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+
+ - BUILDING TECHNOLOGIES RESEARCH FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
+
+[House Hearing, 117 Congress]
+[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
+
+
+ BUILDING TECHNOLOGIES RESEARCH
+ FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
+
+=======================================================================
+
+ HEARING
+
+ BEFORE THE
+
+ SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENERGY
+
+ OF THE
+
+ COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE,
+ AND TECHNOLOGY
+ HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
+
+ ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
+
+ FIRST SESSION
+
+ __________
+
+ MARCH 25, 2021
+
+ __________
+
+ Serial No. 117-7
+
+ __________
+
+ Printed for the use of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology
+
+ [GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
+
+
+ Available via the World Wide Web: http://science.house.gov
+
+ __________
+
+ U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
+43-798PDF WASHINGTON : 2021
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+ COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY
+
+ HON. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas, Chairwoman
+ZOE LOFGREN, California FRANK LUCAS, Oklahoma,
+SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon Ranking Member
+AMI BERA, California MO BROOKS, Alabama
+HALEY STEVENS, Michigan, BILL POSEY, Florida
+ Vice Chair RANDY WEBER, Texas
+MIKIE SHERRILL, New Jersey BRIAN BABIN, Texas
+JAMAAL BOWMAN, New York ANTHONY GONZALEZ, Ohio
+BRAD SHERMAN, California MICHAEL WALTZ, Florida
+ED PERLMUTTER, Colorado JAMES R. BAIRD, Indiana
+JERRY McNERNEY, California PETE SESSIONS, Texas
+PAUL TONKO, New York DANIEL WEBSTER, Florida
+BILL FOSTER, Illinois MIKE GARCIA, California
+DONALD NORCROSS, New Jersey STEPHANIE I. BICE, Oklahoma
+DON BEYER, Virginia YOUNG KIM, California
+CHARLIE CRIST, Florida RANDY FEENSTRA, Iowa
+SEAN CASTEN, Illinois JAKE LaTURNER, Kansas
+CONOR LAMB, Pennsylvania CARLOS A. GIMENEZ, Florida
+DEBORAH ROSS, North Carolina JAY OBERNOLTE, California
+GWEN MOORE, Wisconsin PETER MEIJER, Michigan
+DAN KILDEE, Michigan VACANCY
+SUSAN WILD, Pennsylvania
+LIZZIE FLETCHER, Texas
+VACANCY
+ ------
+
+ Subcommittee on Energy
+
+ HON. JAMAAL BOWMAN, New York, Chairman
+SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon RANDY WEBER, Texas,
+HALEY STEVENS, Michigan Ranking Member
+JERRY McNERNEY, California JIM BAIRD, Indiana
+DONALD NORCROSS, New Jersey MIKE GARCIA, California
+SEAN CASTEN, Illinois RANDY FEENSTRA, Iowa
+CONOR LAMB, Pennsylvania CARLOS A. GIMENEZ, Florida
+DEBORAH ROSS, North Carolina PETER MEIJER, Michigan
+
+
+ C O N T E N T S
+
+ March 25, 2021
+
+ Page
+
+Hearing Charter.................................................. 2
+
+ Opening Statements
+
+Statement by Representative Jamaal Bowman, Chairman, Subcommittee
+ on Energy, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, U.S.
+ House of Representatives....................................... 5
+ Written Statement............................................ 6
+
+Statement by Representative Randy Weber, Ranking Member,
+ Subcommittee on Energy, Committee on Science, Space, and
+ Technology, U.S. House of Representatives...................... 7
+ Written Statement............................................ 8
+
+Written statement by Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson,
+ Chairwoman, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, U.S.
+ House of Representatives....................................... 10
+
+ Witnesses:
+
+Dr. Nora Esram, Senior Director for Research at American Council
+ for an Energy-Efficient Economy
+ Oral Statement............................................... 11
+ Written Statement............................................ 13
+
+Dr. Roderick Jackson, Laboratory Program Manager for Buildings
+ Research at National Renewable Energy Laboratory
+ Oral Statement............................................... 24
+ Written Statement............................................ 26
+
+Dr. James Tour, T.T. and W. F. Chao Professor of Chemistry at
+ Rice University
+ Oral Statement............................................... 40
+ Written Statement............................................ 42
+
+Ms. Jacqueline Patterson, Director of Environmental and Climate
+ Justice Program, NAACP
+ Oral Statement............................................... 47
+ Written Statement............................................ 49
+
+Mr. Joseph Hagerman, Group Leader for Building Integration and
+ Controls at Oak Ridge National Laboratory
+ Oral Statement............................................... 53
+ Written Statement............................................ 55
+
+Discussion....................................................... 70
+
+
+ BUILDING TECHNOLOGIES RESEARCH
+ FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
+
+ ----------
+
+
+ THURSDAY, MARCH 25, 2021
+
+ House of Representatives,
+ Subcommittee on Energy,
+ Committee on Science, Space, and Technology,
+ Washington, D.C.
+
+ The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 1:04 p.m.,
+via Webex, Hon. Jamaal Bowman [Chairman of the Subcommittee]
+presiding.
+[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
+
+ Chairman Bowman. Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to our
+hearing entitled ``Building Technologies Research for a
+Sustainable Future.'' This hearing will come to order. Without
+objection, the Chairman is authorized to declare recess at any
+time.
+ Before I deliver my opening remarks, I wanted to note
+that, today, the Committee is meeting today virtually. I want
+to announce a couple of reminders to the Members about the
+conduct of this hearing. First, Members should keep their video
+feed on as long as they are present in the hearing. Members are
+responsible for their own microphones. Please also keep your
+microphones muted unless you are speaking. Finally, if Members
+have documents they wish to submit for the record, please email
+them to the Committee Clerk, whose email address was circulated
+prior to the hearing.
+ I now recognize myself for an opening statement.
+ Good afternoon, and thank you to all of our witnesses who
+are joining us virtually today to discuss the importance of
+sustainable buildings research. This is a critical component of
+fighting the climate crisis.
+ In my State of New York, we have some of the most densely
+populated cities in the country. We also have some of the most
+aggressive climate goals in the world. Thanks to a broad
+coalition of social movements, New York State passed the
+Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act in 2019. Part
+of this law was the inspiration for President Biden's Justice40
+Initiative, which will channel 40 percent of the Federal
+Government's climate investments into marginalized communities.
+Also in 2019, New York City passed a first-of-its-kind law to
+cut greenhouse gas emissions from buildings. Now, we need to
+come together as a nation and build on these victories at the
+Federal level.
+ When we think of reducing emissions, we often think of
+renewable power or electrifying our transportation sector. But
+another large source of emissions, especially in New York, is
+buildings. Currently, about 40 percent of our country's carbon
+dioxide emissions comes from the structures that we live, work,
+and sleep in, and that we depend on for life-sustaining care.
+This goes to the heart of why we need to address climate
+change, inequality, and racism together.
+ As we have been discussing on this Committee, when climate
+disasters strike, redlined communities of color and low-income
+people are hit hardest. They're the first to lose power when
+the electricity grid is strained, as we saw in Texas. And these
+are the same communities that struggle with housing and utility
+costs. They face health risks from toxic materials in
+buildings, including in public housing that we have allowed to
+fall into a state of disrepair. In my district and around the
+country, the people who live in these buildings have been dying
+at higher rates from COVID, partly because of co-morbidities
+caused by the fossil fuel economy. We need sustainable
+buildings now, and we need to rebuild our communities from the
+ground up.
+ The Department of Energy (DOE) invests millions of dollars
+every year in improving building technologies in a variety of
+ways. DOE, along with other Federal science agencies, plays a
+role in making buildings more resilient to extreme weather. DOE
+also researches energy efficiency and increased electrification
+in buildings, with an emphasis on ensuring the equitable
+distribution of the effects of this clean energy research.
+ Let's also think about how Federal research can become
+more interdisciplinary. Social scientists, for example, have
+started exploring how green investments in neighborhoods can
+lead to gentrification. This process is not only unjust but can
+undermine climate goals. Instead of cutting emissions for
+everyone, this can create a low-carbon economy for people with
+privilege, while displacing communities of color and other low-
+income people out of dense, walkable neighborhoods. We need a
+combination of natural science, engineering, and social science
+to guide equitable and effective green investments for
+everyone.
+ And research alone won't be enough. The other work that
+DOE must continue to focus on is how to get the results of this
+research into the hands of the communities that need it most. A
+week ago, I released a proposal to heal our K-12 school system
+from the impacts of climate change and the pandemic, and from
+decades of disinvestment. A huge part of this plan is focused
+on retrofitting public school buildings and removing toxic
+materials, beginning in the highest-need districts. Schools can
+become living laboratories for the energy transition, putting
+students and young people at the center of the Green New Deal,
+and launching STEM (science, technology, engineering, and
+mathematics) careers across the country.
+ Big problems require big solutions, and that is exactly
+what we will be pursuing together on this Committee. I am
+excited to chair the Energy Subcommittee this Congress and to
+hold this first Subcommittee hearing on such an important
+topic. Investing in building technologies means investing in a
+safe, healthy future for our country and for the entire world.
+I want to thank our excellent panel of witnesses assembled
+today, and I look forward to hearing your testimony. With that,
+I yield back.
+ [The prepared statement of Chairman Bowman follows:]
+
+ Good afternoon, and thank you to all of our witnesses who
+are joining us virtually today to discuss the importance of
+sustainable buildings research. This is a critical component of
+fighting the climate crisis.
+ In my state of New York, we have some of the most densely
+populated cities in the country. We also have some of the most
+aggressive climate goals in the world. Thanks to a broad
+coalition of social movements, New York State passed the
+Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act in 2019. Part
+of this law was the inspiration for President Biden's Justice40
+Initiative, which will channel 40% of the federal government's
+climate investments into marginalized communities.
+ Also in 2019, New York City passed a first-of-its-kind law
+to cut greenhouse gas emissions from buildings. Now, we need to
+come together as a nation and build on these victories at the
+federal level.
+ When we think of reducing emissions, we often think of
+renewable power, or electrifying our transportation sector. But
+another large source of emissions, especially in New York, is
+buildings. Currently, about 40% of our country's carbon dioxide
+emissions comes from the structures that we live, work, and
+sleep in, and that we depend on for life-sustaining care.
+ This goes to the heart of why we need to address climate
+change, inequality, and racism together. As we have been
+discussing on this Committee, when climate disasters strike,
+redlined communities of color and low-income people are hit
+hardest. They're the first to lose power when the electricity
+grid is strained, as we saw in Texas. And these are the same
+communities that struggle with housing and utility costs. They
+face health risks from toxic materials in buildings, including
+in the public housing that we have allowed to fall into a state
+of disrepair. In my district and around the country, the people
+who live in these buildings have been dying at higher rates
+from COVID--partly because of co-morbidities caused by the
+fossil fuel economy. We need sustainable buildings now, and we
+need to rebuild our communities from the ground up.
