Small Items Fuel
Bigger Electric Bills
By David Penn

Brown

Along with door frames and the lines behind diving boards, electricity bills tend to swell in the summer. But when looking to save money on electricity, there are a few factors other than insulation to take into account. In the background of many homes, there's a silent army of appliances siphoning away electricity when their owners aren't looking. Berkeley Lab researchers have been keeping tabs on particular products. Set-top boxes for televisions, such as cable boxes, signal decoders and digital recorders, have drawn special attention. "These boxes are always on. They may have an 'off' switch, but they still are talking to the network," said Rich Brown, a scientist with Berkeley Lab's Environmental Energy Technologies Division. Full story.

New-Generation MRI
On CBS 'Science Today'

Pines

Berkeley Lab research that has developed a new generation of magnetic resonance imaging, called remote detection, improves the sensitivity of traditional MRI. It is described this week in a Science Today report on CBS radio. The program, produced by the University of California, features Alexander Pines, a senior materials scientist at Berkeley Lab, who says the process works because it uses xenon gas to encode or "remember" the molecules it comes into contact with — even after the gas is removed. Hear the report (with Real Player) here.

Rosenfeld Receives
Wheeler Award

Rosenfeld

Former Lab employee Arthur Rosenfeld, known to many as the "father of energy efficiency in buildings," has been awarded the Benjamin Ide Wheeler Medal from the Berkeley Community Fund. It honors Berkeley residents for their "non-partisan service in any field or activity that has benefited the quality of life for a significant number of people in Berkeley." Rosenfeld founded the Center for Building Science, which was housed in the Lab's Environmental Energy Technologies Division. He left the Lab in 1994 to work for the Department of Energy, and is now a California Energy Commissioner. He will receive the award during a ceremony this October.

Reminder About Health
Claims Workshop

The Lab's Health Care Facilitator program is presenting a brown-bag presentation on "Navigating the Health Claims System" tomorrow from noon to 1 p.m. in Perseverance Hall (the Addition Conference Room). The event is open to all employees. Seating is limited, so contact Loida Bartolome-Mingao (x6997) to reserve a spot.

PG&E Switching
Takes Place Friday

PG&E will be performing switching on the 115-Kv transmission line to the Lab this Friday. The procedures will be transparent to employees and it is highly unlikely that an interruption of power will occur. However, the possibility of an electrical power interruption always exists. Staff are urged to take all necessary precautions. For additional information, call Jim Murphy (x4175) or Mahesh Gupta (x5220).
 

Energy Panel Suggests DOE Science Priorities

The all-important FY 2005 Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill and its accompanying report have been released. The bill, from which Berkeley Lab gets a majority of its federal research funding, puts priority next year on high performance computing, upgraded user facilities, nanoscale science, remediation of safety deficiencies, restoration of domestic fusion funding, and the proposed Rare Isotope Accelerator. Go here to read selections from House Appropriations Committee report 108-554, which details recommendations for the Office of Science, high-energy physics, nuclear physics and other fields.