The new Environmental Energy Technologies Division video page brings together videos of EETD scientists’ lectures posted on YouTube and news stories on such subjects as modeling climate change, making buildings more energy efficient, and developing a fuel-efficient stove for Darfur refugees.
One of R&D Magazine’s prestigious R&D 100 Awards for 2008, which recognize the 100 most significant proven technological advances of the year,has been awarded to “Nanostructured Polymer Electrolyte for Rechargeable Lithium Batteries”— a polymer electrolyte that enables the development of rechargeable lithium metal batteries with energy density that is at least a factor of two larger than that of existing technology. This technology was invented by Nitash Balsara of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Materials Sciences Division, and Environmental Energy Technologies Division.
http://www.lbl.gov/publicinfo/newscenter/pr/2008/TT-RD100.html
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the Federal Emergency Management Agency supplied trailers for temporary housing for approximately 100,000 families. When a pattern of respiratory symptoms and other health effects became evident in children living in the trailers, FEMA asked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the Department of Health and Human Services to study the problem. CDC brought in Michael Apte of Berkeley Lab’s Environmental Energy Technologies Division, to assist in one of its studies—measurements of the emissions of volatile organic compounds in several unoccupied trailers. Other EETD staff who participated were Randy Maddalena, Marion Russell, and Doug Sullivan.
The results of this study have been posted at the CDC’s website.
http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/ehhe/trailerstudy/residents.htm#final