Center: NSF engineering research center for environmentally applied refrigerant technology hub (EARTH)

Active Cooperative Agreement Awarded Last action

Award ID
2330175
Recipient
Awarding agency
Obligated
$14,300,000

Award facts

Assistance listing
47.041 Engineering
Completion date 44% complete
Place of performance
Lawrence, KS 66045, USA

Award details come from USAspending.gov.

Description

As the agency reported it.

Abstract
Heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration (HVACR) are essential to human quality of life but exact a significant environmental toll. Most current refrigerants are high-global-warming-potential (GWP) hydrofluorocarbons (HFCS) with up to 4000 times the impact of CO2. High HVACR-associated energy consumption and HFC leaks account for 7.8% of total greenhouse-gas emissions. HFCS? Chemical stability, combined with challenges associated with separating HFC refrigerant blends into components, make sustainable recycling and repurposing of these refrigerants difficult. In addition, tightening U.S. Regulations have created a market for illegal HFC imports. The american innovation and manufacturing (aim) act mandates an 85% phasedown of HFCS over the next two decades, but these challenges threaten that goal. Even if the technical goals are met, implementing such sweeping changes will require societal and industrial adoption and a greatly expanded U.S. HVACR workforce. The environmentally applied refrigerant technology hub (EARTH) engineering research center (ERC) will use a team-science approach to bring together talent in engineering (chemical, environmental, mechanical, and materials), architecture, business, chemistry, economics, geography, history, law, psychology, and entrepreneurship in one innovation ecosystem to CO-create convergent technical and societal solutions with industry partners, technical and community colleges, professional organizations, regulators, and end users. EARTH?S vision is to create a transformative ?sustainable refrigerant lifecycle? To address the HVACR ecosystem?S key technical and societal challenges: (1) lowering HFC emissions, (2) creating safe, property-balanced replacement refrigerants, and (3) increasing HVACR energy efficiency. In addition, EARTH will work toward workforce goals CO-created with industry to increase the number of HVACR engineering researchers and will involve community and technical colleges to address workforce gaps through coordinated outreach and training, with a focus on women, native people, and tribal nations. With stakeholder input and integration across fundamental knowledge, enabling technologies, and system testbeds, EARTH will convergently address the societal problem of refrigerant environmental impacts. Refrigerant leaking and venting will be addressed by new separation, conversion, security-tagging, and waste-refrigerant-reuse technologies, spurring sustainable decision-making and new startups. Novel, safe, property-balanced, low-flammability, low environmental-impact refrigerants will be explored with molecular simulations of candidate fluids, development of solid-state materials, regulatory-impact economic analysis, and corporate-innovation insights. Higher HVACR energy efficiency will be obtainable through new energy-efficient dehumidification materials, refrigerant-specific leak sensors, alternative refrigeration cycles, systems modeling, lifecycle analysis, technoeconomic analysis, and exploration of corporate, environmental, social, and governance activities. Crosscut themes - synthesis & characterization, behavior & policy, and modeling & analysis - will integrate research with all ERC pillars. The EPA estimates the aim act?S successful implementation from 2022 to 2050 will net benefits of $272 billion and emission reductions of 4.6 billion tons of CO2. IT will also create 150,000 new jobs, increase U.S. Manufacturing by $39 billion, and prevent a 0.5 ?C increase in global temperature. EARTH will enable and accelerate these benefits with new technologies, data-informed regulatory guidance, and industry and stakeholder buy-in. By addressing the technical, environmental, and societal challenges of replacing high-GWP refrigerants, EARTH?S research will generate scientific knowledge, engineering products, environmental-policy recommendations, and industry and stakeholder behavioral changes to stimulate this HVACR-ecosystem transformation. EARTH has identified over 70 initial HVACR-ecosystem partners, including companies, community colleges and technical/trade schools, non-profit organizations, international universities, and federal labs, to aid with industry adoption of new technologies. EARTH will increase the HVACR industry?S workforce capacity across 6 core institutions (3 epscor), in partnership with native-hawai?IAN-serving and tribal colleges/universities, community colleges, and technical/trade schools. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.- subawards are planned for this award.

Transactions

Action Obligated Date
Amendment $300,000
Amendment $525,000
Amendment $5,700,000
Amendment $4,275,000
Original award $3,500,000

Subawards

Subrecipient Amount Awarded
The University Of South Dakota A team consisting of faculty, postdoc, graduate, and undergraduate students from the University of South Dakota (SD), a core partner institution of the EARTH… $2,000
University Of Maryland, College Park The six university team consisting of U Kansas, Notre Dame, U. Maryland, Lehigh, U. Hawaii, and U. of South Dakota, is proposing a multi-disciplinary NSF… $1,058,715
University Of Notre Dame DU Lac Postdoctoral (PD) mentoring will be enhanced through a program of structured activities. The goal is to provide the knowledge, skills, and experiences necessary… $1,454,823
Lehigh University David Vicic will lead Thust 1 of the project, which centers on the reclamation and repurposing of refrigerants. This Thrust involves the following projects:… $15,000
Lehigh University David Vicic will lead Thust 1 of the project, which centers on the reclamation and repurposing of refrigerants. This Thrust involves the following projects:… $517,266
University Of Hawaii To develop sustainable, accessible, and equitable refrigerant technologies and practices through research, education, and innovation to create a thriving… $590,960
The University Of South Dakota A team consisting of faculty, postdoc, graduate, and undergraduate students from the University of South Dakota (SD), a core partner institution of the EARTH… $666,517
University Of Hawaii To develop sustainable, accessible, and equitable refrigerant technologies and practices through research, education, and innovation to create a thriving… $18,000
University Of Notre Dame DU Lac Postdoctoral (PD) mentoring will be enhanced through a program of structured activities. The goal is to provide the knowledge, skills, and experiences necessary… $941,823
University Of Hawaii To develop sustainable, accessible, and equitable refrigerant technologies and practices through research, education, and innovation to create a thriving… $588,478
University Of Maryland, College Park The six university team consisting of U Kansas, Notre Dame, U. Maryland, Lehigh, U. Hawaii, and U. of South Dakota, is proposing a multi-disciplinary NSF… $828,920
Lehigh University David Vicic will lead Thust 1 of the project, which centers on the reclamation and repurposing of refrigerants. This Thrust involves the following projects:… $379,414
The University Of South Dakota A team consisting of faculty, postdoc, graduate, and undergraduate students from the University of South Dakota (SD), a core partner institution of the EARTH… $588,180
University Of Maryland, College Park The six university team consisting of U Kansas, Notre Dame, U. Maryland, Lehigh, U. Hawaii, and U. of South Dakota, is proposing a multi-disciplinary NSF… $701,307
University Of Hawaii To develop sustainable, accessible, and equitable refrigerant technologies and practices through research, education, and innovation to create a thriving… $671,409
The University Of South Dakota A team consisting of faculty, postdoc, graduate, and undergraduate students from the University of South Dakota (SD), a core partner institution of the EARTH… $399,779
University Of Notre Dame DU Lac Postdoctoral (PD) mentoring will be enhanced through a program of structured activities. The goal is to provide the knowledge, skills, and experiences necessary… $560,000
Lehigh University David Vicic will lead Thust 1 of the project, which centers on the reclamation and repurposing of refrigerants. This Thrust involves the following projects:… $376,389
Show all 18

Quick answers

Who received award 2330175?

2330175 was awarded to University Of Kansas Center For Research Inc. by Division of Engineering Education and Centers (National Science Foundation) on September 1, 2024.

How much is award 2330175 worth?

$14,300,000 has been obligated on 2330175.

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