News

August 21, 2002
An EETD researcher has teamed with an University of Michigan scientist in an unique risk analysis study which shows that, contrary to conventional wisdom, vehicle quality is a much more important safety factor than weight for the drivers of vehicles involved in a crash.... Read more
August 14, 2002
Approximately two million children in California attend school in relocatable classrooms, also known as portables. Are these buildings as environmentally healthy and energy-efficient as they can be? EETD scientists recently tested an experimental ventilation system that would improve indoor air quality in portable classrooms and use a third of the energy of current systems.... Read more
August 7, 2002
How much energy could be saved if every appliance you buy is highly efficient? "How about $1 billion a year, in round numbers?" says Berkeley Lab researcher Jeffrey Harris, of the Environmental Energy Technologies Division. "And that's for government agencies. The total would be several times higher if we can get business and consumer purchasing to follow the government's example."... Read more
July 16, 2002
The World Technology Network has voted Ashok Gadgil, an EETD scientist, winner of the 2002 World Technology Award in the Energy category, for individual accomplishment.... Read more
July 11, 2002
Berkeley Lab's Environmental Energy Technologies Division and Carrier Aeroseal Inc. joined forces recently to show off to Congress the fruits of their public/private partnership, an aerosol-based sealing process that can reduce the energy leakage of a home's ducts by 20 percent or more.... Read more
March 12, 2002
An International Energy Agency project to reduce the waste of standby electrical power by common household appliances has won an Energy Globe 2002 award. Alan Meier, a scientist in the Environmental Energy Technologies Division proposed the 1-Watt Initiative as a way to reduce wasted electricity when his research on standby power loss showed that it accounts for as much as 10 percent of a typical... Read more
December 17, 2001
Ashok Gadgil has been elected as a Fellow of the American Physical Society "for his outstanding work modeling air and pollutant transport inside buildings, analyzing energy issues in developing countries, and developing 'UV' Waterworks for inexpensively disinfecting drinking water in such countries." He was nominated by the Forum on Physics & Society.... Read more
December 12, 2001
A new book profiling 35 major American inventors includes a chapter on Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory scientist and inventor Ashok Gadgil. Inventing Modern America: From the Microwave to the Mouse was released December 1, 2001 by MIT Press of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Gadgil is the inventor of UV Waterworks, a device that disinfects drinking water inexpensively and... Read more
December 3, 2001
Hoping to save the paper manufacturing industry millions of dollars in energy costs, scientists at the Environmental Energy Technologies Division have developed a laser ultrasonic sensor that measures paper's flexibility as it courses through a production web at up to 65 miles per hour.... Read more
August 14, 2001
A single fume hood running 24 hours a day uses as much energy as an entire house. New fume hood technology developed by researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory reduces energy use by 50 percent or more. This technology has been demonstrated successfully in testing at Berkeley Lab and at the University of California, San Francisco's Department of... Read more
May 14, 2001
Energy efficiency researchers have released a web site, The 20% Solution, that can help Californians reduce energy use by 20 percent or more. The site, which was developed by scientists in the Lab's Environmental Energy Technologies Division, identifies energy-efficiency measures and their predicted percentage savings.... Read more
May 2, 2001
Energy efficiency researchers have released a web site, that in real time shows the total demand for electricity in California, and the supply available to meet that demand. The site at Berkeley shows minute-to-minute changes in California's supply and demand balance.... Read more
March 14, 2001
EETD researchers have developed a new high-performance, energy-efficient table lamp that is designed to save energy in homes and offices while greatly increasing lighting quality and visibility.... Read more
January 9, 2001
BERKELEY, CA — Four creative elementary school students, winners of the EnergySmart Schools Contest, will meet on Jan. 12 with the nation's top energy scientists and engineers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), where they will build their energy-saving ideas. The national invention contest for elementary school students was sponsored by Owens Corning and the U.S. Department... Read more
October 10, 2000
ENERGY STAR® has just launched their new Home Improvement Toolbox. The centerpiece is a calculator developed by the End-Use Forecasting Group and the Home Energy Saver Team at LBNL. The tool is powered by HES and uses the same underlaying data, with a simplified user interface. It features customized upgrade recommendations, a new interactive module on cost-effectiveness, and content pertaining... Read more
July 19, 2000
Beth Shearer, director of the Department of Energy's Federal Energy Management Program (right) and Tatiana Strainic Muessel, also of FEMP, get a demonstration of the Environmental Energy Technologies Division's energy-efficient fume hood from Geoffrey Bell, who is the co-leader of the development team. A FEMP delegation visited the Lab on July 17.... Read more
July 6, 2000
On April 29, volunteers from throughout the Bay Area visited 110 homes and public buildings such as schools and community centers, installing energy efficiency measures as part of Christmas in April's National Rebuilding Day. Twelve Berkeley Lab employees were among the volunteers, with four serving as Energy Team captains. The lifetime savings of all these efficiency measures works out to more... Read more
April 18, 2000
Me & Isaac Newton focuses on the contributions and passion of seven scientists, and explores the roots of scientific creativity and inspiration. Produced by Jody Patton and Eileen Gregory and presented by Paul G. Allen, Me & Isaac Newton is the second feature documentary from Clear Blue Sky Productions. The film was directed by Michael Apted (the documentary 7 Up series, now at its 42 Up... Read more
April 12, 2000
Lisa Gartland, a former post-doctoral scholar in EETD, and now a consultant to the Department of Energy's Rebuild America program, has been busy organizing energy efficiency teams for the charitable organization Christmas in April. Under the group's umbrella, volunteers from local communities band together every April to make improvements to the homes of low-income, elderly or otherwise... Read more
March 14, 2000
Berkeley Lab will hold an Open House for the general public on Saturday, May 6, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Many of the day's programs are intended especially for kids, grades K through 12 and their teachers. One of the four theme areas of this year's Open House will be "Home and Environment: Protecting Our Planet." Demonstrations and activities will include energy-efficient lights and windows, sealing... Read more
February 21, 2000
Radioactive radon gas, seeping into houses from the soil below, poses a health risk to humans in certain parts of the United States. A new web site developed jointly by scientists at Berkeley Lab's Environmental Energy Technologies Division and Columbia University uses advanced mathematical methods, research on radon gas infiltration, and geologic data, to help homeowners determine when and how to... Read more
February 7, 2000
An advanced, energy-efficient laboratory fume hood that uses only 30 percent of the airflow of standard laboratory fume hood installations has been developed by scientists at Berkeley Lab's Environmental Energy Technologies Division. The hood has passed standard tests for fume hoods and is now ready for field-testing at an advanced lab facility planned for Montana State University at Bozeman.... Read more
January 11, 2000
Ashok Gadgil, of EETD's Indoor Environment Department, has been named inventor of the week by the Lemelson-MIT Program. Read a short profile of his work on their Invention Dimension Web site.... Read more
December 14, 1999
Greenhouse gases and their relationship to climate change continues to be studied, but the scientific community increasingly believes that human-caused changes to earth's climate are now visible, according to the last United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report in 1997. Now, a group of Berkeley Lab researchers have begun devising ways to help nations that are trying to reduce... Read more
November 16, 1999
Energy-Efficient Ventilation for Apartment Buildings is the title of a new guide from the Department of Energy's Rebuild America program. It's authors are present EET Division researchers Rick Diamond and Nance Matson and former researcher Helmut Feustel. This guide has been written for apartment building owners, managers and organizations in the Rebuild America program who are considering doing... Read more