Berkeley Lab researchers have created the first fully integrated artificial photosynthesis nanosystem. While “artificial leaf” is the popular term for such a system, the key to this success was an “artificial forest.”

Artificial photosynthesis is a dream technology that mimics a natural leaf, converting water and carbon dioxide into fuels with sunlight. But before this technology can take flight, scientists will have to solve a fundamental plumbing problem: how to gather molecules of fuel from microscopic reaction sites to pipes that will pour it out by the [...]

Lithium-ion batteries have transformed our lives. Without them, we wouldn’t have laptop computers or cell phones — at least, not the long-lived, lightweight kind we’re used to — and in the near future they may become more important yet. With sufficiently powerful batteries, renewable energy and electric cars become viable, but we first need to [...]

Spending on energy efficiency programs funded by electric and natural gas utility customers will double by 2025 to about $9.5 billion per year, according to projections published by researchers at Berkeley Lab. These funds, which come from a charge on utility bills, historically constitute the nation’s largest source of spending on programs to foster the adoption of more efficient products and buildings. The new report shows energy efficiency programs funded by utility customers are projected to continue expanding beyond the traditional bastions of energy efficiency in the Northeast and West.

In the quest to produce an environmentally benign renewable fuel, scientists have explored many techniques to split water molecules to produce hydrogen. Still, the current photovoltaic designs are not yet technically or economically viable. Materials research in this area has been promising, but research on the engineering design of these photoelectrochemical systems has been [...]

The installed price of solar photovoltaic (PV) power systems in the United States fell substantially in 2011 and through the first half of 2012, according to the latest edition of Tracking the Sun, an annual PV cost-tracking report produced by Berkeley Lab’s Environmental Energy Technologies Division. Recent installed price reductions are attributable, in large part, to dramatic reductions in PV module prices, which have been falling precipitously since 2008.

Berkeley Lab has broken ground on its Solar Energy Research Center (SERC). The three-story structure will be nearly 40,000 sq. ft. in size and will house approximately 75 people when completed. SERC will hold the labs and offices of the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis whose goal is to one day develop a solar fuel generator.

A multi-institutional team led by scientists at Berkeley Lab have directly observed electron hopping in iron oxide particles, a phenomonon that holds huge significance for a broad range of environment- and energy-related applications.

More than 90 percent of the world’s rare earth elements are now mined in China, and worldwide demand is anticipated to grow from 136,100 metric tons in 2010 to 185,000 metric tons in 2015. However, at Berkeley Lab scientists believe that taking a long-term view is vital for addressing both the current shortage as well as avoiding future shortages of materials that are crucial to U.S. industry.

Berkeley Lab researchers helped develop the first computational model to accurately predict the interactions between flue gases and a special variety of the carbon dioxide-capturing molecular systems known as metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). This new model should greatly accelerate the search for new low-cost and efficient ways to burn coal without exacerbating global climate change.