Planning Grant: Engineering Research Center for Green and Climate Resilient Built Environments (Green CRiB)

拟议的绿色和气候弹性建筑环境资源中心(Green CRIBS)的愿景是通过改善室内温度稳定性来增强我们社会的气候适应能力，作为一种显著提高被动生存能力、环境公正性的手段，并提供一条加速能源系统脱碳的途径。绿色婴儿床ERC规划赠款活动将侧重于确定透明信封材料方面的尖端、可持续、基于工程的创新，并支持智能制造技术，这些技术将改变建筑环境中自然和人造光、热和能源的管理方式。窗户和透明围护结构技术利用超绝缘材料的创新和新颖的光管理模式，将使建筑物和农业温室对主动制冷/加热的总体需求大幅减少，同时最大限度地提高人类生活和经济活动，包括粮食生产的安全温度。绿色婴儿床被设想为通过节能和电网保护来应对气候变化和环境公平的基本战略，同时促进价值0.42万亿美元的玻璃/窗行业及其服务的多个行业的创新，并培养下一代多样化、具有融合和创新意识的工程师，以解决复杂的社会问题。在本ERC中，我们的目标是显著提高室内温度稳定性，抵御室外温度变化，这将导致电网脱碳所必需的剩余负荷减少，使用一种全新的方法，基于建筑环境水平的热、光和能量的动态管理。在专业知识、性别、种族、地理位置和职业阶段方面，将组成一个多元化的ERC团队，以建立一个广泛参与的综合研究、创新、学习和指导环境，以培养出一批高度多样化的汇聚思想家和问题解决者，反映我们社会的日益多样化。将通过使能技术、基础研究、智能制造创新和利益攸关方参与，寻求并实现对安全、气候适应能力、环境公平和正义、减少温室气体排放和电网脱碳的系统层面影响。这一规划拨款的智力价值成果是：i)建立多功能和动态的透明围护结构技术和创新之间的联系，这些技术和创新将如何影响气候适应能力、能源公平和电网脱碳；ii)确定系统级和技术级试验台(住宅和商业建筑、温室农业等)。这将最大限度地提高系统一级的效益和社会影响，三)规划发展道路，使热和光管理性能远远超过当前先进水平，以满足系统一级的需求，四)确定推动气凝胶隔热窗、可逆电沉积基本领域的宏电子器件、优化植物生长和人类舒适度所需的光能调制、玻璃上能量收集和储存所需的关键途径，以及五)改进关于玻璃和其他信封的先进技术的可持续、低成本和大规模制造。将与利益攸关方一起确定主要试验床的系统级评估，以指导研究，着眼于将成本降至最低，并最大限度地提高接受度、采用率和社会影响。绿色婴儿床规划活动还将寻求尽可能广泛的利益相关者社区，并促进与系统、技术和基础知识相关的不同学科的融合。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The vision of the proposed ERC for Green and Climate Resilient Built Environments (Green CRiBs) is to enhance the climate-resilience of our society by improving indoor temperature stability as a means of dramatically increasing passive survivability, environmental justice, and providing a pathway to accelerate energy system decarbonization. The Green CRiBs ERC planning grant activities will focus on identifying cutting-edge, sustainable, engineering-based innovations in transparent envelope materials and enabling smart manufacturing technologies that will transform how natural and artificial light, heat and energy are managed in the built environment. Window and transparent envelope technologies leveraging innovations in super-insulating materials and novel light management paradigms will enable dramatic reduction of the overall need for active cooling/heating in buildings and agricultural greenhouses, while maximizing access to safe temperatures for both human living and economic activity, including food production. Green CRiBs is envisioned as an essential strategy for addressing climate change and environmental equity through energy savings and grid protection, while catalyzing innovation in the $0.42 trillion glass/window industry and multiple sectors it serves, and training the next generation of diverse, convergence- and innovation-minded engineers to solve complex societal problems.In this ERC, we aim to dramatically improve indoor temperature stabilization against outdoor temperature variations, which will lead to residual load reductions essential for grid decarbonization using an entirely new approach predicated on dynamical management of heat, light and energy at the level of the built environment. A diverse ERC team in terms of expertise, gender, race, geographic location, and career stage will be formed to establish an integrated research, innovation, learning, and mentoring environment with broad participation to produce a highly diverse group of convergent thinkers and problem solvers that reflect the increasing diversity of our society. System-level implications on safety, climate resilience, environmental equity and justice, reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and grid decarbonization will be sought and enabled through enabling technologies, fundamental research, smart manufacturing innovations and stakeholder engagement. Intellectual merit outcomes of this planning grant are to: i) establish linkages between how multi-functional and dynamic transparent envelope technologies and innovations therein will impact climate resilience, energy equity, and grid decarbonization, ii) identify system-level and technology-level testbeds (residential and commercial buildings, greenhouse agriculture, etc.) that will maximize system-level benefits and societal impacts, iii) chart a path towards developing enabling technologies that advance thermal and light management properties well beyond the current state-of-the-art to become responsive to system-level needs, iv) identify critical pathways for advancement of aerogel thermal insulating windows, macroelectronic devices in fundamental areas of reversible electrodeposition, light energy modulation required for optimal plant growth and human comfort, on-glass energy harvesting and storage, and v) improve sustainable, low-cost and large scale manufacturing of advanced technologies on glass and other envelopes. System-level evaluations in primary testbeds in conjunction with stakeholders will be identified to guide research with an eye on minimizing cost and maximizing acceptance, adoption and societal impact. The Green CRiBs planning activities will also seek to identify the broadest possible stakeholder community and foster convergence of diverse disciplines related to systems, technologies and fundamental knowledge.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.