WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is soliciting input from all parties regarding how DOE can best support the expansion of HVACR businesses into residential whole-house, energy-efficiency services through new initiatives or by building upon existing HVACR to home performance efforts underway within the industry.

As a result, the DOE has issued a formal Request for Information (RFI) inviting comments on all of the potential topic areas and proposed activities outlined in the request. Of particular interest is information that would assist DOE in focusing its resources on activities with the highest potential for sustained market transformation in the HVACR industry beyond the scope of a potential grant period.

DOE also announced that it may release a competitive funding opportunity announcement in fiscal year 2012 to support efforts that facilitate HVACR contractor expansion into home performance.

Individuals and organizations are encouraged to respond to DOE’s RFI via email. Respondents are encouraged to title the email “RFI Response,” and send their one-attachment response to HVACRHomePerformance@go.doe.gov. Responses are limited to five pages and must be submitted in Microsoft Word as an attachment. Submission deadline is 8 p.m. EDT Tuesday, May 1. The full request for information is available on the EERE Exchange website at https://eere-exchange.energy.gov.

Publication date: 04/23/2012