The objective of this challenge is to reduce costs of high-performance, energy-efficient building technologies to improve affordability, equity, and accessibility.

Background

Three in five Americans live paycheck to paycheck.1 One in five American adults lives in a household that could not afford energy bill payments for at least 1 month in 2023,2 and 32% of Americans cannot afford to pay a $500 unexpected cost from their savings.3 Between 2019 and 2023, housing costs increased much faster than wages.4 Under these conditions, Americans may struggle to afford high-performance, energy-efficient building technologies that have the potential to lower energy bills and improve occupant health and comfort. To make high-performance, energy-efficient building technologies equitable and accessible and to enable widespread adoption, research and development of new building technologies must focus on affordability.

Energy-related building technologies can be subdivided into two generic categories. Building equipment—including heat pumps, HVAC, dehumidifiers, appliances, water heaters, refrigeration systems, renewable energy sources, and advanced energy storage systems—consumes or converts energy to provide occupants with comfort and other utilities.5 On the other hand, the building envelope—comprising the walls, roof, foundation, and windows—insulates interior living conditions from exterior weather, slowing the transfer of heat.6 Both elements are critical in determining the energy efficiency of the building. As advanced technologies are researched and developed to improve energy efficiency, cost will be a major factor in their widespread adoption. To encourage rapid improvement of building energy efficiency in the United States, the development of new technologies and retrofit strategies must consider affordability.

Source: GettyImages

For both new and existing buildings, the cost of high–energy efficiency technologies can prevent stakeholders—including building owners, the government, and low- to moderate-income communities–from benefitting from the reduced energy costs associated with these technologies. For new buildings, research predicts that, with proper planning and contractor training, the incremental cost of constructing energy-efficient zero-emission buildings can be minimal.7 However, existing building retrofits and retro-commissioning present unique affordability challenges.8 Low- to moderate-income households may struggle to pay the upfront cost or qualify for financing to install new energy-efficient technologies in their buildings. As an example, the prices of energy-efficient building equipment, a necessary technology to reduce energy costs, increased 40% between 2020 and 2023, resulting in new equipment being unattainable for many consumers.9 Additionally, the cost remains high to install the necessary upgrades to electrical infrastructure such as wiring and panels to support new equipment. Contractors that install this equipment pass soft costs—such as the costs of finding customers, managing sales, and managing risks of service calls—along to the consumer, increasing prices. In fact, the gross margins for deep energy retrofits are higher than average for the remodeling industry.10 For upgrades to the building envelope—such as new insulation, windows, and air sealing—unanticipated issues with building conditions such as structural defects, moisture issues, asbestos/lead abatement, and risky electrical infrastructure result in significant unexpected costs to stakeholders.11 To reduce costs and drive affordability, technical solutions must aim to solve these issues.

To accelerate near-term deployment, incentive programs, contractor training, and other methods can be used to reduce costs and deliver lower energy bills to consumers. The Inflation Reduction Act provides rebates, tax credits, and financing to cut energy costs with enhanced incentives for underserved communities.12 However, technical solutions are needed to address the source of high costs and remove barriers to stakeholders.

The main barriers to affordability affect stakeholders differently. For consumers, a lack of capital often makes it difficult for building owners to afford the first costs of installing new energy-efficient equipment or envelope technologies or of replacing old pieces of equipment or envelope technologies with new, more energy-efficient ones. Many Americans consider replacing building equipment or envelope components only when something fails or a problem is discovered. When replacing equipment or components in an emergency, the most readily available and least expensive equipment or components are commonly selected. For contractors, high soft costs of customer acquisition, customer management, project customization, and risk management drive up the costs of building-equipment and envelope-construction projects. These costs are often passed along to the consumer. When installing high–energy efficiency equipment, in many cases, electrical upgrades are necessary. The cost of electrical upgrades also creates a significant barrier for building owners seeking to electrify. Innovation is needed to ensure the drivers of these costs are addressed directly.

