Precourt Energy Efficiency Center (PEEC) Seed Grants

Funding Year Research Topic Description Principal Investigtors
2014 Improving the efficiency of combined cooling, heating and power systems Combined cooling, heating and power (CCHP) systems theoretically use 90 percent of the primary energy going into them, but in reality their...

Martin Fischer, Civil and Environmental Engineering
2014 Miniature thermoacoustic engines to capture waste heat from computers This project will first assess the feasibility of miniature thermoacoustic engines to convert waste heat from computers and other electronic devices...

Lambertus Hesselink, Electrical Engineering; and Carlo Scalo, Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University
2013 Trip Estimation Techniques to Better Manage Hybrid Vehicle Batteries The environmental and economic value of hybrid vehicles is maximized by using the least amount of fossil fuel and exhausting battery power before...

John D. Fox, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory/Applied Physics; William Dally, computer science; Jonathan Levav, Graduate School of Business
2013 Improving Predictions of the Efficiency of Natural Ventilation in Buildings Designing buildings that rely on natural ventilation for temperature control is a relatively new science. Due to limited analytical tools, such...

Gianluca Iaccarino, mechanical engineering; Martin Fischer, civil and environmental engineering
2013 Better Decision Making for Policies and Programs to Reduce Electricity Use This project seeks to aid decision making in energy-efficiency initiatives from government policies to business campaigns. Researchers will first...

Roy Pea, Education; Michael Bernstein, computer science; Martha Russell, H-STAR (Human-Sciences and Technologies Advanced Research Institute)
2013 Visualization of Smart Meter Data for Critical Peak Pricing Most electric utilities have multiple programs offering customers financial incentives for using electricity efficiently and reducing use when power...

Ram Rajagopal, civil and environmental engineering; June A. Flora, H-STAR
2013 Efficiency and Group Behavior in Power Distribution Networks The electricity system of the future is expected to include many local energy devices that can either generate electricity, like rooftop solar panels...

Ramesh Johari, management science and engineering; Ram Rajagopal, civil and environmental engineering
2012 Experiments with Appliance Choice This study examines whether some groups of consumers alter their decision-making process when buying major household appliances due to behavioral...

Brian Knutson, psychology
2012 The Dynamic Effects of the Light Bulb Ban New regulations effectively ban incandescent light bulbs in much of the world. Does the new prominence of lighting alternatives – compact...

Mar Reguant and Lanier Benkard, Graduate School of Business
2012 Promoting Sustainable Vehicles Will drivers buy more environmentally friendly vehicles in response to information about present benefits rather than future environmental gains? If...

Jonathan Levav, Graduate School of Business
2012 A Robust Mechanism to Dynamically Provide Grid Services with a Fleet of Plug-In Electric Vehicles We propose to construct an automated demand response mechanism for a fleet of plug-in electric vehicles that defines the role of electric vehicles in...

Nicole Taheri, ICME; Yinyu Ye, management science and engineering
2010 Paying for Good Deeds: Using Financial Incentives to Achieve Energy Efficiency The aim of this project is to understand how we can motivate individuals to achieve sustainable long run energy efficiency. In particular it asks...

Matthew Harding, economics
2010 Towards Improved Energy Simulation Tools for Buildings - Improving airflow parameterizations within energy simulation using CFD and building measurements We propose to develop a building energy model using the current best practices in computational fluid dynamics, coupled with heat transfer...

Martin Fischer, civil and environmental engineering; Erin Hult; Gianluca Iaccarino, mechanical engineering
2010 Santa Clara County Jail-Energy Efficiency Retrofit, Monitoring, and Modeling See project website for more information.

Martin Fisher, civil and environmental engineering; Tobias Maile, civil and environmental engineering
2010 Identifying and Mitigating Structural Barriers to Diffusion of Energy-Saving Technologies in the Building Industry Research will: Identify and document the key organizational, inter-organizational, and industry barriers to widespread adoption of energy-saving...

Dana Gavrieli, civil and environmental engineering;  Raymond E. Levitt, civil and environmental engineering; Erica L. Plambeck, Graduate School of Business