Proud May They Fly

The flags of the United States, the State of California, and the U.S. Department of Energy were raised to the top of the new flagpoles in an April 2 ceremony inaugurating the new flag plaza next to Building 65, uphill from Blackberry Gate. For more on the dedication, see story on Page 3. Photo by Roy Kaltschmidt

Hybrid Solar Cells Cheaper, Better

By Lynn Yarris

DEVICE COMBINES SEMICONDUCTOR
NANORODS WITH AN ORGANIC POLYMER
TO CONVERT LIGHT INTO ELECTRICITY.

A new generation of solar cells that combine nanotechnology with plastic electronics has been launched with the development of a semiconductor-polymer photovoltaic device by researchers with Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley. Such hybrid solar cells will be cheaper and easier to make than their semiconductor counterparts, and could be made in the same nearly infinite variety of shapes as pure polymers.

Paul Alivisatos, a chemist who holds a joint appointment with Berkeley Lab’s Materials Sciences Division (MSD) and UC Berkeley’s Chemistry Department, led the team, which reported their hybrid solar cell development in the March 29 issue of Science. Other members of the team were Wendy Huynh, a graduate student with UCB’s Chemistry Department, and Janke Dittmer, an MSD staff scientist.

“We have demonstrated that semiconductor nanorods can be used to fabricate readily processed and energy efficient hybrid solar cells together with polymers,” says Alivisatos, a leading authority on the production of nano-sized semiconductor crystals and director of the Molecular Foundry, a center for nano-science now being established at Berkeley Lab.

The use of solar or photovoltaic cells — devices that can absorb and convert light into electrical power — has been limited to date because of high production costs. Even the fabrication of the simplest semiconductor cell is a complex process that has to take place under exactly controlled conditions, such as high vacuum and temperatures between 400 and 1,400 degrees Celsius.

Ever since the discovery in 1977 of conducting plastics (polymers which feature conjugated double chemical bonds that enable electrons to move through them) there has been interest in using these materials in the fabrication of solar cells. While plastic solar cells can be made in bulk quantities for a few cents each, the efficiency by which they convert light into electricity has been quite poor compared to the power conversion efficiencies of semiconductor cells.

“The advantage of hybrid materials consisting of inorganic semiconductors and organic polymers is that potentially you get the best of both worlds,” says Dittmer. “Inorganic semiconductors offer excellent, well established electronic properties, and they are very well suited as solar cell materials. Polymers offer the advantage of solution processing at room temperature, which is cheaper and allows for using fully flexible substrates, such as plastics.”

At the heart of all photovoltaic devices are two separate layers of materials, one with an abundance of electrons that functions as a “negative pole,” and one with an abundance of electron holes (vacant positively-charged energy spaces) that functions as a “positive pole.” When photons from the sun or some other light source are absorbed, their energy is transferred to the extra electrons in the negative pole, causing them to flow to the positive pole and create new holes that start flowing to the negative pole. This electrical current can then be used to power other devices, such as a pocket calculator.

In a typical semiconductor solar cell, the two poles are made from n-type and p-type semiconductors. In a plastic solar cell, they’re made from hole-acceptor and electron-acceptor polymers. In their new hybrid solar cell, Alivisatos, Huynh and Dittmer used the semicrystalline polymer known as poly (3-hexylthiophene), or P3HT, for the hole acceptor or negative pole, and nanometer-sized cadmium-selenide (CdSe) rods as the positive pole.

Paul Alivisatos of Materials Sciences (right) led the team that developed the hybrid solar cell. He is joined here by team members Janke Dittmer, also of MSD, and UC Berkeley graduate student Wendy Huynh.

“We chose P3HT because it can be processed in solution and has been used by many research groups around the world who are working on plastic transistors,” says Huynh. “Also, it is the conjugated polymer with the highest hole mobility found so far. Higher hole (and electron) mobility means that charges are transported more quickly, which reduces current losses.”

The CdSe rods measured 7 nanometers in diameter and 60 nanometers in length (a nanometer being less than one-hundred millionth of an inch).

Alivisatos led an earlier study in which the technique for growing semiconductor nanocrystals into two-dimensional rods was first developed. Prior to that work, nanocrystals had always been grown as one-dimensional spheres. Using rod-shaped nanocrystals rather than spheres provided a directed path for electron transport to help improve cell performance.

“With CdSe rods measuring 7 nm by 60 nm, our hybrid solar cells achieved a monochromatic power conversion efficiency of 6.9 percent, one of the highest ever reported for a plastic photovoltaic device,” says Alivisatos. Monochromatic power efficiency measures the ability to convert room light (which is mostly visible light) into electricity.

The researchers prepared their solar cells by co-dissolving the nanorods with the P3HT and spin-casting the hybrid solution onto a glass substrate. They found that by keeping the length of the rods constant while modifying the diameter they were able to tune the absorption spectrum of the cells so that it overlapped with the solar emission spectrum. This not only enables their hybrid cells to collect more light than typical plastic solar cells, but it also opens the door for high-efficiency devices in the future, such as tandem solar cells.

Although the efficiency of the Berkeley hybrid cells for converting sunlight into electricity was only 1.7 percent at A.M. 1.5 (when the sun is at a 41.8-degree angle to the horizon), which is far off the mark of the best semiconductor solar cells, Dittmer says there is ample opportunity for improvement.

“The most important step is to increase the amount of sunlight absorbed in the red part of the spectrum, which we can do by going to other semiconductor materials such as cadmium-telluride. Also, our published hybrid solar cells have a very simple structure in order to investigate the science behind them. In the future, many engineering tricks can be applied to make the cells more efficient.”

The Berkeley researchers have already been approached by companies interested in commercializing this technology.

Lab Collaborates with Buck Institute for Age Research

By Paul Preuss

In a brief ceremony at Marin County’s Buck Institute for Age Research on March 22, Institute president Dale Bredesen and Berkeley Lab Director Charles Shank signed a memorandum of understanding for collaboration on research, training and education in aging.

“We’re delighted to be affiliated with the Buck Institute and look forward to very close scientific interactions,” Director Shank said at the signing. Adding that “this institute is unique in the world,” Shank said he hoped the collaboration would make the Buck Institute “the premier place where aging is studied.”

