A collaboration by researchers with the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) and the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has shown that blending different feedstocks and milling the mixture into flour or pellets has significant potential for helping to make biofuels a cost-competitive transportation fuel technology.

At Berkeley Lab scientists and engineers are pursuing a broad spectrum of technological solutions for using less energy. But a handful of researchers are also looking at human behavior and decision making as a key factor in reducing energy consumption. The payoff could be huge.

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.

Working at Berkeley Lab’s Advanced Light Source (ALS), an international team of scientists found that for highly efficient polymer/organic solar cells, size matters. Impure domains if made sufficiently small can lead to improved performances in polymer-based organic photovoltaics.

A computer model of fluid flow in shale takes kerogen inclusions into account for the first time, allowing realistic predictions of reservoir productivity.

Berkeley Lab’s Distinguished Scientist Emeritus Art Rosenfeld has been awarded one of the nation’s top prizes for his contributions to the field of energy efficiency.

The announcement came Dec. 21 when President Barack Obama named Rosenfeld one of eleven extraordinary inventors as recipients of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, one of the highest honors bestowed by the United States Government upon scientists, engineers, and inventors.

JBEI researcher have identified the first enzyme capable of substantially boosting the amount of galactan sugars in plant cell walls. Readily fermented, galactan sugars are
a target of interest for researchers in advanced biofuels produced from cellulosic biomass.

A team of researchers from Berkeley Lab and other institutes has shown that contrary to computer simulations, the tiny size of nanocrystals is no safeguard from defects. Studies at Berkeley Lab’s Advanced Light Source show that dislocations can form in the finest of nanocrystals when stress is applied.

Space-age ceramics at their best promise advanced jet and gas turbine engines that burn with greater fuel efficiencies and less pollution. Berkeley Lab scientists have developed the first mechanical test rig for obtaining real-time X-ray computed microtomography images at ultrahigh temperatures for improving the composition and architecture of advanced ceramic composites.

U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced a multi-partner team which includes Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) for an award of up to $120 million over five years to establish a new Batteries and Energy Storage Hub. The Hub, to be known as the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR), will be led by Argonne National Laboratory.