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How Berkeley Lab battery spinoff Seeo got acquired by a major multinational company.As often happens in science, what started as a research project to make one thing turned into something completely different. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) researchers Nitash Balsara and Hany Eitouni were developing an electroresponsive polymer that turned out to be not such a good artificial... Read more

Since becoming the world's largest greenhouse gas emitter in 2007, China now contributes nearly 20 per cent of global emissions. While 58 per cent of China's energy-related CO2 emissions are currently derived from cities, in the coming decades this figure is likely to climb closer to the 70 per cent global average, according to a report, issued by the China Energy Group of Lawrence Berkeley... Read more

A Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) team led by Samveg Saxena of the Energy Technologies Area’s Grid Integration Group won a 2015 R&D 100 award for developing V2G-Sim, a vehicle-to-grid simulator. The development team also included Jonathan Coignard and Jason MacDonald.Jason MacDonaldV2G-Sim quantifies energy use for plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) by the second, under... Read more

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and UC Berkeley announced they are partnering with Tsinghua University in Beijing to form the Berkeley Tsinghua Joint Research Center on Energy and Climate Change, a center that will aim to develop scientifically based clean energy solutions and the next generation of leaders to champion those solutions.The three parties signed a Memorandum of... Read more

A team led by Gao Liu of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s (Berkeley Lab’s) Energy Storage & Distributed Resources Division has won a 2015 R&D 100 award for developing a high-capacity anode for rechargeable batteries. Berkeley Lab’s Hui Zhao also participated in the development, as did Zeptor co-founder and Chief Technology Officer, Chuck Consorte.The material and process... Read more

Two Cyclotron Road projects—one on thermionic energy conversion in collaboration with the Materials Sciences Division and one on green buildings in collaboration with two divisions in the Energy Technologies Area—were among 41 “transformational energy technology projects” awarded a total of $125 million by ARPA-E.Dan Riley and Jared Schwede are Cyclotron Road project leads developing a... Read more

The White House recently hosted leadership from some of the nation’s most innovative labs for a forum on “Connecting Regional Innovation Ecosystems with Federal Labs.” The forum highlighted a number of novel models that promote robust relationships between federal labs and industry, such as Cyclotron Road, housed at Berkeley Lab.... Read more

Jessica Granderson, Research Scientist and Deputy of Research Programs for Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s (Berkeley Lab’s) Building Technology and Urban Systems Division, has been honored with a Clean Energy Education & Empowerment (C3E) Award in the area of Research Leadership. This is the fourth year that the awards have been presented at the annual U.S. Department of Energy /... Read more

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has won seven 2015 R&D 100 awards. This year’s winners include a high-capacity anode for rechargeable batteries, a technique to synthesize the lightest, strongest material ever made, and a new way to analyze and visualize mass spectrometry data.V2G-Sim quantifies second-by-second energy use for any... Read more

Researchers on the Lab’s MyGreenCar team share personal insights about their app’s journey to tech commercialization in the final episode of the short film series. As their six weeks in DOE’s Lab-Corps program comes to a close, they return to Detroit for a final report and ponder a possible new funding partner.... Read more

Results Confirm Earlier Berkeley Lab Large-Scale StudyPhotovoltaics added value to homes in six markets, according to a new report titled “Appraising into the Sun: Six-State Solar Home Paired-Sales Analysis,” led by a researcher from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and a home appraisal expert. Researchers engaged a team of seven appraisers... Read more

Entrepreneurs frequently talk about pivoting – moving to a new customer segment or a different application of their technology. The Lab’s MyGreenCar team is no exception. In Episode 5, the researchers weigh the benefits of pivoting as their time in DOE’s Lab-Corps program to move energy-related inventions to the marketplace nears its end.... Read more

As the Lab’s MyGreenCar team crosses the halfway point, the researchers must decide if more customer interviews will yield new information, or if it is time to zero in on the most lucrative markets. Watch Episode 4 of the short film series and learn more about DOE’s Lab-Corps program to move energy-related inventions to the marketplace.... Read more

