Energy

Major progress in realizing new type of lithium cathode

11/02/17 Berkeley Lab — A team of Berkeley Lab scientists led by Gerbrand Ceder, professor of materials science and engineering, have reported major progress toward making lithium battery cathodes with so-called “disordered” materials.

Inventing the future

11/01/17 — In a Q&A with Berkeley Engineer, Dean Shankar Sastry outlines his vision for the future of the college and beyond.

Comparing potential solar fuel materials

Materials genome to solar fuels

11/01/17 — Berkeley Lab's Materials Project was deployed with great success in an effort to find new materials that hold promise for capturing more of the sun's energy.

Berkeley student descending a staircase outside the RISE house

Berkeley-Denver team comes in third in Solar Decathlon

10/18/17 Denver Post — A collaboration between UC Berkeley and the University of Denver took third place in the Solar Decathlon 2017, a challenge for student teams to build and operate highly energy-efficient and innovative solar houses. The team's RISE house was designed specifically for the city of Richmond, Calif.

Brains for buildings, packaged in a smart briefcase

10/02/17 — Building-in-Briefcase is a new toolkit consisting of wireless sensors that monitor and communicate overall building health and function. The system, which can be used to retrofit intelligence into existing buildings, is designed to increase energy efficiency.

Boot camp participants at California Memorial Stadium.

Fresh ideas for nuclear power

08/24/17 — Two dozen students from all over the world gathered at Berkeley for two weeks over the summer to discuss, plan and help start building a new nuclear energy sector. The students, along with professional mentors and speakers, were part of the 2017 Nuclear Innovation Boot Camp.

Victorious CalSol team members surround their car, Zephyr, at the track in Austin, Texas.

CalSol finishes 1st at Formula Sun Grand Prix

08/17/17 Daily Californian — The CalSol student team has won the Formula Sun Grand Prix, an annual solar vehicle track race for college teams from around the nation. CalSol's four-year-old Zephyr took first place in the July race in Austin, TX, completing 228 laps with zero penalties.

Imagining a post-combustion world

06/19/17 — After teaching a climate change mitigation course for more than a decade, civil and environmental engineering professor William Nazaroff has drawn a few conclusions. One is that it's time to develop and deploy technologies that move beyond combustion.

The fight to rethink (and reinvent) nuclear power

05/19/17 Vox — The latest in a series of Climate Lab videos produced by Vox Media and the University of California features the work of nuclear engineering professor and associate dean Per Peterson.

Engineering student team readies competition house

04/17/17 ASCE — A group led by Berkeley civil engineering students will take an innovative, zero net energy house into a Denver competition this fall, organized by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Shell and Berkeley officials at signing ceremony

EBI signs partnership with Shell to fund energy tech research

03/15/17 — UC Berkeley's Energy Biosciences Institute has entered into a five-year, multimillion dollar research agreement with Shell International Exploration and Production Inc. to fund research that meets the growing demand for energy in ways that are economically, environmentally and socially responsible.

Berkeley, power company Enel launch innovation hub

03/08/17 — The Berkeley campus has a new innovation hub, the result of a partnership between Enel, a multinational power company, and CITRIS and the Banatao Institute.

Argonne Lab’s embedded entrepreneurs have Berkeley ties

12/20/16 — Justin Whiteley (B.S.'10 NE & ME) and Ian Hamilton, an alumnus of the Nuclear Innovation Boot Camp, are part of the first cohort for Chain Reaction Innovations, a start-up hub for sustainable energy innovators embedded at Argonne National Laboratory.

Jacobs Hall ranks platinum for sustainability

12/07/16 — Jacobs Hall, home of the College of Engineering's Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation, has won platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED program.

The CalWave Power Technologies team with their prize check

CalWave rides Wave Energy Prize

11/18/16 University of California — Berkely Lab startup CalWave Power Technologies and its novel “wave carpet” earned second place (and a $500,000 prize) out of an initial 92 teams vying for the U.S. Department of Energy's Wave Energy Prize.

Nuclear engineering assistant professor Rachel Slaybaugh

New nukes

11/01/16 — Nuclear power production is on track for a reboot, with advanced nuclear technologies holding promise for cost-effective energy production.

Eco-friendly tiny house

11/01/16 — A team of Berkeley students took two years to build a 171-square-foot eco-friendly house for a statewide alternative housing competition. The tiny house integrates advances in sustainable and affordable design.

Dong-Hwa Seo, Alex Urban, Jinhyuk Lee and Gerbrand Ceder

Next-gen batteries

11/01/16 — A team led by materials science professor Gerbrand Cedar has made an important discovery that could eventually lead to longer-lasting lithium batteries.

Green cities

11/01/16 — The majority of the world's population is projected to live in cities by the year 2050. Although cities are considered strains the environment, nuclear engineering professor Daniel Kammen see the potential for cities to be models of sustainability.

Following the New Sun Road

11/01/16 — Two alumni have co-founded New Sun Road, a technology company committed to implementing solutions to climate change and global energy poverty.