News

February 9, 2005
ProForm, a free spreadsheet program developed by researchers at EETD, has been answering questions like these for users all over the world. Its developers have recently released a new and easier-to-use version, now available for download.... Read more
January 18, 2005
Berkeley Lab scientist Dr. Ashok Gadgil is the inventor of "UV Waterworks", a device that can purify drinking water for a refugee camp or a village of 2,000 for about one cent per person per week. For emergency relief use, WaterHealth International, the company manufacturing the technology, has enhanced this core with raw and clean water tanks, pumps, filters, and electronic controllers. WHI will... Read more
November 5, 2004
A new report tracks renewable energy growth in the United States and finds that states are playing an increasing role in funding renewable energy projects. Nine states have committed $345 million to support 163 large-scale renewable energy projects so far.... Read more
October 6, 2004
How do you buy power from renewable energy providers, or make the case for the business benefits of green power? A new document, incorporating technical advice from researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, as well as other institutions, can show the way.... Read more
September 21, 2004
A team of researchers at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has developed an interactive computer program that building managers and owners can use to assess their vulnerability to—and to prepare for—chemical, biological, and radiological (CBR) weapons attacks or accidental toxic releases.... Read more
August 19, 2004
Want to know if the region you live in is running out of electricity? If you live in California, Texas, New England, New York State, or the central Atlantic states (known as the PJM Interconnect: Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia and West Virginia, including Washington, D.C.), you can find out by connecting to currentenergy.lbl.gov.... Read more
August 10, 2004
Roofs, and the rainbow of colors used in roofing materials, are getting cooler and cooler, thanks to research by Berkeley Lab's Environmental Energy Technologies Division (EETD). The cooler roofs get, the more energy and money they save. A new program in cool materials will soon result in the first cool shingle for residential roofs becoming available on the market.... Read more
August 1, 2004
SUMMER IS THE SEASON of higher temperatures and rising electrical demands. It is also a time when the nation’s electrical grid experiences its heaviest burden, increasing the likelihood of power outages.... Read more
July 14, 2004
Research continues at Berkeley Lab to better understand the history of carbon aerosol particles in the atmosphere and to find more accurate ways to measure their mass and light-absorbing effects.... Read more
July 13, 2004
Ever notice that weekends are smoggier than weekdays? Probably not, but Robert Harley has. He's one of a growing number of scientists who are studying why smog levels spike on weekends.... Read more
July 9, 2004
There is strong scientific and other evidence linking mold and damp conditions in homes and buildings to some health effects. This is one conclusion of a report, titled Damp Indoor Spaces and Health, released at the end of May 2004 by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.... Read more
July 7, 2004
A unique new type of energy-saving window material developed by scientists at the Environmental Energy Technologies Division of Berkeley Lab has been recognized with a 2004 R&D 100 Award. Given by R&D Magazine, the awards have been called "the Oscars of technology." The addition of this winner, and an R&D 100 award won by another Lab division (Materials Sciences for their work on... Read more
July 1, 2004
BERKELEY, CA —The California Energy Commission is providing $8 million in funding over three years for a new Demand Response Research Center (DRRC) that will be managed by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). It is sponsored by the Commission’s Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) program. The director of the new center is Mary Ann Piette, a... Read more
June 30, 2004
BERKELEY, CA — The California Energy Commission is providing $8 million in funding over three years for a new Demand Response Research Center (DRRC) that will be managed by the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). It is sponsored by the Commission's Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) program.... Read more
June 29, 2004
Even if new buildings are connected to Internet, they usually don't communicate between themselves. And when it comes to electricity, these buildings are selfish and consume what they want without any coordination. Now, an XML-based system developed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is using Web services to collectively adjust power usage to variations in price.... Read more
June 25, 2004
Despite decades of advances in building controls, electric grid management tools and communications technology, buildings remain fairly isolated and uncoordinated consumers of electricity. Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have devised a system that leverages communications across the Internet to adjust building power use.... Read more
May 18, 2004
They can absorb light, or scatter it. They are present in the atmosphere because of the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels. Now they are thought to have a significant impact on global warming. But until just 10 or 15 years ago, the scientific community did not accept that carbonaceous aerosol particles were common in the atmosphere. That they accept it now is because of the work of a research... Read more
April 20, 2004
The race is on to develop the next generation of energy-efficient windows, and it has a new entrant: transition-metal switchable mirrors (TMSMs). TMSMs are glass panels with a coating capable of switching back and forth between a transparent state and a reflective one.... Read more
April 15, 2004
How can an energy-efficient, pinpoint light source best light up a room, or a part of one? That was the question recently asked in a five-week-long lighting-design class offered by the Department of Architecture at the University of California at Berkeley.... Read more
April 6, 2004
The California Energy Commission's Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) program is launching a Demand Response Research Center led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.... Read more
February 25, 2004
A unique cell development program has been under way in Berkeley Lab's Environmental Energy Technologies Division (EETD), led by Kathryn Striebel. The project uses standardized cells to assess, in a working battery, the performance of promising new materials. It aims to bridge the gap between materials research and commercial battery development.... Read more
February 18, 2004
The New York Times Company and Berkeley Lab's EETD have begun a cooperative research project to test new technologies to increase the energy-efficiency of the new building and to improve the indoor environment for the comfort of its occupants.... Read more
February 11, 2004
Researchers at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have completed the first successful test to evaluate automated demand response at five large building facilities. Demand-response technology manages electrical use in the buildings over the internet, whenever high prices, blackouts, or overloaded electrical demand threaten the power grid.... Read more
February 9, 2004
Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory said last week they have wrapped up a successful trial run of an Internet-based system designed to avoid blackouts and help large electricity users cut their bills — without utility operators or building managers having to lift a finger.... Read more
February 2, 2004
BERKELEY, CA Researchers at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have completed the first successful test to evaluate automated demand response at five large building facilities. Demand-response technology manages electrical use in the buildings over the internet, whenever high prices, blackouts, or overloaded electrical demand threaten the power grid.... Read more