Energy

Marcus Lehmann presents the Wave Carpet at Berkeley Lab

Wave energy’s make-or-break moment

06/21/16 University of California — The CalWave team, led by researchers from Berkeley Engineering and Berkeley Lab, is working to take their unique “wave carpet” technology out of the test tank and into the open ocean, in hopes of winning a $2.5 million Department of Energy competition.

Massive trove of battery and molecule data released

06/16/16 Berkeley Lab — The Materials Project, a Google-like database directed by materials science and engineering professor and Berkeley Lab scientist Kristin Persson, recently released a huge amount of scientific data to the public as a tool to assist engineers working on fuel cells, especially battery technology.

An energy strategy that can take the heat

06/08/16 Berkeley Research — Working with Chinese colleagues through the Clean Energy Research Center for Water-Energy Technologies, nuclear engineering professor Per Peterson is exploring the use of superhot molten salts to boost efficiency in both nuclear and solar energy production.

This is how cities of the future will get their energy

05/23/16 Washington Post — In a paper written for Science magazine, UC Berkeley professor of energy and resources, public policy and nuclear engineering Daniel Kammen explores the potential for using renewable energy technologies in urban areas to promote low-carbon, resilient and livable cities.

Siebel Energy Institute announces new grant winners

05/05/16 Marketwired — The Siebel Engineering Institute has awarded a second set of $50,000 seed grants to teams developing proposals that accelerate energy science research. The fifteen teams include two Berkeley Engineers, structural engineering professor Stephan Mahin (a lead researcher) and IEOR's Anil Aswani.

Diagram of wave-powered electricity generation

From waves to electricity

05/01/16 — The Theoretical and Applied Fluid Dynamics Lab will begin building a machine that may potentially convert enough ocean wave energy into enough electricity to supply millions of homes with electricity.

Thermoelectrics: An old, new tech

05/01/16 — Alphabet Energy is betting on a resurgence of thermoelectrics with new technology to convert energy lost as heat into clean, recycled power.

Postdoc researcher Chinmayee Subban and Ashok Gadgil are refining an affordable water treatment technology to produce fresh drinking water from brackish water

The search for smarter energy and water strategies

04/25/16 Berkeley Research — Environmental engineering professor Ashok Gadgil, principal investigator for a $64 million joint U.S.-China research center, is seeking innovative ways to meet the energy and water needs of both developing and industrial societies.

Jacobs Hall honored for sustainability practices

03/28/16 Office of Sustainability & Energy — Jacobs Hall, new home of the Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation, has won a 2016 Higher Education Energy Efficiency and Sustainability Best Practice Award for its efficient use and reuse of energy and water.

A computer rendering of the Wave Carpet.

Making waves: Turning ocean power into electricity

03/15/16 — Ocean waves constantly generate energy. Berkeley engineers are trying to build a device to harness that power and convert it to electricity.

Magnetic microscope image of three nanomagnetic computer bits

Experiments show magnetic chips could dramatically increase computing’s energy efficiency

03/14/16 — In a breakthrough for energy-efficient computing, Berkeley engineers have shown for the first time that magnetic chips can operate at the lowest fundamental energy dissipation theoretically possible under the laws of thermodynamics.

Sutardja Center Fellow David Law with Imprint Energy Co-founder and CEO Christine Ho

Imprint Energy challenges students to build a better battery

02/25/16 Sutardja Center — Imprint CEO Christine Ho (B.S'05, M.S'07, Ph.D'10 MSE) returned to campus as part of the Sutardja Center's Collider program, which challenges students to work on cutting-edge research projects with industry.

The road to sustainability

01/28/16 CNBC — In a new video series on sustainable energy, civil and environmental engineering professor Arpad Horvath compares the environmental footprints of emerging transportation technologies, from biofuels and high-speed rail to maritime shipping and aviation.

Berkeley, lab and Tsinghua partner on energy and climate

12/02/15 — The Berkeley Energy & Climate Institute, led by mechanical engineering professor Paul Wright, is partnering with Berkeley Lab and Tsinghua University to form the Berkeley Tsinghua Joint Research Center on Energy and Climate Change, which aims to develop scientifically based clean energy solutions.

Berkeley to lead energy and water consortium

10/05/15 — Berkeley, in partnership with UC Irvine and Berkeley Lab, will lead a five-year, multi-million dollar international research effort to tackle water-related aspects of energy production and use. Civil and environmental engineering professor Ashok Gadgil will head the new consortium.

Peidong Yang receives MacArthur ‘genius award’

09/29/15 — Peidong Yang, a UC Berkeley chemist and materials scientist who is trying to capture carbon dioxide from the air and turn it into a sustainable transportation fuel, has been named a MacArthur Fellow.

Foundation honors 9 Berkeley graduate students as Siebel Scholars

09/11/15 — The Siebel Scholars Foundation has named its 2016 class of exceptional graduate students, including nine from Berkeley. The Berkeley cohort includes five students from bioengineering, three from computer science and one from energy science.

Thermoelectric PowerCard from Alphabet Energy

Why not convert waste heat into power?

08/26/15 NPR — What if there were a way to take the waste heat that spews from car tailpipes or power plant chimneys and turn it into electricity? Matt Scullin (M.S.'07, Ph.D.'09 MSE) thinks there is, and he founded Alphabet Energy to turn that idea into a reality.

Siebel Energy Institute launches with major Berkeley presence

08/03/15 — The Siebel Energy Institute, a global university consortium focused on smart energy, marked its debut Aug. 3 by announcing 24 research grants nearing $1 million. The winning proposals, many of them led by Berkeley Engineering faculty, will accelerate improved performance in modern energy systems.

The mapping backpack

06/08/15 — Berkeley engineers are building a backpack equipped with high-tech cameras and scanners that is capable of sensing and mapping indoor spaces. The backpack's potential applications include energy audits, search and rescue situations and more.