home was moved Saturday.

The award-winning home makes more energy than it uses, said James Rose, senior lecturer in UT’s College of Architecture and Design.

Moving the 80,000-pound house was a daylong project. The Children’s Museum is in a residential area in Oak Ridge, so the museum had to move trees, excavate a slope, and create a temporary road to get to the site.

Rose said the one-room home, which has mechanical and laundry areas, will be used at the Children’s Museum for outreach and to showcase the latest energy-efficient technologies.

“This is the perfect place for this building,” said Rose, the architect of record on the project and the leader of the student architecture studio that designed it. [Read more…]

ORNL, Ohio company work together on new large-scale 3-D printing system

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ORNL and Cincinnati Inc. CRADA

From left are David Danielson, DOE assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewable energy; Johnny Moore; DOE site office manager, Andy Jamison, Cincinnati Inc. CEO; and U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann. (ORNL photo/Jason Richards)

Technology seeks to provide new capabilities for auto, aerospace, other U.S. industries

Oak Ridge National Laboratory is partnering with Cincinnati Inc., a manufacturer of high quality machine tools located in Harrison, Ohio, to develop a large-scale polymer additive manufacturing (3-D printing) system.

The partnership aims to accelerate the commercialization of a new additive manufacturing machine that can print large polymer parts faster and more cheaply than current technologies. The partnership agreement supports the U.S. Department of Energy’s Clean Energy Manufacturing Initiative to increase the efficiency of the U.S. manufacturing sector and ensure that innovative clean energy technologies continue to be developed in America.

ORNL is a DOE lab. [Read more…]

Anderson school system celebrates energy-efficiency project

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Anderson County Schools ESG Groundbreaking

Anderson County officials and ESG representatives celebrate the kickoff of a $9.7 million energy-efficiency project in Anderson County Schools. (Photo courtesy Pam Crawford)

On Friday morning, the Anderson County school system celebrated the kickoff of a $9.7 million energy efficiency project that will make significant improvements to all 17 county schools, all with the aim of improving the learning environment, reducing energy use and, subsequently, the cost of energy across the system.

The Anderson County Commission recently approved a 15-year contract with Energy Systems Group—or ESG—to design and implement a $9.7 million energy efficiency and building modernization project throughout Anderson County Schools. All 17 county schools will receive energy improvements, including upgrades to the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning—or HVAC—systems and electrical systems as well as energy-efficient lights, water conservation measures, and advanced energy management controls—including sensors that will detect when a room is occupied and adjust heating and lighting automatically, and new suspended ceiling systems. [Read more…]

TVA retiring eight coal units at three plants

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Colbert Fossil Plant

The Tennessee Valley Authority is retiring all five coal units at the Colbert Fossil Plant on the Pickwick Reservoir on the Tennessee River in Alabama. (Photo courtesy TVA)

The Tennessee Valley Authority board of directors recently approved a plan that will retire eight coal units at three plants with more than 3,000 megawatts of combined generating capacity.

The retirements affect all five coal units at the Colbert Fossil Plant in Tuscumbia, Ala.; one of two operating coal units at Widows Creek Fossil Plant in Stevenson, Ala., and two of three coal units at the Paradise Fossil Plant near Central City, Ky. Paradise Unit 3, one of TVA’s largest coal units, will continue to operate.

A number of these units were already idled or scheduled for idling and/or retirement based on an agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency, TVA said in a press release. [Read more…]

CUB receives $200,000 Clean Tennessee Energy Grant

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Gov. Bill Haslam Check Presentation

Gov. Bill Haslam announced in June that Oak Ridge had received $200,000 in Clean Tennessee Energy Grant funding for lighting at the Municipal Building and Civic Center.

The Clinton Utilities Board has received a $200,000 Clean Tennessee Energy Grant to renovate its wastewater treatment plant.

CUB was one of 19 recipients receiving $2.1 million for projects promoting energy efficiency, benefiting the environment, and helping save money, Tennessee officials said this month.

In a check presentation ceremony in June, Gov. Bill Haslam came to Oak Ridge to announce that the Secret City had received the first of the 19 awards. [Read more…]

State awards $200,000 grant for lighting at Oak Ridge Municipal Building, Civic Center

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Gov. Bill Haslam Check Presentation

Gov. Bill Haslam announces that Oak Ridge has received $200,000 in Clean Tennessee Energy Grant funding for lighting at the Municipal Building and Civic Center.

Gov. Bill Haslam on Monday announced that Oak Ridge is receiving $200,000 in Clean Tennessee Energy Grant funding for lighting in the Oak Ridge Municipal Building and Civic Center Complex.

The money will be used to replace and retrofit existing fluorescent lighting fixtures to LED lighting, a press release said.

It’s the first of 19 grant awards that the governor will be making in the next few weeks, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation said in the press release. Funding for the projects comes from an April 2011 Clean Air Act settlement with the Tennessee Valley Authority. [Read more…]