+ The Department of Energy invests millions of dollars every
+year in improving building technologies in a variety of ways.
+DOE, along with other federal science agencies, plays a role in
+making buildings more resilient to extreme weather. DOE also
+researches energy efficiency and increased electrification in
+buildings, with an emphasis on ensuring the equitable
+distribution of the effects of this clean energy research.
+ Let's also think about how federal research can become more
+interdisciplinary. Social scientists, for example, have started
+exploring how green investments in neighborhoods can lead to
+gentrification. This process is not only unjust, but can
+undermine climate goals. Instead of cutting emissions for
+everyone, this can create a low-carbon economy for people with
+privilege, while displacing communities of color and other low-
+income people out of dense, walkable neighborhoods. We need a
+combination of natural science, engineering, and social science
+to guide equitable and effective green investments for
+everyone.
+ And research alone won't be enough. The other work that DOE
+must continue to focus on is how to get the results of this
+research into the hands of the communities that need it most. A
+week ago, I released a proposal to heal our K-12 school system
+from the impacts of climate change and the pandemic, and from
+decades of disinvestment. A huge part of this plan is focused
+on retrofitting public school buildings and removing toxic
+materials, beginning in the highest-need districts. Schools can
+become living laboratories for the energy transition--putting
+students and young people at the center of the Green New Deal,
+and launching STEM careers across the country.
+ Big problems require big solutions, and that is exactly
+what we will be pursuing together on this Committee. I am
+excited to Chair the Energy Subcommittee this Congress, and to
+hold this first subcommittee hearing on such an important
+topic. Investing in building technologies means investing in a
+safe, healthy future for our country, and for the entire world.
+ I want to again thank our excellent panel of witnesses
+assembled today, and I look forward to hearing your testimony.
+With that, I yield back.
+
+ Chairman Bowman. The Chair now recognizes Mr. Weber for an
+opening statement.
+ Mr. Weber. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman, and welcome to
+the Committee. We're going to have a little fun. We're going to
+be a lighthearted Committee, and we're going to be very serious
+about our work, serious about what we do with energy and for
+our country, so I appreciate you being here Chairman Bowman.
+All of my thanks I want to add to all the witnesses for being
+with us here virtually this afternoon.
+ I will tell you that, today, we're going to discuss
+building technology research and development (R&D) needs. And
+while I'm excited to hear about the critical work being
+performed by the Department of Energy's Building Technologies
+Office and, quite frankly, all across DOE, I want us all to be
+mindful of the role that industry can and should play in this
+area, especially where there is a clear incentive and an
+ability to take up mature technologies.
+ I say this as someone who knows the building industry
+firsthand. In the 1970's, I couldn't even spell air
+conditioning or what we call AC in Texas, but by the mid-'90's
+I was actually running my own AC company. And I can tell you
+this: Whether it's through regulation, taxation, mandates,
+businesses suffer when the government gets heavy handed and
+intervenes, so we have to take a very careful approach.
+ Today, we must also remember that we have limited Federal
+research and development dollars. The Department of Energy
+mainly supports building technology research and development
+through their Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy,
+which I am inclined to mention is the highest funded applied
+energy office at the Department with a budget this past year
+alone of $2.8 billion with a B. That's why I have long
+prioritized investment in basic and early stage research that
+will drive innovation into the next century and not just for
+building technologies but across our entire energy and
+efficiency portfolio.
+ DOE's world-leading national laboratories support that
+type of cutting-edge research that we're talking about here
+today. National labs around the country, from Oak Ridge and
+NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory) to Argonne and
+Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, are leveraging DOE's unique
+capabilities and user facilities to support critical
+discoveries in innovative material science, data analytics, and
+advanced sensors and controls. And private-public partnerships
+with these labs are exactly how we get the most bang for our
+taxpayers' buck when investing taxpayers' dollars in this
+research. DOE partnerships with industry and academia enable
+the development of new technologies that can increase the
+energy efficiency of building envelopes, improve construction
+practices, and meet the demand for greater energy generation
+capacity.
+ Today, we will hear from Dr. Jim Tour of Rice University
+in my home State of Texas, who will give us his perspective as
+one of those partners. As a professor of chemistry along with
+materials science and nanoengineering, Dr. Tour's research
+focuses on advanced building materials like, for example,
+lighter, stronger concrete that is a result of turning waste
+into a manufacturing additive called graphene. I look forward
+to hearing his testimony on how fundamental materials research
+can transform building technologies and at the same time how
+successful public-private partnerships have supported these
+innovations.
+ And just like Dr. Tour's example of turning trash into
+treasure, we can support a future that protects our environment
+for the next generation and is affordable for all Americans.
+But we won't necessarily accomplish this by doing what we call
+in Texas, just throwing in the kitchen sink and billions of
+dollars at a broad, unspecified portfolio. Instead, we should
+make our clean technology affordable through significant
+investment in fundamental research paired with targeted and
+responsible investments in applied energy R&D.
+ That is why, this week, I was proud to sign on as one of
+the original cosponsors of Ranking Member Lucas' Securing
+American Leadership in Science and Technology Act. This
+legislation supports a diverse, all-of-the-above clean energy
+strategy and prioritizes critical research to establish U.S.
+leadership in industries of the future, like advanced materials
+and manufacturing. This long-term strategy for investment in
+basic research and infrastructure is how we in Congress should
+support innovative building technologies. It creates a pipeline
+from lab to market and is the most direct and efficient path to
+a more sustainable future for both new and current buildings.
+ Thanks to the witnesses. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield
+back.
+ [The prepared statement of Mr. Weber follows:]
+
+ Thank you, Chairman Bowman, for hosting this hearing, and
+thank you to all our witnesses for being with us virtually this
+afternoon. Today is the first Energy Subcommittee hearing of
+the 117th Congress and I'm looking forward to continuing the
+bipartisan successes that have marked my time here.
+ Today, we will discuss building technology research and
+development needs. And while I am excited to hear about the
+critical work being performed by the Department of Energy's
+Building Technologies Office and across all of DOE, I want us
+all to be mindful of the role industry can and should play in
+this area, especially where there is a clear incentive and
+ability to take up mature technologies.
+ I say this as someone who knows the building industry
+firsthand. In the 70s, I couldn't even spell air conditioning,
+but by the mid-90s I was running my own HVAC company. And I can
+tell you this: whether it's through regulation, taxation, or
+mandates, businesses suffer when the government gets a heavy
+hand and intervenes.
+ Today, we must also remember that we have limited federal
+R&D dollars. The Department of Energy mainly supports building
+technology research and development through their Office of
+Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), which I am
+inclined to mention is the highest funded applied energy office
+at the Department with a budget of $2.8 billion this past year
+alone. That's why I have long prioritized investment in basic
+and early stage research that will drive innovation into the
+next century. Not just for buildings technologies--but across
+our entire energy and efficiency portfolio.
+ DOE's world-leading national laboratories support the type
+of cutting-edge research I'm talking about. National labs
+around the country--from Oak Ridge and NREL to Argonne and
+Lawrence Berkeley National Lab--are leveraging DOE's unique
+capabilities and user facilities to support critical
+discoveries in innovative material science, data analytics, and
+advanced sensors and controls.
+ And public-private partnerships with these labs are exactly
+how we get the most bang for our buck when investing the
+taxpayers' dollars in this research. DOE partnerships with
+industry and academia enable the development of new
+technologies that can increase the energy efficiency of
+building envelopes, improve construction practices, and meet
+the demand for greater energy generation capacity.
+ Today, we will hear from Dr. Jim Tour from Rice University
+in my home state of Texas, who will give us his perspective as
+one of those partners. As a professor of chemistry along with
+materials science and nanoengineering, Dr. Tour's research
+focuses on advanced building materials like lighter, stronger
+concrete that is a result of turning waste into a manufacturing
+additive called graphene. I look forward to hearing his
+testimony on how fundamental materials research can transform
+building technologies and how successful public-private
+partnerships have supported these innovations.
+ Just like Dr. Tour's example of turning trash into
+treasure, we can support a future that protects our environment
+for the next generation and is affordable for all Americans.
+But we won't accomplish this by throwing the kitchen sink and
+billions of dollars at a broad, unspecified portfolio. Instead
+we should make our clean technology affordable through
+significant investment in fundamental research paired with
+targeted and responsible investments in applied energy R&D.
+ That is why, this week, I was proud to sign on as an
+original cosponsor of Ranking Member Lucas' Securing American
+Leadership in Science and Technology Act. This legislation
+supports a diverse, all-of-the-above clean energy strategy and
+prioritizes critical research to establish U.S. leadership in
+industries of the future, like advanced materials and
+manufacturing.
+ This long-term strategy for investment in basic research
+and infrastructure is how we in Congress should support
+innovative building technologies. It creates a pipeline from
+lab to market and is the most direct and efficient path to a
+more sustainable future for both new and current buildings.
+ I want to thank all of our witnesses for being here and I
+look forward to a productive discussion, Mr. Chair. Thank you
+and I yield back the balance of my time.
+
+ Chairman Bowman. Thank you, Mr. Weber.
+ The Chair now recognizes the Chairwoman of the Full
+Committee, Ms. Johnson, for an opening statement.
+ If Ms. Johnson is not present at this time, the Chair is
+going to move forward.
+ If there are Members who wish to submit additional opening
+statements, your statements will be added to the record at this
+point.
+ [The prepared statement of Chairwoman Johnson follows:]
+
+ Good Afternoon and thank you Chairman Bowman for holding
+this hearing today, as well as to all of our witnesses for
+being here.
+ The sustainability of our buildings is a topic that touches
+on every American across the country.
+ Buildings make up almost 40% percent of the total energy
+consumption in the United States, and reducing that consumption
+can not only decrease our electric bills, but also
+significantly reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.
+ My own city of Dallas, Texas is the fastest growing
+metropolitan area in the U.S. Our growing population supports a
+growing economy, but we must ensure that new infrastructure to
+meet these needs is built with the most up-to-date technologies
+to provide efficiency, comfort, and resilience.
+ Existing buildings are another key component of federal
+research, development, and demonstration activities. Many of
+the advancements that have been made on improving heating,
+cooling, windows, and lighting can be more easily applied to
+new construction projects, but our existing buildings are not
+going away any time soon. Retrofit technologies can help to
+equitably distribute local and federal resources, as some of
+the communities that could most use healthier, cleaner, and
+more resilient buildings have aging infrastructure.
+ As we have seen with recent, devasting events in my home
+state of Texas, ensuring the resilience of our grid is
+paramount. When constructing new buildings, grid connectivity
+could be a key element in alleviating energy demand and
+improving reliability through next-generation sensors,
+controls, and communication technologies. I look forward to
+hearing how our national labs and the Building Technologies
+Office within the Department of Energy can help us achieve
+these goals.
+ Buildings affect all aspects of our daily lives, and we
+should be doing everything we can to ensure that we are laying
+a foundation for these technologies to improve our
+infrastructure for decades to come.
