Dr. James D. Freihaut
Distinguished Achievement Award in Energy Engineering and Fuel Science
Dr. Freihaut has spent 17 Years as a professor at Penn State University in the Department of Architectural Engineering. He currently serves as Director of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Mid-Atlantic Combined Heat and Power Technical Assistance Partnership and has been recently named Technology Director of the Penn State University Research Effort at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. The Navy Yard research program focuses on the development and demonstration of hybrid distributed energy systems (CHP + Solar PV + Electric and Thermal Storage) for microgrid applications and the development of integrated, building demand-response technology into the hybrid microgrid system operation. The hybrid microgrid concept is being partially support by the State of Pennsylvania as promising technology to achieve, resilient economic growth within the State using the abundant Marcellus Shale gas resources while providing a path for increased use of distributed renewable energy. Populating the hybrid microgrid with buildings that have predictable and relatively constant envelope-related energy demands is key to the overall thermodynamic and economic performance of a microgrid based district energy system.
Dr. Freihaut received his Philosophy/Chemistry bachelors degree from Christian Brothers College (1966). He earned his master’s degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1972) in Natural Science/Physical Chemistry, and he received his Ph.D. degree in Fuel Science from Penn State (1980). He is the holder of seven U.S. patents.
Prior to joining Penn State, Dr. Freihaut worked for 22 years at the United Technologies Research Center (UTRC). His research and management activities at UTRC included research in low emission coal, natural gas, jet fuel combustion; photo-catalytic oxidation indoor air quality control systems; high effectiveness factors energy recovery ventilation designs; manufacturing site remediation technology; physics-based modeling of combustion for low emissions combustion systems; indoor air quality control technology for building and aircraft systems; and, high performance building system design.