Abridged SP FINAL-DIGITAL - Flipbook - Page 8
ETA Big
Breakthroughs
Building Better Batteries
1950s
1960s
Groundbreaking work enabled materials researchers
worldwide to develop new battery chemistries and materials — including next-gen solid state and sodium ion
batteries. The research contributes to the optimization of
every battery produced since, enabling applications from
cell phones to cars to microgrids.
Refrigerators and More
1980s
Development of the first-ever national appliance efficiency
standards, for refrigerators, on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy. As a result, the average new refrigerator-freezer in 2010 used only 44% of the energy per year
as an average new unit did in 1985. The program rapidly
expanded to include all major appliances and equipment
and expertise was shared worldwide.
Understanding Renewables
2014
FLEXLAB , the world’s most
advanced integrated building and grid technologies
testbed, opened its doors.
Cyclotron Road founded and
initiated collaboration with
entrepreneurial scientists and
engineers to facilitate and speed critical technologies to
commercialization.
®
Hydrogen
2020
Despite the pandemic, Berkeley Lab launched the HydroGen Consortium, to develop hydrogen production;
the Energy Storage Center, to catalyze new approaches
to energy storage; and the CalFlexHub to demonstrate
demand flexibility as a grid resource to California homes
and businesses.
6 | ETA Strategic Plan 2021-2030
Charles Tobias, founding father of electrochemical
engineering, established the Electrochemical Research
Program at Berkeley Lab. He was the first to apply strict
scientific methods to this area of research, laying the
foundation for important future work in batteries and
energy storage.
1970s
Save Energy, Reduce Pollution
Art Rosenfeld established the
Energy Efficient Buildings Program at Berkeley Lab. For the
first time, fluorescent lighting,
energy-efficient windows, and
energy simulation tools enable
widespread energy-efficiency in buildings, and indoor air
quality research begins to advance.
1990s
Touché Torchieres
2000s
Bridging an information gap hindering the advancement of
renewable resources, Berkeley Lab issued the first national
market reports on wind energy and solar photovoltaics —
eventually becoming world experts on electricity markets
and policy.
Innovation Accelerates
It’s All About Energy Storage
efficiency opportunities.
2007
Berkeley Lab pioneered
a new generation of
advanced battery technology, developed compact
fluorescent lamp (CFL)
torchieres, and launched
appliance standards
work in China, the world’s
largest market for energy
Nobel Peace Prize
ETA scientists shared in the Nobel
Peace Prize awarded to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change and former Vice President
Al Gore for research helping to lay
a basis for mitigation and adaptation of climate change.
2015
Saving Billions
Berkeley Lab helped the
DOE establish the strongest
efficiency standard in U.S.
history, saving owners of
rooftop air conditioners and
heat pumps an estimated
$50 billion in energy costs over the next few decades.
