News

NEC Laboratories America, Inc. has provided Michael Stadler of the Grid Integration Group a gift in the amount of $60,000 to support his research in microgrids and energy storage. Previous gifts from NEC have supported research resulting in a publication titled “Electric Storage in California’s Commercial Buildings,” LBNL-6071E. The research examines whether buildings could serve as the hub... Read more

The 2013 International Concrete Sustainability Conference will take place May 6-8 in Redwood City (in the San Francisco Bay area) May 6 to 8. The 8th annual conference, hosted by the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, will provide learning and networking opportunities on the latest advances, technical knowledge, continuing research, tools and solutions for sustainable concrete... Read more

The 2013 Silicon Valley Energy Storage Symposium will bring together key participants—from the public and private sectors and from the academic and research communities—to engage in a discussion about energy storage and how we can move the industry forward in Silicon Valley. Chris Marnay, a Staff Scientist in the Environmental Energy Technologies Division of Lawrence Berkeley National... Read more

Max Sherman is a senior scientist in the Residential Building Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). As part of the group's Healthy Efficient Homes project, he and other project researchers examine the interrelationships among HVAC and indoor pollutants. In recent years, the group has advanced knowledge in this area by not only identifying the most prevalent indoor... Read more

Energy costs K-12 schools in the U.S. $6 billion dollars annually. Spending less money on energy costs would leave more for funding-constrained school districts to spend on educating their students, according to researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab).Public and private financing is available, but navigating the complicated landscape of... Read more

OK, team, you know this concept. Cities are full of dark surfaces that absorb and capture energy from sunlight, creating islands of hot, hot heat. We all get sweaty, we turn up the A/C, that makes the city hotter, everyone suffers. This is why it's a good idea to paint roofs white. And also why it's a good idea to paint roads pastel green.Out in California, Lawrence Berkeley Lab has a little... Read more

Mayor of Los Angeles Antonio Villaraigosa has directed the Department of Building and Safety to incorporate cool roof requirements in its building code. Mayor Villaraigosa is also asking the Department of Water and Power (LADWP) to create incentives that make it financially attractive for homeowners to install cool roofs.Cool roofs are already mandated in California's Building Energy Efficiency... Read more

Addressing the challenge of climate disruption requires a new generation of highly creative efficiency-minded engineers and continuous innovation in appliance and equipment efficiency. That is the vision behind the Max Tech and Beyond Appliance Design Competition for Ultra-Low-Energy-Use Appliances and Equipment. The competition supports faculty-led student design teams at universities and... Read more

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, in partnership with the staff of Home Energy magazine, have launched the Home Energy Saver Community, an online forum for homeowners and remodelers. Join the conversation at hes.lbl.gov/community. The new online forum is part of the Berkeley Lab's popular Home Energy Saver interactive home energy assessment tool.... Read more

The 2013 Silicon Valley Energy Storage Symposium will bring together key participants—from the public and private sectors and from the academic and research communities—to engage in a discussion about energy storage and how we can move the industry forward in Silicon Valley. Chris Marnay, a Staff Scientist in the Environmental Energy Technologies Division of Lawrence Berkeley National... Read more

On Saturday, March 16, the Heat Island Group added two new cool pavement coatings to the Bevatron Lot at Berkeley Lab. The new additions feature Western Colloid Armor Top asphalt-based coatings in two colors - Stealth Gray (near in image at right) and California Tan (far). The coatings are tinted light colors using titanium dioxide and recycled materials to produce a surface with an initial solar... Read more

Cutting your home's energy use by more than two-thirds of what it presently uses is increasingly a topic of discussion, and a goal, in the home energy performance industry. While everyone from contractors to building researchers have been attempting and studying the so-called "deep energy retrofit" since the 1970s, right now the building industry is searching harder than ever for the right... Read more

Expanding production of the United States' shale gas reserves in recent years has put downward pressure on natural gas prices across the nation, prompting massive fuel-switching from coal- to gas-fired generation. Though arguably a near-term positive for both consumers and the environment, this "dash for gas"—and, specifically, its corresponding suppression of wholesale power prices—has made... Read more

The selection committee for the ITRI-Rosenfeld Fellowship has announced the winner. It is Joshua Apte, a Research Associate in the Electronics Lighting and Network Group of the Environmental Energy Technologies Division.Apte is also a PhD candidate in the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California, Berkeley. He conducts research on the environmental and health impacts of energy,... Read more

Australian radio program "Beyond Zero" discusses building design and the urban heat island effect with the Heat Island Group's Haley Gilbert.... Read more

In today’s complex building design environment, designers are increasingly using computer modeling to help them manage calculations, technologies, budgets, and occupant needs.Using EnergyPlus—the U.S. Department of Energy’s software that simulates energy use in buildings—designers can determine the most energy-efficient use of technologies and designs for the building. Other simulation and... Read more

The University of California Office of Research has released an infographic to highlight the phenomenon known as the urban heat island effect. In three illustrated panels, the graphic shows what characterizes and causes urban heat islands, drawing from Heat Island Group research. Click here to see the full infographic.... Read more

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE’s) open-source EnergyPlus building energy simulation program has helped architects and engineers design more efficient buildings for more than a decade. However, it can take a great deal of effort to input information and analyze the output. As a result, many have avoided using the program, while others have turned to third-party graphical user interfaces... Read more

CalCharge, a partnership of CalCEF and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, has announced that it is teaming with San Jose State University to launch a battery university. Read the CalCharge press release at the link below.... Read more

The San Francisco Chronicle ran a front page feature story February 10 on research at the Environmental Energy Technologies Division to cool the planet through cool building materials and urban heat islands mitigation. Read it at the link below.... Read more

When it comes to high-tech possibilities for counteracting climate change, the headlines tend to focus on the seemingly sci-fi stuff: brightening clouds, pumping particles into the stratosphere and launching giant mirrors into space.But there are down-to-earth versions of the same basic concept, approaches as simple as painting roofs white or using light-colored pavement to cast away more heat... Read more

Ashok Gadgil, the Director of the Environmental Energy Technologies Division of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, has been elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE).Election to the National Academy of Engineering is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer. Academy membership honors those who have made outstanding contributions to "engineering... Read more

CalCharge has released an updated list of speakers and invitation to attend its launch event for the Battery University on February 12 in Santa Clara, CA. Please use the link below to sign up for this event.CalCharge in partnership with San Jose State University, Joint Venture Silicon Valley, California Energy Storage Alliance, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and CalCEF invite you to... Read more

Designing a building holistically, and making sure that its components and systems work together according to design intent, can pay big dividends in energy savings and occupant satisfaction, according to a study by scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) of the performance of The New York Times Building in New York City.Measured results from the post-occupancy... Read more

Art Rosenfeld, Scientist Emeritus in the Environmental Energy Technologies Division of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, received the National Medal of Technology and Innovation at a ceremony at the White House on Friday, February 1, 2013. He is pictured here with President Obama. Congratulations, Art!... Read more