DOE Grants AHRTI $2.5 Million for Heat-Pump Tech

COLLEGE PARK, MD -- The Air-Conditioning Heating, and Refrigeration Technology Institute is slated to receive a $2.5 million grant from the Dept. of Energy to conduct research on air-to-water, heat-pump technology.

In total, DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy awarded $38.8 million for 25 projects across 17 states that will research and develop building technologies aimed at decarbonizing, reducing peak demand on the electric grid, enhancing resilience, and lowering energy costs.

As part of its research, AHRTI will collaborate with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Maryland College Park to address performance and safety concerns related to the implementation of heat pumps that use flammable refrigerants.

The project aims to investigate the feasibility of using ultra-low global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants in heat pumps by identifying the technical requirements needed to address code updates and other potential deployment barriers for next-generation heat pumps.

The funding is awarded though the Buildings Energy Efficiency Frontiers & Innovation Technologies (BENEFIT) program, which was established to support DOE’s goals of reducing the upfront cost of upgrading a home by at least 50 percent while reducing energy bills by 20 percent within a decade.

For more, go to doe.gov.