Sustainability & environment

RadWatch project brings near real-time radiation data to the public

06/19/14 — A team of Berkeley nuclear engineering scientists has launched a project called RadWatch to provide the public online access to a wealth of information - including near real-time readings - on environmental radiation levels. The researchers say the effort is meant to demystify radiation, an often misunderstood subject.

Water researcher David Sedlak wins 2014 Clarke Prize

06/13/14 National Water Research Institute — The National Water Research Institute has named David Sedlak, Berkeley professor of civil and environmental engineering, as the 21st recipient of its Athalie Richardson Irvine Clarke Prize for his pioneering research on advancing the way water resources and urban water infrastructure are managed.

EPA hits nuclear power with kryptonite

06/13/14 Forbes — A commentary questioning whether the EPA's new proposed emissions rule for nuclear power plants is politically motivated quotes a forum post by nuclear engineering professor Per Peterson, who wrote that "There exists no plausible public health or environmental reason to regulate [Krypton-85] emissions, since they do not and can never have any significant public health or environmental impact."

No Fukushima radiation found in West Coast kelp

05/07/14 Berkeley Lab — Scientists working together on Kelp Watch 2014, including nuclear engineering professor Kai Vetter, announced Wednesday that the West Coast shoreline shows no signs of ocean-borne radiation from Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster, following their analysis of the first collection of kelp samples along the western U.S. coastline.

Engineering social justice

05/02/14 — In a new course, "Engineering, the Environment and Society," Khalid Kadir is challenging his students to build more just and equitable systems by rethinking the role engineers play in social issues.

Water 4.0

05/02/14 — An excerpt from civil and environmental engineering professor David Sedlak's new book, Water 4.0: The Past, Present and Future of the World's Most Vital Resource, which calls for major changes in urban water systems.

Tundra scientist

05/01/14 — Geophysicist Susan Hubbard (Ph.D'98 CEE) leads a research team from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Barrow, Alaska as part of the 10-year Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiment.

Fukushima radiation near Half Moon Bay? Not so fast…

03/24/14 Contra Costa Times — Japanese radioisotopes aren't lurking in the sand at Miramar Beach, the California Department of Public Health said in a final report debunking suggestions that the beach contained radioactive material from the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. "Nuclear radiation is something you can't smell, see and feel; it tends to scare people" said UC Berkeley nuclear engineering professor Kai Vetter, leader of the school's Rad Watch project, which has tested West Coast air, rain, milk and fish without finding any evidence that Fukushima-related contamination poses a health threat.

UC Berkeley taps its old mine shaft to study Hayward Fault

03/17/14 San Francisco Chronicle — More than 70 years after UC Berkeley's mining school was absorbed into the College of Engineering, earthquake researchers studying the Hayward Fault plan to install seismographs and high-frequency microphones inside the Lawson Adit -- a rocky mine shaft stretching east from Hearst Memorial Mining Building that was built by Berkeley students a century ago.

Ad for reddit Ask Me Anything with Berkeley nuclear engineers

AMA brings nuclear engineers to Reddit

03/14/14 Daily Clog Science — In an Ask Me Anything session this week on Reddit, six professors from UC Berkeley's department of nuclear engineering answered questions ranging from concerns about thorium reactor design to environmental monitoring in Fukushima.

Indian company licenses invention for arsenic-free water

03/10/14 Berkeley Lab — Berkeley researchers, led by Ashok Gadgil and Susan Amrose of civil and environmental engineering, have developed technology that uses electricity to remove arsenic from groundwater, where it can be a silent killer. More importantly, they have created a business model and partnered with a company in India to improve the technology's chances for longevity.

Ashok Gadgil with his Berkeley-Darfur stove

Gadgil’s inventions win him spot in hall of fame

03/04/14 National Inventors Hall of Fame — Ashok Gadgil, professor of civil and environmental engineering, had been inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Gadgil was honored for two inventions that have helped millions of people in remote areas: UV Waterworks, a low-powered water disinfection system that uses UV light to kill pathogens, and the Berkeley-Darfur Stove, which reduces fuel demands of those in displacement camps.

Portable potables: How to fight drought by reusing water

02/26/14 National Public Radio — David Sedlak, professor of civil and environmental engineering, talks with NPR's All Things Considered about the many methods of capturing and reusing drinking water.

Time is now for a new revolution in urban water systems

02/18/14 — As California grapples with what state water officials have called a drought of "epic proportions," UC Berkeley urban-water expert David Sedlak, a professor of civil and environmental engineering, has been watching for signs that people are ready for a water revolution.

Berkeley Lab scientist Baptiste Dafflon collects electromagnetic data

The underground: Studying the Arctic tundra

02/12/14 — Normally, scientists don't have to worry about a polar bear charging them at 30 miles per hour. But this can be a big safety concern for researchers in Barrow, Alaska, where geophysicist Susan Hubbard (Ph.D'98 CEE) studies the Arctic ecosystem to improve climate modeling.

Seafloor carpet catches waves to generate energy

01/28/14 — UC Berkeley mechanical engineers are developing a seafloor carpet system to capture ocean wave energy and convert it into usable electricity. The system could eventually help lower the cost of converting seawater into fresh water, easing the pressure during periods of drought.

CEE’s Sally Thompson on NSF-funded team studying watershed’s critical zone

01/15/14 — A team of UC Berkeley scientists, including Sally Thompson of Civil and Environmental Engineering, will receive $4,900,000 from the National Science Foundation to study the Eel River watershed in Northern California and how its vegetation, geology and topography affect water flow all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

Researchers launch ‘Kelp Watch’ to determine extent of Fukushima contamination

01/14/14 Berkeley Lab — California researchers, including nuclear engineering's Kai Vetter, have launched “Kelp Watch 2014,” a scientific campaign to determine the extent of radioactive contamination of the state's kelp forest from Japan's damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant following the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami.

Cleantech to Market team lead Michael Lebow and College of Engineering Ph.D. candidate Sibel Leblebici demonstrate an innovative new fuel cell

Symposium spotlights clean-technology solutions

01/10/14 — Through the Cleantech to Market program, UC Berkeley students work with campus and Berkeley Lab scientists to bring new, environmentally friendly innovations to the world via commercialization.

Suburban sprawl cancels carbon-footprint savings of dense urban cores

01/07/14 — According to a new study by UC Berkeley researchers, led by professor Daniel Kammen of the Energy and Resources Group and Nuclear Engineering, population-dense cities contribute less greenhouse-gas emissions per person than other areas of the country, but these cities' extensive suburbs essentially wipe out the climate benefits.