The Building Technologies Research & Integration Center (BTRIC) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory is the premier US research facility devoted to the development of technologies that improve the energy efficiency and environmental compatibility of residential and commercial buildings. BTRIC’s mission is to identify, develop, and deploy energy-efficient building system technologies by forming partnerships between DOE and private industry for technology development and analysis, well-characterized laboratory and field experiments, and market outreach.
Reducing the energy consumption of the nation's buildings and resulting carbon emissions is essential to achieving a sustainable clean energy future. To address the enormous challenge, Oak Ridge National Laboratory is focused on helping develop new building technologies, whole-building and community integration, improved energy management in buildings and industrial facilities during their operational phase, and market transformations in all of these areas.
Minimizing the energy/carbon footprint of the nation's buildings sector is essential for tackling climate change and will be an enormous challenge. Buildings account for 39% of U.S. carbon emissions and the consumption of 40% of the nation's total primary energy, 73% of electricity, and 55% of natural gas (34% of natural gas excluding gas used to generate electricity consumed in buildings). The importance of buildings is amplified because renewable energy applications such as photovoltaic electricity generation, day lighting, solar water heating, and geothermal (ground-source) space conditioning and water heating are most economical when using buildings as their deployment platforms.
Staff expertise, state-of-the-art facilities, and supporting management of a variety of specialized groups enable the center’s research efforts, while the program office within the center administratively coordinates multidisciplinary projects, drawing resources from across the Laboratory.