Berkeley Lab Announces its
Spring 2013 “10 On the Way” List
Contact (510) 486-4014 JRWeiner@lbl.gov
At Berkeley Lab, our goal is to bring science solutions to the world. Here are 10 entries in our 2013 “On the Way” list that are either starting up, moving along, or getting ready to deliver:
Advanced biofuels
At the Berkeley Lab-led Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), researchers have engineered microbes to digest switchgrass and synthesize its cellulosic sugars into gasoline, diesel or jet fuel for today’s engines. Advanced biofuels from cellulosic biomass are clean, green and renewable and can be directly used in today’s engines and infrastructures.
BELLA: Berkeley Lab Laser Accelerator
The world’s most audacious “table-top” accelerator, the Berkeley Lab Laser Accelerator, BELLA, will soon drive an electron beam from zero to 10 billion electron-volts in just one meter by drilling through a plasma with the world’s most powerful fast-repeating laser. This laser plasma accelerator explores new physics while saving space and energy.
Dark energy probe
Expect spectacular final results from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey, which is probing the universe’s expansion before dark energy kicked in with millions of galaxies and quasars. And Berkeley Lab is DOE’s choice to lead the next stage of research, the Mid-Scale Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument for collecting galaxies and quasars across an entire hemisphere of the sky.
Solar-powered vaccine refrigerator
Designed to run for five days even without power, the world’s first portable, solar-powered vaccine refrigerator—fabricated entirely at Berkeley Lab—can be transported by bike or on foot to remote areas of the developing world. The vaccines it carries will combat infectious diseases, such as polio, pertussis and rota virus, that kill millions annually.
Smart windows
Energy lost through windows totals $50 billion annually in the U.S. Berkeley Lab is developing “smart windows” that adjust to environmental conditions, letting heat pass on cold days and blocking it on hot days. The dynamic windows are based on nanocrystals that can control the transmission of heat and light from the sun independently.
Microbial-based anti-malaria drug
Twelve years after Berkeley Lab’s Jay Keasling used synthetic biology to engineer microbes for the production of the frontline anti-malaria drug artemisinin, the pharmaceutical company Sanofi has made Keasling’s synthetic version of this life-saving medicine available and affordable for the 300 million people in developing nations who contract malaria each year.
Predictive, climate-change consequence maps
New Berkeley Lab maps (a result of the Lab’s supercomputing expertise) show that Earth’s myriad climates—and the ecosystems that depend on them—will move from one area to another as global temperatures rise. One result: Boreal forests will likely retreat north at a steady clip this century. Along the way, the vegetation will relinquish more trapped carbon than most current climate models predict.
Artificial photosynthesis
Enough solar energy hits Earth in one hour to meet human needs for a year. Berkeley Lab researchers at the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis are developing technologies for producing fuels that are modeled off the process by which green plants convert sunlight into sugars but are much more efficient.
Materials Genome Project
Supercomputers at Berkeley Lab’s National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) are playing a central role in the national Materials Genome Project, which is aimed at doubling the speed at which new materials are discovered, developed and manufactured. The supercomputers are being used to map the relationship between material structures, physical and chemical properties.
Better batteries
With some of the best battery scientists in the country Berkeley Lab has already made possible a new family of long-lasting rechargeable batteries. Now efforts are focused on developing advanced batteries for transportation, whether by developing new materials that last longer, redesigning the chemistry to wring more energy out of the battery or collaborating with industry through CalCharge.