+ Thank you again to our witnesses for being here, and with
+that I yield back the balance of my time.
+
+ Chairman Bowman. At this time I would like to introduce
+our witnesses. Dr. Nora Esram is the Senior Director for
+Research of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient
+Economy (ACEEE). Dr. Esram overseas ACEEE's research programs
+on buildings, transportation, industry, and behavior. Dr. Esram
+holds a Ph.D. in architecture from the University of Illinois
+Urbana-Champaign and is a licensed architect.
+ Dr. Roderick Jackson is a Laboratory Program Manager for
+Buildings Research at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
+His portfolio includes a broad range of research, development,
+and market implementation activities that aim to improve the
+energy efficiency of buildings materials and practices. He
+holds a bachelor's, master's, and Ph.D. in mechanical
+engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
+ Dr. James Tour is a T.T. and W.F. Chao professor of
+chemistry, professor of computer science, and professor of
+materials science in nanoengineering at Rice University. He
+received his bachelor's degree from Syracuse University and his
+Ph.D. in chemistry from Purdue University.
+ Ms. Jacqueline Patterson is the Director of the NAACP
+Environmental and Climate Justice Program. She has worked as a
+researcher, program manager, coordinator, advocate, and
+activist working on women's rights, violence against women, HIV
+and AIDS, racial justice, economic justice, and environmental
+and climate justice. She received her master's degree in social
+work from the University of Maryland and a master's degree in
+public health from Johns Hopkins University.
+ Last but certainly not least, Mr. Joseph Hagerman is a
+Section Head for buildings technology research at Oak Ridge
+National Laboratory. He leads the lab's research in building
+envelope materials and equipment, as well as in integrated
+building performance and multifunctional equipment integration.
+He holds a master's in civil engineering from the Fu Foundation
+School of Engineering and Applied Science at Columbia
+University and earned his bachelor's in architecture from
+Mississippi State University.
+ Thank you all for joining us today. As our witnesses
+should know, you will each have 5 minutes for your spoken
+testimony. Your written testimony will be included in the
+record for the hearing. When you all have completed your spoken
+testimony, we will begin with questions. Each Member will have
+5 minutes to question the panel.
+ We will start with Dr. Esram. Dr. Esram, please begin.
+
+ TESTIMONY OF DR. NORA ESRAM, SENIOR DIRECTOR
+
+ FOR RESEARCH AT AMERICAN COUNCIL
+
+ FOR AN ENERGY-EFFICIENT ECONOMY
+
+ Dr. Esram. Thank you. Chairman Bowman, Ranking Member
+Weber, and Members of the Committee, thank you for inviting me
+to testify on the topic of building technologies research and
+development. I bring with me today my 20 years of knowledge and
+experience as an architect, an educator, a lab scientist, and
+now as a Research Director at American Council for an Energy-
+Efficient Economy.
+ Building efficient technologies are known to lower energy
+costs and create local jobs, but the biggest opportunities are
+still ahead. Improving efficiency of buildings has the
+potential to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 20
+percent. The industry needs help from the Federal Government
+and science community to develop integrated solutions and
+productive processes to upgrade existing buildings faster.
+ Building retrofits also improve occupants' health,
+comfort, productivity, and community resilience. Today, many of
+our buildings don't serve us well. For instance, when COVID-19
+hit, public health experts suggested increasing indoor
+ventilation and filtration to lower this ease of transmission
+risk, but many legacy building systems can't handle that. When
+offices were sitting empty during the lockdown, they still
+consumed 40 to 100 percent of their usual energy. That's a huge
+waste. When the power went out across much of Texas, many
+poorly insulated homes quickly dropped to near freezing
+temperature. Imagine if these houses could have been kept warm
+with a heating device as small as a hairdryer. That's not a
+dream. That's efficiency building technologies.
+ Thanks to decades of Federal investment in research, we
+have many technologies to make buildings efficient, healthier,
+and resilient for everyone. But we don't know yet how to
+expeditiously deliver these technologies to existing buildings.
+Improving construction productivity offers a path. If
+construction labor productivity were to catch up with the
+progress made by other sectors, we will gain $1.6 trillion
+economic growth globally. A third of that is in the United
+States.
+ Many countries are moving onsite construction toward a
+manufacturing inspired mass production platform. We'll lose our
+competitive edge if we don't take bold actions. Transforming
+the building industry would also provide an opportune time to
+reduce embodied carbon in building materials and products.
+ I also believe a strong and a creative workforce is key to
+success. We need to equip the building contractors and
+specialized trades with knowledge and skills to adapt to new
+technologies. We need to educate and attract a new generation
+of innovators and entrepreneurs. Buildings of the future are
+machines that interact with the grid and transportation
+systems. Workforce development is a creative and interactive
+process. Therefore, we need Federal R&D support to grow
+tomorrow's building leaders outside the classroom.
+ I urge Congress and DOE to take bold actions to lay a
+solid foundation for a successful transmission of the building
+sector. First, spur modernized approaches to accelerate deep
+energy retrofits and create local jobs. Second, train and
+diversify our workforce and inspire a new generation of
+leaders. Third, drive enduring market transformation through
+integration of efficiency with health, resilience, and other
+societal goals. Last but not least, collaborate with local and
+State governments and community-based organizations to create
+proactive, replicable solutions for all.
+ I truly believe that we are facing a paradigm shift.
+Together, we can both create and witness history. Thank you
+again for the opportunity to testify, and I look forward to
+your questions.
+ [The prepared statement of Dr. Esram follows:]
+ [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
+
+ Chairman Bowman. Thank you, Dr. Esram. Dr. Jackson, you
+are now recognized.
+
+ TESTIMONY OF DR. RODERICK JACKSON,
+
+ LABORATORY PROGRAM MANAGER
+
+ FOR BUILDINGS RESEARCH
+
+ AT NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY LABORATORY
+
+ Dr. Jackson. Thank you to the Subcommittee for giving me
+this opportunity today to provide a testimony on a topic of
+critical national importance and deep personal passion. So my
+bio is included in the written testimony for reference, so I
+won't get into those details, but I wanted to provide a
+personal perspective of who I am and my passion.
+ So my father, Louis C. Jackson, was one of 16 children,
+and out of 16--and out of 11 boys, they all built houses. So
+construction was a deep passion for my dad, so much so that he
+first introduced it to me when I was only 3 years old. I think
+my first job was to go out on the jobsite and pick up all the
+straight nails.
+ A little after finishing my undergraduate degree, he and I
+formed L&R Jackson Construction back in my hometown of Canton,
+Mississippi. However, my personal passion for science and
+engineering drew me back to Georgia Tech to complete my Ph.D.,
+but the legacy my dad and my brothers, [inaudible] was never
+far from my heart.
+ I have since been able to marry my love for science with
+family legacy, and that brings me here today. Unfortunately, my
+dad passed away on January 19th, 2021, but the opportunity to
+provide testimony on the future of the industry he so--he loved
+so dearly is immensely fulfilling.
+ So let's talk science. Because buildings consume about 3/4
+of our current electricity demand, they can be a large part of
+the sustainable energy solution. By leveraging energy
+efficiency, greater connectivity, advanced data science and
+analytics, along with next-generation materials, sensors, and
+controls, buildings can be designed to synergistically interact
+in real-time with the electric grid to provide demand
+flexibility, all while not compromising comfort, health, or
+productivity.
+ DOE is leading the charge in this new vision for the
+pivotal role that buildings can play and has appropriately
+titled this initiative Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings. In
+my written testimony I highlighted how modeling, sensors, and
+controls enable this future of Grid-Interactive Efficient
+Buildings by providing a platform to understand, plan, and
+optimize the performance of buildings in varying scenarios. I
+provided ResStock as an example of an idea first cultivated by
+laboratory directed R&D funds and developed by DOE funding and
+support. It is now currently being used by multiple research
+activities, as well as private-sector use cases.
+ In my written testimony I also highlighted the need for
+thermal energy storage because thermal end uses like space
+conditioning, water heating, and refrigeration represent
+roughly half of our building energy demand. Thermal energy
+could be stored as a complement as well as an alternative to
+battery energy storage to balance supply and demand.
+ Now, I'm particularly excited about a publication--NREL
+publication in this month's Nature Energy journal. It presented
+an analogous adaptation of the energy/power tradeoff curve that
+has been foundational in the design and advancement of battery
+systems. This and others are really just some of the examples
+of opportunities that we can use to further accelerate the
+deployment of thermal storage as a viable energy storage
+solution.
+ So as we continue to advance the science of--science and
+engineering of individual Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings,
+there are actually new possibilities that emerge to aggregate a
+collection of buildings with other local distributed resources
+into connected communities. So not only can we then see
+optimized solutions where the total is indeed greater than the
+sum of the individual parts, we can also enable innovation at
+the intersection of these diverse and distinct technology
+domains.
+ However, unfortunately, according to a recent McKinsey
+study, labor productivity in the United States has remained
+stagnant over the last 80 years, approximately marking the time
+when the first Jacksons began to master the carpentry trade. So
+this reality not only hinders U.S. competitiveness, it limits
+the transition to a sustainable energy future with affordable
+building construction and retrofit costs. The DOE's Advanced
+Building Construction (ABC) Initiative targets this opportunity
+with a vision to integrate higher levels of energy efficiency
+into new construction and retrofits.
+ But--so as we transition to a sustainable energy future,
+we have to ensure the benefits as well as the costs are more
+equitably distributed. Our examples of centering equity in
+energy technology innovation and energy transition are most
+often focused on the deployment phase of the research,
+development, demonstration, and deployment spectrum. However,
+while this is important and essential, deployment is the final
+stage of that technology spectrum I just described. And so as a
+result, in many cases, it actually may be more difficult to
+equitably deploy technology that was developed without regard
+to equity. In other words, this approach could be akin to
+attempting to force a square peg into a round hole. So, as an
+alternative, the R&D community, the community to which I
+belong, should take the additional step of centering equity
+into the early stages of the technology development pipeline.
+ And then also due to historical under-investments, the
+solutions faced by low-income communities are actually
+different and actually distinctly more difficult to overcome in
+many cases, hence the need for science, engineering, and
+innovation are even more pressing.
+ So in summary, thank you for this opportunity. And to meet
+our Nation's goal and continue our American leadership in
+energy innovation, we should continue to prioritize the R&D
+investments in building technologies. I look forward to any
+other questions you may have. Thank you.
+ [The prepared statement of Dr. Jackson follows:]
+[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
+
+ Chairman Bowman. Thank you so much, Dr. Jackson. Dr. Tour,
+you are now recognized.
+
+ TESTIMONY OF DR. JAMES TOUR,
+
+ T.T. AND W. F. CHAO PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY
+
+ AT RICE UNIVERSITY
+
+ Dr. Tour. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm a professor of
+chemistry, material science, and nanoengineering at Rice
+University and part of the Welch Institute for Advanced
+Materials. I have 730 research publications, 234 of those on
+the topic of graphene. I have over 50 U.S. patents plus 90
+international patents on graphene. In the past 6 years alone,
+my academic research has led to the formation of 14 companies,
+eight of those in nanomaterials, and two of them now public
+companies.
