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Buildings are responsible for a large fraction of total U.S. energy demand and buildings are replaced slowly. About one third of the U.S. population lives in multifamily buildings. The residents of multifamily buildings often have below-average incomes and they are sometimes exposed to high levels of potentially harmful indoor contaminants. The U.S. is embarking on a program of aggressive energy... Read more

Environmental Energy Technologies Division researchers at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have released a new study on the installed costs of solar photovoltaic (PV) power systems in the U.S., showing that the average cost of these systems remained largely unchanged from 2008 to 2009, before beginning a steep decline in 2010.The number of solar PV... Read more

Charles Goldman, a scientist in the Environmental Energy Technologies Division, has been given a special award by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy in recognition of the "Electricity Markets and Policy Group's critical achievements and leadership in the energy efficiency field." Goldman is the leader of this research group.The award was presented at a reception during the... Read more

Eric Masanet, deputy leader of the International Energy Studies (IES) Group, was a guest editor of a special issue of Yale's Journal of Industrial Ecology exploring new applications of information and communication technology (ICT) that could save society significant amounts of energy and money, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are warming the planet.IES is part of the Environmental Energy... Read more

The U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has been chosen to lead a consortium for a U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center on Building Energy Efficiency. The Center will develop technologies for low-energy residential and commercial buildings, as well as work on commercialization of those technologies and research how human behavior affects building energy use.The... Read more

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) released a new study Thursday documenting the design of and early experience with state-level renewables portfolio standard (RPS) programs in the United States that have been specifically designed to encourage solar energy. The study finds that these state-level RPS programs have already proven to... Read more

Hundreds of millions of dollars in public money are flowing into programs to support improvements in home energy efficiency. Ensuring that these funds have their maximum impact by motivating homeowners to seek out home energy improvements is the subject of a new report from researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab)."Convincing millions of Americans to divert their... Read more

New efficiency standards proposed to take effect in 2014, announced recently by the U.S. Department of Energy, continue a 40-year trend of improving energy efficiency of this essential home appliance. The standard is a negotiated agreement between environmentalists, consumer advocates, and manufacturers. As proposed, the standard could save consumers as much as $18.6 billion over thirty years, and... Read more

Another reason for including asthma on the list of potential health risks posed by secondhand tobacco smoke, especially for non-smokers, has been uncovered. Furthermore, the practice of using ozone to remove the smell of tobacco smoke from indoor environments, including hotel rooms and the interiors of vehicles, is probably a bad idea.... Read more

The U.S. was one of the fastest-growing wind power markets in the world in 2009, second only to China, according to a report released today by the U.S. Department of Energy and prepared by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.... Read more

This week, a 20-member delegation, including representatives of electricity regulatory commissions of 13 of India's 28 states, visited Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to learn about California's leading efforts on energy efficiency and renewable energy.... Read more

India signs on to DOE's Super-efficient Equipment and Appliances (SEAD) initiative.... Read more

The Section 1603 Treasury cash grant program appears to have stimulated incremental renewable power capacity additions in 2009, thereby supporting U.S.-based renewable energy jobs, according to a new report by Mark Bolinger, Ryan Wiser, and Naïm Darghouth, all researchers in the Environmental Energy Technologies Division of the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.... Read more

Researchers at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) released a new study on the bill savings received by residential customers with solar photovoltaic (PV) power systems, under the net metering rates currently offered by California's two largest electric utilities. The report focuses on California, as it is the largest PV market in the U.S.... Read more

A new study by scientists at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) examines the workforce needs of the energy efficiency services sector, and finds that the speed with which employment will grow will depend in part on how effectively the nation deploys training and education programs for the energy efficiency workforce.... Read more

A new analysis by scientists at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) for the Western Governor's Association explores renewable resource decisions in the West. The report's "sensitivity analysis" examines how decisions about which renewable sources are chosen, and how transmission lines are expanded, are affected by changes in policies and other... Read more

Nicotine in third-hand smoke, the residue from tobacco smoke that clings to virtually all surfaces long after a cigarette has been extinguished, reacts with the common indoor air pollutant nitrous acid to produce dangerous carcinogens. This new potential health hazard was revealed in a multi-institutional study led by researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab).... Read more

The fact that glaciers in the Himalayan mountains are thinning is not disputed. However, few researchers have attempted to rigorously examine and quantify the causes. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory scientist Surabi Menon set out to isolate the impacts of the most commonly blamed culprit—greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide—from other particles in the air that may be causing the... Read more

The stimulus package passed in 2009 by Congress may help shovel-ready community wind projects move ahead, according to a new report by Mark Bolinger, a scientist in the Environmental Energy Technologies Division of the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Bolinger analyzed the impact of two new incentives for wind power that were included in the Recovery Act.... Read more

Emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from local sources in California are higher than previously thought, according to direct measurements made by a research team led by Marc Fischer at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's Environmental Energy Technologies Division (EETD). Attempting to pinpoint the source of the added emissions, the collaborative team, including EETD and National... Read more

The China Energy Group, formed by Mark Levine in 1988, has been an instrumental behind-the-scenes advisor and partner in the greening of China, working with Chinese agencies to build domestic know-how in energy efficiency.... Read more

Over 30,000 megawatts of wind energy capacity are installed across the United States and an increasing number of communities are considering new wind power facilities. Given these developments, there is an urgent need to empirically investigate typical community concerns about wind energy and thereby provide stakeholders involved in the wind project siting process a common base of knowledge. A... Read more

Dan Rather Reports, a newsmagazine show airing on HDNet, interviewed Marc Fischer of the Environmental Energy Technologies Division for a segment about reducing greenhouse gas emissions through carbon offsets. Fischer's research focuses on measuring regional emissions of greenhouse gases through direct measurement. The show aired November 11.... Read more

Researchers at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) released a new study on the installed costs of solar photovoltaic (PV) power systems in the U.S., showing that the average cost of these systems declined by more than 30 percent from 1998 to 2008. Within the last year of this period, costs fell by more than 4 percent.... Read more

An NAS report estimates the hidden costs of energy production and use in 2005 were $120 billion with the single largest expense attributed to health damage from air pollution associated with electricity generation and motor vehicle transportation.... Read more