Research Themes +
Energy Technologies Area (ETA) researchers are continually building on the strong scientific foundation we have developed over the past 50 years. We address the world’s most pressing climate challenges by bringing to market energy-efficient innovations across the buildings, transportation, and industrial sectors. ETA is at the forefront of developing better batteries for electric vehicles; improving the country's aging electrical grid and innovating distributed energy and storage solutions; developing grid-interactive, efficient buildings; and providing the most comprehensive market and data analysis worldwide for renewable technologies like wind and solar.
Strategic Initiatives +
The Energy Technologies Area (ETA) Strategic Plan is the guiding force for our research and development for the next ten years. It clearly charts a path toward clean-energy solutions and focuses on five detailed Strategic Initiatives. The Plan provides an in-depth look at how ETA is accelerating research to provide affordable, clean energy to all while accomplishing deep, economy-wide decarbonization, looking to avoid a rise in global average temperature while simultaneously developing solutions to increase humanity's resilience to extreme weather volatility.
Publications
News +
For media inquiries,
please contact ETA
Interim Communications Manager
Kiran Julin

kjulin@lbl.gov
About Us +
The Energy Technologies Area (ETA) is unique in translating fundamental scientific discoveries into scalable technology adoption. Our approach combines an understanding of the marketplace and the role of state and federal regulation and policies. ETA's research drives real-world, practical results that affect and improve the everyday lives of Americans and those across the globe. Saving energy and battling the Climate Crisis are key to the foundation of our research, which is driven by technoeconomic analysis and in-lab experimentation and discovery.

Publications

Publications by Research Area

Demand Response

Electricity Markets & Policy

Energy Efficiency

Industrial Energy Analysis

Renewable Energy

Sustainable Energy & Environmental Systems

Publications by Division

Building Technology (BTUS)

Energy Analysis (EAEI)

Energy Storage (ESDR)

2015

Lucon, Oswaldo, Diana Urge-Vorsatz, Hashem Akbari, Paolo Bertoldi, Luisa F Cabeza, Nicholas Eyre, Ashok J Gadgil, L.D Danny Harvey, Yi Jiang, Enoch Liphoto, Sevastian Mirasgedis, Shuzo Murakami, Jyoti Parikh, Christopher Pyke, Maria Virginia Vilariño, Azni Zain Ahmed, Marilyn A Brown, Tamás Pálvölgyi, Ottmar Edenhofer, Ramon Pichs-Madruga, Youba Sokona, Jan C Minx, Ellie Farahani, Susanne Kadner, Kristin Seyboth, Anna Adler, Ina Baum, Steffen Brunner, Patrick Eickemeier, Benjamin Kriemann, Jussi Savolainen, Steffen Schlömer, Christoph von Stechow, and Timm Zwicke."Buildings."Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change: Working Group III Contribution to the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (2015) 671-738. DOI

2014

Sleiman, Mohamad, Thomas W Kirchstetter, Paul H Berdahl, Haley E Gilbert, Sarah Quelen, Lea Marlot, Chelsea V Preble, Sharon S Chen, Amandine Montalbano, Olivier Rosseler, Hashem Akbari, Ronnen M Levinson, and Hugo Destaillats."Soiling of building envelope surfaces and its effect on solar reflectance – Part II: Development of an accelerated aging method for roofing materials."Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells 122 (2014) 271-281. DOI

2013

Ly, Peter, George A Ban-Weiss, Nathan Finch, Craig P Wray, Mark de Ogburn, William W Delp, Hashem Akbari, Scott Smaby, Ronnen M Levinson, Bret Gean, and SEI Group Inc."Building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) roofs for sustainability and energy efficiency." (2013) 156 pp..

Ban-Weiss, George A, Craig P Wray, William W Delp, Peter Ly, Hashem Akbari, and Ronnen M Levinson."Electricity production and cooling energy savings from installation of a building-integrated photovoltaic roof on an office building."Energy and Buildings 56 (2013) 210 - 220. DOI

2011

Levinson, Ronnen M, Heng Pan, George A Ban-Weiss, Pablo J Rosado, Riccardo Paolini, and Hashem Akbari."Potential benefits of solar reflective car shells: Cooler cabins, fuel savings and emission reductions."Applied Energy 88.12 (2011) 4343-4357. DOI

Akbari, Hashem, Tengfang T Xu, Haider Taha, Craig P Wray, and Jayant A Sathaye."Using Cool Roofs to Reduce Energy Use, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, and Urban Heat-island Effects." (2011).