Successful, widespread production and deployment of renewable energy technologies and electric transportation depends on reliable, cost-effective energy storage. Emerging manufacturing approaches suggest a seismic reduction of battery costs, but how do they affect the market, the ability to achieve grid-scale storage, and support significant expansion of electric vehicle range and reliability?... Read more

Joachim SeelAs grid-connected solar and wind resources become more prevalent, fifteen-minute resources—energy technologies that can be brought online quickly to cover dips in generation—become more important for grid stability. A recent study by Andrew Mills and Joachim Seel of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory concluded that batteries, demand response, and quick-start generators provide... Read more

Berkeley Lab scientists unravel structural ambiguities in lithium-rich transition metal oxides.Using complementary microscopy and spectroscopy techniques, researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) say they have solved the structure of lithium- and manganese-rich transition metal oxides, a potentially game-changing battery material and the subject of intense debate in the... Read more

Three outstanding postdoctoral fellows were recently announced as the winners of the 2015 ITRI-Rosenfeld Postdoctoral Fellowship. The fellowship honors the contributions of Arthur H. Rosenfeld, of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s (Berkeley Lab's) Energy Technologies Area (ETA), for his pioneering work toward the advancement of energy efficiency on a global scale. The selection process... Read more

In the third episode, the Lab's MyGreenCar team visits favorite Berkeley hangouts to meet potential customers for their app. Later they face key bottom line questions: what is their target market and who will pay for fuel economy information? This is the third in a six-episode film series capturing the Lab's participation in DOE's Lab-Corps pilot program.... Read more

Eight staff members and two affiliates of the China Energy Group participated in the 6th U.S.-China Energy Efficiency Forum, hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy in Washington DC. At the plenary sessions, Dr. David Danielson, Assistant Secretary of the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy of the U.S. Department of Energy and Mr. Wang Shancheng, Deputy Director General of China’s... Read more

"You are literally changing the world, and I am honored to be part of it, even if for few hours" said Arwa Guesmi, from Tunisia after her visit to Berkeley Lab. Guesmi is an Emerging Leader (EL) at the U.S. Department of State's TechWomen program. Nine TechWomen ELs from seven countries visited Berkeley Lab on October 14th to learn more about energy research and green technology. The visiting... Read more

The chronicles of Berkeley Lab's MyGreenCar team continue. Episode two opens in Detroit where the Lab researchers attend a business boot camp designed for scientists and start round one of customer interviews, key elements of DOE's Lab-Corps Program. The team begins to fine-tune its target market and discovers the last place to ask questions about fuel economy.... Read more

A Berkeley Lab report led by Nihar Shah will provide the foundation for extending the progress announced at a White House roundtable on hydroflurocarbon (HFC) greenhouse gases internationally. A global HFC phase down under the Montreal Protocol would avoid the equivalent of up to 100 billion tons of CO2 by 2050, and 0.5°C of warming by 2100, providing significant near-term gains to slow climate... Read more

The inaugural 2015 International Workshop for Asia Energy Efficiency Policy and Program Evaluation was held on October 13-14, 2015 in Beijing. For China and other rapidly developing countries in Asia, evaluation can play a key role in informing policy design, measuring the impact of various energy policies and programs and improving implementation and future development. Leading international... Read more

When Meeting of the Minds participants visit Berkeley Lab’s FLEXLAB®, they won’t just see the world’s most advanced buildings efficiency test bed. They’ll also learn how the Global Partnership Alliance’s Integrated Systems, Guaranteed Performance, and iBOS initiatives are conjoining to transform commercial building energy efficiency, potentially saving billions of dollars.... Read more

The Defense Department’s first all-electric, nontactical vehicle fleet successfully completed its final vehicle-to-grid certification testing at Los Angeles Air Force Base. The test was conducted by the California Independent System Operator and Southern California Edison, and highlights a milestone in the Air Force’s plug-in electric vehicle — the V2G project.The project determined whether... Read more