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The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced $32 million to fund over 30 next-generation building retrofit projects that will dramatically improve affordable housing technologies. Seven awardees will test renovation techniques that reduce disruption to tenants while upgrading the energy and environmental performance of buildings more quickly, affordably, and effectively. These techniques, such as prefabricating walls and drop-in replacements for heating, cooling, and hot water systems, can revolutionize construction and renovation. They can also provide the means to decarbonize America’s 130 million buildings at the rate needed to address the climate crisis and meet President Biden’s goals of a net zero carbon economy by 2050.  

“We’re in an all-out sprint to beat the climate crisis, and that race runs straight through our nation’s building sector,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “Faster and more efficient construction and renovation methods that improve our nation’s supply of affordable housing are the kinds of transformative innovations we need to lower costs for working families and build a better America.” 

Today, U.S. buildings use 40% of the nation’s energy and 75% of its electricity, making the building sector responsible for 35% of America’s carbon emissions. Today, with off-the-shelf equipment, buildings can readily save 30% by replacing windows, putting in insulation, and using high-efficiency equipment. With innovations like the ones these teams will develop, the U.S. can lead the way with industrialized solutions that could cut thermal energy use in buildings by 75%.   

To make this vision a reality, the Building Technologies Office (BTO) in DOE’s Office and Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) created the Advanced Building Construction (ABC) Initiative to reinvent the “ABCs” of building construction and renovation. Given the lack of change in techniques since the 19th century, builders and contractors need solutions that deliver sustainable and appealing buildings faster and more affordably. The projects announced today are among the first whole-building demonstrations of the ABC Initiative’s efforts to not only drive the development of new technologies, practices, and approaches, but ensure these highly efficient and low-carbon innovations are widely deployed and shape the construction industry’s modernization efforts.  

With this funding, these demonstration projects will apply innovations developed through previous funding from DOE’s 2019 Advanced Building Construction with Energy-Efficient Technologies & Practices Funding Opportunity. These technological breakthroughs are tackling one of our most difficult challenges – developing appealing, widely-applicable, and effective low carbon solutions for our existing building stock. The majority of these projects will demonstrate large-scale renovations in the affordable housing sector, including public housing, manufactured housing communities, privately owned affordable housing, and student housing. However, many of the innovations can also be applied to existing commercial buildings. Read complete descriptions of each selectee below. 

The selectees are: 

Fraunhofer USA Center for Manufacturing Innovation (Massachusetts) will test prefabricated, super-insulated wall retrofit panel blocks with a suite of high-performance building technologies across four locations in Massachusetts, Vermont, and Pennsylvania. (Award Amount: $4.9 million) 

Home Innovation Research Labs, Inc. (Maryland) will test an innovative wall system with vacuum insulated panels in three residential, multi-family public housing buildings in Albany, New York. (Award Amount: $4.5 million)

National Renewable Energy Laboratory (Colorado) will use software tools to properly size and install retrofit packages in two residential low-income, multi-family buildings in Arvada, Colorado. (Award Amount: $4.4 million)

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Tennessee) will demonstrate 3D-printed modular overclad panels with heat pump systems in 8 to 12 single-family attached public housing homes and one commercial building in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Award Amount: $5 million)

Rocky Mountain Institute (Colorado) will demonstrate an integrated retrofit package of envelope panels, a heat pump pod, and innovative financing in a mid-rise, 120-unit low-income multifamily building in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (Award Amount: $4.4 million)

Syracuse University (New York) will pair overclad panels with real-time performance monitoring capabilities and an “HVAC pod” in single-family attached dormitories in Syracuse, New York. (Award Amount: $5 million)

The University of Central Florida Board of Trustees (Florida) will demonstrate a solar photovoltaic-integrated multi-functional heat pump system for space and water heating in 4 single-family homes and 8 manufactured homes across numerous locations in six states. (Award Amount: $3.6 million) 

“To fight the climate crisis and protect our country long-term from upheaval caused by the global fossil fuel market, we need to invest in domestic clean energy and in energy efficiency. This is why I am excited that DOE is supporting demonstration projects like Fraunhofer USA Center for Manufacturing Innovation’s work on wall insulation retrofits. Programs like the Advanced Building Construction Initiative are exactly what our country needs to improve energy efficiency technologies and save families money, save energy, and save the planet all at the same time,” said U.S. Senator Edward Markey (MA). 

“I applaud the Department of Energy for making these important updates to Syracuse University housing,” said U.S. Representative John Katko (NY-24). “Through these upgrades, Syracuse housing will become more energy-efficient and help reduce its carbon footprint. This represents a huge win for Syracuse University and the Central New York community.” 

These selected teams will also advance the DOE-funded Advanced Building Construction Collaborative, which connects companies working in prefabricated, modular, and other industrialized construction techniques with building owners, developers, financiers, utilities, and researchers to modernize the construction industry and buildings sector. 

Ontario Industrial Electricity Rates pressure manufacturers as hydro fees, global adjustment, and energy costs rise; factories weigh relocation to U.S. markets, seeking competitive power prices, conservation incentives, and Ontario government relief to protect jobs.

