Galvanizing Leaps in Advanced Super INsulating Glass (GLASING)

FOA Number: DE-FOA-0003488 Galvanizing Leaps in Advanced Super INsulating Glass (GLASING) To obtain a copy of the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) please go to ARPA-E eXCHANGE at https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov. To apply to this NOFO, Applicants must register with and submit application materials through ARPA-E eXCHANGE (https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/Registration.aspx). For detailed guidance on using ARPA-E eXCHANGE, please refer to the ARPA-E eXCHANGE User Guide (https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/Manuals.aspx). ARPA-E will not review or consider application materials submitted through other means. For problems with ARPA-E eXCHANGE, email ExchangeHelp@hq.doe.gov (with NOFO name and number in the subject line). Questions about this NOFO? Check the Frequently Asked Questions available at http://arpa-e.energy.gov/faq. For questions that have not already been answered, email ARPA-E-CO@hq.doe.gov. The Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E), an organization within the Department of Energy (DOE), is chartered by Congress in the America COMPETES Act of 2007 (P.L. 110-69), as amended by the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 (P.L. 111-358), as further amended by the Energy Act of 2020 (P.L. 116-260): “(A) to enhance the economic and energy security of the United States through the development of energy technologies that— (i) reduce imports of energy from foreign sources; (ii) reduce energy-related emissions, including greenhouse gases; (iii) improve the energy efficiency of all economic sectors; (iv) provide transformative solutions to improve the management, clean-up, and disposal of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel; and (v) improve the resilience, reliability, and security of infrastructure to produce, deliver, and store energy; and (B) to ensure that the United States maintains a technological lead in developing and deploying advanced energy technologies.” ARPA-E issues this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) under its authorizing statute codified at 42 U.S.C. § 16538. The NOFO and any cooperative agreements or grants made under this NOFO are subject to 2 C.F.R. Part 200 as supplemented by 2 C.F.R. Part 910. ARPA-E funds research on, and the development of, transformative science and technology solutions to address the energy and environmental missions of the Department. The agency focuses on technologies that can be meaningfully advanced with a modest investment over a defined period of time in order to catalyze the translation from scientific discovery to early-stage technology. For the latest news and information about ARPA-E, its programs and the research projects currently supported, see: http://arpa-e.energy.gov/. ARPA-E funds transformational research. Existing energy technologies generally progress on established “learning curves” where refinements to a technology and the economies of scale that accrue as manufacturing and distribution develop drive improvements to the cost/performance metric in a gradual fashion. This continual improvement of a technology is important to its increased commercial deployment and is appropriately the focus of the private sector or the applied technology offices within DOE. In contrast, ARPA-E supports transformative research that has the potential to create fundamentally new learning curves. ARPA-E technology projects typically start with cost/performance estimates well above the level of an incumbent technology. Given the high risk inherent in these projects, many will fail to progress, but some may succeed in generating a new learning curve with a projected cost/performance metric that is significantly better than that of the incumbent technology. ARPA-E will provide support at the highest funding level only for submissions with significant technology risk, aggressive timetables, and careful management and mitigation of the associated risks. ARPA-E funds technology with the potential to be disruptive in the marketplace. The mere creation of a new learning curve does not ensure market penetration. Rather, the ultimate value of a technology is determined by the marketplace, and impactful technologies ultimately become disruptive – that is, they are widely adopted and displace existing technologies from the marketplace or create entirely new markets. ARPA-E understands that definitive proof of market disruption takes time, particularly for energy technologies. Therefore, ARPA-E funds the development of technologies that, if technically successful, have clear disruptive potential, e.g., by demonstrating capability for manufacturing at competitive cost and deployment at scale. ARPA-E funds applied research and development (R&D). The Office of Management and Budget defines “applied research” as an “original investigation undertaken in order to acquire new knowledge…directed primarily towards a specific practical aim or objective” and defines “experimental development” as “creative and systematic work, drawing on knowledge gained from