Patrick Dobson is the Geothermal Systems program lead and staff scientist in the Earth & Environmental Sciences Area. He has studied geothermal systems around the world, working on a wide range of research topics that include supercritical systems, play fairway analysis, mineral recovery, district heating, and subsurface thermal energy storage.

Corinne Scown is a staff scientist in the Energy Technologies Area and she leads the Life-cycle, Economics, and Agronomy Division in the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI). Her research is focused on modeling the economic and environmental impacts of advanced pathways to bio-based fuels and products.

Jay Keasling is a senior faculty scientist in the Biological Systems and Engineering Division (BSE) and CEO of the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI). The renowned synthetic biologist is harnessing biology to address challenges in renewable biomanufacturing, human health, and bioenergy.

A research team led by scientists at Berkeley Lab, in collaboration with UC Berkeley, has demonstrated a unique workaround that offers a simpler approach to solar cell manufacturing: A crystalline solar material with a built-in electric field – a property enabled by what scientists call “ferroelectricity.”

The new ferroelectric material – which is grown in the lab from cesium germanium tribromide – opens the door to an easier approach to making solar cell devices.

Berkeley Lab Research Scientist Sean Lubner is studying materials that can help better store renewable energy to power large-scale systems.

What is photosynthesis? Oh, no big deal, just the key to life on Earth as we know it! Join me as I take a deep dive into this amazingly sophisticated chemical process. Hear fascinating details they didn’t teach you in school and get a crash course on how natural photosynthesis inspires the development of renewable energy technologies that could someday replace all petroleum products.