News

Utility Dive quoted the Energy Analysis & Environmental Impacts Division's Chris Marnay in a recent article about de-energizing utility lines as a safety measure.Chris Marnay is a retired Staff Scientist who worked at Berkeley Lab for 29 years. He models economic-environmental problems related to likely future adoption patterns of small-scale distributed energy resources (DER), especially when... Read more

Two projects awarded to Berkeley Lab and Mexican institutions advancing energy efficiency in buildings in Mexico as part of the call “Collaboration Projects in Energy Efficiency; Cooperation with the University of California” started work this fall. The call, issued last year by the CONACYT-SENER Energy Sustainability Fund (ESF) in a ceremony led by UC President Janet Napolitano and Mexico... Read more

Mexico City Mayor-elect Claudia Sheinbaum visited Berkeley Lab on Nov. 9, 2018, as part of a visit to the Bay Area to learn about urban sustainability practices. Dr. Sheinbaum spent four years at the Lab (1991-1994) analyzing energy consumption in Mexico and other industrialized countries. She and Lab scientist Lynn Price were lead authors of the Industry Chapter of Working Group III... Read more

The International Energy Studies (IES) Group is pleased to announce the publication of A study of appliance ownership and electricity consumption determinants in urban Ghanaian households in Sustainable Cities and Society Journal, January 2019 edition. The paper was coauthored by past visiting scholar Marriette Sakah, upcoming visiting scholar Felix Diawuo and assistant leader of the IES Group... Read more

Dr. Michael McNeil, Director of Berkeley Lab's MEI has been invited to serve as a member of the Editorial Board of the Monthly E-Bulletin on Energy Efficiency Activities (Boletin Electronico Mensual de Difusion de Acciones de Eficiencia Energetica), published and distributed by Mexico's Energy Secretariat (SENER). The decision was made by current members of the Editorial Board and was communicated... Read more

Diego Chatellier Lorentzen, a PhD student of energy engineering from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), joined MEI last month on a six-month fellowship granted by Mexico's National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT). Diego will be collaborating at the Lab on the "Mexican Energy Pathways Initiative", which focuses on finding solutions for Mexico to achieve its emission... Read more

MEI's Director Dr. Michael McNeil highlighted aspects of Berkeley Lab's Mexico Cooling Initiative (MCI) in the presentation "Air Conditioning Impacts and Strategies in Mexico", delivered at the Second "KONWAKAI in Latin America" seminar held last month in Mexico City. The event was convened by air conditioner manufacturer Daikin and included the participation of Mexican government officials,... Read more

As part of Berkeley Lab's mission to bring science to the world, the Energy Technologies Area is hosting three visiting scientists through the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs TechWomen program.The goal is to empower, connect and support the next generation of women leaders in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by providing them access and... Read more

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s (Berkeley Lab’s) Global Cooling Efficiency Program is well-renowned for conducting global analysis on carbon emissions related to air-conditioner use. Much of the program’s research focuses on geographic areas where air-conditioner demand is growing rapidly, such as in China and India. The Economist published a feature article on the environmental cost... Read more

Last month, the US Green Building Council (USGBC), Johnson Controls, and the World Resources Institute (WRI) hosted the “Forum on National-Subnational Collaboration for Building Energy Efficiency,” in Mexico City. The Building Efficiency Accelerator (BEA) event brought together stakeholders from government, industry, development banks, and international cooperation agencies to discuss the role... Read more

Release of Report of U.S.-China Power Consumption, Demand and Competition Cooperation: Policy Recommendations for the Pilots in Guangdong, Jilin, Jiangsu, and ShanghaiThe United States and China have been cooperating since 2016 under the Power Consumption, Demand and Competition Cooperation to identify solutions to advance key elements of China's comprehensive market reforms to foster a... Read more

Odón De Buen, Director General of Mexico’s National Commission for the Efficient Use of Energy (CONUEE) and Andrew McAllister, Commissioner of the California Energy Commission (CEC), led the California-Mexico Energy Efficiency Webinar held in early June to discuss current activities supporting energy efficiency and opportunities for collaboration. The webinar, hosted by CEC in partnership with... Read more