Noting that this was the Buck Institute’s “first formal affiliation with a major research institution,” President Bredesen joked that by his calculation “we are one-thirtieth the size of Berkeley Lab. It’s exciting to be affiliated with this premier research establishment.” 

Both men credited Judith Campisi of Berkeley Lab’s Life Sciences Division with bringing the facilities together. At a community seminar on “Breast Cancer and Aging” that preceded the signing of the memorandum, Campisi was a featured speaker, sharing the podium with Christopher Benz, a medical doctor who is investigating breast cancer therapies at the Buck Institute.

Berkeley Lab’s Judith Campisi described her research during a seminar preceding the signing of the agreement.

An eager crowd of about 300 visitors — some in their thirties, many in their eighties or older, and all ages in between — overflowed the big auditorium where Campisi described the aging research she has done at Berkeley Lab and through her joint appointment at the Buck Institute.

“Understanding aging is the key to understanding cancer,” she said. Cancer isn’t a problem for single-celled organisms with life spans of minutes or hours, of course, or for organisms like fruit flies whose cells don’t divide and whose lifetimes are measured in days or weeks. The cells of organisms that live for years must divide, however, and “cell division is a risky business.”

Tumor-suppressing mechanisms that keep down mutations and the proliferation of cancer cells work well through the age of child rearing, but “in modern times our life spans go way beyond the age of reproductive fitness,” Campisi said. At about the midpoint of our lifetimes, the incidence of cancer begins to rise exponentially.

Campisi’s fascinating research with mice indicates that similar patterns are evident — cancers begin to proliferate at the midpoint of their lives — even though mice typically live only about three years.

The flip side is that by holding off cancer, life is also extended. How can this be done? In mice, one thing works: severe caloric intake. Cutting calories by as much as half can extend their lives by half again — and not just life but health. “These old mice look great,” Campisi said. “They’re full of energy. They spend a lot of time on their exercise wheels.”

But don’t try this at home, Campisi warns. “We don’t know how caloric restriction works. It’s very difficult to cut calories this much and maintain good nutrition.” During the question and answer session that followed Campisi’s presentation, another caveat emerged. “The mice look great — but they’re in a really bad mood!”

Campisi then turned to a discussion of the molecular and cellular events that come with aging and make cancer more likely. By the end of her remarkably accessible talk she had outlined a comprehensive program of research into the relationship of aging and breast cancer.

The Buck Institute for Age Research in Novato was the site of the signing of the memorandum of understanding for a major collaboration between Berkeley lab and the Institute.

Carol Dillon-Knutson, a council member from nearby Novato, praised the seminar for “raising the understanding of the general public.” While most members of the audience were from Marin County communities, many local politicians and members of state and congressional staffs were also in attendance in honor of the agreement with Berkeley Lab, of which education will be an important part.

As a nationally recognized expert on aging, Judith Campisi was a member of the Buck Institute’s advisory board before she accepted a faculty position there. That the two institutions had something to share seemed obvious from the start.

Campisi broached the idea of cooperation to Mina Bissell, director of the Life Sciences Division. Later Pier Oddone, deputy director of Berkeley Lab, came to the Buck Institute on an information-gathering visit. “Both parties were enthusiastic about the collaboration from the beginning,” Campisi says.

One early step is that the Buck Institute will join Berkeley Lab in the Center for Research and Education in Aging (CREA), which is also supported by UC Berkeley.

“It gives me pleasure to see that CREA is now a triumvirate,” says Campisi. She believes it is just the beginning of a long and fruitful cooperation that will involve many more exchanges between researchers, students, and staff who are addressing the critical problems of age and age-associated diseases — and sharing what they learn with the public.

Washington Report

DOE plans to close out LTR program

Despite a decade’s worth of success stories, DOE is planning to pull the plug on the Laboratory Technology Research program. Established in the early 1990s, LTR was designed to promote technology transfer of energy innovations from national laboratories to private industry, a task at which it succeeded, judging by the numerous awards LTR projects have garnered.

“I’m sad to say we’re doing this — the LTR program has produced some good results,” said James Decker, acting director of DOE’s Office of Science, who announced the close-out plan at a joint DOE/NSF meeting last month. SC is seeking no additional funding beyond this year for the program, Decker said.

Although the Bush administration in its FY 2003 budget proposal hailed LTR as “the lead program in the Office of Science for leveraging science and technology to advance understanding and to promote our country’s economic competitiveness,” LTR has also been “labeled corporate welfare” by some members of Congress.

Said Decker, “Congress has whacked away at LTR over the years so that it’s become sub-critical in size.”

Unless Congress renews the LTR at viable funding levels, Decker said SC plans to wrap up the program by seeking $3 million for current CRADAs in FY03, then shutting the program down.

EERE to be reorganized

DOE has announced it will reorganize its Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy division this spring in an attempt to make programs more “responsive” to U.S. energy needs. The 31 programs in the EERE office will shrink to 11, according to David Garman, assistant secretary for EERE, in order to end “overlapping functions, inefficiencies and turf battles.”

Currently, the 31 EERE programs are divided by five energy sectors —power, industry, transportation, buildings and federal facilities — which “duplicate and conflict with corporate approaches,” Garman said. The 11 new programs, which will be administrated through a single office, are: solar; wind and hydropower; geothermal; distributed energy; electricity infrastructure and reliability; biomass; industrial technologies; FreedomCAR and vehicle technologies; hydrogen and infrastructure; building technologies; weatherization and intergovernmental grants; and federal energy management. Under this new organization, for example, fuel cell R&D, which is now divided between two offices, will be consolidated into the hydrogen and infrastructure program.

The reorganized EERE office will be supported by the assistant secretary, a principal deputy secretary, a deputy assistant secretary for technology development and another for business administration. Six regional offices will continue to support the program, as will the main field office in Golden, Colorado. — Lynn Yarris

UC News

Cal Day on April 20

On Saturday, April 20, UC Berkeley will throw open its doors to the public from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Students, families, alumni, faculty, staff, and their friends will spend the day attending lectures, campus tours, athletic events, exhibits, as well as music, drama and dance performances.