Video Introduction

The Challenge

This challenge asks student teams to improve the affordability of energy-efficient technologies by developing innovative solutions to reduce costs to stakeholders. Students may consider solutions to improve the affordability of installing, retrofitting, operating, or maintaining high-efficiency building equipment or building envelopes. Students must develop technical and holistic solutions to address the problem. Students should include at least one nontechnical component in addition to the technical solution (e.g., an economic, policy, commercialization, codes, or standards component). However, solutions only considering stand-alone nontechnical components will not be considered.

Suggestions for the student teams include (but are not limited to) improving affordability by doing the following:

  • Developing new, low-cost building appliances or equipment that can be easily incorporated into new construction or used to replace older equipment for building retrofits
  • Developing new, low-cost insulation materials for building envelopes that can be easily incorporated into new construction or used to retrofit older buildings
  • Developing new, low-cost active building envelope systems, such as thermal energy storage systems or hydronic systems, that better control the flow of heat through the envelope and that can be easily incorporated into new construction or integrated into existing buildings
  • Developing proactive maintenance strategies that extend the service life of or reduce unexpected costs of building equipment or the building envelope
  • Developing predictive analytical or automated decision-making tools to better predict energy demand and operate building equipment or active building envelope systems to reduce energy costs
  • Developing advanced control methods for building equipment or active building envelope systems to reduce the peak energy demands of buildings and reduce energy costs
  • Developing building construction methods that reduce cost and accelerate construction of energy-efficient buildings
  • Addressing inefficiencies in the building construction process to reduce expected or unexpected costs or delays while maintaining high quality and energy efficiency
  • Developing low-cost retrofit techniques or technologies that enable cost-effective improvements to the building envelope or upgrades to building equipment to improve the energy performance of existing buildings
  • Developing technical, stepwise plans or processes to upgrade or retro-commission existing commercial building equipment or envelopes affordably while improving occupant comfort. Integration of upgrade plans into existing infrastructure, such as the US Department of Energy Better Buildings program, is desired.
  • Integrating technical solutions with existing utility and energy rebate programs

Student submissions should do the following:

  • Describe the scope and context of a current or emergent problem in the United States.
  • Identify affected stakeholders and communities, making sure to research stakeholder backgrounds and understand the stakeholders’ needs.
  • Develop a novel technical solution to address the problem at the building scale; the solution must include technical aspects in addition to at least one nontechnical aspect such as economic, policy, commercialization, codes, or standards solutions. The solution may focus on improving the affordability of technologies for new or existing buildings in the residential or commercial sector.
  • Discuss appropriate and expected impacts (including any unintended consequences) and the benefits of the proposed solution; include a cost analysis of the proposed solution.
  • Develop a plan that describes how the team envisions bringing its idea from concept to implementation, such as a technology-to-market plan for a commercially viable, market-ready product for real buildings and/or integration into the planning, design, or construction process.

Downloadable Challenge Description

Additional Challenge Resources

Submission Template

Requirements

Competing in this challenge is open to student teams currently enrolled in U.S. universities and colleges. See the Terms and Conditions and Rules document for eligibility requirements and rules. Please note that you must begin your Building Technologies Internship Program (BTIP) application before or at the same time as you submit your idea in order to compete in the JUMP competition.

Please submit the following as a single-spaced PDF document that is a written narrative of the team’s proposed solution. PowerPoint decks or submissions in presentation format the submission paper requirement. Plagiarism will not be tolerated. The quality of writing will be considered, so review by peers is strongly encouraged.

