[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 79 (Wednesday, April 24, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Page 17148]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-08274]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY


Notice of Request for Information (RFI) on Research and 
Development Opportunities for Innovations in Sensors and Controls for 
Building Energy Management

AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Department of 
Energy (DOE).

ACTION: Request for information (RFI).

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) invites public comment on 
its Request for Information (RFI) on research and development 
opportunities for innovations in sensors and controls for building 
energy management. Through this RFI, the Office of Energy Efficiency 
and Renewable Energy (EERE) Building Technologies Office (BTO) seeks 
input on research and development opportunities for the integration and 
optimization of systems at the whole-building level through connected 
and controllable loads for increased energy affordability, improved 
occupant comfort, and enhanced provision of grid services that will 
strengthen the integration between buildings, other distributed energy 
resources, and the electric grid. This RFI will inform BTO's strategic 
planning moving forward in identifying early-stage and innovative 
technology solutions to meet these goals. Successful solutions will 
strengthen the affordability, reliability, and resiliency of the energy 
consumed by the buildings sector, contributing to DOE's priorities for 
the energy sector as a whole.

DATES: Responses to the RFI must be received by 5:00 p.m. (ET) on June 
3rd, 2019.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties are to submit comments electronically to 
[email protected]. Include ``Research and Development 
Opportunities for Innovations in Sensors and Controls for Building 
Energy Management'' in the subject of the title. Responses must be 
provided as attachments to an email. It is recommended that attachments 
with file sizes exceeding 25MB be compressed (i.e., zipped) to ensure 
message delivery. Responses must be provided as a Microsoft Word 
(.docx) attachment to the email, and no more than 10 pages in length, 
12 point font, 1 inch margins. Only electronic responses will be 
accepted.
    Please identify your answers by responding to a specific question 
or topic if applicable. Respondents may answer as many or as few 
questions as they wish.
    EERE will not respond to individual submissions or publish publicly 
a compendium of responses. A response to this RFI will not be viewed as 
a binding commitment to develop or pursue the project or ideas 
discussed.
    Respondents are requested to provide the following information at 
the start of their response to this RFI:
     Company/institution name;
     Company/institution contact;
     Contact's address, phone number, and email address.
    The complete RFI document is located at https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Question may be addressed to 
[email protected] or Marina Sofos, (202) 586-3492, 
[email protected]. or Erika Gupta, (202) 586-3152, 
[email protected]. Further instruction can be found in the RFI 
document posted on EERE Exchange.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The purpose of this RFI is to solicit 
feedback from industry, academia, research laboratories, government 
agencies, and other stakeholders on issues related to sensor and 
control technologies for optimizing building energy management. This 
information will be used by BTO to update its Sensors and Controls R&D 
strategy and supporting energy savings and cost reduction goals, as 
well as to inform future strategic planning and adjustments to its R&D 
portfolio. This is solely a request for information and not a Funding 
Opportunity Announcement (FOA). EERE is not accepting FOA applications. 
The RFI is available at: https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/.

Confidential Business Information

    Pursuant to 10 CFR 1004.11, any person submitting information that 
he or she believes to be confidential and exempt by law from public 
disclosure should submit via email two well marked copies: One copy of 
the document marked ``confidential'' including all the information 
believed to be confidential, and one copy of the document marked ``non-
confidential'' with the information believed to be confidential 
deleted. DOE will make its own determination about the confidential 
status of the information and treat it according to its determination. 
Factors of interest to DOE when evaluating requests to treat submitted 
information as confidential include: (1) A description of the items; 
(2) whether and why such items are customarily treated as confidential 
within the industry; (3) whether the information is generally known by 
or available from other sources; (4) whether the information has 
previously been made available to others without obligation concerning 
its confidentiality; (5) an explanation of the competitive injury to 
the submitting person that would result from public disclosure; (6) 
when such information might lose its confidential character due to the 
passage of time; and (7) why disclosure of the information would be 
contrary to the public interest.

    Signed in Washington, DC on April 16, 2019.
David Nemtzow,
Director, Building Technologies Office.
[FR Doc. 2019-08274 Filed 4-23-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P