+ On March 15, 2017, I gave testimony before the Energy and
+Commerce's Subcommittee on Digital Commerce and Consumer
+Protection on the topic of graphene and attaining U.S.
+preeminence. Four years later, I'm here to report that the
+future has arrived.
+ What is graphene? Think of it as carbon chicken wire.
+That's what it looks like, chicken wire in its atomic
+arrangement but on the one-atom-thick scale. Graphene is a non-
+toxic, naturally occurring carbon material, and it's a
+glomerate to the natural mineral graphite. It is very slow to
+enter the carbon dioxide cycle, and hence it can be considered
+a terminal carbon sink with near zero contribution to
+greenhouse gas emissions.
+ Graphene is a revolutionary material for building
+construction, but until recently, affordability and access to
+sufficient quantities made it only a dream for those
+applications. In 2018, a graduate student in my laboratory Duy
+Luong, working under funding from the Air Force Office of
+Scientific Research, discovered a process that we call flash
+graphene. We immediately filed patents to protect the
+technology, and companies were formed 1 year later, Universal
+Matter Inc. and Universal Matter Limited.
+ The process can take any carbon material, any carbon
+material and convert it into graphene in less than 1 second
+using only electricity, no water, no solvents, no additives
+other than carbon itself. This new graphene manufacturing
+process will lower the cost by a factor of 10, therefore making
+it economically viable for use in building materials.
+ The majority of waste products generated by human beings
+are carbon-based. If it's not rocks or water, it's probably
+carbon. We can take coal, petroleum coke, unsorted plastic
+waste, discarded food, mixed household waste, any other carbon
+source and convert it into graphene. Our production rate is
+doubling every 9 weeks, thereby projecting to hundreds-of-tons-
+per-day scale within 3 years. With grants from the Department
+of Energy and Department of Defense in collaborations with the
+Army Corps of Engineers, ERDC (Engineer Research and
+Development Center), Argonne National Laboratory, and several
+large automotive, concrete, asphalt, and wood manufacturers,
+we're developing graphene for concrete, asphalt, aluminum,
+plastics, polymer foams, lubricants, rubber, wood, fabric, and
+paint composites. By adding just .1 weight percent, that's 0.1
+weight percent to cement, we get a 35 percent enhancement in
+compressive strength. It means we could use 1/3 less cement for
+construction. And since cement and concrete constitute 8
+percent of all worldwide carbon dioxide emissions, that could
+translate into a remarkable diminution of emissions.
+ Concrete alone is a $30 billion new market opportunity for
+graphene. Zero-point-five weight percent addition of graphene
+to asphalt will triple the life of the road. Zero-point-zero-
+five weight percent of graphene to carbon fiber composites will
+lower the weight of an aircraft by 20 percent, translating into
+enormous fuel and carbon dioxide reductions, all made possible
+by this U.S. invention.
+ Through Rice University's carbon hub, we're developing
+methods to convert natural gas into hydrogen and graphene with
+near zero carbon dioxide emissions. That's clean hydrogen fuel
+from natural gas. The next step is developed--is to develop
+entirely new classes of graphene composites that can substitute
+for the energy-intensive 2,500-year-old materials that we use
+today like concrete and steel while providing a non-toxic
+carbon sink for most human waste products.
+ The takeaway from my testimony is this: First, continue to
+foster basic support of basic and applied research directed
+toward advancement and deployment of new materials. A few years
+ago, graphene was only viewed as appropriate for ultrahigh-end
+aerospace and device applications but not anymore. The
+bipartisan Endless Frontier Act could embody an interesting
+approach to achieve the requisite research and translational
+goals.
+ Second, it remains challenging to go from the lab bench to
+the build site with market profitability. Congress has immense
+power and influence over tax policy and administrative and
+regulatory burdens that can make or break our startup
+companies.
+ Third and finally, streamlining the green card process for
+scientists and engineers that have received their Ph.D.'s in
+the United States so that people like Duy Luong, the Vietnamese
+graduate student that discovered the flash graphene process in
+my laboratory, can stay to develop their discoveries in our
+Nation's companies. We just need to do it right, safeguarding
+U.S. intellectual property through background checks and
+security oversight. Thank you.
+ [The prepared statement of Dr. Tour follows:]
+[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
+
+ Chairman Bowman. Thank you, Dr. Tour. Ms. Patterson, you
+are now recognized.
+
+ TESTIMONY OF MS. JACQUELINE PATTERSON,
+
+ DIRECTOR OF ENVIRONMENTAL
+
+ AND CLIMATE JUSTICE PROGRAM, NAACP
+
+ Ms. Patterson. Thank you so much. It's an honor to be here
+with you all. And I appreciate being--having the opportunity to
+share these brief remarks.
+ So the NAACP, when we first started doing this work,
+people were surprised that we were working on energy, much less
+the sustainable building sector. However, as one considers the
+extreme disparities in equality, safety, and health of the
+places where African American communities especially live,
+learn, and work, play, and worship, for us the historic social,
+political, and economic disenfranchisement has been detrimental
+to generational well-being.
+ In 1861 and 1862 the United States Government passed the
+Morrill and Homestead Acts, which were intended to give land
+grants to White Americans for colleges and those seeking land
+to farm. These acts were also accompanied by offers of
+subsidies to facilitate the acquisition and use of the land. As
+slavery was not abolished in the United States until 1865, many
+enslaved and freed African Americans were unable to benefit
+from these acts, and a lack of legal services meant that
+African Americans who managed to acquire land couldn't even
+write legally binding wills that would facilitate legalized
+inheritance of property.
+ This is all tied to the fact that overall economic
+insecurity has resulted in extreme income and wealth
+differentials that persist over centuries. Even now at $171,000
+in net worth of a typical White American family is nearly 10
+times greater than that of a Black American family at $17,150.
+And for Black American single women-headed households, the
+average family net worth is only $5. At 44 percent, African
+Americans are least likely to be homeowners, whereas it's 75
+percent of White Americans and overall 65 percent for the
+Nation.
+ Historic and modern-day redlining practices impact
+everything from whether we own homes, where we own homes, and
+the quality of the homes and other resources to which we have
+access. Also impacting is the quality of the infrastructure in
+our communities such as levees that protect our homes, and
+property values that finance our schools are also--also affects
+the quality of the buildings in which our schools are housed.
+ Subpar quality of the buildings and structures in our
+communities means that we are inundated by energy burden, which
+challenges our finances, indoor air pollution which sickens our
+family, and poor housing stock, which renders us vulnerable
+when disaster impacts.
+ African Americans have the highest energy burden, which
+means that the amount of income that goes toward energy in the
+buildings we occupy is the highest of any other racial and
+ethnic group. African Americans are also more likely to have
+our energy shut off for nonpayment, too often with fatal
+impacts as we pay the price of poverty and racism with our very
+lives when a candle or a space heater or carbon monoxide has
+taken the lives of too many seeking to heat or light our homes
+when our finances can't meet the demands of our bills.
+ Yet we're more likely to suffer from the pollution being
+emitted from energy production as we are more likely to live
+near coal-fired power plants, oil and gas refineries, waste-to-
+energy incinerators, et cetera, and we pay the price with our
+health. We are more likely to bear the impacts of climate
+change that results from emissions from buildings.
+ We also know that energy improvements, whether it's
+weatherization, retrofits, and clean energy like solar are tied
+to homeownership and credit ratings, which are compromised by
+the historic and current factors I've already described.
+ COVID-19 means that we are in buildings more due to remote
+working and due to the need for isolation, which means we are
+using more energy and also are more exposed to indoor air
+pollution.
+ With 2020 being the hottest year on record as part of the
+progression of increasingly hotter years, as well as greater
+weather extremes, our ability to cool and heat our homes
+reliably and affordably becomes increasingly more critical. Yet
+communities and populations most impacted by these disparities
+are underrepresented in the building sector and professions,
+including those working on building standards in terms of
+organizations, architects, and beyond. For example, just .03
+percent of certified architects are Black women, while, again,
+$5 is the average wealth of a single Black woman-led household,
+thereby arguably rendering us as Black women as the No. 1
+critical stakeholder in the future of buildings.
+ Key steps to right the wrong--right the historic and
+present-day wrongs include campaign-finance reform so that
+money interests don't have their thumb on the scale of the
+change we need to have in advancing energy justice for all.
+Dismantling the weapons of mass distraction, including the
+formulas that tie property values with quality of
+infrastructure and services at the local level, increasing
+investments in BIPOC, Black, indigenous, and people of color in
+education and leadership in STEM, increasing resources for job
+and business opportunities for BIPOC communities, and shifting
+wealth to community-led endeavors to develop sustainable,
+affordable, safe, and healthy infrastructure, including
+buildings.
+ In 2018 the NAACP launched----
+ Chairman Bowman. Ms. Patterson, your time is expired.
+ Ms. Patterson. Oh, thank you. Sorry.
+ [The prepared statement of Ms. Patterson follows:]
+[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
+
+ Chairman Bowman. Don't worry. We'll come back to you when
+we get to questions. Thank you so much.
+ Mr. Hagerman, you are now recognized.
+
+ TESTIMONY OF MR. JOSEPH HAGERMAN, GROUP LEADER
+
+ FOR BUILDING INTEGRATION AND CONTROLS
+
+ AT OAK RIDGE NATIONAL LABORATORY
+
+ Mr. Hagerman. Thank you. Chairman Bowman, Ranking Member
+Weber, and distinguished Members of the Subcommittee, thank you
+for the opportunity to virtually appear before you today. My
+name is Joe Hagerman. I lead the Building Technologies Research
+Section at the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National
+Lab in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. I'm a building technologies
+researcher by education and training.
+ I'm not going to take our time today to discuss how much
+energy is consumed in buildings. We all pay energy bills at the
+end of the month. In fact, last year, buildings used 74 percent
+of all the electricity in the Nation at a cost of over $332
+billion. I think we can all agree that's a big bill.
+ I want to focus today on the impact that Oak Ridge has
+made with the support of DOE Building Technologies Office. It
+is our thesis that when our Nation's buildings are cleaner and
+more efficient and--the effect can be profound, improving
+comfort, safety, productivity, and it will take American labor
+and American jobs to realize these benefits.
+ So what's Oak Ridge doing? Staff at the lab are
+accelerating clean energy innovation throughout the buildings'
+ecosystem. Our Nation's fastest supercomputer at Oak Ridge's
+speeds modeling and simulations to analyze the potential for
+retrofits down to the neighborhood level for every building in
+America. Our nanomaterials science leads to new building
+materials with extraordinary insulation and self-healing
+properties. And our engineering expertise continues to drive
+breakthroughs for new energy-efficient equipment like cold
+climate heat pumps, climate-friendly refrigerants, and advanced
+next-generation appliances. A lot of this sounds like science
+fiction, but it's not. It's science fact, and that's the
+current seat of the lab, transformational science.
