The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Building Technologies Office is launching the American-Made Building Envelope Innovation Prize: Secondary Glazing Systems to advance novel solutions for upgrading inefficient windows in commercial buildings to enable decarbonization retrofits and optimize building envelopes for building electrification.
Donor Name: U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
State: All States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Awards and Prizes
Deadline: 06/14/2024
Size of the Grant: $500,000 to $1 million
Grant Duration: Grant Duration Not Mentioned
Details:
The overall objective of the Building Envelope Innovation Prize is to enable the electrification of large commercial buildings by increasing envelope insulation values, particularly in cold and mixed climates.
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Building Technologies Office, the prize targets novel solutions for upgrading inefficient windows to enable building decarbonization retrofits and optimize building envelopes for electrification. The prize will help establish, support, and expand innovation in window systems and catalyze teams to rapidly develop and deploy cost-effective solutions in the secondary glazing systems market. Competitors will secure equity-focused pilot(s) in low-income multifamily or underserved public sector buildings as a component of their commercialization plans.
Prize Phases
The Building Envelope Innovation Prize will offer up to $2 million in cash prizes across three phases to incentivize the development and production of new SGS designs to decarbonize commercial buildings: Phase 1—Design Concept, Phase 2—Prototype, and Phase 3—Commercialization.
- Phase 1—Design Concept
- Competitors will submit a design concept of their SGS innovation and share early data on performance metrics. Construction quality and installation details will be submitted to demonstrate durable, operational products. Up to five winning teams will receive $50,000 each in cash prizes and will be eligible to compete in Phase 2.
- Phase 2—Prototype
- Semifinalists selected from Phase 1 will be eligible to submit a high performance prototype product for testing at DOE national laboratories. The prototypes will be judged on SGS thermal and optical performance and embodied carbon modeling. Semifinalists will also submit a technical narrative outlining product credibility, durability, and early plans for commercialization, including details to determine the cost-effectiveness of the installed product. Additionally, semifinalists will secure an equity-focused pilot and submit a Letter of Committed Pilot. At the end of Phase 2, up to three winning teams will receive $200,000 each in cash prizes and be eligible to compete in Phase 3.
- Phase 3—Commercialization
- Finalists selected from Phase 2 will submit a technical and equity focused pilot project narrative outlining their plans for a successful integration of their SGS design in the commercial window industry. The submission for Phase 3 will be judged on the following metrics: sales volume, number of demonstrations, payback period for customers, and a field demonstration that includes energy performance metrics. Additionally, durability testing will take place on Phase 2 finalists’ prototypes, and scores from the prototype testing will be compiled with the submission package scores. At the end of Phase 3, up to two winning teams will be awarded prize funding. The first-place winner will receive a $750,000 cash prize, and the second-place winner will receive a $400,000 cash prize.
Eligibility Criteria
All Phase eligibility
- This competition is only open to relevant submissions of the design concepts of eligible SGS technologies outlined. The Prize Administrator has the right to refuse any submission for incompleteness or unresponsiveness to the technical topic area.
Teams are only eligible to enter the competition during Phase 1. No new teams will be admitted in Phases 2 and 3, as these phases are down-select processes only.
The competition is open only to private entities (for-profits and nonprofits), non-federal government entities such as states, counties, Tribes, municipalities, academic institutions, and individuals, subject to the following requirements:
- Private entities must be incorporated in and maintain a primary place of business in the United States.
- Academic institutions must be based in the United States.
- An individual prize competitor or group of competitors who are not competing as part of an incorporated private entity must all be United States citizens or legal permanent residents.
- Individuals competing as part of an incorporated private entity may participate if they are legally allowed to work in the United States.
- DOE employees, employees of sponsoring organizations, members of their immediate families (e.g., spouses, children, siblings, or parents), and persons living in the same household as such persons, whether or not related, are not eligible to participate in the prize.
- Individuals who worked at DOE (federal employees or support service contractors) within 6 months prior to the submission deadline of any contest are not eligible to participate in any prize contests in this program.
- Federal entities and federal employees are not eligible to participate in any portion of the prize.
- DOE national laboratory employees cannot compete in the prize.
- Entities and individuals publicly banned from doing business with the U.S. government such as entities and individuals debarred, suspended, or otherwise excluded from or ineligible for participating in Federal programs are not eligible to compete.
- Individuals participating in a foreign government talent recruitment program4 sponsored by a country of risk5 and teams that include such individuals are not eligible to compete.
- Entities owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of a government of a country of risk are not eligible to compete.
For more information, visit DOE.
