ETA 2021 Strategic Plan - Flipbook - Page 3
Our expertise enables us to deliver some of the most effective solutions on the planet, which will help solve
the climate crisis while saving energy, money, and the environment. For example, the Department of Energy’s
appliance energy efficiency standards program, supported by Berkeley Lab, is projected to save 129 quads of
energy by 2030 — the equivalent of avoiding greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from 1.5 billion cars driven for
one year. In addition, our ongoing innovations in building science help owners save energy and money while
increasing occupant comfort, and we provide the latest software and modeling tools our scientists develop
free to the public domain.
Foreword to Move Forward
We are fortunate to have a close relationship with the University of California, Berkeley, as well as ambitious
and plentiful partnerships with many different academic institutions and industries, all working toward a more
secure future, together. With our San Francisco Bay Area location we are in the hotbed of the world’s best
academic institutions, along with the innovative and imaginative discoveries happening daily in Silicon Valley.
Our networked connections are unmatched.
Our goal? To provide the research necessary to work with others to solve the climate crisis, build a solid and
secure electrical grid, deal with air quality issues and building ventilation issues in the pandemic era, and
develop clean-energy technologies that will secure a more stable world for all.
I am proud to lead the Energy Technologies Area (ETA) at Berkeley Lab, especially during this moment, when
science is leading the way to find solutions for the most pressing and complex issues that affect us all — the
climate crisis, the pandemic, and the question of equitable access to the solutions for both. ETA researchers
are well-suited to meet this moment, and I am honored to work with them on the challenges and research
articulated in this 2021 ETA Strategic Plan Refresh.
There is consensus in the scientific community that mitigation simply is not enough to combat climate change,
while providing affordable energy access to all. Society as a whole must enthusiastically embrace clean-energy
technologies, develop technologies and policies for adaptation, and move forward confidently with ambitious
negative emissions strategies to solve our interlocking complex challenges.
ETA scientists are well-poised to research innovative solutions, and are looking forward to building on the
strong foundation we have developed over the past 50 years. Today we have an unprecedented opportunity
to bring to market energy-efficient innovations across the buildings, transportation and industrial sectors. We
are at the forefront of developing better batteries for electric vehicles; improving the country’s aging electrical
grid and innovating distributed energy and storage solutions; developing grid-interactive efficient buildings;
and providing the most comprehensive market and data analysis available worldwide, for renewable
technologies like wind and solar.
We are also investing in our people. This refreshed Strategic Plan goes to print when science has rapidly
delivered vaccines to the pandemic. I am so proud of our scientists and staff. During this pandemic, our
researchers have soldiered on, continuing to conduct their important work — on indoor air quality to
understand transmission pathways for airborne pathogens like SARS-CoV-2 and delivering real-world and realtime strategies for improving air quality while sheltering in homes during wildfires and Public Safety Power
Shutoffs.
Clean-energy entrepreneurs are also learning new ways to onboard at critical moments in their careers. We
are excited about the early career researchers who are joining this scientific enterprise as we grow our bench
with a talented and diverse pipeline of researchers.
ETA was excited to partner with the Earth and Environmental Sciences Area at Berkeley Lab, and with
hundreds of industry and academic partners, to launch the National Alliance for Water Innovation, a research
hub funded by the U.S. Department of Energy that is making the largest investments in water science and
technology since the Kennedy administration. We also joined together with all areas of the lab to found the
Berkeley Lab Energy Storage Center and to hire its inaugural director. I am enthusiastic about the research I
see coming out of both new activities.
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Best of all, we’re nimble. As the world moves toward highly integrated electrified transportation and buildings
with a grid based largely on intermittent renewable energy, we have naturally evolved our research in that
direction and often lead the way in these new scientific arenas.
The conclusion: we have pivoted our research — and the strategic initiatives we undertake for the remainder
of our 10-year plan — in order to maximize our impacts. We build upon our legacy of mitigation research
and double down on the portfolio of adaptation research we believe we can scale at the pace needed, while
investing in a pipeline of negative emissions technologies to identify scalable intervention options.
I am humbled to lead this organization of dedicated and diverse scientists and strong support staff who come
to work every day, motivated to change the world. ETA researchers never let go of the solutions they are
pursuing.
Meanwhile, in our Area as a whole, we continue to place a strong emphasis on the essential components of
inclusion, diversity, equity, and accountability, because without these pillars and what they stand for we are
not a complete organization.
We are proud to release this updated Strategic Plan, full of new and powerful ideas, which lays out an exciting
vision for our organization, where we can enable game-changing impacts for combating climate change while
providing affordable clean energy to all.
Sincerely,
Ravi Prasher
Associate Laboratory Director
Energy Technologies Area
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
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