+ The cornerstone for our research is of course our
+facilities, particularly the Building Technologies Research and
+Integration Center or BTRIC. BTRIC is DOE's only user facility
+dedicated to accelerating breakthroughs for clean energy-
+efficient buildings. But the largest contributor to our work is
+our partnerships. We partner with industries, universities, and
+communities, and we make good partners because success to my
+staff is clear: make positive, practical impact.
+ Let me share with you about working with the lab. The
+sheer volumes of connections, interactions, and collaborations
+are what make Oak Ridge a special place to work. We foster
+great science because we invest in great diverse people,
+expertise, and skills. And equally important we have clear
+goals. Our first goal is that Oak Ridge will continue to lead
+the building energy efficiency research for the Nation. One
+example is how Viral Patel and his team at Oak Ridge developed
+piezoelectric drying science that mechanically shakes and
+vibrates fabric at a high frequency to remove moisture. They
+demonstrated a faster drying time with five times less energy
+that will one day reshape conventional residential dryers. To
+me that's transformative.
+ But let's transform it again here today by recognizing
+that these innovations can also provide a solution to the hard-
+to-decarbonize industrial sector. This is another important
+thesis to the lab's research and science. Our advancements can
+apply to other processes, and it's my hope that American
+companies engage with us to decarbonize all sectors.
+ Our second goal, Oak Ridge will continue to pioneer
+connected smart communities for grid resilience, benefiting
+consumers and the grid equally. Group leader Heather Buckberry
+worked with Southern Company, Alabama Power, and Georgia Power
+to provide and prove that homes and businesses can provide a
+central stability to the grid. Heather and her team
+demonstrated that more than 30 percent decreased overall energy
+consumption and an approximately 35 percent lower demand during
+peak winter, all with no impacts to comfort. More importantly,
+residents engage with their buildings and controls in no
+different way than normal, and that's Heather's thesis: Control
+science can be done behind the scenes, and with Oak Ridge's
+deep bench in cybersecurity, we can guard the associated data
+and control actions.
+ Goal No. 3, Oak Ridge will help lead the Nation in meeting
+our decarbonization goals. Another group leader Kashif Nawaz is
+developing direct air carbon capture solutions with building
+equipment technologies. Looking forward, Kashif hopes to
+develop concepts and methods for net negative carbon buildings
+where equipment can efficiently heat, cool, dehumidify the air
+while capturing CO2, all possible by relying on
+transformative science, not science fiction.
+ In closing, Oak Ridge is a foundational partner that can
+accelerate the clean energy transition across the Nation to all
+communities, and the challenges ahead to the Nation are great.
+I believe they are bigger than one person, one team, or one lab
+alone. It's going to take all of us, not some of us, to achieve
+our goals, but from great challenges, great opportunities
+emerge, opportunities for equities, collaboration, and allies
+across the sciences, and opportunities to create good-paying
+American jobs while we're at it.
+ I'm proud to work for my staff every day and honored to
+work at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Thank you.
+ [The prepared statement of Mr. Hagerman follows:]
+[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
+
+ Chairman Bowman. Thank you, Mr. Hagerman.
+ At this point we will begin our first round of questions.
+The Chairman recognizes himself for 5 minutes.
+ Dr. Esram, thank you for your testimony. I appreciated
+your emphasis on the need to align carbon reduction with other
+social goals such as health and equity. I want to zero in on
+the health piece. We know that redline communities and poor
+people in this country face multiple health threats from
+buildings. Our public school and public housing infrastructure,
+for example, has major issues with mold, asbestos, and other
+toxins.
+ What do we know about the health benefits of deep energy
+retrofits at this point, and what do we still have to learn?
+Can you paint a picture for us for how life could be better in
+a highly efficient, zero-carbon home or workplace?
+ Dr. Esram. Well, thank you for the question, Chairman
+Bowman. What we know, decades of scientific research have
+proven the impact of a built environment on the human circadian
+rhythm, immune system, cognitive function, and task
+performance. There are plenty of literature. But what we don't
+know is how to fully integrate these nonenergy benefits with
+technology and strategy development that speaks to the
+consumers and the investors. And there are no standard methods
+to quantify and monetize these benefits in a trustworthy way
+for consumers.
+ A quick example is when we buy organic food, we trust USDA
+(United States Department of Agriculture) organic stamps.
+There's a standard way to measure these nonenergy benefits for
+organic food and procedure, but we don't have those for
+buildings, for healthy buildings.
+ Just to--yes, that's my answer in a simple way. Thank you.
+ Chairman Bowman. Thank you. Thank you very much.
+ Ms. Patterson, thank you for being with us today. Can you
+speak more to the challenges involved in bringing sustainable
+building technologies to redlined and low-income communities?
+I'm wondering what the CESBS (Centering Equity in the
+Sustainable Building Sector) program has learned about what the
+main barriers are and what we need to do to surmount those
+barriers. How can we scale up weatherization, energy
+efficiency, and electrification efforts in low-income and
+affordable housing, for example? What do you see as some of the
+research and policy needs here?
+ Ms. Patterson. Thank you so much. So--yes, so there are a
+lot of questions in that one question. But--so first definitely
+some of the barriers are really just lack of investment in
+these communities both in--not only in terms of homes but also
+in terms of various structures and communities. And so whether
+we have--the challenge I spoke of before with housing in terms
+of the historic challenges that resulted in people in the
+disproportionate homeownership and so much in terms of these
+kind of weatherization, retrofitting, clean energy. All of that
+is tied to homeownerships and being able to be--get financing
+mechanisms to--equity in one's home. And so that's definitely a
+barrier.
+ In terms of ways that we can shift this is everything from
+making sure that there are economic opportunities to bring up
+the economic well-being of people so that they can make those
+investments and the homeowners themselves but then also
+shifting--and so that's from an individual standpoint, but also
+shifting as well to communities that have been under-invested
+in historically over time, shifting away from this notion that
+all of the--what's available in terms of public financing
+through property values, which we know just kind of continues
+to have the same communities not having the types of resources
+that are needed and really thinking about new and innovative
+economic ways of lifting all boats because we know that there's
+been attempts through--whether it's the opportunity zones or
+other types of mechanisms but that have not necessarily been
+successful in actually lifting the well-being and the economic
+status and what's available in terms of finance for those
+communities. So we're actually advancing this transformational
+climate finance initiative to significantly invest in these
+communities and making sure that, whether it's social impact
+investing or municipal bonds or other finance mechanisms, that
+they're being brought into communities in ways that aren't
+extractive or that actually put communities in the driver's
+seat so that these actually work for them. And the Centering
+Equity in the Sustainable Building Sector Initiative is a
+multi-sector initiative that pushes policies, and that's
+everything from renewable portfolio standards to making sure
+that building codes are also tied to the economic engine to be
+able to ensure that people can be up to the standards we're
+putting forward in building codes. So I don't know how much
+longer I have to respond, but I'll pause there [inaudible].
+Thank you.
+ Chairman Bowman. That was perfect. Thank you so much. I
+now recognize Mr. Weber for 5 minutes.
+ Mr. Weber. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to go to you,
+Dr. Tour. I want to make sure that what I think I heard, I
+heard. Are you with us, Dr. Tour?
+ Dr. Tour. I am.
+ Mr. Weber. OK, good. You've got 730 publications, 230 of
+those are on graphene, and there was how many patents and how
+many companies formed as a result?
+ Dr. Tour. I have over 150 patent families, but 50 U.S. on
+graphene and 90 international on graphene, started 14
+companies, eight of those in nanomaterials.
+ Mr. Weber. Thank you for that. You said a decade ago your
+program was supported 90 percent by Federal funds and then 10
+percent by industry and that that was normal for many research
+groups. Then, due to a number of factors, you started appealing
+to industry and showing them how your fundamental research in
+nanoscience could address some of their technical needs. And
+boy, the numbers you just reiterated for us, if they don't
+prove you were successful, I don't know what does.
+ Dr. Tour. Yes.
+ Mr. Weber. This might surprise some people who think
+industry only wants applied research. So, Dr. Tour, can you
+talk more about basic research, how it can deliver applications
+for industry, and specifically in the building technology
+sector, please?
+ Dr. Tour. Right. So thank you for that, Representative
+Weber. I--so what happens is I do basic research. I'm a
+scientist primarily. And--but the transition is something that
+we need to look for. How do I transition this into something
+that can be applied and utilized? And when we make discoveries,
+right away, we need to be thinking how can I apply this? And if
+we just publish a paper and just think somebody else will apply
+it, it just doesn't work. We need to carry that banner several
+more steps forward to show them how it might work. I don't have
+to bring it all the way to the building, but I have to bring it
+to a point where some company is really interested.
+ So for many years we would license our technology to big
+companies, and for one reason or another it would stall in
+those big companies. So about 6 years ago I made a categoric
+decision we are going to start our own companies, and we're
+going to start our own companies and build upon those because
+then we can control the technology and push it forward.
+ And success breeds success. After we were successful with
+one or two, then investors started coming and wanting to fund
+more and more. And part of that, as I say, you've got to
+continue to fund some of the basic work in my laboratory that
+will broaden the applications of these, and that then spawns
+new companies. So that's basically how we've done it.
+ Mr. Weber. Well, and that's a great segue because when you
+talk about broadening and spawning new companies--as you know,
+as a Texan, Houston is an active hub for the oil and gas
+industry and also the aerospace industry, and so these large
+industries have become interested in your work. And can you
+explain that why many of the, quote, building technologies, end
+quote, research projects have applicability actually to more
+than just the skyscraper construction business? What other
+applicabilities does it have?
+ Dr. Tour. Well, it has to do with roads, as well as
+concrete for building, with paints, for wood composites.
+Everything is about light-weighting and using----
+ Mr. Weber. Right.
+ Dr. Tour [continuing]. Less materials. And when we use
+less materials, there's less carbon dioxide emissions, less
+energy put into them, and the processes that we've come up
+with--so, for example, just plastics, high density polyethylene
+is $2,000 a ton. We put in $30 a ton to convert waste plastic
+into graphene that can strengthen a huge amount of plastic with
+that. So these innovations have great implications for the
+energy industry and for lowering carbon emissions.
+ Mr. Weber. Sure. Well, I'm just about out of time, so I
+will go ahead and yield back, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for
+your indulgence.
+ Staff. Mr. Casten is next.
+ Mr. Casten. Thank you so much. Always a pleasure in this
+panel, Mr. Chairman and to our witnesses. This is a hugely
+timely hearing not least because as we sail into thinking about
+infrastructure bills, we have some real opportunities I think
+to modernize our Federal building stock, public housing,
+Federal buildings, the whole scope of that. It's going to be
+real important to understand as we are prudent stewards of
+taxpayer capital where the biggest bang for the buck is.
