
Collaboration between academia, national laboratories, government, and private industry is critical to achieving these objectives. Successful research, development, market entry, and widespread adoption of novel opaque envelope technologies requires sustained, long-term, high-risk/high-reward R&D investment. Envelope Diagnostic Technologies and Modeling Tools.The Opaque Envelopes: Pathway to Building Energy Efficiency and Demand Flexibility R&D Opportunities (RDO) report highlights five key areas of technology R&D: Maintenance of and periodic restoration programs for the following areas are vital. Improving the energy performance of the opaque envelope is critical to reducing total building energy use and key to achieving a low-carbon, sustainable future. A buildings exterior envelope is always under attack from Mother Nature. When people talk about energy efficiency solutions like LED bulbs or low-flow faucets, none of that will be of much use if your building envelope isn’t up to snuff. The passage of water vapor is slowed by materials that are relatively impermeable. This includes your windows, doors, roof, floor, foundations, and insulation. Sustainable Exterior Building Envelope Products and Systems. Moisture can move through building envelopes as liquid water, water vapor or be carried by air infiltration. Retrofits of existing buildings are particularly crucial to opaque envelope energy savings because nearly 93% of residential and 60% of commercial buildings that exist today will still exist in 2050. Building envelope encompasses the entire exterior building system of your home. These systems include the roof, exterior walls, foundation and fenestration system. The building envelope (or the more modern term, building enclosure) is all of the elements of the outer shell that maintain a dry, heated, or cooled indoor environment and facilitate its climate control.

The opaque envelope comprises all elements of the building envelope besides windows, such as walls, roofs, and foundations, and affects 28% of building energy use, or 11% of total U.S. We manufacture high performance building envelope systems designed to provide superior protection against the elements. This subprogram develops next-generation technologies that have substantial potential to cost-effectively reduce building energy consumption and improve demand flexibility and occupant comfort.
