A new analysis by Berkeley Lab scientists for the Western Governor’s Association explores renewable resource decisions in the West. The report’s “sensitivity analysis” examines how decisions about which renewable sources are chosen, and how transmission lines are expanded, are affected by changes in policies and other uncertainties.

Berkeley Lab will build and operate a new National User Facility for Net-Zero Energy Buildings using a competitively selected award of $15.9 million in stimulus funds from the U.S. Department of Energy.

Designed in Berkeley, California, manufactured in Mumbai, India and assembled in Darfur, Sudan, the Berkeley-Darfur Stove will soon be distributed to thousands of displaced families to cook meals in way that is both fuel-efficient and safe for women. Because the stove uses up to four times less wood than the traditional three-stone stoves common in Darfur, women, who often walk for hours to collect firewood, will have far less exposure to violence.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory scientists Lynn Price and Nan Zhou expected the long banquet and endless toasting. What they did not expect on a recent trip to a cement plant in central China was a three-hour variety show by the factory employees, complete with folk dancing, song-and-dance numbers and comedians. Even more surprising were the lyrics to one of the songs: “I started to listen closely and realized they were singing about closing inefficient factories, next year’s clean production targets and so on,” said Zhou.

Berkeley Lab scientists, in cooperation with the International SEMATECH Manufacturing Initiative, are releasing for beta testing a computer-based tool to help the world’s semiconductor manufacturing facilities evaluate and improve their energy efficiency.

India may rank only a distant fourth in terms of carbon dioxide emissions, behind China, the United States and Russia, but its rapid economic growth rate coupled with aging and inefficient energy infrastructure suggest dire environmental consequences if “business as usual” continues. That’s why experts from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have been working to expand collaborations with India on energy efficiency.

Berkeley Lab researchers, working with Silicon Valley companies, have three new energy-efficient data center technologies available for demonstration.

The White House announced its intention to nominate Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and University of California, Berkeley engineer and scientist Arun Majumdar to become the first director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E).

Berkeley Lab scientist Ashok Gadgil is one of 10 recipients of this year’s Heinz Awards in recognition of humanitarian research that has improved energy efficiency, reduced health risks and enhanced the quality of life in developing countries

Berkeley Lab is partnering with Oakland Technical High School and El Cerrito High School in their Green Academies. Beginning this fall, students and their teachers will be able to take lab tours, hear talks by Berkeley Lab scientists and eventually, some will have eight-week summer internships.