Atlanta Better Buildings Challenge Hosts Energy Summit Featuring Ocean Exchange Solutions

 

ATLANTA, GA (APRIL 12, 2016) – The Atlanta Better Buildings Challenge, a program of the City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Sustainability, in conjunction with Ocean Exchange, will host an Energy Summit at the Georgia Tech Research Institute Conference Center on Thursday, May 5, 2016 at 2:00pm. Four Ocean Exchange finalists will present solutions to Atlanta’s Better Buildings Challenge participants to spark implementation projects to help them reach the 20% energy reduction goal by 2020.

The Better Buildings Challenge is an initiative of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) designed to improve the lives of the American people by driving leadership in energy innovation. The Challenge asks partners to reduce energy and water consumption 20% by the year 2020. In 2010 Atlanta developed and released its first sustainability plan, Power to Change, followed which included ambitious goals to reduce Atlanta’s energy and water use to make the City a Top Tier Sustainable City. Atlanta officially launched its Better Buildings Challenge in late 2011.

Shelby Buso, Director of Sustainability, Central Atlanta Progress, Inc. serves as the program manager of the Atlanta Better Buildings Challenge. “We are pleased to lead the Atlanta Better Buildings Challenge with our numerous partners all over the City in this effort to conserve resources. The solutions revealed at the 2015 Ocean Exchange serve as great examples of how the market is continuing to offer new and innovative ideas that will save energy, water, and money. We are excited to share these opportunities with our participants.”

Ocean Exchange was founded in 2010, holding its first event in 2011. It is a solutions-focused organization conducting a continuous search for best-in-class, proven solutions to the world’s most pressing problems. With a focus on sustainable solutions to improve economies, health, and the environment, the solutions presented at Ocean Exchange improve productivity, reduce waste and reduce the use of natural resources.

Millicent Pitts, Executive Director of Ocean Exchange, has been with the organization for more than three years and has served as its Executive Director since 2014. “We have scores of individuals, from business, government, NGOs and academia, who attend Ocean Exchange annually so that they may remain aware of most up-to-date technologies in sustainability. We are delighted to see the City’s interest in these solution providers and share the excitement for the upcoming Energy Summit. These presentations are thrilling to watch, and the technology has potential to help the Atlanta Better Buildings Challenge participants.”

The companies presenting at the Energy Summit include Architectural Applications from Portland, Oregon; Energy Storage Systems, Inc. from Portland, Oregon; Saphon Energy from Tunis, Tunisia; and Qcoefficient from Hoboken, New Jersey. The solutions presented will provide participating buildings the help needed to reach its energy reduction goal and realize the associated water savings as well. The following technologies will be presented:

• Airflow™Panel: Energy Saving Gills for Buildings, by Architectural Applications.

o This system emulates the architecture and function of fish gills by exchanging heat and moisture across permeable membranes between incoming and exhaust airstreams in buildings.

• Low Cost Energy Storage: Using an Iron Flow Battery, by ESS, Inc.

o ESS has technology that combines a safe, abundant, non-toxic iron based electrolyte with a patent-pending cell design. The battery is cost effective and easily rechargeable, storing the electrolyte as a liquid in an external tank.

• Zero-Blade Wind Energy Converter: Using Zero-Blade Technology, by Saphon Energy.

o This novel design for wind power is bladeless and does not rotate. It follows a back andforth 3D knot motion, largely inspired by a sailboat, giving more efficient operation than traditional blade designs.

• Turning Buildings into Batteries: Using the built environment to harness energy, by QCoefficient

o This is cloud-based technology to harness building mass, such as drywall and concrete, as a thermal storage medium. The technology reshapes building cooling load profiles to make for more efficient building operations.

The Energy Summit will be held at the Georgia Tech Research Institute Conference Center, 250 14th St NW, Atlanta, GA 30318, courtesy of Chris Burke, Director of Community Relations at the Office of Government and Community Relations for Georgia Institute of Technology. The Georgia Tech Research Institute has had a long commitment to high-performance buildings and sustainability. “We are excited to see what other technologies we may be able to implement,” said Burke.