Energy

Daniel Kammen named senior adviser to USAID

10/21/21 — Berkeley News: Kammen, who holds joint appointments in energy and resources, public policy and nuclear engineering, will serve as senior adviser for energy, climate and innovation for the U.S. Agency for International Development.

With a damp TV, Berkeley engineers demonstrate the potential of a green energy harvester

09/06/21 — Researchers report that moisture-induced energy harvesting could be a potential new source of power, particularly in areas of naturally high humidity

It that a flying saucer? Nope, it’s CalSol’s Zephyr

07/19/21 Bay Area News Group — The CalSol student team departs in a week for the Midwest, solar car in tow, to compete in the 5-day, 1,000-mile American Solar Challenge — the team’s first return to competition after more than a year sidelined by the pandemic

Solar panels and wind power turbine in the Tehachapi Mountains

Earth Day message for California: Move faster on climate change

04/22/21 Los Angeles Times — Scientists led by Berkeley energy professor Dan Kammen urge aggressive action to confront the climate crisis

maps showing declining radiation dose rates in the Fukushima evacuation zone over time

10 years after Fukushima, Berkeley monitoring still in use

03/11/21 Berkeley Lab — Response to earthquake, nuclear plant disaster led Kai Vetter and colleagues to new programs and technologies

Eight Berkeley engineers honored as 2021 Siebel Scholars

09/23/20 — Graduate students from bioengineering, computer science and energy science are among more than 90 selected worldwide.

The Clean Air Car Race turns 50

08/26/20 — In 1970, Berkeley Engineering students envisioned low-emission cars of the future

Berkeley researchers develop highly efficient, energy-dense capacitor

08/19/20 Berkeley Lab — New material could ultimately combine the efficiency and robustness of capacitors with the energy storage capabilities of larger-scale batteries for use in consumer electronics.

Why the U.S. leads in power outages

08/19/20 Popular Science — Our grid is outdated, run down and vulnerable to climate change, says Berkeley electrical engineer Alexandra von Meier; microgrids are one potential solution

Junqiao Wu in the atrium of Hearst Memorial Mining Building

Bakar Prize winner hopes to harness sun’s power

06/22/20 — Junqiao Wu, professor of material science and engineering, awarded campus's new $225,000 prize for real-world potential of his thermal-powered material transformations

Materials sciences professor Ramamoorthy Ramesh named to Royal Society

04/29/20 — Ramesh has created nanosized materials that can power small electrical devices with minimal amounts of energy

Researchers lead federal efforts to improve COVID-19 testing

04/24/20 — Rebecca Abergel, Paul Adams, and Adam Arkin are overseeing projects designed to boost coronavirus diagnostic technology

Dan Kammen elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences

04/23/20 — Professor of energy and resources, public policy and nuclear engineering is one of 9 new Berkeley faculty members

What’s the future of nuclear power?

04/12/20 Climate One — Professor Per Peterson joins a panel of experts discussing whether nuclear energy should be revived or abandoned.

Can tiny, invisible particles help stop the spread of nuclear weapons?

03/12/20 — Researchers are closer than ever to deploying technology that can help detect the illicit production of plutonium, a key fuel for nuclear bombs

Illustration of layered plasmonic nano-antenna arrays

Researchers develop novel way to shrink light to detect ultra-tiny substances

02/20/20 — The research could lead to the development of ultra-sensitive devices that can quickly detect pathogens in human blood.

Ceder peeks into the battery pipeline

12/16/19 Berkeley Lab — From cobalt-free to sodium-ion, Berkeley Lab scientist and MSE professor Gerbrand Ceder evaluates some of the most promising battery technologies in development.

Vacuum chamber used to test heat transfer

Heat energy leaps through empty space, thanks to quantum weirdness

12/11/19 — In a surprising new study, Berkeley researchers led by Xiang Zhang, professor of mechanical engineering, showed that heat energy can travel through a complete vacuum due to invisible quantum fluctuations, a discovery that could have profound implications for the design of computer chips.

Mirror mirror

10/25/19 — Researchers broke another record in thermophotovoltaics, raising the efficiency of converting heat into electricity from 23% to 29%.

Our energy grid is vulnerable; locally sourced power may be the answer

10/11/19 — Alexandra “Sascha” von Meier, adjunct professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences, talks about the risks posed by the current energy grid and possible solutions moving forward, including solar-powered microgrids.