Analysis and Planning
PNNL's staff of engineers, economists and business analysts work together to perform technology market assessments, economic impact analyses, and a wide range of analyses on building energy topics. Researchers analyze building trends, make projections of future building energy consumption, assess the costs and benefits of new technologies, develop buildings-related data sets, and build tools to support analysis of building issues.
- A PNNL-developed software tool – BEAMS (Building Energy Analysis and Modeling System) – provides estimates of future energy, cost and emissions savings resulting from energy efficiency programs.
- PNNL's MiniCAM (Mini Climate Assessment Model), an integrated assessment model, makes global 100-year projections of energy supply/demand and greenhouse gas emissions. Recently, we added detail to MiniCAM for the U.S. buildings sector and advanced building technologies.
- PNNL's ImSET (Impact of Sector Energy Technologies) tool is an input-output model of the U.S. economy used to estimate the impacts of energy supply and efficiency programs on employment.
Many of PNNL's technical analyses are funded by DOE and tailored toward evaluating the energy and environmental benefits of advanced building technologies in support of program planning activities. These include development of technically robust multi-year program plans for DOE's Building Technologies Program and assistance in application of performance management principles to research and development programs.