India may rank only a distant fourth in terms of carbon dioxide emissions, behind China, the United States and Russia, but its rapid economic growth rate coupled with aging and inefficient energy infrastructure suggest dire environmental consequences if "business as usual" continues. That’s why experts from the Berkeley Lab have been working to expand collaborations with India on energy efficiency. More>
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Berkeley Lab has signed a contract with an outside vendor for the operation of a new bus system, beginning in early 2010. The system will be notable for its safer, more energy-efficient buses that run on biofuel, as well as seat belts, wider entrances and exits, onboard wifi, and more frequent maintenance schedules. Lab management is continuing to work with our career bus drivers to ensure that all of them have the option of either becoming an employee of the new bus vendor or continuing as a union-represented employee in a job at the Lab, with no cut in salary or benefits. Watch future editions of TABL for more details on when the new bus service will begin.
In 1979, physicists John Dawson and Toshiki Tajima first proposed laser wakefield acceleration for boosting accelerating fields in plasmas, by orders of magnitude over the conventional methods used in miles-long particle machines. After two decades, the Accelerator and Fusion Research Division’s LOASIS Program accelerated a beam of electrons to 80 million electron volts in a few millimeters; then two years later, to a billion volts in a little over three centimeters. Soon the Berkeley Lab Laser Accelerator, BELLA, will accelerate beams to 10 Gev in less than a meter. Eric Esarey, Carl Schroeder and LOASIS head Wim Leemans recently commemorated the 30th anniversary of plasma acceleration with an article in Reviews of Modern Physics. Laser technology made the difference, says Leemans. "Before 2000, we had to build our own lasers. Now you can get lasers with hundreds of terawatts of peak power commercially, with petawatt lasers coming soon." More>
The Earth Sciences Division’s Terry Hazen (right) has been appointed the Chair of the Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC). The IBC provides institutional assurance of safety by reviewing Berkeley Lab policies and projects involving research with biological materials that may pose safety, health, or environmental risks. Hazen brings to the IBC extensive experience in microbiology and biotechnology, and a strong desire to promote research within a safe work environment. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiologists, the American Society for Microbiologists, and the Society for Industrial Microbiology. He replaces the Life Sciences Division’s Tamas Torok (left), who held the IBC chair for 10 years.
Special Event: Lab Sponsors Holiday Food Drive The Alameda County Community Food Bank and Berkeley Lab are hosting an onsite holiday food drive to help support and supply those in need of food. Staff who want to contribute can bring nutritious, non-perishable foods (no glass packaging) to work and deposit them in a number of barrels located throughout the Hill. Barrel locations include the cafeteria lobby, the 3rd floor of Building 90, the 3rd floor lobby of the Molecular Foundry (Bldg. 67), and the Joint Bioenergy Institute (north, east, south and west corners and kitchen). Financial donations are also accepted. More>
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