News

Berkeley Lab-led study suggests early exposure to thirdhand smoke may lead to greater health risks later in life.Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) identified thirdhand smoke, the toxic residues that linger on indoor surfaces and in dust long after a cigarette has been extinguished, as a health hazard nearly 10 years ago. Now a new... Read more

Universities across the United States have set ambitious goals to shrink their carbon footprints, including the University of California, which launched its Carbon Neutrality Initiative in 2013, aiming for carbon neutrality by 2025. But amid broad support for climate action within the UC system, a big question looms: how to actually hit that target.Now, a 27-member team uniquely comprised of... Read more

Berkeley Lab recently hosted a workshop where 43 faculty members from 32 colleges participated in activities designed to generate ideas for enhancing post-secondary level programs in commercial Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning (HVAC), energy management and building automation.This was one day of a four-day annual institute held by the Building Efficiency for a Sustainable Tomorrow Center... Read more

Buildings of the future will operate from models that look at all the factors – outside temperature, the temperature desired inside, how many people are in the building and a number of other set points – to heat and cool buildings in the most energy-efficient manner possible.That was the crux of a recent presentation by Mary Ann Piette, director of the Building Technology & Urban Systems... Read more

Gerald Robinson recently received a 2017 Federal Energy and Water Management Award for his work as part of a federal team that developed an innovative, multi-agency contract solution that saved the government millions of dollars. In the picture, Robinson is fourth from the right.Robinson worked with several agencies to conduct the first-ever aggregated procurement for on-site solar PV arrays. By... Read more

Energy Technology Area researchers ​made extensive contributions to the International Energy Agency's Energy Efficiency 2017 Report. A major focus of the report’s chapter on industrial energy efficiency is ISO 50001 - the internationally developed framework for managing energy as a business practice. Research led by Peter Therkelsen and Berkeley Lab​'​s Industrial Applications Team... Read more

Mary Ann Piette, director of the Building Technology and Urban Systems Division and of the Demand Response Research Center at Berkeley Lab, recently spoke at UC Berkeley about building efficiency. Below is an excerpt and video of her talk.Our homes and buildings consume huge amounts of energy — up to 40 percent of all energy use in the U.S. Research at Berkeley Lab has greatly boosted energy... Read more

A group of officials from the Clean Energy Leadership Institute (CELI) recently visited Berkeley Lab to tour FLEXLAB® and meet with scientists about ongoing research.The visitors were brought here by Sam Fernandes, program manager in Building Technology & Urban Systems. Fernandes was part of the first San Francisco CELI Fellowship cohort and completed the leadership program at the Institute... Read more

The Energy Technology Areas' Industrial Applications team recently contributed to the development of NSF 426, an international standard for environmental leadership in the design and manufacture of computer servers. It includes criteria for certification to ISO5001, which supports market-driven adoption of energy management best practices in manufacturing supply chains.On Friday, Sept. 8, NSF... Read more

Scientific Engineering Associate Arian Aghajanzadeh, of the Building & Industrial Applications Department at Berkeley Lab, has been selected to participate in the highly competitive Clean Energy Leadership Institute's Fall 2017 Fellowship Training Program.The Clean Energy Leadership Institute (CELI) is a leadership development organization based in Washington, D.C. and the San Francisco Bay... Read more

R&D Magazine's R&D 100 Awards, established 54 years ago, recognize 100 technologies and services introduced in the previous year deemed most significant by an independent panel of judges. This year's winners received the awards at a November 3 event in Washington, D.C.The Cool Roof Time Machine simulates soiling and weathering processes in the lab, reproducing in less than three days the... Read more

By using advanced lighting and automated shades, scientists from the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) found that occupants on one floor of a high-rise office building in New York City were able to reduce lighting energy usage by nearly 80 percent in some areas.The dramatic results emerged at a "living laboratory" set up to test four sets of technologies... Read more