+ So I want to start, Dr. Esram, I wonder in the work you've
+done or your colleagues have done at ACEEE, as you're looking
+at building efficiency technologies, not the ones of the future
+but the ones we can deploy today, what kind of simple payback
+can owners realize on these technologies? And if you had to
+pick sort of your top three absolute no-brainers that every
+building owner should do, what would they be?
+ Dr. Esram. That's not a very easy to answer question. I
+would pick lighting and water heater and probably, you know,
+some HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) systems
+depending on the home location, the building types. Yes, that
+is usually--we have done a lot of research. For most of the new
+technologies, they pay for themselves. However, they may not
+pay fast enough to speak to the consumer's needs. There are
+additional benefits as we discussed in the health, resilience,
+and productivity. They haven't been really translated in a way
+that the consumer will value more with energy efficiency. If
+there were a way to quantify, monetize those, I think we can do
+retrofitting much faster than we're doing now.
+ Mr. Casten. OK. Well, would that be a good area for
+further research then to try to figure out how to monetize and
+understand those benefits?
+ Dr. Esram. Yes, definitely.
+ Mr. Casten. OK.
+ Dr. Esram. We have a lot of pieces of technologies. We
+don't know how to build efficient, affordable, healthy
+resilient building at the same time. We--they haven't been put
+together yet.
+ Mr. Casten. OK. Well, part of the reason that I started by
+asking about proven technologies is that a number of years ago
+I had the pleasure of touring the Bullitt Center in Seattle,
+Washington, that my friend Denis Hayes has been responsible
+for. Many folks on this Committee know Denis is one of the co-
+founders of Earth Day. That building uses about 10,000 BTUs per
+square foot in a city that averages 90,000, so almost 1/10 of
+the energy use with no compromise on the--it's a beautiful
+building. It's a wonderfully comfortable place to work, and
+they've done it with some low-tech stuff like natural lighting,
+with some high-tech stuff like continuous commissioning, and
+then really interestingly with the regulatory reforms that they
+actually had to work to get the local utility to pay them for
+the benefit they provided the utility for reducing peak energy
+demand in the city of Seattle. And that building was
+commissioned in 2013. There's no reason that technology
+couldn't be widely deployed other than perhaps people having
+access to capital and what those returns are. Can you tell us a
+little bit about the split incentive problem in buildings? Are
+you familiar with that term?
+ Dr. Esram. Yeah, of course. The split incentive meaning if
+the landlord is paying for the retrofits and the saving will be
+from the tenants because, you know, they are getting the saving
+on their utility bills.
+ Mr. Casten. So when you say that the analysis of some of
+the benefits is--some of the--and I'm going to misquote you
+here, but some of them have a good payback, some of them don't.
+How much would that move if we solve the split incentive? So if
+we took a holistic approach, how many of these problems you--or
+the challenges you described would go away if we said what is
+the total societal savings that would come from these
+investments? If we frame it that way, what are--do you have--
+does it change your answer at all?
+ Dr. Esram. Yeah, absolutely. You know, in the commercial
+real estate there's like a 3, 30, 300 rules that on average you
+pay $3 dollars per square foot for utilities, $30 for rent, and
+$300 for your personnel, your salaries. So if we're able to
+quantify all the non-energy benefits and pick a package and the
+investors, the building owners, the business owners, the
+tenants all have more incentives to work together to upgrade
+the buildings.
+ Mr. Casten. Well, thank you. And I see I'm about out of
+time, but perhaps we can follow up afterwards because I think,
+again, as we think about making significant investments in our
+Federal building stock, we've got a real incentive to save a
+lot of money for future generations. But as we think about how
+much money we're willing to spend and how to finance that, it's
+going to be important that we quantify those things as much as
+we can and would welcome the opportunity to work with you and
+your colleagues to quantify that as we move forward. Thank you,
+and I yield back.
+ Staff. Ranking Member Lucas is next.
+ Mr. Lucas. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank you
+and the Ranking Member. This is a fascinating hearing, and some
+really impressive witnesses today.
+ With that, Dr. Tour, I'd like to turn to you and note that
+the Securing American Leadership in Science and Technology Act,
+SALSTA as a lot of us like to refer to it, creates a long-term
+strategy for investment in basic research and infrastructure to
+ensure American competitiveness in industries of the future.
+ So with that, I turn to you. In your testimony you noted
+that you or your companies have received grants from both the
+Department of Energy and the Department of Defense and you've
+also collaborated with the Army Corps of Engineers. Having
+worked with different agencies, do you think a more coherent,
+governmentwide strategy on Federal science and research efforts
+could assist Federal agencies and the national laboratories in
+being a more effective partner to researchers?
+ Dr. Tour. Yes, absolutely. Anything that can be done to
+assist these interactions were we can work across because the
+national labs have tremendous facilities, facilities that we at
+universities would love to be able to access. And working with
+the national labs has been terrific. I mean, we have
+representatives here today from Oak Ridge. We've published
+papers just recently with Oak Ridge, and we're doing more. And
+so to facilitate this and then it's not just--then it goes from
+me to then the companies. The companies are able to work, and
+so we have both me at Rice University and the companies working
+with the Army Corps of Engineers, the companies doing much
+bigger projects. We're doing the nano-sized projects, they're
+doing the macroscopic projects, but all working toward the same
+direction. So whatever Congress could do to streamline that
+would be terrific.
+ Mr. Lucas. And how do you think such a strategy would
+impact international competitiveness in next-generation
+technologies like building efficiency?
+ Dr. Tour. Yes, so one of the things that we have done in
+the past because we didn't have access in the university to
+certain equipment is we've established collaborations with
+overseas universities, and that's a shame. I mean, if we could
+keep it all here in the United States, that would be much
+better. And this has to do with the nanomaterials that are
+going to go into making building materials with a lot less
+footprint of energy. Like I said, concrete and cement, 8
+percent of all CO2 emissions. If we could lower
+that, it is tremendous. And then the jobs then it all effects
+right here. So it would be very good if we could streamline
+that and have to be less dependent on the excellent access to
+equipment, particularly in Asia.
+ Mr. Lucas. Dr. Tour, our legislation I mentioned, SALSTA,
+also aims to expand our American STEM workforce pipeline and
+its investment in infrastructure needed to maintain domestic
+research facilities. So I'd ask you the following. What role
+does infrastructure--and by that I mean world-class
+laboratories, top-notch instruments, collaboration,
+collaborative user facilities--have in attracting and keeping
+researchers here in the United States?
+ Dr. Tour. This is a very big deal. We have a brain drain
+going on right now because students are going back to their
+home countries rather than becoming professors in the United
+States, which they have traditionally done, because of the lack
+of equipment and the lack of deep support from government
+agencies toward academic research. And they are going home
+because the packages they can get are much better. I've
+testified to Congress before on this same issue, that the brain
+drain that is currently happening in the United States is
+frightening. Many of these people would have stayed in the
+United States had the packages been here, had the equipment
+been here. So if we want to keep the first-class people here,
+we've got to have the infrastructure to maintain this.
+ Mr. Lucas. Let me conclude by saying, Ms. Patterson, I
+very much appreciate your comments about the Morrill Act of
+1862. Hopefully, with time and generational societal change we
+are overcoming those deficiencies.
+ I'm very proud of the efforts made by Congress in 1890 to
+create the 1890 land-grant universities and the 1994s. At some
+point this is not the right venue we should discuss how we
+address the proper funding of the 1890's. I have one of those
+in my district, Langston University, an outstanding facility,
+but making sure the necessary resources are there so that they
+can be fully utilized by people.
+ With that, I yield back the balance of my time, Mr. Chair.
+ Staff. Ms. Stevens is next.
+ Ms. Stevens. OK, great. Well, thank you all so much, and
+thanks to our Chairman. And congratulations to him on his first
+hearing on a critical topic with some great witnesses.
+ So our energy efficiency sector employees, you know, just
+shy of 2.5 million people according to the latest data that we
+have from 2019, and it's projected to grow at about, you know,
+3.4 percent year-over-year, and that's according to the
+National Association of State Energy Officials and Energy--our
+Energy Futures Initiative, yet 91 percent of construction
+employers in energy efficiency reported difficulty in hiring
+experienced, trained workers. And we certainly hear from our
+construction and building trade stakeholders here in Michigan
+about our critical workforce shortage, which has been obviously
+exacerbated by COVID-19.
+ And energy efficiency in buildings, as we've been talking
+about, has an enormous potential to be a job creator, and we
+want to have equity, we want to have inclusion, we want to
+target the needs, as our Chairman was discussing.
+ So, Mr. Hagerman, you discussed the need for workforce
+development and training in the energy efficiency sector. You
+touched on that. Can we shed some light on the role that the
+Federal Government can maintain to help fill this gap, and
+could you also comment on programs at Oak Ridge National Lab
+that are working to address this need?
+ Mr. Hagerman. Absolutely. So, first, thank you for that
+wonderful question. And as I said in my--with my written and my
+oral testimony, jobs are--American jobs are so critical as we
+start to decarbonize all the sectors and we actually achieve
+energy efficiency savings for the Nation particularly because
+these are jobs that are--should be un-outsourceable, right? We
+need real people to go in buildings and make them more
+efficient.
+ So let me first to speak to what Oak Ridge is doing. And
+of course I think we need to do more. We always need to do more
+to train the available workforce that are actually going to
+make good on the retrofits and all the other activities that
+American companies want to pursue. But we do three main things.
+One, we have the Oak Ridge Institute, which is a collaboration
+with University of Tennessee, where we're trying to grow the
+talent population and pool, pipeline to actually train and
+educate the workforce of the future. In one example, a
+colleague of mine works in the power electronic space. That's a
+space where I think that we need to spend a little bit more
+time and focus on actually making sure that Americans lead the
+intellectual pursuits in power electronics and advanced power
+electronics. It was a little concerning in the renewable space
+we saw Huawei as the No. 1 seller of solar----
+ Ms. Stevens. Right.
+ Mr. Hagerman [continuing]. At one point in time, right? So
+we need to----
+ Ms. Stevens. Yes, we need this to be American jobs. No,
+and, Ms. Patterson, thank you so much for your testimony. I
+wanted to give you back some of your time because I know 5
+minutes goes quick. But you say the lack of representation in
+certain energy efficiency fields specifically that only .3
+percent of architects are Black women. So let's talk about this
+a little bit more. What are some ways--and, you know, I've been
+working on this in my career before I got to Congress, very
+focused on this now, but what are ways in which we can target
+and train workers particularly in communities of color in an
+appropriate and significant way?
+ Ms. Patterson. Thank you so much for that question. Yes,
+so we have been working with Department of Energy specifically
+and through the Solar in Your Community Initiative and also
+through their Solar Energy Technology Office around how do we
+start to deploy both kind of the skills and resources to
+support kind of skills building, as well as providing resources
+for entrepreneurs and vendors so they can be competitive in
+this market.
