Reducing Costs for Space- and Water-Heating in Multifamily Buildings
Critical technological challenges impact the cost and performance of decarbonized space- and water- heating solutions. This project is a multi-institution effort to develop, model, fabricate, and test different strategies for combi heat pumps (HP) with phase change material thermal energy storage (PCM TES) for multifamily residential buildings in cold climates. Our research group will do modeling, simulation, experimental testing, and validation, to optimize component design and system operation. In addition to this in-house investigation, students will engage with project collaborators conducting market research, lab experiments, and field demonstrations to advance this technology.
The next phase of this project includes a field installation at a transitional home for unhoused veterans in Vermont. Human Subjects Training may be required for students who are interested and involved in this part of the project.
Students interested in this project would be the third cohort in this research group, and have the opportunity to continue to shape the lab culture for their peers to come. The goal of this project, and the group collectively, is to apply engineering principles, social, and ecological ethics to develop decarbonized building energy systems.
Recognizing that the climate crisis disproportionately impacts people with lesser socioeconomic capital, our research portfolio will center energy equity and environmental justice. The other summer project in this lab will evaluate two different commercially available heat pump and thermal storage installations in single family homes in Minnesota.