Scientist Peter Therkelson organized a recent visit by the Association of Energy Service Providers (AESP) to the Energy Technologies Area at Berkeley Lab.AESP leaders Patsy Dugger from CB& and Karen Maos from Navigant also facilitated the visit.Seven LBNL speakers gave presentations, and the group enjoyed FLEXLAB® tours.Approximately 25 attendees from AESP, representing 15 organizations, were... Read more

Two projects on residential buildings will help state meet targets for low-energy buildings.California has established ambitious goals to reduce energy consumption in buildings, including a policy goal for all new residential buildings to be zero net energy (ZNE) by 2020. Now the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has launched two projects to help the state... Read more

The knowledge and expertise of a seasoned energy efficiency professional has been packed into a high-tech suitcase.The Sensor Suitcase is a portable case that contains easy-to-use sensors and other equipment that make it possible for anyone to identify energy-saving opportunities in small commercial buildings. The automated and reusable system combines hardware and software in one package so its... Read more

Berkeley Lab finds that the choice of pavement material can significantly impact carbon emissions, creates decision tool for cities to useCool pavements can help keep cities cool, right? Yes, but according to new research from the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), many reflective pavements have some unexpected drawbacks relative to conventional pavements... Read more

For the past 40 years, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL) has been partnered with the window industry to help save American consumers money in energy costs by pioneering new energy-efficient windows, design tools, and window-rating systems.The lab worked closely with window manufacturers and the building industry to develop, produce, validate, and deploy energy-saving low-emissivity or "low-E"... Read more

The concept of building efficiency is easy enough to grasp: ensure comfort and functionality while using less energy. Making that happen in a given building, however, isn't always straightforward. Achieving low-energy retrofits and good operations require well-trained technicians who know how to interpret building characteristics and energy data, which is why educators are interested in learning... Read more

Researchers from the United States and Brazil have developed a new device that can reduce energy losses in buildings by measuring and assessing the energy performance of windows without removing them from their site. The Portable Window Energy Meter, still in prototype stage, was developed by researchers from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and from Brazil’s Federal University of... Read more

While growing up in Fresno, California, Lab researcher Christopher Payne dreamt of becoming a particle physicist.But as the only child of a single mother with a limited income, he wasn't sure how he would pay for college. Payne thought he'd have to put his scientific pursuits on hold until one afternoon, during his sophomore year of high school, he received a letter from Carleton College, a... Read more

Two projects within the Energy Technologies Area won honors at the 2016 R&D 100 Awards, an international science and technology competition. The research — Cool Roof Time Machine and Sustainable and Affordable Fluoride Removal (SAFR)—joins three other Berkeley Lab projects recognized among the past year's "most technologically significant products," according to R&D Magazine."Winning... Read more

EAEI researchers Hugo Destaillats and Tom Kirchstetter are part of a team that won a 2016 R&D100 Award for their work on the Cool Roof Time Machine project.This research establishes a method to simulate soiling and weathering of roofing material, reproducing in the lab in only a few days what would naturally take three years. This “cool roof time machine” protocol has been approved by ASTM... Read more

One Sunday evening, in 2007, Christian Kohler and his dinner date, Jina Shah, were presented with a most unusual check at Karma Kitchen, a monthly experiment in "pay it forward" dining served by volunteers at the Taste of the Himalayas, an Indian/Nepalese restaurant in downtown Berkeley.The price of their meal? Zero dollars. But it came with a karmic twist. They could pay it forward by paying for... Read more

"Building Below Zero," narrated by actor Ted Danson, examines buildings that produce and store more energy than they consume. In the film, Lab Deputy Director Horst Simon and ETA's Cindy Regnier discuss FLEXLAB® and its ability to test energy efficient technologies before going to the marketplace (begins at about 13:30).... Read more

Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are celebrating the second anniversary of the Department of Energy's FLEXLAB®, one of the world's most advanced facilities for studying the energy performance of building systems.FLEXLAB — Facility for Low-Energy Experiments in Buildings — completed its first two years in operation with partners from industry, universities, public utilities... Read more