Berkeley Lab Unveils New Solar Energy Lab

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory officials opened a new research center today in Berkeley that will be dedicated to converting solar energy into fuel, lab officials said. The new Solar Energy Research Center, located at 1 Cyclotron Road, has the goal of building a prototype for an artificial photosystem that can produce fuel from sunlight that is 10 times more efficient than current technology.

“We believe the opening of this building will provide a significant boost to solar fuels research,” Berkeley Lab director Paul Alivisatos said. “It puts our researchers from various disciplines together in a single space, close to UC Berkeley and Berkeley Lab colleagues studying similar challenges.”

The nearly 40,000-square-foot three-story building cost $54 million to build and can accommodate about 100 employees, according to lab officials. The building will also house the lab’s programs in the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis, a Department of Energy hub led by the California Institute of Technology, according to lab officials. The building housing the center has been named Chu Hall after Steven Chu, a former Berkeley Lab director who served as the U.S. Secretary of Energy from 2009 to 2013, lab officials said.

“Steven’s commitment to ground-breaking science is really one of the reasons we’re naming this building after him,” Alivisatos said. “We felt that his service to our lab and to the country as Energy Secretary could best be acknowledged by today’s naming.”

By Bay City News

Photo via Shutterstock

Also on Patch:

• Alleged Livermore Drunk Driver Arraigned; Back in Court for Plea in June
• Tri-Valley Man Dies While Visiting Grand Canyon
• CHP Seeking to Find Young Girl in Toll Plaza Struggle for Welfare Check
• Police Activity Prompts Brief Lockdown of Castro Valley Middle School
• Remains Discovered in 2010 in Tri-City Area Are Those of Missing Swedish Woman
• Family of Transient Man Found Dead in Richmond Never Informed of Death
• Expansion of Off-Road Park Opposed by Livermore City Council