[Phoenix] — May 12, 2021 — EnKoat’s Co-Founder and CEO, Dr. Matthew Aguayo, was invited as a panelist by the U.S. Department of Energy to their Buildings Workshop for Thermal Energy Storage (TES) Systems. Dr. Aguayo and other TES world leaders discussed the challenges and goals for advancing TES solutions for buildings. Dr. Aguayo’s presentation focused on novel TES technologies embedded within the building envelope and how to bridge the gap between the fundamental science and actual market adoption.
The DOE Building Technologies Office (BTO) is a major proponent for reducing building energy use intensity. On their website they say, “Energy efficiency is a low-cost way to save money, support job growth, reduce pollution, and improve the competitiveness of our businesses. Our homes, offices, schools, hospitals, restaurants, and stores consume a lot of energy and money. We spend more than $400 billion each year to power our homes and commercial buildings, consuming approximately 74% of all electricity used in the United States, about 40% of our nation’s total energy bill. And much of this energy and money is wasted over 30% on average. If we cut the energy use of U.S. buildings by 20%, we could save approximately $80 billion annually on energy bills and help create jobs.”
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the DOE BTO held a workshop on the Priorities and Pathways to Widespread Deployment of Thermal Energy Storage in Buildings. World leaders in the thermal energy storage field gathered to discuss the latest developments in low temperature TES technologies and systems to identify approaches that overcome technology gaps, building integration issues, and market adoption challenges that are preventing the widespread deployment of TES solutions in buildings.
“I am honored to have been part of the panel discussion on novel systems and approaches. It was a great experience to learn from others who are equally as committed to making widespread deployment of thermal energy storage in buildings a reality,” said Dr. Matthew Aguayo, co-founder of EnKoat. “We are at a point where the focus has shifted towards improving the resilience and energy efficiency of buildings. To address this effectively, requires innovative thermal energy storage technologies and solutions that can be easily implemented.” said Dr. Aashay Arora, co-founder of EnKoat.
EnKoat is focused on embedded TES technologies within the building envelope which allows for significant reduction in CO2 emissions as well as reduced heating and cooling costs for the building owner. These types of solutions are especially important for existing buildings which are in desperate need of a retrofit envelope solution to increase thermal resilience and efficiency.
About DOE BTO
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Building Technology Office supports research and development (R&D), validation, and integration of affordable, energy-saving technologies, techniques, tools, and services, to enable industry and others to develop and deploy technologies that can improve the efficiency and reduce the energy costs of the nation’s homes, offices, schools, hospitals, and other commercial and residential buildings in both the new and existing buildings markets.
About EnKoat
EnKoat is a clean-tech and advanced materials company developing sustainable material solutions for the built environment. EnKoat is re-engineering traditional building products like architectural coatings and wall panels into multifunctional products which provide enhanced thermal performance benefits. EnKoat’s technology can provide up to 30% savings on heating and cooling costs by automatically regulating the internal building temperatures leading to a reduction in global carbon emissions by millions of metric tons per year.