Key Points

Power prices and fees, including global adjustment, paid by Ontario factories that affect competitiveness and relocation.

✅ High hydro fees erode margins and global competitiveness

✅ Global adjustment levy dominates industrial power bills

✅ Conservation program aids few SMEs; peaks hard to predict

A group that represents hundreds of small to medium sized manufacturers across the province is urging the Ontario government to lower hydro fees for industrial users, or face the prospect of some factories packing up and moving to other jurisdictions where electricity is cheaper.

The manufacturers banded together last October under the banner the Concerned Manufacturers of Ontario, a lobby group dedicated to standing up for smaller factories against a Liberal government that they claim doesn't care about them. 

"We have to compete globally and we have to compete with companies in the United States," the group's founder Jocelyn Bamford told The Morning Edition host Craig Norris Monday. "The majority of those companies have a very competitive electricity rates." 

She noted in Mississippi, the rate is 5.56 cents a kilowatt hour.

"In Toronto, I'm paying 19 cents a kilowatt hour and with electricity being our third largest expense," Bamford said. "When you look at the bottom line, it's very difficult to compete." 

Cheaper power in the U.S. 

Bamford's day job is vice president of marketing at Toronto-based Automatic Coating Limited. She said her factory could save a lot of money if it moved to the U.S., where it competes against American companies for many of its clients, which includes the U.S. Navy. 

"A lot of family businesses have grown here and want to remain here, but with a very uncompetitive electricity price, it makes it very difficult to remain here," she said. 

"I could move my business to the United States and save half a million dollars on energy costs." 

Difference between profit and loss

Bamford said last month's power bill at her Scarborough factory was $45,000, but only $5,600 went towards paying for the amount of electricity the plant used.

Most of the bill, about $25,000 she said, is eaten up by the global adjustment levy, part of Ontario's electricity cost allocation framework added to all power bills in the province to pay for above-market rates paid to power providers in 20-year contracts meant to ensure a steady supply. 

The other $14,400 on her power bill, Bamford said, is made up of a number of other fees.

Bamford said while she's happy for homeowners across Ontario, who recently learned they'd be getting a break this summer in the form of a 17 per cent reduction on their hydro bills under the province's Fair Hydro Plan program, factories also need a break on what's quickly become one of their biggest expenses. 

"That electricity pricing and energy pricing makes a difference for them from operating at a profit or a loss, and policies like a temporary recovery rate can also affect bills," she said.

Bamford said the Liberal government at Queen's Park would do well to take the concerns of Ontario's small and medium sized manufacturers seriously, who provide about 800,000 jobs for the province and another six spin-off jobs for every worker on the factory floor. 

Manufacturers not missed entirely

Still, while the government's recent efforts to deflate the ballooning costs of electricity was largely geared to homeowners, it didn't miss manufacturers entirely. 

The province announced it would expand the industrial consevation initiative, a move toward reducing the burden on industrial ratepayers which allows mid-sized manufacturers to save up to a third of their electricity costs on the global adjustment line of their power bill.

Eligible companies can pay based on how much power they use during the five hours each year that the Ontario power grid requires the most electricity. 

The problem though, according to Bamford, is it requires factories to guess when the province's overall power demand will peak and then lower their power consumption accordingly. 

"It's very difficult to power down and tell your customers, 'You have to wait,' or tell your employees that they have to come in and work on the nightshift because a lot employees have childcare commitments," she said. 

Bamford also notes the program still excludes 85 per cent of Ontario factories, whose staff make up 50 people or less and use less than one megawatt of power. 

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Mercedes-Benz Energy Americas debuts residential battery storage for the U.S., leveraging EV-grade lithium-ion cells, solar integration, time-of-use shifting, and backup power, while scaling commercial and utility projects with demand response and frequency regulation.

Key Points

Mercedes-Benz Energy Americas is Daimler's U.S. unit selling lithium-ion storage for homes, businesses, and utilities.

✅ Modular 2.5 to 20 kWh packs; 10-year warranty; installer partnerships

✅ Supports solar self-consumption, TOU shifting, backup power

✅ Targets residential, commercial, and utility-scale demand response

                                                           photo credit: Mecedes-Benz

USA - GreentechGrid -  (Nov 2, 2016)  - We knew the Mercedes-Benz residential battery would be coming to the shores of America in early 2017. Now we know it will arrive with a whole new company.

Parent company Daimler AG has created Mercedes-Benz Energy Americas, LLC to sell stationary storage of all sizes to the U.S. market. Like Tesla, this is a car company that developed electric vehicles (EVs), amid the accelerating age of electric cars, and then put its battery expertise to work in a stationary storage product.

The Mercedes home batteries will also go head-to-head with fellow German emigrant Sonnen, a competition made all the more personal because Daimler hired Sonnen's former U.S. CEO, Boris von Bormann, to lead the effort. After three years of working on Sonnen's U.S. entrance, he's learned about the American appetite for storage and how to market to it, and now combines that experience with the resources and reputation of Mercedes-Benz.