A recent analysis by Berkeley Lab on the importance of space cooling (air conditioning) in Mexico's energy landscape found that this use accounted for a summer electricity consumption increase by 30%; represents nine percent of total electricity use and produces a peak electricity demand of 7.5 GW. In addition, space cooling absorbs over $US 3 billion per year in energy bills and subsidies,... Read more

According to the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction, buildings account for nearly 25% of all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions worldwide. In Mexico, the World Resources Institute estimates that end-user energy consumption in buildings accounts for almost 20% of all end-user energy consumption in the country. Thus, energy efficient buildings will play a large role in Mexico's transition... Read more

U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry and India Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan recently launched a Strategic Energy Partnership that includes a significant intellectual contribution by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). Building Innovation: Guide For High-Performance Energy-Efficient Buildings in India, is a document packed with best practices for smart,... Read more

Berkeley Lab has designed, calibrated and has been operating a world-class testing laboratory for efficiency and emissions from biomass cookstoves for many years. However, no guidebooks or textbooks are available that advise other researchers on how to build their own similar testing laboratory. Due to a significant number of requests from cookstove researchers around the world (including but not... Read more

Berkeley Lab's International Energy Studies group recently hosted a delegation from the Indonesian Government to discuss energy efficiency and clean energy issues. The delegation was led by Coordinating Ministry of Maritime Affairs (CMMA) Deputy Minister for Infrastructure Ridwan Djamaluddin. Berkeley Lab researchers identified 10 GW of peak load savings from energy efficiency, and presented the... Read more

A workshop to introduce Chinese government officials to a range of U.S. technology companies that could help them implement their low-emission action plans – thereby facilitating commercial opportunities for U.S. companies in China – was recently hosted by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s China Energy Group in Shenzhen, China. More than 60 individuals from U.S. and Chinese government... Read more

Nan Zhou recently delivered a keynote speech and participated in a panel discussion on “The Energy Transformation Imperative” at the World Sustainable Development Forum (WSDF). Zhou discussed the techno-economic potential in key emerging economies to increase electrification rates across the transport, industrial, and buildings sectors, to reduce final energy demand by 2050.WSDF brings... Read more

Energy Innovation, a nonpartisan climate policy think tank, contributed an article in Forbes about the rise of global cooling demand. The article cites research from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's Global Cooling Efficiency Program on improving the energy efficient air-conditioners 30% by 2030 could reduce peak electricity demand by the same amount of electricity produced by more than 1500... Read more

Through the U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center Building Energy Efficiency (CERC-BEE) program, the U.S. Department of Energy, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and U.S. industry, are working together to accelerate the research, development and deployment (RD&D) of advanced building energy efficiency technologies. A cornerstone of the program is R&D on building energy... Read more

The 2017 Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development was held in Beijing’s Diaoyutai State Guesthouse on December 9–11, 2017. This important forum allows Chinese leadership to engage the international community on environment and development issues. The theme of the 2017 meeting was “Ecological Civilization in Action: a... Read more

On December 12th in Beijing, China, Carolyn Szum participated in a panel discussion entitled, “International Green Finance Experience Exchange,” alongside representatives from Citibank, HSBC, and the Green Climate Fund, to advise leading Chinese banks and government agencies, such as Ministry of Finance, National Development and Reform Commission), People’s Bank of China, China Banking and... Read more

The China Energy Group took home a prestigious R&D 100 Award for its innovative Benchmarking and Energy Saving Tool for Low-Carbon Cities (BEST Cities), which provides software for low-carbon planning that users can easily install and run. Berkeley Lab also won awards for technologies that help determine how solar energy affects the grid; understand the functions of genes in microbes under... Read more

The International Energy Studies Group recently announced the release of a new Berkeley Lab study that will improve the energy efficiency of room air conditioners. "Assessment of commercially available energy-efficient room air conditioners including models with low global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants" reviews improvement of energy efficiency of room air conditioners (RACs) while... Read more