Dive summary:
- American homes and offices do a lot better than they used to at keeping energy inside where it's supposed to be, but the U.S. Department of Energy sees plenty more work to be done.
- Today, the department says a typical residential or commercial building in the U.S. is surrendering about 42% of its energy consumption to losses through doors, windows, roofs, walls and just about anywhere else that bit can go without being useful to the people inside.
- That's why the department says it will invest $9 million in research to devise better energy-holding materials and more efficient mechanical systems.
From the article:
The University of Idaho will design and demonstrate a roof sandwich panel that uses foam material to increase building thermal efficiency and helps reduce construction costs by 25%. ...