  • Project Team Background (up to 2 pages, single-spaced)
    • Project name, team name, and collegiate institution(s)
    • Team mission statement
    • A short biography for each team member. This should include information such as major, level (freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, graduate), and other relevant background information such as experience with building science, future career goals, and formative experiences that shaped each individual’s contribution to the challenge.
    • Diversity statement (minimum 1 paragraph, 5‒7 sentences): One of JUMP into STEM’s key objectives is to encourage diversity of thought and background in students entering the building science industry. A diversity gap exists in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields, meaning that certain groups are underrepresented or have been historically excluded from STEM fields. These groups include those based on race, ethnicity, and gender—and this gap needs to be addressed. Diversity of thought can be achieved through teams consisting of students from different majors and minors. If there are barriers that affect the racial, ethnic, or gender breakdown of your team, please elaborate. The diversity statement is your opportunity to describe your team’s diversity of background and thought both generally and as applicable to your chosen challenge.
  • Project Challenge Submission (up to 5 pages, single-spaced)
    • Select and address one of the three challenges published for the current competition.
    • Investigate the background of the challenge and consider related stakeholders. Stakeholders include those who are affected by the problem, part of the supply chain, or manufacturing the technology product(s), as well as those who may have decision-making power and are able to provide solutions (technical or nontechnical solutions, such as policies). For example, you could include stakeholders who have previously experienced environmental pollution or a high energy burden.
    • Write a 1- to 2-paragraph problem statement, focusing on a specific aspect of the problem and the stakeholder groups affected by or involved in the problem. The stakeholder groups can be from a specific location, socioeconomic status, age, or demographic (e.g., people living in subsidized housing).
    • Develop and describe a novel solution that addresses or solves the specific problem from your problem statement. The solution must be technical and also incorporate one or more of the following components as appropriate: economic impact, policy, commercialization, codes, standards, and other.
    • Address the requirements for your selected challenge as written in its description. Include graphs, figures, and photos. Discuss the feasibility of your solution and how it will affect your stakeholder
  • Technology to Market (included in the 5-page maximum limit)
    • For market characterization, the descriptions of the market throughout the technology-to-market plan and market adoption barrier analysis should establish the team’s overall understanding of the market.
    • Develop a technology-to-market plan. A technology-to-market plan describes how the team envisions bringing its idea from concept to installation on real buildings or integrated into the design of real buildings and includes a cost/benefit analysis.
      • The cost/benefit analysis does not need to be exhaustive and should include a comparison of the solution with current or existing technologies or practices. Benefits such as building energy reductions, improved occupant health or productivity, and lowered energy cost burden should be evaluated.
      • The plan should also discuss which key stakeholder(s) should be involved to commercialize the technology and then sell and install the technologies with your target market(s).
    • Perform a market adoption barrier The team should identify at least one key market adoption barrier for implementation and specifically address how the proposed solution will overcome that barrier. Barriers should align with key stakeholder(s) identified by the student team.
  • Include references. (References will not count toward the 5-page maximum.)
  • Appendix (optional, no page limit)
    • Teams may wish to add an appendix. This is optional and might not be reviewed by the judges.
    • The appendix has no page limit.

Evaluation Criteria

Solution (40%)

  • Solution: Please rate the solution and its ability to address the problem statement. The solution must be a technical solution. It should address the stakeholder needs. It may include one or more of the following components, as appropriate: economic, policy, commercialization, codes, standards, or other.
  • Feasibility: Please rate the solution’s overall feasibility. For example, solutions that are not technically possible or that lack a technical feasibility discussion will receive lower scores.
  • Novelty: Please rate the originality and creativity of the solution and how significant the contribution will be to the building industry.
  • Impact: Please rate the overall scalability of the team’s solution. For example, can the solution be extended to communities, similar stakeholder groups, or a nationwide solution?

Tech-to-Market (30%)

  • Market Characterization: Please rate the team’s description and understanding of the market.
  • Technology-to-Market Plan: Please rate the team’s proposed plan to bring the solution from a paper concept to installation or integration with real buildings or building designs, as well as the team’s cost/benefit analysis. The cost/benefit analysis may include benefits such as energy reductions, improvements to occupant health and productivity, and lowered energy cost burden.
  • Overcoming Adoption Barriers: Please rate the team’s identification of and plan for overcoming at least one key market adoption barrier for the proposed solution. This section includes how the solution will create value, both economic and other, to drive industry adoption.

