Moncef Krarti News

CEAE group receives $8 million from DOE's Renew America Nonprofits program

Anonymous — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 17:59:31 +0000

CEAE group receives $8 million from DOE's Renew America Nonprofits program Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 11/21/2023 - 10:59

Susan Glairon

Analysis tool for calibrating energy models with utility data.

Thermal image for a building envelope element.

Energy model for an existing nonprofit building.

A research group from the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering is set to receive $8 million through the U.S. Department of Energy's Renew America Nonprofits program to provide technical assistance that helps nonprofits reduce energy use, with the saved funds redirected toward the nonprofits’ mission-driven initiatives. Professor Moncef Krarti serves as principal investigator, while Professors Gregor Henze and John Zhai serve as co-principal investigators for this award.

The project will be supported for four years with a budget of $5.7 million from DOE funds and $2.3 million as cost-share, primarily from industry contributions.

“In addition to assisting numerous nonprofit organizations in the Rocky Mountain region, CU �鶹ӰԺ’s project places a significant emphasis on involving and training students in all stages of renovating existing buildings,” said Krarti, who also is the project’s director.

The project involves creating tools to measure and analyze the impact of energy efficiency strategies in facilities owned and operated by nonprofits in the Rocky Mountain region, including Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.

The students’ involvement spans from using advanced tools for energy auditing, to preparing construction bids, conducting retro-commissioning tasks and assessing the impacts of deploying diverse energy efficiency strategies. Futhermore, the students will have the opportunity to develop and demonstrate innovative approaches for evaluating, managing and maximizing the sustainability benefits of energy retrofit projects.

The DOE launched the $50 million Renew America’s Nonprofits Program, also known as the Energy Efficiency Materials Pilot Program, under President Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. This program aims to reduce carbon emissions, improve health and safety, and lower utilities costs for buildings owned and operated by 501(c)(3) nonprofits. This first-of-its-kind investment in the nonprofit sector aims to facilitate high-impact energy efficiency improvements, creating cleaner, healthier community spaces, while generating sustainable savings that can be redirected toward mission-driven work. Additionally, it aims to stimulate widespread energy improvements in the nonprofit sector, fostering partnerships between stakeholders to establish a pipeline of energy and cost-saving projects that will continue beyond the grant's duration.

This 5-year-old project, led by Building Systems Professor Moncef Krarti, will provide technical assistance to nonprofits for energy-saving initiatives, with a strong emphasis on student involvement in renovating existing buildings.

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Professor Moncef Krarti awarded Fulbright to explore cultural influences on smart technology adoption

Anonymous — Wed, 14 Jun 2023 21:40:22 +0000

Professor Moncef Krarti awarded Fulbright to explore cultural influences on smart technology adoption Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 06/14/2023 - 15:40

Susan Glairon

With growing concerns about climate change, a number of “smart” technologies have emerged to reduce energy consumption and decrease reliance on fossil fuels. While most engineers tend to focus on the technology, Moncef Krarti researches the acceptance of it.

“You need to adapt the technology to people’s needs,” said Krarti, a professor of civil, environmental and architectural engineering at the �鶹ӰԺ. “Otherwise, they won’t use it.”

Krarti recently received a Fulbright Global Scholar award to research these issues in Saudi Arabia and Australia — two distinct cultures with diverse climates and differing sustainability policies for buildings, he said. His research aims to understand the motivations behind whether individuals embrace smart technologies inside their homes, such as heating or air conditioning systems that automatically adjust the temperature inside and smart windows that adjust the tint based on solar heat levels.

Beginning this summer, Krarti will spend three months in Saudi Arabia, at host institutions King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Thuwal and the University of King Abdulaziz in Jeddah, followed by another three months at the University of Western Australia in Perth.

Motivation and passion
Krarti’s passion for energy efficiency in the built environment traces back to his time as a PhD student at CU �鶹ӰԺ, where he pursued the building systems program, now known as architectural engineering. Following a postdoctoral position at Texas A&M University, he worked in the private sector in New York City, focusing on sustainable building practices.

His interest has since expanded from the application of solar energy to “energy productivity,” a microeconomics term which refers to the amount of energy required for people to be productive in their work and daily lives. He notes that people spend 80 percent of their time inside.

“If people are not comfortable within their indoor space, they are not productive,” he said.

In his private sector work, Krarti helped design buildings with advanced technologies and energy efficiency systems. But he discovered that energy consumption in buildings equipped with advanced technologies sometimes surpassed that of buildings without such systems.

“People will affect optimal operation of systems, such as by adjusting indoor temperature settings,” he said. “It’s not about how much technology is in the building; it’s how people utilize it.”

People’s preferences for their indoor environment vary across cultures. For instance, most Americans and Australians might be comfortable at 71 degrees Fahrenheit in their homes, while the average comfort level in Saudi Arabia is around 68 degrees, resulting in higher energy consumption, he said.

Two distinct cultures
Australia has set a target of achieving carbon neutrality in all buildings by 2050, while Saudi Arabia envisions renewable energy as the primary electricity source by 2030.

