Recycling Steam Reduces
Waste, Global Warming

Forty years ago, the steel mills and factories south of Chicago were known for their sooty smokestacks and plumes of steam. Clean-air laws have since gotten rid of the smoke, but what remains is the steam, billowing up into the sky day after day. The U.S. economy wastes 55 percent of the energy it consumes — the amount lost by electric utilities alone could power all of Japan. A 2005 report by Berkeley Lab found that U.S. industry could profitably recycle enough waste energy — including steam, furnace gases, heat, and pressure — to reduce the country’s fossil-fuel use (and greenhouse-gas emissions) by nearly a fifth. Full story.

Missed QUEST Episode?
View Archived Version

Keasling on QUEST

Lab staff who were unable to view the episode of KQED’s QUEST science program that aired on Channel 9 this past Tuesday evening, which featured Physical Biosciences Division Director Jay Keasling, can go here to view an archived version. The episode, “Biofuels: Beyond Ethanol” looked at the Bay Area’s leadership in developing the next generation of green fuel alternatives.

Simon Gives Lecture
On Greening of HPC

Simon

As part of the Distinguished Lecture Series in Petascale Simulation, sponsored by the University of Texas at Austin, Berkeley Lab Computing Sciences Associate Lab Director Horst Simon gave a talk on “The Greening of High-Performance Computing — Will Power Consumption Become the Limiting Factor for Future Growth?” As part of his lecture, Simon discussed efforts to promote the growth of high-performance computing without contributing to global warming, and Lab research projects that address the issue of reducing power consumption.

New Emergency Response
Guides Being Delivered

Employees should be aware that updated Emergency Response Guides (ERG) will begin showing up in lab mail boxes. Staff should discard their old ERGs and replace them with the new 2008-2010 version. The ERGs should be placed  in public areas like bulletin boards, labs, hallways, lobby areas or in individual office areas. Unused copies of the new ERG should be sent to MS 48-0120.  For more information, send e-mail here, or call x7032.