research and practical experience, which is directed at producing new products or processes or improving existing products or processes.” Applicants interested in receiving financial assistance for basic research (defined by the Office of Management and Budget as “experimental or theoretical work undertaken primarily to acquire new knowledge of the underlying foundations of phenomena and observable facts”)1 should contact the DOE’s Office of Science (http://science.energy.gov/). Office of Science national scientific user facilities (http://science.energy.gov/user-facilities/) are open to all researchers, including ARPA-E Applicants and awardees. These facilities provide advanced tools of modern science including accelerators, colliders, supercomputers, light sources and neutron sources, as well as facilities for studying the nanoworld, the environment, and the atmosphere. Projects focused on early-stage R&D for the improvement of technology along defined roadmaps may be more appropriate for support through the DOE applied energy offices including: the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (http://www.eere.energy.gov/), the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (https://www.energy.gov/fecm/office-fossil-energy-and-carbon-management), the Office of Nuclear Energy (http://www.energy.gov/ne/office-nuclear-energy), and the Office of Electricity (https://www.energy.gov/oe/office-electricity). ARPA-E encourages submissions stemming from ideas that still require proof-of-concept R&D efforts as well as those for which some proof-of-concept demonstration already exists. Submissions can propose a project with the end deliverable being an extremely creative, but partial solution. Program Overview: Projects funded under the Galvanizing Leaps in Advanced Super INsulating Glass (GLASING) program will develop high performance Insulated Glass Units (IGUs) to improve the energy efficiency of new and existing buildings. GLASING technologies will achieve more than three times the thermal performance of the widely used 50-year-old double-pane IGU technology at competitive cost and optical performance. Applications for GLASING technologies will include new and retrofit single- and double-hung windows, bay windows, casement windows, awning windows, skylights, etc. Residential and commercial buildings accounted for 39.1% of the primary energy used in the U.S. in 2021, and 38% of that energy was used for space heating and cooling. Approximately 35% of that heating and cooling energy was lost through the building envelope (e.g., windows, walls, doors, attic, and air leaks). Overall, windows were responsible for 8.6% of the total energy used in buildings. Compared to walls, which typically have R-values between R-10 and R-30, single-pane windows and double-pane IGUs have R-values between R-1 and R-3.5 and are thus often the cause of poor building thermal performance. Reducing the amount of heat lost or gained (and thus energy used) through windows would reduce utility costs and carbon dioxide emissions. It would also enable the use of smaller, less expensive HVAC equipment and ducting systems, increasing the useful interior space of buildings and reducing the demand for energy on the electrical grid. An IGU is composed of two or more glass panes that provide a measure of thermal insulation, and IGUs are often held within a sash and/or frame. In double-pane low emissivity (or double low-e) IGUs, the main thermal resistance is provided by a layer of gas (usually air, argon, or krypton) trapped between the two panes. The panes are separated by a spacer containing a desiccant to absorb water and a polyisobutylene seal that minimizes water and gas transfer. Radiation across the gap is minimized by the application of a low-e coating on the inward facing surface of one or both panes. The remaining heat transfer mechanisms are conduction through the edge seal and both conduction and convection through the fill gas. The center-of-glass (COG) thermal resistance as a function of the gas thickness initially increases as the conduction resistance increases but reaches a maximum and then decreases as natural convection commences. Various techniques can be used to increase the thermal resistance of over that of double-pane IGUs (Figure 2 on the following page). Gases with lower thermal conductivity, higher density, and higher viscosity such as argon or krypton could replace air in double low-e IGUs. Multiple gas layers can be used at the expense of heavier, thicker, and more expensive IGUs. Thin triple IGUs use a thin layer of glass within a standard double low-e IGU to minimize convection. Transparent materials (e.g., aerogels) with a thermal conductivity lower than that of air can be placed within the gap, which has the additional benefit of reducing convection. Finally, the gas can be eliminated altogether in Vacuum Insulated Glazing (VIG), leaving only conduction through the small spacers and the edge seal as the remaining heat transfer mechanisms. To view the NOFO in its entirety, please visit https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov.

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