The Technology Performance Exchange (TPEx) is a web portal that will help manufacturers and other organizations to share product performance data with customers. TPEx helps to reduce analysis uncertainty through the use of data entry forms (DEFs), standardized documents that identify the minimum product-specific performance parameters needed to evaluate a product’s energy performance. Information provided through the TPEx can be used in conjunction with any number of evaluation tools and methods.
TPEx users can compare products by asking manufacturers to provide performance data using DEF-defined parameters. Consumers can browse the TPEx to find the most appropriate product for their particular project, thereby helping to ensure that high-impact technologies and products are deployed in the market.
“Many organizations refrain from moving forward with the procurement of energy efficient and renewable energy solutions because they don't have access to the performance data needed to evaluate and compare high impact technologies against organizational and energy performance criteria” said Daniel Studer, TPEx project manager for NREL's Commercial Buildings Research Group. “TPEx provides a way for manufacturers and consumers to come together to exchange the information necessary to move these projects to the implementation stage.”
The benefits of TPEx are not restricted to consumers as utilities, industry analysts and others with an interest in the energy performance of building products and materials will also find it useful. Currently the TPEx accepts data for 17 distinct product categories ranging from solar PV modules to variable refrigerant flow units. Manufacturers with products in these categories can share data either manually through the TPEx user interface or automatically using the site’s application programming interface.
The collaborative project is funded by the Energy Department's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy's Building Technologies Office and Federal Energy Management Program, along with the Bonneville Power Administration.
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