For many visitors a major lure will be the the campus museums — free of charge for the day. These include the Lawerence Hall of Science, open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The International House will presents its annual SpringFest, with a sampling of world cultures and cuisine. And the Main Library offers tours of its facilities.

The entire Cal Day program is available online at http://www.berkeley.edu/calday. For more information, call 642-2294 or e-mail Calday@uclink.berkeley.edu.

UC Recalls Students Studying in Israel

Citing safety concerns regarding the escalating violence in the Middle East, on April 2 the University of California recalled to the United States students currently studying in Israel under the Education Abroad Program. UC committed to assisting the 27 students affected, including arranging for their return and exploring opportunities for independent study for the remainder of the term. The university is also placing its Fall 2002 academic program in Israel on hold, pending a reevaluation of the situation. UC says it will not abandon its Israel programs, keeping its infrastructure and staff in place, including its program directors. Other universities, including the University of Washington and University of Colorado, have taken similar actions.

Sather Tower Elevator Closed

Berkeley's 88-year-old landmark, Sather Tower (aka the Campanile), has been temporarily closed to visitors for a planned elevator renovation, scheduled for completion by the end of November. Interim access to the tower will be limited to the Music Department and the Museum of Paleontology during the renovation. Although closed to visitors, concerts featuring the tower’s 61 bell carillon will continue on their regular schedule daily at 7:50 a.m., noon and 6 p.m. Longer concerts are conducted Sundays at 2 p.m. Weekday tours begin at the Visitor Center in University Hall. Call 642-5215 for tour information.

Sitewide Water Upgrade Project Begins This Month

Construction of long-awaited upgrades to Berkeley Lab’s domestic water distribution system is scheduled to begin later this month, according to the Lab’s Facilities Department. The $8.3 million Sitewide Water Distribution Upgrade project, expected to take about 22 months, will correct deficiencies in the Lab’s 10 km (6 miles) of aging water mains and make improvements that will ensure the system’s integrity and longevity.

As work progresses, different sections of the piping system will be unearthed, imposing brief periods of inconvenience to employees. Roads, parking lots, building entrances, or other areas may be affected at various times, depending on the construction schedule. Facilities will coordinate with building managers to minimize the impact on research and other activities, and will provide regular updates in Currents, Facilities Quarterly, and other labwide means of communication.

“Every effort will be made to minimize disruption and ensure safe conditions in work areas,” says project manager Dan Galvez. “Facilities will post information 72 hours in advance in each affected building.”

The need for the project was determined by a survey of the Lab’s water system piping. Of particular concern is about a mile of cast-iron piping. Decades of exposure to corrosive soil has thinned and embrittled the pipe walls, raising the likelihood of sudden breaks. The upgrade will replace current piping with ductile iron pipes or cement-lined, coated-steel pipes, and equip them with a system to arrest corrosion.

The project will also replace leaky isolation valves and pressure reducing stations, provide seismic upgrades to the Lab’s existing water storage tanks, and construct an additional emergency storage tank uphill of Building 85.

Work slated for FY 2002 includes pipe replacement, installation of cathodic protection, installation of isolation valves and pressure-reducing valves, and construction of an access road for the new East Canyon water tank.

The project will be completed in late 2003 with installation of the new tank and upgrading of the existing tanks. For more information, contact Dan Galvez at X6213.

New Telephone System Phased In

Telephone Services is upgrading the Laboratory's telephone system. The current system, installed back in 1988, is being discontinued by the manufacturer and will no longer be supported.

Employees will notice few changes other than new phones on their desks. All features will work the same way as before, as will the voicemail system.

To minimize disruption, the upgrade is being phased in one building at a time. The migration began with offsite locations (Buildings 937, 941, and 943) and continues on the Hill. Two days prior to their phone upgrade, users will be sent e-mail notification. Employees can expect no more than 15 minutes of downtime for programming changes and telephone set replacement. The upgrade should be completed by the end of the year.

For more information e-mail tsc@lbl. gov or call X7997.

Global Warming Could Seriously Impact
State Water Resources Shows

By Dan Krotz

Californians may endure more winter floods and summer droughts over the next century, according to a study conducted by Berkeley Lab and the National Weather Service (NWS) that projects how global warming will impact the state’s watersheds.

The study utilizes two climate change scenarios included in the 2001 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, which the world’s policymakers use to formulate greenhouse gas reduction guidelines. Both projections include a one percent annual increase in green house gas concentrations. One depicts a relatively warm, wet climate while the other depicts a cool, dry scenario, although both climates are warmer than today’s. To further bracket the possible impacts of global warming, the researchers also incorporated six sets of temperature shifts and precipitation ratios that represent the upper and lower bounds of global climate model projections — essentially mapping out worst and best-case scenarios.

“Understanding how California’s snowmelt-driven watersheds will change in the future provides information concerning growing seasons, the economy, and dangers associated with floods and droughts,” says Norman Miller of the Earth Sciences Division. Kathy Bashford, who works with Miller in Berkeley Lab’s California Water Resources Research and Applications Center, and Eric Strem of NWS’ California-Nevada River Forecast Center also contributed to the study.

Photo courtesy the Federal Emergency Management Agency

The IPCC projections were statistically downscaled to a 10-kilometer spatial resolution and a month-to-month temporal resolution, which more tightly focused the global climate change data onto California. They then divided the projections into three time periods — 2010 to 2039, 2050 to 2079, and 2080 to 2099 — and calculated the difference in temperature and change in precipitation ratios between these future periods and a 30-year stretch of data spanning from 1963 to 1992. They determined that the cool, dry scenario caused a 1.5ºC temperature increase by 2050 and a 2.4ºC increase by 2100, with a slight precipitation decrease, while the warm, wet projection sparked a 2.4ºC jump by 2050, a 3.3ºC jump by 2100, and precipitation levels that swelled 30 percent.