+ So one of the--so everything from policymaking like local-
+hire provisions and disadvantaged business enterprise
+provisions that are tied directly to these contracts I think is
+critical so that [inaudible]--and then also ways that we can
+look at the investments in--I think, as we talked before, in
+terms of the HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and
+Universities) and other educational institutions to ensure that
+we have a pipeline, the good kind of pipeline in terms of
+pathways for folks to enter into these professions are critical
+as well and really working closely with those institutions to
+help to build. And then also the skills training in terms of
+vocational training but it's not necessarily through the
+university, but those--making pathways like we--we're working--
+we're starting a Solar Vets Initiative to help to train--that's
+just--that's tied to the solar that's resources that are
+available that we'd love to see--I think they've cut back on
+their funding. We'd love to see that reignited and fully funded
+in terms of the Solar Vets Initiative, as well as really some
+funding that would target women. We did a project that was
+doing----
+ Chairman Bowman. Ms. Patterson, just finish up your last
+thoughts. Sorry about that.
+ Ms. Patterson. Yes, it's no problem. So working with
+things like grid alternatives [inaudible] and others that were
+specifically trying to train women and making sure that we have
+funding [inaudible]--thank you.
+ Ms. Stevens. Thanks. I yield back, Mr. Chair. Thank you.
+ Staff. Mr. Baird is next if he's available.
+ Mr. Baird. I am.
+ Staff. OK. You may proceed.
+ Mr. Baird. Thank you, sir. You know, I really appreciate
+your having this hearing, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member
+Weber. Now, I see our Ranking Member Lucas is on here, too, and
+he's always got an interesting perspective.
+ But the thing that I was very interested in, Dr. Tour, I'm
+going to start with you because I found this carbon sink and
+the materials you mentioned kind of fascinating. And you know
+we have a tremendous capability at DOE with the computer
+capacity that we have to be able to advance this kind of
+technology. So I hope we can see a strong future partnership
+between the industry and our national labs and all this kind of
+research. But I would just like for you to elaborate on using
+the material to make cement, airplanes, building materials, and
+how we get that to our rural communities and some of our more
+remote situations. So that's the question.
+ Dr. Tour. Yes, so thank you, Representative Baird. This is
+a real material that is transforming right now. So, like I
+said, our production rate is doubling every 9 weeks, so a
+single factory within 3 years will be able to produce hundreds
+of tons of this per day in about 3 years, and that's the
+projection rate. This--the collaborations right now are
+happening with companies that are testing these in concrete and
+asphalt, and one of those entities is the Army Corps of
+Engineers, ERDC, in Mississippi because they have the
+capability to do this, and then there's agreements with
+companies. We are working with big auto manufacturers taking
+their waste plastic because they're responsible now at least
+overseas--they're responsible--the American companies that sell
+overseas are responsible for their plastic in the E.U. now from
+every vehicle, and it's almost 200 kilograms of plastic in a
+car. We've converted that into graphene, we've given it back to
+them to put it into new plastic that goes into cars, so it's
+really a wonderful cycle here.
+ And the energy savings are real material. This is real
+material going into then construction, concrete, wood
+composites with wood manufacturers, so this is really beginning
+to transform this. And this is one of the things that's been
+permitted by keeping this in a small company where I can help
+to control this and say, no, we got to get this into these
+products, as well as small companies contacting me that want to
+deploy this. I say, OK, we're not in the big scale deploying
+right now, but that's going to come within a few years and we
+marked down their names and we want to see this deployed.
+ Mr. Baird. Fantastic. I find that extremely interesting.
+And with the ag background, some of the materials that you
+could have access to, including forest products that can be
+converted into this kind of material is of great interest to
+me, so I'm glad to see the research that we do, the research
+that you've done making that kind of progress.
+ If any of the other witnesses would like to or care to
+make a comment, feel free to do so at this time. I got about a
+minute and 25 seconds left.
+ Mr. Hagerman. I--so this is Joe Hagerman with Oak Ridge
+National Lab and, you know, partnerships are a key to our
+science, right? They are one of the fuels for our science. In
+our BTRIC user facility we have 19 active CRADAs (cooperative
+research and development agreements) where we're actively
+working with companies, and companies seek us out. And DOE has
+just announced or has announced a technical collaboration
+program that companies can use and leverage Oak Ridge to solve
+their problems, and I think that's a wonderful way that we can
+augment U.S. companies and make them get to the results that we
+know they can have.
+ Mr. Baird. Yes, I think it's important, too, that our
+national labs--I'm very pleased that they're able to do some of
+the basic research sometimes that the industry cannot really
+justify, that that then leads into the kinds of things we're
+talking about here, so thank you very much. And I yield back.
+ Dr. Jackson. Can I add as well?
+ Mr. Baird. Sure.
+ Dr. Jackson. Yes, so I'd like to add as well, coming from
+a background of being a general contractor before going into
+the national lab, really understanding that most general
+contractors are small and don't have the research budgets, and
+so the role of DOE and a national lab being able to provide
+research and through programs such as Building America where
+Building America is actually taking technologies that are
+developed in the lab and working with builders boots on the
+ground to actually deploy this, as well as retrofit
+contractors, and so that's just one example. Better Building is
+another. And then the ABC, Advanced Building Construction, is
+yet another initiative that is intending to do that, to be that
+venue, and now we can develop science, take science, develop it
+into products and bridge that gap, so those contractors like
+myself back in the day could help get technologies developed
+and deployed.
+ Mr. Baird. Excellent point, excellent point. I yield back.
+Thank you.
+ Staff. Ms. Bonamici is next.
+ Ms. Bonamici. Thank you, Chair Bowman and Ranking Member
+Weber. Thank you to all of our witnesses for joining us today
+and for your expertise.
+ I know that residential and commercial buildings--we know
+this--are notoriously challenging to decarbonize. But to
+address the climate crisis, we need to meaningfully repair and
+rebuild our Nation's infrastructure in a resilient and
+sustainable manner. So last year I joined my colleagues on the
+Select Committee on the Climate Crisis. We released a bold,
+comprehensive, science-based climate action plan to reach net
+zero emissions no later than midcentury and net negative
+thereafter. Our plan includes many policies to eliminate
+emissions from new buildings by 2030, increased homeowner
+incentives for energy-efficient affordable housing. And I look
+forward to working with my colleagues on this Subcommittee and
+the Full Committee to advance these policies.
+ Dr. Esram, I represent a district in northwest Oregon. I
+know you're in the Pacific Northwest as well. In the district I
+represent, the Orchards, which is--was completed in June of
+2015, at the time was the largest certified multifamily Passive
+House building in North America. They anticipated in its 57
+units to have a 90 percent energy reduction for heating and 60
+to 70 percent overall savings in energy use compared to a
+typical building of its size. Not far from the Orchards is the
+headquarters of the First Tech Federal Credit Union, which is a
+five-story 156,000 square-foot building built of cross-
+laminated timber (CLT).
+ So in northwest Oregon the industrial sector is turning to
+mass timber as an alternative to steel and concrete, and cross-
+laminated timber, when harvested using sustainable forest
+management practices, can sequester and store massive amounts
+of carbon dioxide. There are still questions about the
+lifecycle assessments of CLT, but the material raises the
+possibility of storing massive amounts of carbon in buildings
+for decades or perhaps in perpetuity.
+ So, Dr. Esram, in your testimony you noted that the R&D
+gap in our understanding of lifecycle carbon--that there is an
+R&D gap. So what initiatives could the Department of Energy's
+Building Technologies Office advance to better address embodied
+carbon and operational carbon emissions in building materials,
+equipment, and construction processes?
+ Dr. Esram. Well, thanks for the question, Congresswoman.
+The most-needed R&D gap is a standardized way to calculate the
+lifecycle impact of all these materials and also from a
+holistic perspective to consider building as an integrated
+entity, not just pieces, you know, the concrete [inaudible]. I
+think we need to think about what is a target, how to
+standardize it, and also give innovation or freedom to the
+architect, to the builders to create low-embodied carbon
+buildings and not just really at a surface level and go one
+step deeper, standardization, and the most holistic view of
+looking at embodied carbon buildings.
+ Ms. Bonamici. And what difference would it make if we had
+those standards?
+ Dr. Esram. I think that will make the industry being more
+innovative to actively think about how can they create building
+products that--increase--include multiple benefits for the
+society and for the building owners and for the building
+occupants because currently our so-called lifecycle analysis is
+too narrowly defined on the economic payback of certain
+technologies or constructions. It's just----
+ Ms. Bonamici. That's helpful. And I don't want to cut you
+off, but I really want to get a question in to Ms. Patterson.
+And, Ms. Patterson, Portland State University recently released
+a study demonstrating how historically racist redlining housing
+policies in northeast Portland have exacerbated the effects of
+warming temperatures and poor air quality and we--for Black
+people and people of color. Extreme heat events are expected to
+increase in frequency and intensity because of the climate
+crisis and, as a result, these same historically underserved
+neighborhoods will face health risks of increasing
+temperatures, higher energy bills, and inequitable access to
+green spaces.
+ And we know that many Federal programs like the DOE's
+Weatherization Assistance Program can't meet current demands.
+So what does this mean for our BIPOC communities and how can
+Congress better support innovative residential weatherization
+and energy practices, particularly for frontline households?
+ Ms. Patterson. Thank you so much. Yes. So I think one key
+strategy is to really think about spending priorities across
+the board and think about models that are multi-solving so that
+we don't just think about energy retrofits that are just
+focused on energy reference retrofits through the Department of
+Energy but we think about how we do energy retrofits that are
+tied to other--you know, that are financed through health
+funding because we know that having better indoor air quality
+and better temperature moderation and so forth are better for
+multiple reasons and also tied to resources from Department of
+Labor. So we've put together kind of cross-sector packages in
+order to be able to truly fund these and recognize that it's
+not just about providing one single thing, but it's about
+lifting the quality of housing and the quality of health and
+well-being and think about how each of these sectors contribute
+to that goal. So I think really multi-solving is the key--key
+term here and therefore multisector or multi-funding
+approaches.
+ Ms. Bonamici. Great, thank you. And I see my time is
+expired. I yield back. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
+ Staff. Mr. Garcia is next.
+ Mr. Garcia. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Chair Bowman and
+Ranking Member Weber, thanks for pulling this together. This is
+actually very interesting discussions here. I want to thank all
+of our guests and actually congratulate you all for your
+achievements and your successes in being leaders in your
+respective fields.
+ I've got two questions. The first is for Dr. Tour and the
+second is for Dr. Jackson. Dr. Tour, this graphene discussion
+is very interesting. When I saw the writeups for this, I was
+doing some homework yesterday in preparation for today, and
+what I was looking at initially was whether or not the use of
+graphene would become a potential environmental risk like what
+we've seen with PFAS creeping into our water tables. I'm sure
+you're familiar with what PFAS is, the polyfluoroalkyl
+substances. We have a contamination problem in California with
+PFAS getting into our waters. And while I was doing that
+research, I was reading that graphene is actually as it is
+effectively an allotrope of carbon, right? It's a derivative of
+sort of an activated carbon. And I was reading articles where
+graphene may actually be used to remove PFAS as a potential
+filtrate opportunity. Have you seen any research or done any
+research to where the use of graphene within water filtration
+systems can help mitigate our PFAS problems that we're seeing
+in some of our local communities?
