News

A select audience recently gathered for the 2019 Art Rosenfeld Symposium on Energy Efficient and Grid Interactive Buildings. The day was dedicated to the ongoing scientific discoveries and research inspired by Rosenfeld, a Berkeley Lab Senior Scientist, UC Berkeley Professor and former Commissioner of the California Energy Commission.Berkeley Lab Director Mike Witherell greeted the audience with a... Read more

With new funding, thirdhand smoke researchers will pursue translational studies aimed at lessening the health impacts of exposure to thirdhand smoke (THS)—the toxic residues from tobacco smoke that linger on indoor surfaces and in dust long after a cigarette has been extinguished.The researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (Berkeley Lab) received a three-year grant totaling $904,744 from... Read more

Water-purifying technology developed at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (Berkeley Lab) was named among only five in the world that meet current international standards in a recent study from United Nations University examining systems for small communities.The Lab's Electro Chemical Arsenic Remediation (ECAR) removes arsenic from drinking water effectively while remaining affordable—a rare... Read more

A grid communications model that began as a research project at Berkeley Lab has now become an international standard, paving the way toward smart grid improvements around the world.The standard, OpenADR, aids in demand response, the practice of managing energy demand from customers with signals based on price or reliability. OpenADR offers a common language energy customers and grid operators can... Read more

Utility Dive quoted the Energy Analysis & Environmental Impacts Division's Chris Marnay in a recent article about de-energizing utility lines as a safety measure.Chris Marnay is a retired Staff Scientist who worked at Berkeley Lab for 29 years. He models economic-environmental problems related to likely future adoption patterns of small-scale distributed energy resources (DER), especially when... Read more

A new research team bringing together a multidisciplinary group of experts to explore ways to make our cities more efficient has been created at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab).The Urban Systems group will focus on buildings and their interactions with the urban environment. The group is part of the Building Technology & Urban Systems division in Berkeley Lab’s Energy... Read more

Computer gaming accounts for about 5 percent of all residential energy use in California -- equal to the same amount as 10 million new refrigerators – yet gamers do not routinely think about energy efficiency or ways to trim energy costs while gaming.In a recent study sponsored by the California Energy Commission, researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (Berkeley Lab) have revealed... Read more

Students and early career researchers in the areas of building science, energy-efficiency and the electricity grid are invited to enter a prestigious poster competition sponsored by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.Five winners will be invited to give a five-minute lightning talk at Rosenfeld Symposium 2019 - Energy-Efficient and Grid-Interactive Buildings, to be held at the David Brower... Read more

Two projects awarded to Berkeley Lab and Mexican institutions advancing energy efficiency in buildings in Mexico as part of the call “Collaboration Projects in Energy Efficiency; Cooperation with the University of California” started work this fall. The call, issued last year by the CONACYT-SENER Energy Sustainability Fund (ESF) in a ceremony led by UC President Janet Napolitano and Mexico... Read more

Four scientists from the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have been named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Election as a AAAS Fellow is an honor bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers.AAAS awarded 416 of its members the distinction of Fellow this year for “their scientifically or socially distinguished... Read more

An online data management tool for water/energy retrofits, and a device that recycles carbon dioxide into renewable fuels have both been recognized in the 2018 R&D 100 Awards given to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab).eProject Builder won the 2018 R&D 100 Award, and Opus 12 is a co-recipient of a Special Recognition Award. The... Read more

The Energy Analysis & Environmental Impacts Division's Electricity Markets & Policy Group won the 2018 R&D 100 Award for eProject Builder, a secure, web-based data management tool developed by Berkeley Lab with funding from the Department of Energy. It is the only nationwide system that standardizes the collection and tracking of information for energy/water retrofit projects... Read more

EAEI staff were recently recognized for the 2018 LBL Director's Awards for Exceptional Achievement.Anna Spurlock,Hugo Destaillats, Lara Gundel, Brett Singer, Mohamad Sleiman and Xiaocheng Tang from EAEI.The Director’s Awards program recognizes significant achievements of Lab employees. Each year, these awards are given for accomplishments, leadership, collaboration, multi-disciplinary science,... Read more

