EETD Communications

Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the University of California, the California Air Resources Board, and NASA will use aircraft outfitted with atmospheric sampling devices in mid-June to measure greenhouse gases over California, in an effort to better understand the relative contribution of the state’s GHG emissions to the global total.

Read the rest of this story here:
http://www.lbl.gov/publicinfo/newscenter/pr/2008/EETD-emissions.html

When an avalanche damaged a major electrical power line near Juneau, Alaska, on April 16, life abruptly changed for the town’s 30,000 inhabitants. The line had carried inexpensive hydroelectric power that supplied 85 percent of the Alaskan state capital’s electricity needs.

The line runs along the foot of a mountain that is often covered in snow in the winter and the local power utility, the Alaska Electric Light and Power company, had long been aware of its vulnerability. A bank of diesel-powered generators was waiting to step in during the emergency.

However, a big problem still remained for the town’s inhabitants: with the price of diesel fuel at historic highs, everyone was going to see their monthly electricity bill jump by as much as five times.

How do you save electricity in a hurry? One way to do it is to call in Berkeley Lab scientist Alan Meier, who wrote the book Saving Electricity in a Hurry while on leave to the International Energy Agency.

Read the rest of this story here:

http://www.lbl.gov/publicinfo/newscenter/features/2008/EETD-alaska.html

A multi-institutional research program managed by Berkeley Lab received recognition May 22 at Connectivity Week in Santa Clara, CA. The Connectivity Week meeting is a gathering of researchers and manufacturers of technology for intelligent buildings, green buildings, HVAC, lighting, IT, and the power grid. Connectivity Week’s Buildy awards recognize the application of automated control technology.

The demand response automation server, a technology developed for the Automated Demand Response research effort managed by Berkeley Lab’s Demand Response Research Center, received a Buildy Implementation Award. The AutoDR program is a collaboration of Berkeley Lab’s Environmental Energy Technologies Division, Akuacom, Global Energy Partners, and California’s investor-owned utilities. Berkeley Lab manages the DRRC, funded by the California Energy Commission’s Public Interest Energy Research Program.

About automated demand response research:
http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/sabl/2008/Feb/ADR.html

About the Buildys:
http://www.builconn.com/2008/na/news.asp?qsitem=2008-0530.htm