The City of Washington DC has made a commitment to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 50% below 2006 levels by 2032 and to become carbon neutral and climate resilient by 2050. To meet its goals, Washington DC is advancing initiatives that will improve the energy efficiency of homes and buildings, expand use of renewable energy and enhance sustainable transportation options.

Based on a study conducted in 2011, residential buildings accounted for 74% of the District’s total emissions, the largest contributor to the City’s carbon emission profile. In its 2011 Climate Action Plan, Washington DC prioritized reducing building energy use, including reducing energy use by buildings owned and operated by the DC municipal government.

In 62 new homes in suburban Birmingham, Alabama and 46 townhomes under construction in the Upper West Side of Atlanta, Georgia, Eclipse VOLTTRON is helping enable futuristic approaches to optimize residential energy usage and delivery. Both residential developments are part of the Smart NeighborhoodTM initiative, where the US Department of Energy’s Building Technologies Office (BTO), Southern Company, Alabama Power and Georgia Power will research how neighborhoods of the future could function to better serve customers. Both projects include grid-interactive efficient buildings (GEB) - smart home technologies in highly energy efficient homes.

Eclipse VOLTTRON Platform Enables Successful Integration of Photovoltaic and Battery Energy Storage Systems on University CampusOn the Scott Park Campus of Energy and Innovation at the University of Toledo, researchers are employing the open source Eclipse VOLTTRON platform to demonstrate an innovative approach to integrating photovoltaic (PV) panels. building automation systems and a battery energy storage system (BESS). The demonstration project, a cooperative effort of the University’s Facilities and Engineering departments, illustrates that universities do not need expensive, single-vendor centralized “command and control” systems to maximize the impact of PV implementations.