Entries with tag national institute of standards and technology.

The US Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology announced a new laboratory designed to demonstrate a typical suburban home can generate as much energy as it uses. Known as net-zero energy use, the efficiency concept is gaining traction in business as well as among consumers. The lab, a structure built to the US Green Building Council’s LEED Platinum standards, will be used to demonstrate net-zero energy usage by using computer software and mechanical controls to simulate the activities of a family of four living in the two-story, four bedroom home, which has solar water heating and solar photovoltaic systems. In the first stages, the researchers will monitor how the house performs; it will then reportedly be used to improve test methods for energy-efficient technologies and to develop cost-effective design standards for energy-efficient homes. The research could also help consumers reduce their energy consumption and utility bills. The agency says it plans to make its data from the project available online for both researchers and the public. (EurekAlert)(The Net Zero Energy Residential Test Facility)(National Institute of Standards and Technology)