Recent wildfire smoke has greatly impacted air quality in the Bay Area. Experts from the Energy Technologies Area (ETA) weigh in on tips and resources for the public. Brett Singer and Woody Delp are internationally recognized experts in the field of indoor air quality. Singer is a Principal Investigator, Staff Scientist and Leader in the Indoor Air group; Delp is a Research Engineer in the Indoor... Read more

In a recent Facebook post, Energy Secretary Rick Perry lauds the DOE’s national labs and “the incredible work being undertaken by our nation’s brightest minds.” The post includes a video that features his visit to all 17 national labs, including Berkeley Lab.... Read more

Mexico City Mayor-elect Claudia Sheinbaum visited Berkeley Lab on Nov. 9, 2018, as part of a visit to the Bay Area to learn about urban sustainability practices. Dr. Sheinbaum spent four years at the Lab (1991-1994) analyzing energy consumption in Mexico and other industrialized countries. She and Lab scientist Lynn Price were lead authors of the Industry Chapter of Working Group III... Read more

The International Energy Studies (IES) Group is pleased to announce the publication of A study of appliance ownership and electricity consumption determinants in urban Ghanaian households in Sustainable Cities and Society Journal, January 2019 edition. The paper was coauthored by past visiting scholar Marriette Sakah, upcoming visiting scholar Felix Diawuo and assistant leader of the IES Group... Read more

Applying artificial intelligence to self-driving cars to smooth traffic, reduce fuel consumption, and improve air quality predictions may sound like the stuff of science fiction, but researchers from the Lab’s Energy Analysis & Environmental Impacts Division have launched two research projects to do just that. For the full story:... Read more

The Energy Technologies Area’s ITRI-Rosenfeld 2017 and 2018 fellows are investigating a range of techniques to improve the energy efficiency of water treatment, remediation, and water consumption.Olga Kavvada, of EAEI, joined the Lab in January 2018 to work on developing water demand forecast models that can quantify the impacts of urban development decisions on the spatial distribution of water... Read more

ETA staff members were recently honored for outstanding efforts to improve diversity, implement innovative lighting in a "Living Lab" and performing breakthrough discoveries in thirdhand smoke research.The 2018 Director's Awards for Exceptional Achievement recognize accomplishments, leadership, collaboration, multi-disciplinary science, cross-divisional projects and commitment to excellence in... Read more

A color developed by Egyptians thousands of years ago has a modern-day application as well – the pigment can boost energy efficiency by cooling rooftops and walls, and could also enable solar generation of electricity via windows.Egyptian blue, derived from calcium copper silicate, was routinely used on ancient depictions of gods and royalty. Previous studies have shown that when Egyptian blue... Read more

Today, electric vehicles (EVs) make up just a small part of the U.S. road fleet, but they are gaining ground in some regions. While EVs hold promise for lowering costs and air pollutant emissions from auto travel, among other benefits, their growth raises questions about the changes needed to support this transition. How much charging infrastructure will be needed, and what role should utilities... Read more

As part of Berkeley Lab's mission to bring science to the world, the Energy Technologies Area is hosting three visiting scientists through the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs TechWomen program.The goal is to empower, connect and support the next generation of women leaders in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by providing them access and... Read more

Three Berkeley Lab researchers, including Corinne Scown of the Energy Technologies Area, recently received the Secretary of Energy's Achievement Award as part of a larger team from the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI). Here's more from JBEI's announcement:The award is designed to recognize the contributions of Department of Energy (DOE) employees to the mission of the Department and to the benefit... Read more

A national online energy data management system is transforming how energy retrofit projects implemented by a wide variety of users – including local, state, and federal governments – develop projects and track performance.The eProject Builder energy project data management and benchmarking tool was developed by the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) to... Read more