Spotlight on Energy Resources

Focusing on solutions

How do we solve the world’s energy needs in a clean, economically and socially responsible way? In addition, how do we find solutions that can be rapidly and widely deployed to alter our trajectory of global warming?

Solving the energy challenge is essential for the responsible stewardship of our planet. For example, by harnessing some of the most rapidly advancing sciences, researchers will develop an entirely new source of biofuels that will help us transcend today’s corn- and sugar-based ethanol.

There are no magic bullets to solve the energy problem. The targets for potential investigation are broad, each with its limitations, its challenges, its promises. Let’s explore some of the promising efforts being pursued by Cal scientists and engineers to secure our energy future.

—Excerpted from Energy at Berkeley, a UC Berkeley–Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory publication

Meet Cal Scientists

What is the focus of these scientists’ research? How does their research relate to our everyday lives? Just click on each picture to find out!

Cyrus Wadia Postdoctoral Researcher UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Bryce Sadtler Graduate Student The Alivisatos Group UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Elif Ertekin Postdoctoral Researcher Computational Nanoscience Group Berkeley Nanosciences and Nanoengineering Institute Chris Somerville Professor, Dept. of Plant and Microbial Biology Director, Energy Biosciences Institute
Jeffrey Grossman Group Leader, Computational Nanoscience Group Executive Director, Center of Integrated Nanomechanical Systems