While these 20 and 30-year climate projections reveal significant changes, the month-to-month impacts of climate change on the state’s water resources are even more telling. To simulate these scenarios, the team chose six watersheds that feed the Sacramento-San Joaquin drainage. Next, the downscaled, month-to-month climate change projections were imposed on the 1963-to-1992 data, which encompassed precipitation and temperature measurements segmented into six-hour time intervals. A similar calculation was performed using the six sets of specified temperature shifts and precipitation ratios. This enabled the team to project month-to-month climate change as a perturbation of historical data, the same technique used by both the IPCC and U.S. assessment studies.

Finally, the team used the NWS River Forecast System to determine the impact of these average monthly temperature and precipitation projections on the six California watersheds. This system, which employs computer models to determine how temperature and precipitation contribute to soil moisture, snowpack, snowmelt, and ultimately streamflow, was specifically chosen because it is NWS’ operational model and therefore lends credibility to the findings.

The results suggest a trend of increasingly earlier snowmelts because of fewer freezing days during the winter months. Historically, for example, 71 percent of the January six-hour intervals for the Sacramento River watershed are below freezing. By 2100, this percentage drops to 31 percent. As another yardstick, an increasing percent of the snowmelt occurs earlier in the year as the climate warms. In general, this means watersheds will experience streamflow surges up to two months earlier, and less water will be available in the summer months.

The study also determined that climate change’s greatest influence on water availability hinges on a river basin’s elevation and freezing line. As the climate warms, the basin’s snowline slowly creeps higher and less water is stored for the summer. The projections found that by 2100, the April 1 measurement of the amount of water stored in the snowpack decreases by about 50 percent for all watersheds except the very high-elevation Kings River. The severity of this drop is underscored by the fact that April 1 snowpack and reservoir level measurements are used each year to determine how water resources are rationed to agriculture, industry and reservoirs.

Moreover, fewer freezing days also increase the likelihood of early spring floods. Miller and Bashford collated the days that experienced the highest volume streamflow for each year of the 1963 – 1992 period, each year of the two climate model projections, and each year of the six sets of specified temperature and precipitation changes. In all cases they found the water volume of the highest flow day increases as the climate warms. This translates to more peak days and bigger peak days in the future, which means more flooding. In addition, these surges occur progressively earlier in the year, leaving less water for the growing season.

Miller cautions that these results are based on model projections and specified changes, and are therefore inherently uncertain. Even so, the possibility of significant changes to water resources may prompt state officials to rethink farming and suburban development patterns, as well as reservoir operating rules. And even if the projections are only marginally realized, their impact on the Sacramento-San Joaquin drainage — one of the richest agricultural areas in the world — could be tremendous.

“We looked at California because it has the seventh largest economy in the world and is home to 12 percent of the U.S. population,” Miller says. “What affects California affects the rest of the nation and world.”

The study was supported by the NASA-sponsored California Water Resources Research and Applications Center, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the California Energy Commission.

A new study finds that global warming could lead to an increase in winter floods, such as this one caused by el Niño storms on the Russian River.

Stars and Stripes Now Flies at Berkeley Lab

By Ron Kolb

Fire Captain Wayne Nordby of Berkeley Lab hugs the Star Spangled Banner in anticipation of its unveiling. He is flanked by David Preuss (left), assistant scoutmaster and committee chair for Troop 24 in Berkeley, whose scouts assisted in the ceremony, and Scott Mason of Berkeley Lab's ESNet, who helped coordinate the event. Photo by Roy Kaltschmidt

Berkeley site office manager Dick Nolan of the Department of Energy probably summarized the feeling of many in attendance who watched the Stars and Stripes hoisted to the top of the Laboratory’s new flagpole near the Blackberry gate.

“I got a lump in my throat,” he said, acknowledging the young Berkeley scouts whose choreographed march and salutes highlighted Tuesday’s dedication of the Lab’s new flag pavilion. “The love we have for this great country has been expressed in many ways since September 11 — through compassion for the victims, response to the terrorists, and the display of our American flag.”

And so Berkeley Lab now shows the colors — of the United States, the DOE, and the State of California — to all who enter its property.

With a reverentially quiet pomp and circumstance, Troop 24 Eagle Scout Don Preuss barked out the orders to the youthful color guard in raising the flags to an overcast sky before a proud audience of about 75. Then he led them in the Pledge of Allegiance.

“We have been reminded over the past six months of the importance of what our nation and its flag stand for,” Laboratory Director Charles Shank said. “I am proud that we are now flying the flags of our nation, our state and the Department of Energy.”

He acknowledged the efforts of Dan Peterson and Scott Mason in Computing Sciences for their help in the ceremony. Deputy Director Sally Benson cited Larry Domansky and Denise Iles for being among those Laboratory employees who urged the display of an American flag in the wake of the 9/11 attack. “This certainly proves that people’s ideas can make a difference at our Laboratory,” she said.

Benson also paid tribute to the construction project team of Chuck Taberski, Sam Birky, Warren Ng, and Max Ostas.

Manager Nolan added an appropriate postscript to the emotional proceedings.

“The laboratories, like Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, are the Department of Energy,” he said. “They are the crown jewels of the Department. But Berkeley Lab is the shiniest jewel in the crown.”

And now, the jewel has three colorful banners to reflect its heritage

Computer Corner

VPN Units Going Fast

LBLnet’s hardware-based Virtual Private Network (VPN) has become so popular with scientists and staff who need a secure network connection from their homes that the inventory of VPN devices is beginning to run low. More than one hundred users have signed up for the service and fewer than 30 VPN units are currently in stock.

Last year LBLnet received special funding to make these units (which normally cost over $500) available to users for a nominal $80 configuration fee. After the stock is exhausted, LBLnet will have to adjust its prices to reflect actual costs.

VPN technology creates a secure connection between LBLnet and remote-access users who have broadband Internet access, allowing users to access Lab resources as if they were onsite. Their network traffic is also automatically encrypted. The hardware-based solution eliminates the need for VPN users to install and configure proprietary software on their home computers.

To sign up for service or learn more about VPN, visit http://www-lblnet.lbl.gov/ or call X4559.