Team Diversity and Understanding Stakeholders (20%)

  • Diversity Statement and Project Team Background: Please rate how well the team addresses the diversity gap in the building science industry in its diversity statement. This section includes how the team brings perspectives from a variety of backgrounds, including students from groups that are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). This section also includes students from many different disciplines ensuring diversity of thought. See the diversity statement in the challenge requirements. This section also includes how well the team connects their mission statement and biographies to their problem statement.
  • Understanding Stakeholders: Please rate how well the team communicates their understanding of the stakeholder group or community and how they are affected by the problem. This rating also includes how well the team defined the problem that needs to be solved by considering the needs of the stakeholder group or community.

Submission (10%)

  • Submission Requirements: Please rate how well the student team followed all submission requirements. See the submission requirements at the bottom of each challenge description.

How to Create a Successful Submission

Citations

  1. LendingClub. 2022. “Three in Five Americans Live Paycheck to Paycheck: More People Are Living Paycheck to Paycheck but Making Ends Meet Than Not Living Paycheck to Paycheck.” https://ir.lendingclub.com/news/news-details/2022/Three-in-Five-Americans-Live-Paycheck-to-Paycheck-More-People-Are-Living-Paycheck-to-Paycheck-but-Making-Ends-Meet-Than-Not-Living-Paycheck-to-Paycheck/default.aspx.
  2. US Census Bureau. 2024. “Phase 4.0 Cycle 01 Household Pulse Survey: January 9 – February 5.” February 22, 2024. https://www.census.gov/data-tools/demo/hhp/#/?measures=ENERGYBILL&areaSelector=040.
  3. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. 2024. Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2023. Washington, DC: Board of Governors. https://doi.org/10.17016/8960.
  4. O’Brien, C. 2022. “Despite Booming Labor Market, Incomes Are Not Keeping Up with Housing Costs Nationwide.” Economic Innovation Group. https://eig.org/housing-affordability/.
  5. Goetzler B., M. Guernsey, and T. Kassuga. Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings Technical Report Series: HVAC; Water Heating; Appliances; and Refrigeration. Washington, DC: US Department of Energy. https://www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/pdfs/75473.pdf.
  6. Harris, C. 2021. Opaque Envelopes: Pathway to Building Energy Efficiency and Demand Flexibility: Key to a Low-Carbon, Sustainable Future. DOE/GO-102021-5585. Washington, DC: US Department of Energy. https://doi.org/10.2172/1821413.
  7. Gagiuc, A. 2023. “Building the Case for Passive House Standards.” Multi-Housing News. https://www.multihousingnews.com/making-the-case-for-passive-house-standards/.
  8. US Department of Energy. 2024. Decarbonizing the U.S. Economy by 2050: A National Blueprint for the Buildings Sector. Washington, DC: US Department of Energy. https://www.energy.gov/eere/decarbonizing-us-economy-2050-national-blueprint-buildings-sector.
  9. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. 2023. “Producer Price Index by Industry: HVAC and Commercial Refrigeration Equipment, 2003-12-01 to 2023-05-01.” https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/PCU3334133341#0.
  10. Less, B. D., I. S. Walker, and N. Casquero-Modrego. 2021. Emerging Pathways to Upgrade the US Housing Stock: A Review of the HomeEnergy Upgrade Literature. Energy Technologies Area, Berkeley Lab. https://doi.org/10.2172/1777979.
  11. Walker, I. S., N. Casquero-Modrego, and B. D. Less. 2023. “Challenges and Opportunities for Home Decarbonization.” Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. US Department of Energy, Building Technology Office. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/60x7310p.
  12. The White House. 2023. “Fact Sheet: One Year in, President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act Is Driving Historic Climate Action and Investing in America to Create Good Paying Jobs and Reduce Costs.” https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/08/16/fact-sheet-one-year-in-president-bidens-inflation-reduction-act-is-driving-historic-climate-action-and-investing-in-america-to-create-good-paying-jobs-and-reduce-costs/.