From staff reports NORMAN – In an effort to reduce carbon output in military installations, Dr. Li Song, a mechanical engineering professor at the University of Oklahoma, was awarded a $1.18 million grant from the Department of Defense.
Over three years’ time, the DOD’s “performance demonstration of an integrated water-source heat pump water heater system to meet simultaneous heating and cooling demands at military installations” grant aims to increase HVAC efficiency and reliability.
Song’s team is working diligently to improve technologies to meet the Biden administration’s executive order to establish a timeline for transitioning to carbon pollution-free electricity and reducing overall carbon emissions.
“Our research team’s technology provides an effective electrification approach for military installations that has simultaneous cooling and heating loads due to its attractive return on investment,” Song said. “We proposed integrated water-source heat pump water heater system that is designed to seamlessly address both heating and cooling demands while enhancing the reliability of existing systems.”
Located on Tinker Air Force Base, this project is a collaboration between Song’s Building Energy Efficiency Laboratory at OU, the HVAC laboratory at the University of Miami, and industrial partners Trade Mechanical Contractors Inc. and Honeywell.
The group will analyze cost and performance while facilitating commercialization. Song says the HPWH effectively doubles the efficiency of traditional applications and aligns with federal mandates on reduced natural gas consumption.