A Visit to the California Governor's Inaugural

January 30, 2007

On January 4, staff members of the Environmental Energy Technologies Division (EETD) of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), and other Lab staff, journeyed to Sacramento to participate in the pre-inaugural festivities marking the second term of California's Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. An all-day fair held on the lawn in front of the state capital was an opportunity for the public to learn something about California's industries, agriculture, and educational and research institutions.

Berkeley Lab's EETD was invited to show off some of the energy-efficient technologies it has developed, which not only reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions efficiently, but also help the state's industries create jobs and maintain a competitive edge in the world marketplace. These technologies include cool roofing materials to reduce air conditioning energy use, lighting and automatic control systems to increase building energy efficiency, and technologies to reduce standby power loss in appliances.

Development of these technologies were funded by the California Energy Commission's Public Interest Energy Research program, the U.S. Department of Energy, and private partners, among other sources.

During the course of the day, EETD volunteers met the general public, and a few notable figures, including the Governor's wife, Maria Schriver, and former Secretary of State George Schultz.

EETD extends thanks to Hashem Akbari, Marcy Beck, Dennis DiBartolomeo, Alan Meier, Francis Rubinstein, David Watson for their participation, and JoAnne Lambert and Ronnie Woods for their crucial logistical coordination.