Energy Commission Funds Study of Web Farms

By Allan Chen

During California’s electricity crisis of 2001, some observers pointed fingers at the rapid expansion of the Internet and blamed computer hardware for the energy shortages. Research conducted by Berkeley Lab scientist Jon Koomey debunked this myth, indicating that all computer hardware — including servers, routers and other devices forming the Internet — use no more than two percent of the electricity nationwide.

Questions have persisted, however, about the use of energy by a type of facility that has become prominent since the expansion of the Internet as a commercial entity: the data center, also known in some applications as the web server farm. These buildings can house hundreds of computers that store and transmit the data and web pages available on the Internet.

In early March, the California Energy Commission (CEC) announced that it was awarding a grant of $500,000 to Berkeley Lab to conduct research designed to reduce the energy use of data centers in California by 30 percent. About 17 percent of the nation’s server farms are located in the San Francisco Bay area and Silicon Valley, requiring 80 MW of power to run. Saving 30 percent of this would free up 24 MW of power. In addition there are a wide variety of data centers in use in industrial, research, and educational institutions, which are also the target of this study.

“Any megawatt savings would be really helpful to California in the next few summers,” says Commissioner Arthur Rosenfeld, chair of the commission’s Research, Development and Demonstration Committee. “Twenty-four megawatts of electricity running continuously will supply 24,000 average California homes.”

The research consists of three parts. The first will characterize the power load drawn by data centers in California, indicating where the data centers are in the state and how much electricity they use.

Researchers will then study three to five centers in depth, and develop case studies showing the opportunities for improved energy efficiency. The third task will be to develop a road map, in cooperation with the private sector, for improving the efficiency of California data centers.

Dale Sartor, head of EETD’s Applications Team, and William Tschudi are managing the project; Koomey will participate in the first phase. The team is also conducting a case study review of a data center in New York for the New York State Energy Research and Development Administration. NYSERDA and CEC will share results of their research to help better manage data centers in both states.

For more regarding Koomey’s study about computer-related electricity use, see http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/net-energy-studies.html.

Tech Transfer Puts Your Genie
in a Bottle – and Sells It, Too

By Robin Johnston

"Thine was the prophet's vision, thine
The exaltation, the divine
Insanity of noble minds,
That never falters nor abates,
But labors and endures and waits,
Till all that it foresees it finds
Or what it can not find creates."
         — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Last year alone, licensing of technologies developed at Berkeley Lab generated $1.1 million in revenues. Of that, approximately $330,000 was distributed to inventors. Besides generating income for inventors and the Lab, the technologies developed here can produce widespread public benefit. The Technology Transfer Department works to advance both of these outcomes.

“The purpose of the Technology Transfer Department is to bring the innovative technologies generated at the Lab to the marketplace,” says department head Cheryl Fragiadakis. “We aim to get the technologies used, to support the R&D mission of Berkeley Lab, and to obtain a fair financial return for the Lab, the inventors, and their divisions.”

Tech Transfer develops and manages partnerships with the private sector and serves as a resource for industry relations. In a broad sense, the department fosters an atmosphere of cooperation and collaboration between industry and the Lab through a variety of formal and informal interactions.

“While much of the knowledge generated at the Lab is freely disseminated through publications, often it is also to the public’s advantage to patent Lab technologies that may be of interest to industry,” says licensing manager Viviana Wolinsky. Industry often considers intellectual property protection, such as patents and copyrights, a prerequisite to investing in technology development.

The department also includes two research collaborations: the SC-LTR (Office of Science Laboratory Technology Research) program, managed by Chris Kniel, and the Initiatives for Proliferation Prevention (IPP) Program, managed by Glen Dahlbacka. Since its inception in 1992, SC-LTR has supported more 150 partnerships and attracted over $15 million in funds from companies to the Lab. IPP brings together Lab researchers, U.S. industry, and scientists from the former Soviet Union. The program leverages Russian and Ukrainian defense research capabilities to create jobs for former weapons scientists and engineers and develop useful civilian technologies.

The tech transfer process

The transfer of technology from the Lab to industry starts with Lab researchers disclosing inventions to the Patent Department, as required by government regulations. Tech Transfer, in conjunction with the Patent Department, then assesses the technology to determine whether the Lab should seek patent or copyright protection.

Once the preliminary decision to protect the technology has been made, Tech Transfer’s marketing group, managed by Pamela Seidenman, promotes the technology, with several goals in mind. First, it identifies potential licensees who are most likely to successfully develop the technology and bring it to market. Second, feedback from promotions is used as a barometer of the commercial potential of the technology. Third, the Lab promotes technologies widely so that companies have an equal opportunity to access publicly-funded technology. Finally, the marketing creates a ripple effect and generates broad public interest in the Lab.

Once a company is interested in licensing a Lab technology, contracts are negotiated by the Tech Transfer licensing staff. A desirable licensee is a company that can marshal the financial, R&D, manufacturing, marketing, and managerial capabilities to successfully commercialize Berkeley Lab innovations. A qualified licensee is critical to ensuring that technologies developed at the Lab are in fact commercialized and that the public ultimately reaps the benefits.

The revenue generated from licensing is first applied towards reimbursing the costs of intellectual property protection, such as patenting costs or copyright registration fees. For new inventions, 35 percent of the remaining income is paid to the inventors, 15 percent to the originating division for research, and 50 percent is used to fund Lab research.

Researchers who believe they may have an invention of potential interest to industry for licensing or collaborative research may contact Technology Transfer at X6467 or ttd@lbl.gov. For more information, see http://www.lbl.gov/Tech-Transfer.

Robin Johnston is a technical writer in the Technology Transfer Department.

Bulletin Board

United to Begin Nonstop Service Between Dulles And Oakland

Effective May 8, United Airlines will begin twice daily nonstop service between Washington Dulles and Oakland International airports, making it the only carrier to fly nonstop between the capital and and all three Bay Area airports. The new flights will be on Airbus A-320 aircraft, with departures from Oakland at 8:15 a.m. and 10:15 p.m. and return flights from DC at 7:15 a.m. and 5:20 p.m.

In addition to servicing Oakland, United still has eight daily flights from Dulles to San Francisco and one to San Jose.

United’s fares for the Oakland-Dulles route are the same as those for the San Francisco one. For more information call United or the Lab Travel Office.

