This fall, @NSF will fund a number of Innovation Engines: 10-year, $160M grants that create or revitalize industrial hubs.

My colleagues at Purdue, Notre Dame, UMich & Michigan State made the semifinals proposing next-generation factory-built housing!

new.nsf.gov/funding/initia… @NSF The big idea: US housing is in crisis. We need more & better housing, fast. Building houses on site is slow, expensive, and doesn't always produce great results. So why not build homes (mostly or entirely) in factories instead?

Dense multi-family housing is a sneaky-good climate solution.

Heating and cooling a unit in a multi-family building typically costs and emits about half as much as heating and cooling a stand-alone house with the same floor area. Why? Because heat demand scales with the exterior wall area. Units in multi-family buildings have about half the exterior wall area.

How to cut US greenhouse gas emissions by 54% overnight? Flip a magic switch that instantly decarbonizes electricity generation (25%) and electrifies all our passenger cars/ trucks (16%) and homes/businesses (13%).

epa.gov/ghgemissions/s… This magic switch would reduce the Industry and Transportation sector emissions more than pictured, because we'd dig up, process and transport a lot less coal, oil and gas.

(Or maybe we'd keep doing all that, but just export it rather than burning it inside US borders...)

New paper! Many devices switch off and on periodically: air conditioners, heat pumps, water heaters, fridges, pumps, compressors, etc. These devices cause high electricity demand peaks, but a simple algorithm can shave those peaks significantly without disrupting users. 🧵 1/16 First, why do we care about demand peaks?

Well, they determine how big electrical infrastructure has to be: power lines, transformers, generators, etc. High peaks require big, expensive equipment. Shave peaks to cut costs and improve reliability. 2/16

The DOE announced yesterday that Lennox, a US HVAC manufacturer, had built a heat pump that met the specs of the DOE's cold-climate heat pump challenge. I can't find any details on the actual Lennox machine, but here's a thread on the challenge. 1/10

energy.gov/articles/doe-a… The challenge is about making air-to-air heat pumps that work well even when it's very cold outside. What does that mean and why does it matter? Basically, create an efficient electric heater that works anywhere in the US, year-round. 2/10

Lots of #EnergyTwitter chatter today about Ithaca, NY hiring @BlocPower to manage building efficiency and electrification projects city-wide. The news stories are a bit light on details, so here's some background.

@DBaird13 @energysmartohio @GriffithSaul @SvanteMyrick @BlocPower @DBaird13 @energysmartohio @GriffithSaul @SvanteMyrick First, why do I care? As an electrification geek, a city aiming to decarbonize all its buildings by 2030 is a big deal. Ithaca is also a city close to my heart, as I lived there for many years as a PhD student.

For the reconciliation bill, the House Energy & Commerce Committee proposed new penalties on natural gas leaks. What are these penalties and why do they matter? 1/

energycommerce.house.gov/sites/democrat…

#energytwitter @JesseJenkins @howarth_cornell @drvolts @rewiringamerica @leahstokes @JesseJenkins @howarth_cornell @drvolts @rewiringamerica @leahstokes First, a caveat: there are several high hurdles to clear before any of this becomes law. Senator Manchin and the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, the Senate parliamentarian, etc. Long way to go! 2/

Quick thread on the building electrification and efficiency provisions in the House Energy & Commerce Committee's proposal for the reconciliation bill. 1/

#EnergyTwitter @drvolts @JesseJenkins @leahstokes @energysmartohio @JohnSemmelhack @GriffithSaul

energycommerce.house.gov/sites/democrat… @drvolts @JesseJenkins @leahstokes @energysmartohio @JohnSemmelhack @GriffithSaul First, a caveat: this stuff still needs to get past Senators Manchin and Sinema, as well as the Senate parliamentarian. It's a long way from becoming law! 2/

How much could heat pumps earn selling wholesale grid services? I estimate $25-100 annually per nameplate electrical kW from regulation + synchronous reserve in PJM. A typical home's central air-source heat pump could earn $75-300.

#electrifyeverything #energytwitter #heatpumps Not huge revenue, but enough to cover aggregation/instrumentation costs within a couple of years. A heat pump aggregator may be able to provide these services alongside others, like demand response curtailment, voltage support, or energy price arbitrage. 2/