California funds green HVAC project
EPRI gets $4.7 million in cap-and-trade dollars to develop and deploy heat pumps using low-GWP refrigerants, with a focus on serving low-income areas.
California-based Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) announced on January 28 that it received $4.7 (€4.12) million in cap and trade funding to develop advanced residential heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems using low-GWP refrigerants — in particular heat pumps — with an additional focus on bringing the technology to low-income Californians.
The California Strategic Growth Council provided the grant. Its Climate Change Research Program is part of California Climate Investments, a state-wide program that the funnels billions of cap-and-trade dollars toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
“Our work will advance the development of a window unit to heat and cool homes [using heat pump technology] at a lower cost for the consumer and the environment,” said Mukesh Khattar, EPRI technical executive and co-principal investigator. “We’re focusing on this efficient appliance because it provides households the opportunity to realize energy savings and contribute to greenhouse gas emission reductions without major capital investment.”
EPRI will collaborate with California-based energy and finance companies Treau, WattzOn, and Otherlab to develop, demonstrate and deploy the heat pumps using low-GWP refrigerants.
“This grant will help us provide fellow Californians with new options to make their homes more comfortable, while saving money and helping our environment.”
– Vince Romanin, CEO of Treau, Inc.
“Our aim is to make homes and families more comfortable while decreasing harmful emissions from traditional heating and cooling equipment,” said Vince Romanin, CEO of Treau, Inc. “This grant will help us provide fellow Californians with new options to make their homes more comfortable, while saving money and helping our environment.
Many of the field tests will be carried out in Modesto, Calif., which has an average winter temperature of 40°F (4.4°C) and an average summer temperature of 94°F (34.4°C).
“The City of Modesto is engaging with the research group and the Central Valley Opportunity Center to bring new high-efficiency HVAC technology to market, with a focus on our underserved communities,” said Jaylen French, director of Community and Economic Development for the City of Modesto. “We thank the California Strategic Growth Council for funding this project and its dual focus on people and technology.”
Originally published on Jan 30, 2019:
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