Friends of Science Kicks Off

Physicist Natalie Roe

Berkeley Lab physicist Natalie Roe will help inaugurate the new Friends of Science information program on Monday, April 8, when she speaks at 5:30 p.m. on “What’s the Matter with Anti-Matter: the Leftover Universe.” The Perseverance Hall program will also feature Pier Oddone, the Laboratory’s deputy director and “father” of the B Factory at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center.

Laboratory Director Charles Shank will welcome members of Friends of Science, which is open to Lab employees, too. The program is designed to keep its members current on the state of scientific research at Berkeley Lab and elsewhere. This is the first of a series of lectures designed especially for the Friends of Science.

Oddone and Roe will explain how high-energy physicists design huge accelerators and detectors to study subatomic particles, and will describe recent results from the BaBar experiment that confirm an asymmetry between matter and antimatter.

Shortly after the Big Bang, matter and antimatter particles were present in equal numbers in the universe, but they soon began to annihilate one another. In the process, a small excess of matter (1 part in 10 billion) was left over. Researchers are trying to understand how this matter survived, and what implications it has for the fate of the universe.

For more information on the program or to sign up as a member, go to the Frieds of Science website at http://www.lbl.gov/friendsofscience. Reservations can be made by calling X7292

Million Dollar Egg At Hall of Science

An egg eons older than Easter — a fossilized tomb for the tiny bones of a dinosaur whose kin dominated the Earth millions of years ago — went on display last Saturday at the Lawrence Hall of Science as part of the “Jurassic Park” exhibit, which merges cinematic fantasy with prehistoric reality. Included are touch-screen TV presentations, a collection of fossils, and a simulated dig. Thirty skeletal models are on display. The exhibit continues through May 12.

EcoFair Next Week: Bigger than Ever

The annual Berkeley Lab EcoFair will be held next Thursday, April 11 from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on the cafeteria lawn. As always, the event offers a wide range of attractions, with something for everyone: free bike tuneups, promotional giveaways, friendly faces from the Berkeley Humane Society, free plants, commute and vanpool information, and vendors promoting a variety of environmentally-friendly products and services. These will include many new vendors, as well as some old favorites. Among them: the Chabot Space & Science Center, Boise Cascade, Wooden Duck (makes products out of used lumber), Waterless Urinals, Forestsaver (jewelry made from test tubes), LLNL’s Storm Water Diorama, various energy displays (LLNL & LBNL), East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse, Green Building, Studio Eg, Inc. (ergonomic office setups made from recycled products), and more. Everyone is welcome to attend.

New, Improved Benefits Orientation

The weekly Benefits Orientation sessions for new hires has ben extended and enhanced beginning with last week’s session in order to offer Lab employees the most current and comprehensive benefits information possible.

The orientatons, presented by the Lab’s Benefits Department, will continue to be held every Tuesday on the sixth floor of Building 937 (Berkeley Towers), but will start at 10 a.m. instead of 10:30, so they can run for a full two hours. New features added to the program now include a new multimedia presentation, complete with the UCOP New Employee Orientation videotape and an online tour of the HR Benefits and UCOP Bencom websites.

The updated presentation will also include a new payroll over-view, coordinated with the Lab’s Payroll Department. Handouts on general benefits resources will also be provided.

To sign up for the New Hire Benefits Orientation sessions, contact the Benefits Department at X6403 or send e-mail to benefits@lbl.gov.

IUCRP Program Funds Lab-Industry Collaborative Research

Proposals and letters of intent are now being accepted for projects of the Industry-University Collaborative Research Program (IUCRP), a three-way partnership between UC, industry sponsors, and the state of California. The program funds research at the Lab and on campus for one to four years. Hundreds of grants have been awarded in previous years at $25,000 to $1,000,000 per year, with no upper limit for future projects.

The research must be conducted with California-based companies or with companies that will provide a demonstrable benefit specifically for California. All UC campuses are eligible, including the three UC-run laboratories.

The program provides at least $20 million a year to match industry investment in the following research areas:

• BioSTAR (Biotechnology Strategic Targets for Alliances in Research): $7.25 million in 2001
• LS:IT (Life Science Informatics): $4.7 million in 2001
• SMART (Semiconductor Manufacturing Research and Technology): $4.3 million in 2001
• DiMi (Digital Media): $5M in 2001
• CoRe (Communications Research): $3 million in 2001

Proposals may be submitted three times a year through an electronic process. IUCRP conducts a peer review process and notifies applicants within six weeks. Funding begins within one hundred days of the proposal deadline.

Proposal deadlines are coming up in May, with letters of intent due in April. For details see http://uc-industry.berkeley.edu/index.asp. For more information, contact Glen Dahlbacka, ghdahlbacka@lbl.gov or X5358.

Mac User Meeting

“Migrating From OS 9 to OS X” will be the topic of the April meeting of the MacUsers Group, to be held on April 10 from 1:30 to 3:00 p.m. in Building 90-3148. The session will feature Christopher Breen, columnist for MacWorld magazine and author of Mac 911. Breen will discuss strategies for installing and configuring the new operating system, as well as OS X troubleshooting and other useful tips.

Daughters and Sons to Work Deadline

For the ninth consecutive year, Berkeley Lab is hosting Daughters and Sons to Work Day on Thursday, April 25 — and the registration deadline is fast approaching. Applications are only being accepted until April 11, and are available at the cafeteria entrance and cash registers. They may also be downloaded off the DSTW website on the Lab home page (see A-Z index).

Entitled "It’s YOUR Universe," the event is open to boys and girls ages 9 to 15. Space is limited to 240 children on a first come, first served basis.