2010

Levinson, Ronnen M, Hashem Akbari, and Paul H Berdahl."Measuring solar reflectance—Part I: Defining a metric that accurately predicts solar heat gain."Solar Energy 84.9 (2010) 1717-1744. DOI

Levinson, Ronnen M, Hashem Akbari, and Paul H Berdahl."Measuring solar reflectance—Part II: Review of practical methods."Solar Energy 84.9 (2010) 1745-1759. DOI

Levinson, Ronnen M, Hashem Akbari, Paul H Berdahl, Kurt Wood, Wayne Skilton, and Jerry Petersheim."A novel technique for the production of cool colored concrete tile and asphalt shingle roofing products."Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells 94.6 (2010) 946-954. DOI

Koomey, Jonathan G, Hashem Akbari, Carl Blumstein, Marilyn A Brown, Richard E Brown, Chris Calwell, Sheryl Carter, Ralph Cavanagh, Audrey Chang, David Claridge, Paul P Craig, Richard C Diamond, Joseph H Eto, William Fulkerson, Ashok J Gadgil, Howard S Geller, José Goldemberg, Charles A Goldman, David B Goldstein, Steve E Greenberg, David Hafemeister, Jeffrey P Harris, Hal Harvey, Eric Heitz, Eric Hirst, Holmes Hummel, Daniel M Kammen, Henry Kelly, John A Laitner, Mark D Levine, Amory Lovins, Gil Masters, James E McMahon, Alan K Meier, Michael Messenger, John Millhone, Evan Mills, Steven M Nadel, Bruce Nordman, Lynn K Price, Joseph J Romm, Marc Ross, Michael Rufo, Jayant A Sathaye, Leon J Schipper, Stephen H Schneider, James L Sweeney, Malcolm Verdict, Diana Vorsatz, Devra Wang, Carl Weinberg, Richard Wilk, John Wilson, and Ernst Worrell."Defining a standard metric for electricity savings."Environmental Research Letters 5.1 (2010). DOI

Levinson, Ronnen M, and Hashem Akbari."Potential benefits of cool roofs on commercial buildings: conserving energy, saving money, and reducing emission of greenhouse gases and air pollutants."Energy Efficiency 3.1 (2010) 53-109. DOI

Menon, Surabi, Hashem Akbari, Sarith Mahanama, Igor Sednev, and Ronnen M Levinson."Radiative forcing and temperature response to changes in urban albedos and associated CO₂ offsets."Environmental Research Letters 5.1 (2010). DOI

Menon, Surabi, Hashem Akbari, Sarith Mahanama, Igor Sednev, and Ronnen M Levinson."Radiative forcing and temperature response to changes in urban albedo and associated CO₂ offsets."Environmental Research Letters 5.1 (2010). DOI

2009

Levinson, Ronnen M, Hashem Akbari, Melvin Pomerantz, and Smita Gupta."Solar access of residential rooftops in four California cities."Solar Energy 83.12 (2009) 2120-2135. DOI

Akbari, Hashem, Surabi Menon, and Arthur H Rosenfeld."Global cooling: increasing world-wide urban albedos to offset CO₂."Climatic Change 94.3-4 (2009) 275-286. DOI

Akbari, Hashem, and Arthur H Rosenfeld."Cool roofs could save money, save planet."KGO-TV (abc7news) (2009).

Akbari, Hashem."Hashem Akbari speaks to BBC Radio World Service about global cooling."BBC (2009).

2008

Akbari, Hashem, and Arthur H Rosenfeld."White roofs cool the world, directly offset CO₂ and delay global warming."Research Highlights (2008).

Akbari, Hashem, Surabi Menon, and Arthur H Rosenfeld."Equivalent CO₂ avoided by reflective roofs and pavements in California."Memo to California Air Resources Board (2008).

Akbari, Hashem, Ronnen M Levinson, and Stephanie Stern."Procedure for measuring the solar reflectance of flat or curved roofing assemblies."Solar Energy 82.7 (2008) 648-655. DOI

Akbari, Hashem, and Ronnen M Levinson."Status of cool roof standards in the United States." (2008).

Berdahl, Paul H, Hashem Akbari, Jeffry Jacobs, and Frank Klink."Surface roughness effects on the solar reflectance of cool asphalt shingles."Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells 92.4 (2008) 482-489. DOI

Berdahl, Paul H, Hashem Akbari, Ronnen M Levinson, and William A Miller."Weathering of roofing materials – An overview."Construction and Building Materials 22.4 (2008) 423-433. DOI

Levinson, Ronnen M, Hashem Akbari, Melvin Pomerantz, and Smita Gupta."Estimating the solar access of typical residential rooftops: A case study in San Jose, CA."Solar 2008 (2008).