Saudi Arabia aims to reduce domestic fossil fuel consumption and allocate more for export, Krarti said. Air conditioning alone accounts for more than 65 percent of all electricity consumption in Saudi Arabia buildings, with some large homes requiring six to 10 AC units. This is leading to a growing interest in sustainable and smart city initiatives.

Due to more frequent heat waves, more Australian households are using air conditioning systems to maintain indoor comfort. However, Australia has adopted some of the most stringent energy efficiency standards in the world, as well as advanced technology to improve the energy efficiency of its buildings.

Besides comfort level, in some cultures there is resistance to smart technology due to cost. Given that energy is highly subsidized in Saudi Arabia, residents there are accustomed to inexpensive energy bills and are more resistant to costly energy-efficient systems, including smart technology, he said.

During his Fulbright Global Scholar fellowship, Krarti plans to evaluate the challenges facing countries such as Saudi Arabia and Australia in designing, retrofitting and operating a sustainable and resilient built environment. In particular, he plans to conduct energy assessments for different buildings through collaborations with host universities to train faculty and students. The assessments will evaluate building energy efficiency and gather residents’ feedback on new smart technologies through surveys. Krarti will also conduct demonstrations for advanced energy efficiency technologies such as smart thermostats and windows.

“There’s lots of complexity in designing and operating energy efficient buildings, but people were often left out,” he said. “What are the social and cultural elements of these smart buildings? How do we take into account these elements when we design and operate smart technology, which will be coming sooner or later?

“Can people be flexible? That may depend upon the culture.”

Building Systems Professor Moncef Krarti emphasizes the importance of adapting "smart" technologies to people's needs for increased acceptance and usage.

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Krarti, Baker on KUNC to discuss green technology

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 14:58:31 +0000

Krarti, Baker on KUNC to discuss green technology Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 10/19/2021 - 08:58

Colorado is known as a leader in developing sustainable buildings and energy systems. The Front Range in particular is a growing hub for green technology research.

A new research center at the �鶹ӰԺ aims to take advantage of that existing momentum in the green tech industry and to catalyze new local growth in the field. The Building Energy Smart Technology Center, or BEST Center, is funded by the National Science Foundation. It brings academic researchers together with industry partners to push the field forward.

Moncef Krarti, professor of engineering at CU �鶹ӰԺ and director of the new BEST Center, and Kyri Baker, assistant professor of architectural engineering, joined Colorado Edition to talk about this growing field of research.

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Major research center for green building technology launches at CU �鶹ӰԺ

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Sep 2021 14:17:10 +0000

Major research center for green building technology launches at CU �鶹ӰԺ Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 09/22/2021 - 08:17

Jeff Zehnder

A major research center for sustainable building technology has been founded at the �鶹ӰԺ.

The Building Energy Smart Technologies (BEST) Center is a new, five-year multi-university initiative funded by the National Science Foundation to advance sustainable building projects ranging from HVAC manufacturing, to smart glazing for windows, building controls, insulation, as well as solar installations.

“This is a long term commitment to solve industry problems and make buildings adaptive,” said Moncef Krarti, director of the center and a professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering. “Many western countries want to be net zero in carbon emissions by 2050. That’s a significant challenge. To achieve that, we need a new set of innovative and smart technologies. We have to combine energy efficiency, reduce demand, and deploy renewable energy into buildings so they can be a net positive, actually producing energy, not just consuming power.”

The project is focused on business collaboration, directing research into areas needed for the construction industry and building retrofits. The new center will operate under the NSF Industry-University Cooperative Research Centers model. This setup is designed to help startups, large corporate partners and government agencies connect directly with university researchers to solve common research obstacles in a low-risk environment. The aim is to develop new technology faster and build out the U.S. workforce in critical areas.

“This will be a really interactive process between industry and universities with what problems to solve. Each project we take on will have an industry sponsor,” Krarti said.

The NSF grant will provide $1.5 million over five years, matched by industry associates for a total of at least $3.0 million. Ten industry partners are already onboard with the initiative.

CU �鶹ӰԺ is the lead for the center, with the City College of New York as a partner site, offering the opportunity research and test new building technologies in the largest metropolitan area in the United States.

The work in New York will be led by Jorge González, Presidential Professor of Mechanical Engineering at CCNY.

“This is a major milestone and opportunity, as it validates our long-term efforts in research and education on building systems as supporting activity to our city,” González said. “We will be providing engineering and technology solutions to connect the outdoors environment to the indoors of buildings to enable smart and sustainable responses.”

In addition to meeting emissions goals, new smart and adaptable technologies in the built environment will provide responses for increasingly frequent extreme weather events due to the rapidly changing climate. The work will also direct attention on emerging challenges in the building sector due to pandemics and health crises such as those caused by COVID-19.

“It’s hard for industry to fund research, but this center is a vehicle to that collaboration. It’s a big deal,” Krarti said. “We spend 80% of our time in buildings. We need to make sure buildings are sustainable and healthy as well as comfortable.”

In addition to Krarti and Gonzalez, other CU �鶹ӰԺ faculty partners include Kyri Baker, Gregor Henze, Wil Srubar, John Zhai, and Wangda Zuo, all in the CU �鶹ӰԺ Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, as well as Michael McGehee in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering.

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