The day of fun and science will include a wide choice of morning and afternoon workshops, an opening assembly, and a closing ice cream social. To volunteer, send an e-mail Alyce_Herrera@lbl.gov. For information on the event, look up the website at http://www.lbl.gov/Education/CSEE/dstw/dstw_2002.html

Calendar

General Interest

ARRIL 8, Monday

FRIENDS OF SCIENCE INAUGURAL PROGRAM
What’s the Matter with Anti-Matter
5:30 p.m., Bldg. 50 auditorium

ARRIL 9, Tuesday

NEW EMPLOYEE ORIENTATION
8 a.m., Bldg. 50 auditorium

ARRIL10, Wednesday

SHOEMOBILE
7:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m., cafeteria parking lot

MAC USERS MEETING
11a.m. – 12:30 p.m., Bldg. 90-3148

ARRIL 11, Thursday

ECOFAIR
11 a.m. – 1:30 p.m., cafeteria lawn

ARRIL 20, Saturday

CAL DAY
9 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Send us your announcements

Announcements for the General Calendar and Bulletin Board page may be sent to MSFriedlander@lbl.gov. Seminar & Lectures items may be mailed to currents_ calendar@lbl.gov. You may also fax items to X6641 or mail them to Bldg. 65B. The deadline for the April 19 issue is 5 p.m. Monday, April 15.

Seminars & Lectures

ARRIL 8, Monday

DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS COLLOQUIUM
What Becomes of Entropy in Self-Organizing Systems
Speaker: Troy Shinbrot, Rutgers University
4:30 p.m., 1 Le Conte Hall

ARRIL 10, Wednesday

NERSC SEMINAR
Emerging Technologies: Cluster Futures / Grid Technology
Speaker: Kevin Gildea, IBM
9:00 – 11:00 a.m., Building 70A, Room 3377 conference room

APRIL 15, Monday

DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS COLLOQUIUM
CP Violation and More Physics of Flavor with the BaBar Detector
Speaker: Yury Kolomensky, UC Berkeley
4:30 p.m., 1 Le Conte Hall

APRIL 16, Tuesday

NUCLEAR SCIENCE DIVISION COLLOQUIA
States of Matter in Strong Interaction Physics
Speaker: Helmut Satz, Universität Bielefeld, Germany
11:00 a.m., Building 50 auditorium

APRIL 18, Thursday

PHYSICS DIVISION RESEARCH PROGRESS MEETING
Precision Physics with Bound States: From the Lamb Shift to T Tbar
Speaker: Aneesh Manohar, UC San Diego
4:00 p.m., Building 50A, Room 5132

EH&S Classes — April 2002

To enroll, contact Valarie Espinoza at VMEspinoza@lbl.gov or enroll via the web at https://hris.lbl.gov/self_service/training/. Preregistration is required for all courses except EHS 10. For a full, updated schedule, see http://www-ia1.lbl.gov/schedule/.

Surplus Chemicals Available

Berkeley Lab’s Surplus Chemical Exchange Program offers unused chemicals to Lab employees for use in projects funded by DOE. Technicians from the Hazardous Waste Handling Facility deliver materials free of charge within two work days. All containers are sealed and have never been opened. A complete list of chemicals can be found on the Lab’s Waste Minimization website at http://www.lbl.gov/ehs/wastemin/index.html. Some of the items currently available include:

Flea Market

AUTOS / SUPPLIES

‘98 HONDA ACCORD COUPE EX, blk on blk, ac, sunrf, upgraded cd/stereo/ speakers, recently serviced, new tires, very clean, 55K mi, $14,000/bo, Susan, X5429, 964-0007

‘98 DODGE TRUCK, extended cab, blk/blk, runs/ looks great, cd player, 28K mi, salvage title, bargain, $11,000, Shelley, X6123

‘95 FORD T-BIRD LX, 2 dr, 4.6/A4, rare, white w/ gray cloth seats, mint cond, 39K mi, $11,200, must sell, Wright, X4165, (923) 777-1742

‘93 VW EUROVAN MV, burgundy, 123.4K mi, 1 owner, 5-cyl 2.5 L, front wheel drive, at, ac, am/fm/ cass, ramps for wheelchair & straps to tie down chair, $4,500, David, X7326

‘91 MERCEDES 190E, blk, sunrf, tan int, cd changer, 4 dr, 124K mi, great shape, $10,000/bo, avail early May, Shelley, X6123, Holly, (925) 945-0524

‘88 MERCURY SABLE, station wagon, 145K mi, at, new batt, pwr win/seats, great family car, runs well, $2,300/bo, Eli, X6893, 843-8235

‘87 TOYOTA COROLLA, hatchback, 100K mi, ac, at, exc cond, $2,700, Gita, X4871

‘78 MUSTANG II, 6 cyl, 2.8 L, at, under 55K orig mi, white w/ part-vinyl blue top, blue int, very well maint, serv rec’s, rear seat folds down for storage, reg fees & smog cert good until 1/03, Kathy, X4931

HOUSING

ALBANY, 2 bdrm/2 bth condo, 1,400 sq ft w/ view in high rise bldg, avail now, pool, fitness center & tennis court, 1 garage parking, 24 hrs sec, pub trans across the street, $1,600/mo, Tim, 541-2670

BERKELEY, furn rooms in 6 bdrm/2 bth house, $670-790/mo, Anushka, 486-8153, housintscholar@ mindspring.com

CENTRAL BERKELEY, nice furn rooms, kitchen, laundry, TV, DSL, hardwd flrs, linens, dishes, cont breakfast, walk to pub trans/shops, $950/mo incl utils, $350/wk, Jin or Paul, 845-5959, jin.young@ juno.com, Paul X7363

EL CERRITO quiet 2 bdrm apt, lge yard, park space, 5 min walk to shops/ BART, furn avail at good price, $1,200/mo, avail 6/1, Reinhold, X5265, RLoevenich@ lbl.gov

NORTH OAKLAND, furn 2 bdrm upper flat in duplex, walk to Rockridge shuttle, Jul - Dec only, $1,400/mo, Tom/Josie, 601-0574

NORTH OAKLAND, temp sublet till 5/31, room in furn 2 bdrm apt, close to pub trans, walk dist to campus, no smoking/pets, male pref, prorated at $500/mo incl util + $150 dep, David, X7083, dcmays@lbl.gov

OAKLAND Piedmont Ave area, room avail 5/1 in 3 bdrm 1908 duplex, furn, sm balcony, walk to College Ave & BART, share w/ female LBNL researcher & another woman, house has hardwd floors, rear deck, 2 balconies, bay windows, garden, $440/mo, Judy, X5154, jdjennings@lbl.gov