Energy Americas will act as the U.S. counterpart to Germany's Mercedes-Benz Energy GmbH. Both companies develop and sell batteries made by Daimler's wholly owned subsidiary Deutsche Accumotive. This company has been manufacturing lithium-ion battery systems for Mercedes-Benz electric cars, so the batteries have seen rigorous testing and are built for much more intensive use than most stationary systems ever see.

Mercedes isn't just dipping its tires into the electric mobility craze. By 2025, the company wants to sell 10 or more EV models as part of its broader electrification plan, and it's investing 1 billion euros in scaling its battery production capacity. The company has bigger ideas than just cars, too -- it's envisioning an "electric mobility ecosystem" including automation, ride-sharing and home improvements like battery storage and EV chargers.

The residential market will be an early focus for the fledgling U.S. enterprise. The metallic gray modular system looks like a home appliance, stacks from 2.5 kilowatt-hours up to 20 kilowatt-hours and comes with a 10-year warranty. That goes on sale the first quarter of next year, as will larger commercial packages. Mercedes is looking for channel partners to distribute and install the systems.

Mercedes will also pursue utility-scale projects, and already has a contract to build a 1-megawatt containerized storage system to provide frequency regulation and demand response in PJM territory, as states like California explore EVs for grid stability.

Not in Germany Anymore

The residential battery will appear the same superficially after it crosses the Atlantic, but certain details will have to change.

"With a German household, it's a very simplified sale," von Bormann said. "There is one tariff structure throughout Germany. The only use case is solar self-consumption."

Germany's rooftop solar customers earn limited compensation for the solar they put back into the grid, due to declining feed-in tariffs. At the same time, the retail cost of electricity is quite high. These factors create a strong financial incentive for storing one's solar generation and using it throughout the day.

A similar incentive exists in Hawaii and the Caribbean islands, but in most of the U.S., residential storage lacks such a clear value proposition. That requires a more tailored approach that identifies different use cases for different demographics: time-of-use shifting and demand-charge reduction, where appropriate rate structures apply; off-grid, for those who want it; backup power, for households that want a cleaner, quieter sense of security from blackouts, and some EVs can power homes for days; and demand response, where utilities are looking for distributed assets to assist those efforts.

"You have to change your use cases, your software applications and your product applications to fit that market," von Bormann said.

The typical American household consumes more power than its European counterpart, so battery sales in the U.S. will likely run larger and require more powerful inverters than in Germany. Mercedes-Benz will manufacture the U.S. products in Germany initially, and evaluate that approach based on product demand and availability.

More Crowded Field

The announcement adds one more player to the growing field of competitors vying for American energy consumers' affection.

It also puts von Bormann in direct competition with former employer Sonnen, which focuses on residential batteries but also launched a commercial product this summer. There aren't any hard feelings, though, said Sonnen Director of Marketing Michelle Mapel. "It was an amicable departure," she said.

The company had planned to phase out the U.S. CEO role after establishing a presence there, she added. The U.S. branch will now operate under the direction of Jannik Schall as U.S. Country Manager, but will report more directly to global CEO Christoph Ostermann.

"This market is potentially massive, so there’s plenty of room for a lot of different products that serve different needs and give people options," Mapel said.

For his part, von Bormann shared the optimism about peaceful coexistence. "We’ll see some smaller companies brought into larger companies or leave the market, but I really think there's room for a few players to have significant market share."

The evolution from electric-car maker to stationary storage provider suggests a similar profile to Tesla. New entrants to the market have to contend with Tesla's strong brand recognition -- it introduced a lot of consumers to the concept of energy storage -- and its scale of production.

The production capacity expansion that Mercedes-Benz has undertaken is "similar to or even greater than" what Tesla is doing with the new Gigafactory in Nevada, von Bormann said, even as GM and Ford battery strategies diverge. And brand recognition will be a competitive advantage for as old and established a company as Mercedes.

"The storage market is still young, and there aren’t really many recognizable household names," said Brett Simon, an energy storage analyst at GTM Research who has studied the German and U.S. markets. "Someone like Mercedes-Benz, that's a name that people are familiar with."

This benefit goes beyond lower customer acquisition costs. The company's staying power could lead to things like cheaper cost of capital for financing and greater consumer confidence in product warranties, especially in a field largely populated by young startups.

"You're looking at a company that's been around since the late 1800s -- that’s quite a significant history," von Bormann said. "If I'd be putting an investment into my home or my business, I'd be looking for a company that I know will be there in five, 10, 15 years."

Another distinguishing factor for Mercedes-Benz is the decision to pursue all three scales of battery: residential, commercial and utility. Most -- but not all -- competitors tackle one or two, like Stem or Sonnen. Additionally, Mercedes-Benz will be able to leverage cross-promotion with its car products.

That all sounds good in theory. But success will ultimately rest on how the Mercedes batteries compete on price with the options already on the market, and just how much of a boon the existing customer loyalty and brand awareness proves to be.

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