The Maryland Industrial Partnerships (MIPS) program, an initiative of the Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute in the A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland, has approved research projects combining Maryland companies with state university researchers. Two of the projects are HVAC related.

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, are working to take research innovations from their labs into the real world to cut commercial building energy consumption by close to a third, and give office workers more control over their personal comfort.

The question of how much energy occupants expend in offices and how that impacts their personal comfort is being explored through a grant from ASHRAE. 

ASHRAE has awarded projects at Purdue University and Oklahoma State University with a newly created research grant, which provides funding for research having the potential to significantly advance the state-of-the-art in HVACR. 

ASHRAE announces call for research papers for Research Summit.

Heat Pipe Technology Inc., a division of MiTek, a Berkshire Hathaway company, announced that it has opened a new Demo and Innovation Center, an extension of its Gainesville, Fla., manufacturing facility. The center is designed for advanced on-site research, as well as to showcase its technology for visitors.

From a global perspective, there is a lot of interest in the wider use of R-744 (CO2), especially in supermarket refrigeration. Recently, a number of international studies and seminars have reported some of the latest developments regarding R-744.

The Fraunhofer Center for Sustainable Energy Systems (CSE) announced 37 industry partners who are participating in its Building Technology Showcase, what the organization says is a first-of-its-kind research and demonstration building for sustainable technologies in the city of Boston’s Innovation District.