RICHMOND HILLS (Wildcat Canyon), furn room in 3 bdrm house, adults, share kitchen/bth, no pets/ smoking, $490/mo, Tony, X7158, 232-7612

SAN PABLO 4 bdm house w/ patio, deck, sun rm, jacuzzi, w/d, thecountryhouse.net/mypage.html, $3,100/mo, Carmen, Ccausso@yahoo.com

WALNUT CREEK 2 bdrm/ 1 bth cottage on quiet cul de sac nr downtown/BART, hardwd flrs, fireplc, country kitchen, level backyard w/ garden, no pets/smoking, $1,650/mo/bo, Janice, 895-3584 leave msg

HOUSING WANTED

THREE VISITING SCIENTISTS from Europe seek house to rent for 1 yr or longer, all non-smokers, Igor, X5304, ivillareal@ lbl.gov

VISITING FRENCH RESEARCHER, w/ family (spouse+3 daughters 9-14) seeks furn house in Berkeley or Albany for 1 yr starting 7/02, no smok/pets, we also rent or exch our house for same period in Crolles, 12 mi from Grenoble, France, FLancon@cea.fr

VISITING GRAD STUDENT from the Univ of Washington, DOE comp science graduate fellow, seeks sublet or shared housing from late June to late Sept, Jon, X5849, JBashor@lbl.gov

VISITING PROFESSOR from Germany seeks furn apt or house for 2 adults, 7/29-9/23, Helmut, X2799, hefeustel@tga-feustel.de

VISITING SCIENTIST & UCB scholar (wife & husband) from Italy seek housing for family (2 children & nanny), mid-June - Aug ’02, 3 bdrms & yard, Berkeley, Oakland, Albany, Contra Costa, close to pub trans, Curt, X7419, cmoldenburg@lbl.gov

MISC FOR SALE

2 WARDROBES/ENTERTAINMENT CENTERS, new, unfin pine, increase closet space or organize TV, VCR, etc, $200 & $250, Andi, X6610, 704-1441

7’ CABOVER CAMPER, 4 corner jacks, $600; 2 horse Circle J trailer, gold/tan, ramp, $500; Circle Y 14” saddle, silver, $300, 2 others, Charlotte, 232-4506

32’ ALUMINUM LADDER, extendable, $150, washer, $150; dryer $50; violin, sz 3/4, $150; 2 deck chaise lounges/deck table/deck umbrella, $100; desk, $30; twin bed set w/ metal frame, $80; queen bed set w/ metal frame, $120; queen headbrd w/ storage, $20; storage cabinet, $20; metal file cabinet, metal frame for queen bed, desk lamp, Ming, X5616, 530-0462

CHIHUAHUAS, long hair male, born 1/21, blk&wht, $200, Charlotte, 232-4506

COFFEE TABLE, 40" diam round glass top w/ smart chrome base, 16" high, perfect cond, $50; egg crate foam pad, cal king size, $15, Clay Sealy, (925) 376-4481

GO-PED highly upgraded new "Bigfoot" Go-Ped including new 3.4 hp reed engine, ADA race exhuast pipe, carbon fiber deck, & off-road tires, 25 mph+, $875, Alexander, X7533, (925) 937-2318 eves

MOVING SALE: crib, mattress, bedding, changing table, toddler bed, patio furn, lge oak entertainm center, buffett, desk, lots of kids outdoor little tykes & step 2 toys & equipm, folding oak table w/ 4 nesting TV tables, more, Lisa or Norm, 533-8765, Norm, X6724

PATIO TABLE, glass, w/ 4 rocker type chairs, $100; Medella briefcase type breast pump, $100; water filter system, $100; solid oak din table w/ 2 leaves, 6’ hutch w/ 2 glass drs & storage, server w/ area for hot pots/storage, $1000; 23" Panasonic TV & sep VCR, $100; oak entert center, about 6x4" w/ room for TV, stereos, videos, $100, Shelley, X6123, Holly, (925) 945-0524

PUPPIES, pure bred dobermans w/ papers, d.o.b. 1/25/02, 7 red & 2 blk, $350/ea, 872-6462

SIMMONS MAXIPEDIC twin long mattress, exc cond, dorm size, used 1 semester, boxspring incl, $189, in Albany, Philip, X7307, 558-8856

STROLLER, Graco Seville, $59; Century toddler seat 20-40 lbs, $30; diaper genie, $10; high chair, $10, 400 W Targa car audio power amplifier w/ 2 MTX "RoadThunder" 3-way speakers, $99; Sharp fax machine UX 510, $79; 2 dumbells, 5 kg ea, $20/pr; Sears 6" bench grinder, hardly used, $35; 65 ah car battery, 1 yr old, $10, prices neg, Joern, X2407, (925) 935-6310 eves

WANTED

LAWNMOWER, Erik, X6435

SM BREED PUPPY, pref Shih Tzu or Poodle, Tanara, X2856, 329-2775

VACATION

SCOTLAND HOUSE SWAP, Jul-Aug ’02 (dates neg) w/ resid of Bay Area, teacher from Kirkcaldy (30 min from Edinburgh & St. Andrews), walk to shops & seafront, convenient bus & rail connections to all of Scotland & England, 1890 house has 2+ bdrm/1 bth, kitchen/ din, lounge, utility rm, garden, no smoking, Jim, X6277, 236-3837

FREE

SOFA, off-white, comfortable, Andi, X6610, 704-1441

LOST AND FOUND

FOUND: Sweater at a Life Sciences Division seminar in the Bldg 66 auditorium, please describe to claim, Caren Oto, cdoto@lbl.gov.

Flea Market Policy

Ads are accepted only from LBNL employees, retirees, and onsite DOE personnel. Only items of your own personal property may be offered for sale.

Submissions must include name, affiliation, extension, and home phone number. Ads must be submitted in writing via e-mail (fleamarket@lbl.gov), fax (X6641), or delivered/mailed to Bldg. 65B.

Ads run one week only unless resubmitted, and are repeated only as space permits. They may not be retracted once submitted for publication.

The deadline for the April 19, 2002 issue is Thursday, April 11.