Three years ago, then-candidate Barack Obama inspired ridicule from some quarters by suggesting that checking for proper tire pressure would save as much oil as new offshore drilling could produce (turns out Obama was wrong: properly inflated tires probably … Continue reading »]]>

Reroofing the Advanced Light Source at Lawrence Berkeley Lab. Photo: Lawrence Berkeley Nat'l Lab/Roy Kaltschmidt

While much of the coverage of energy issues faces on big geopolitical or technological challenges (Reduce dependency on foreign oil! Make solar as cheap as coal!), some of the biggest gains in energy efficiency can come from seemingly innocent actions.

Three years ago, then-candidate Barack Obama inspired ridicule from some quarters by suggesting that checking for proper tire pressure would save as much oil as new offshore drilling could produce (turns out Obama was wrong: properly inflated tires probably save three times as much oil as new offshore drilling could produce).

Another strikingly simple approach is to encourage so-called “cool roofs”. White or reflecting roofs replacing dark roofs, can offset large amounts of carbon dioxide (a recent LBL study suggested that two years of global carbon emissions could be mitigated). The idea was pioneered by LBL’s Art Rosenfeld and Hashem Akbari, and last year Energy Secretary Steven Chu (a former director of LBL) announced new policies to implement cool roof technologies on Department of Energy facilities.(...)

Read the rest of Berkeley Lab’s Advanced Light Source gets a “cool” roof (162 words)

By lance. | Permalink | 4 comments |
Post tags: Art Rosenfeld, Hashem Akbari, Steve Chu

The Helios project was originally conceived by Steve Chu, then director of Lawrence Berkeley Lab, now US Secretary of Energy. It is designed to bring together LBL and UC … Continue reading »]]>

Artist's rendering by Jennifer Mahoney

New plans for the Helios Energy Research Facility will be presented to the UC Board of Regents next week. The project calls for a new five-story, 112,800 sq ft building across the street from the UC Berkeley campus, on the site bounded by Oxford, Berkeley Way, Shattuck and Hearst.

The Helios project was originally conceived by Steve Chu, then director of Lawrence Berkeley Lab, now US Secretary of Energy. It is designed to bring together LBL and UC Berkeley researchers working on solar energy, biofuels and other ways to curb climate change. The original plan was to construct a large building on LBL land in Strawberry Canyon. The new scheme — Helios West — will replace a grim, unused 1950s building that once housed California Department of Health Services offices. Ultimately, a second, smaller building — Helios East — will be constructed on the Strawberry Canyon site.

Helios West will house the BP-funded Energy Biosciences Institute, a collaborative project between LBL, UC Berkeley and the University of Illinois, and the university’s bioengineering department. Helios East, which is planned to be a 21,000 sq ft building, will house the Solar Energy Research Center.

The Helios West plan has been discussed at the city’s Planning Commission and Design Review Committee. It has also been presented at a number of public meetings for comment. Helios West will be built on Hearst, at the east end of the site, with a public park to the south and a new pedestrian pathway along Walnut Street (see rendering above), which is currently blocked by the old DHS building. Ultimately, the plan is for a new community health campus, integrating optometry, neuroscience and some other programs, on the west end of the site, but those have been shelved because of budgetary constraints.

By lance. | Permalink | One comment |
Post tags: Helios, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, Steve Chu, UC Berkeley

Chu won the Nobel prize for physics in 1997 for his work on trapping atoms with laser light. When he became director of LBL, he turned much of his attention to energy and climate issues, … Continue reading »]]>

Lawrence Berkeley Nat'l Lab - Roy Kaltschmidt, photographer

Steve Chu, energy secretary in the Obama administration, returned to Berkeley today to speak to his former colleagues at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBL). If you’re reading Berkeleyside before the 10:30 finish to Chu’s presentation, you can watch a live webcast.

Chu won the Nobel prize for physics in 1997 for his work on trapping atoms with laser light. When he became director of LBL, he turned much of his attention to energy and climate issues, which are at the core of his work at the Department of Energy.

By lance. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags: Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, Steve Chu