+ Dr. Tour. Yes, I don't know particularly with PFAS, but I
+know that graphene, these carbon materials are indeed being
+used for water filtration. In fact, I have a company that's
+actually doing that, using graphene in water filtration
+systems. And so--and the thing about graphene is it's already
+naturally occurring. If you have graphite in a riverbed, it's
+shearing off slices of graphene. It's already naturally
+occurring, and that's what makes it all the more attractive in
+that it's a naturally occurring material, hard to access, but
+for water filtration, the PFAS problem, there are other ways
+that we're addressing that. And actually my group is addressing
+particularly that problem, so I know something about that. And
+we've just recently gotten some grant money to do that through
+the Department of Defense to try to address specifically that
+PFAS problem.
+ Mr. Garcia. If it's OK, maybe you and I can take it
+offline, but I'd love to connect you with our local water
+districts here in my district in southern California. They're
+struggling with this right now, as many are, but they're on the
+precipice of making very significant investments, and I just
+want to ensure they're looking at all options before we go too
+far downrange. A lot of Federal assistance going into those
+types of programs as well, as you know, so I would love to be
+able to connect you offline if we can with some of our folks on
+our end.
+ Dr. Tour. I would be glad to.
+ Mr. Garcia. Thank you, sir. Dr. Jackson, it's hard to
+believe that solar power for residential applications has been
+around for, what, 30 years now, maybe even a little bit longer.
+Can you talk to us a little bit about the generational shifts
+in solar power? I know the cost curve is coming down. You know,
+it's Moore's law really, right? It's double-capacity, half-
+price every, what, 5 or 6 years. We're seeing that real-time.
+Is it just an improvement in efficiencies and costs, or are
+there other sort of revolutionary increments in terms of the
+technology? I know the integration of solar into roof tiles now
+is a new thing, but can you talk to us about how the solar
+industry is actually--what is the state-of-the-art and why is
+that so important right now?
+ Dr. Jackson. So I think that's a great question. I think
+we've seen some of the trends because of multiple things. I
+think it's a multifold, one being the materials. We have been
+able to go from some of the traditional semiconductor-type
+materials that we used 30, 40 years ago, and now we're actually
+using even some of organics so even one of the things that's
+been--really NREL has been leading on is perovskites (PV) is
+one where you can basically paint it on. There's YouTube videos
+of painting on of PV device.
+ And so one of the things--then the next step is what we do
+as we continue to advance the curve is the soft costs, the cost
+of integration, because if you make a supercheap material but
+it takes a lot integrate it, then the overall effective cost is
+still high. So that's been coming down as well.
+ Then finally where I see this going is now what we're
+seeing--actually, it was a Nature Communications paper last
+year where we took those advances in perovskites and other
+types of materials and said what if you actually integrated
+those into your window--into your building facade? So now you
+can see that window that actually is glazing. You can see out
+of it, but by innovating some technology that we have, you can
+make it where it switches, where it's a clear window when it's
+kind of the light it isn't as clear, but then when the sun is
+readily available, it can actually serve as a glaze to help
+with glare while also collecting solar. So you have a--so it's
+taking that perovskites, those types of innovations and
+incorporating into traditional facade and windows to be able to
+take solar innovation to the building envelope to the next
+level.
+ Mr. Garcia. That's fantastic. I can go on for hours on
+this stuff. Thanks, guys, for sharing, very interesting
+technologies. And I yield back. I'm out of time. Thanks, guys.
+ Staff. Ms. Ross is next.
+ Ms. Ross. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for
+having this be our first hearing. It's really fascinating.
+ I want to talk a little bit about your initial theme for
+the hearing, and so--which is how do we get some of these
+technologies that are good for our environment and good for
+people's health in affordable housing. And right now in my
+district I have a--I'm from the Research Triangle area. It's a
+growing area. And we are coming up against a real battle to get
+more affordable housing. At the same time, old--what used to be
+called housing projects are being torn down because they are--
+they're past their useful lives and the living conditions are
+not as good, and we're replacing them.
+ And so I'd love to know from any of the panelists where
+there are good examples of sustainable, healthy, affordable
+housing projects in this country or in other countries so that
+when we build again, we build in a way that all residents get
+the health benefits, get the energy-efficiency benefits, and we
+get the environmental benefits. So to anybody, it looks like we
+have a few people who want to jump in. Yes.
+ Mr. Hagerman. So this is Joe Hagerman with Oak Ridge. I
+can talk a little bit about our work with Clayton Homes, so
+Clayton Homes is the largest affordable housing manufacturer I
+think in the Nation. We're working with them to apply some of
+the connected-community principles into their manufactured
+housing and make those homes safer, more efficient, and
+healthier in terms of indoor air quality. And this is really
+about adding controls into their normal product and making
+those things world-class and really taking the lessons learned
+from our previous projects in Alabama, Georgia, and with EPRI,
+the Electric Power Research Institute.
+ Ms. Ross. And as a follow-up, how can we in Congress
+create incentives to do that? So, you know, some people who are
+in the affordable housing business are in it as a business.
+Other people are in it because they really care about the
+residents. Are there any triggers or incentives that we in
+Congress could provide to have that--these practices--best
+practices be more widespread?
+ Mr. Hagerman. Oh, absolutely. So another project we have
+with the Knoxville Community Development Corporation, they're
+actually actively decarbonizing their buildings, and they--
+those are actually their words, right? And so I think we as a
+lab have really learned a lot from that in terms of seeing
+retrofits, and as you talk about best practices for retrofits,
+they need to pivot to see those as decarbonization events
+because it would make the house healthier for the homeowner and
+they'd pay one less bill at the end of the day as well. So I
+think those incentives to really kind rethink retrofits is a
+whole--and incentives to help decarbonize or make the
+justification to decarbonize would help.
+ Ms. Ross. Thank you. Does anybody else know of examples
+around the country or around the world, any of the other
+panelists?
+ Dr. Jackson. I'll give some--I'll give an example
+[inaudible] because I think one of the things we have to be
+[inaudible] to ensure that we approach the affordable housing
+challenge particularly with retrofits. Those are distinctly
+harder. As the Chairman mentioned, in--because--in New York
+we've seen--the New York Times, we've talked about like some of
+the urban heat island effects, and so a lot of times in
+projects you see the actual temperature change--the temperature
+dynamics in those environments are different, so we have to
+think through them differently to make sure that we have the
+right solution for the right application.
+ And so a--we've seen in Europe--some of the things they've
+done in Europe is they use modular construction and actually
+replace the whole building facade. Now, those are some of the
+things that the Advanced Building Construction Initiative
+through the DOE's funding were actually trying to say how can
+we take the best from those things like we--in Energiesprong
+that's done in Europe and say what does that look like or what
+is a modular-type approach that can be used here or a panelized
+approach and say for these types of affordable construction,
+how do we do the best thing for that? Because just because it
+worked in a market rate or advance market community doesn't
+mean it's going to work in an affordable community. And I think
+that's the--that's the challenge that we face is if we do that,
+we have--we end up with a less optimal or a less correct
+solution for those communities that actually need more
+investment.
+ So to your question of what we can do, I think we need to
+have a very focused effort on the affordable community so that
+we can make sure we're developing the right solutions for those
+challenges.
+ Ms. Ross. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I yield back.
+ Staff. Mr. Feenstra is next.
+ Mr. Feenstra. Thank you, Mr. Chair and Ranking Member
+Lucas.
+ Before I start, I just want to thank each of the witnesses
+for their testimony and sharing their extensive research and
+opinions with us. Iowa's 4th District, where I'm from, is no
+stranger to leading an energy and environmental design. With
+over 65 LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)-
+certified buildings in my district, northwest Iowa takes its
+sustainable buildings very seriously.
+ Additionally, I'm an original cosponsor on Ranking Member
+Lucas's SALSTA's Act that includes an increase in the
+investment in the DOE's Office of Science. Their research can
+help support the next generation of clean energy and efficiency
+and technology.
+ Dr. Jackson and Dr. Hagerman, I got a question.
+Retrofitting existing buildings, which we have a lot of here in
+the 4th District, is one way to avoid the embodied carbon and
+cost produced from the building and construction process. What
+are some of the most cost-effective and carbon-reducing
+retrofitting techniques that can be utilized today?
+ Dr. Jackson. So I'll start. I think the most cost--one of
+the things is it's kind of--you know, as an engineer, it
+depends. It depends on the application in many instances. So
+for the climate, one of the things that you would do is the
+building facade to ensure that you get the biggest bang for
+your buck because that helps you with resilience, particularly
+as we look forward with climate change and making sure that the
+building works today but it also works 50 years from now. So
+the best you can do is a building facade.
+ And so now going back to the question Dr. Esram mentioned
+before, we need to ensure that we understand the embodied
+impact of the materials that go into that facade, and so that's
+why we need to continue to advance the research in what--in
+embodied energy so that as we do those facade retrofits that
+can be done today, they can use the least-embodied energy
+approach. So those are--that's one of the most readily
+available.
+ Mr. Hagerman. So this is Joe Hagerman from Oak Ridge, and
+I would answer controls and retuning, so controls, if you can
+get your controls right, tune up the equipment, you can save a
+lot of money, and then once we have controls available, we can
+make the schedules fit people's active lives. And then we can
+also expose those controls to the utilities so we can start
+using and leveraging those buildings as a resource of the grid
+to make the grid more resilient, just as we're making your
+house more resilient.
+ Mr. Feenstra. That's very good. This is for anybody. So my
+district, we're very high into agriculture production, and so
+we maximize the use of our bio-based materials. As an example,
+Iowa State Centers for Crop Utilization has worked on projects
+like creating adhesives and insulation from crops and crop
+byproducts. These can provide a cost-effective alternative
+instead of petroleum-based products. Is there a way--or how do
+we see that we could expand this research or do you think this
+is a good method that we should be spending our time on in
+future research?
+ Mr. Hagerman. So if I could answer that, yes, and, right,
+we see a lot of those types of cellular materials going into
+the feedstock for our additive manufacturing machines, so I
+would encourage you to explore, you know, other uses of those
+materials, too, especially in the advanced construction kind of
+industry and this 3-D printed world we're about to live in.
+ Mr. Feenstra. All right. Well, thank you so much, Doctors.
+ Mr. Chair, thank you, and I yield back.
+ Chairman Bowman. Thank you very much. Before we bring the
+hearing to a close, I want to thank our witnesses for
+testifying before the Committee today. The record will remain
+open for 2 weeks for additional statements from the Members and
+for any additional questions the Committee may ask of the
+witnesses.
+ The witnesses are excused, and the hearing is now brought
+to a close. We are adjourned.
+ [Whereupon, at 2:35 p.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.]
+
+ [all]
+