[BK911]

Some of you may remember my "should I retire" thread.
That thread took a weird turn, but I did follow some of the advice there; I looked for a new job.
Interviewed for several external jobs, but decided to stay on campus in a different directorate.

Actually pretty excited about this opportunity.
Spent >10 years doing HVAC design, then >10 years building and commissioning HVAC systems, then the last >10 years in operation and maintenance.
Now I hope to spend the last 8 years doing HVAC research.

"The Building Equipment Research Group or BERG develops innovative, energy-efficient and sustainable residential and commercial building equipment solutions for the connected world through the use of extensive experimental facilities and advanced hardware-based design models as well as advanced process controls and novel materials. Group members are engaged in research and development activities in areas such as advanced vapor compression cycles, appliances, water heaters, heat pumps, air conditioners, dehumidifiers, refrigeration systems, and alternative refrigerants.

ORNL has executed numerous equipment technology research and development collaborations with industry and university partners. Through these collaborations, the Building Equipment Research Group has helped industry launch some of the most energy-efficient building equipment technologies on the market today. In addition, the group supports ORNL’s Building Technologies Research and Integration Center (BTRIC), the DOE’s only user facility dedicated to advanced building technologies. BERG collaborates with industry and academia to develop the next generation of building equipment technologies."

And of course there is the MaxLab:

"Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) was competitively awarded the “Maximum Energy Efficiency Building Research Laboratory” (MAXLAB) project under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). As part of that project, the design and construction of two flexible research platforms (FRP) was included to provide new building test apparatus at ORNL. The two FRPs are designed to be capable of being outfitted as test buildings that are representative of typical construction methods, materials, and geometry used in the light commercial market. These test buildings will be heavily instrumented and will provide ORNL’s industry partners a means of assessing new HVAC, control, and envelope solutions under realistic conditions, in a low financial risk environment. The long-term data collected at the facility can be used to validate analytic models which can then be used by developers to refine their potential products and reduce delivery time to market. This paper outlines the FRP concept, long term research plan and the challenges in the design and construction of the base research apparatus and test buildings."


Basically get to play with really expensive toys to see what happens.
Been wanting a job like this since I was 5!!