The Berkeley Science Review: Articles

Come Together
Students power the Berkeley Energy Resource Collaborative (view PDF)
by Sharmistha Majumdar

Three years ago, a group of graduate students at the Haas School of Business were sitting around talking about energy-related issues. The topic turned to the unique advantages of living in Berkeley—one of the most environmentally aware cities in the United States—and even in California, whose state government has a long history of leading "green" crusades. The Bay Area is well known for its institutions of higher learning and research and its culture of entrepreneurship and innovation. But there did not seem to be an active effort to bring all these people, research, and resources together. The Haas students, led by Will Coleman, decided to take up the challenge of setting up a collaborative, bridging the gap between the venture capitalist and the scientist, the policymaker, and the entrepreneur. BERC was born.

BERC, or the Berkeley Energy and Resources Collaborative, has since grown to become one of the most active student organizations at UC Berkeley. The group unites students from the School of Law, the Goldman School of Public Policy, and the Haas School of Business with researchers and engineers on campus and at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories (LBL). Outside campus, BERC strives to connect to the Bay Area's fast-expanding "cleantech" cluster (companies interested in alternative and clean energy technologies) to foster productive applications of university research.

The student-run BERC encourages collaboration through roundtables, lectures, and an active online discussion forum and increasingly sponsors interdisciplinary projects. The group is also engaged in community outreach through its SEED (Students for Environmental Energy Development) program, which creates activity- and project-based curricula taught at local middle and elementary schools.

BERC's biggest annual event is an energy symposium that brings together leaders in energy from the public and private sectors, the arts, and the sciences. This year's symposium, "Leadership at the Nexus of Science, Policy and Business," featured speakers from UC Davis and Stanford, as well as BP (formerly British Petroleum), Chevron, and Khosla Ventures, a local venture capital firm. Panels and poster sessions covered topics ranging from biofuels, nuclear power, and green building technology to the global dimensions of sustainable energy.

On a day-to-day basis, the members of BERC participate in an equally diverse array of research and public policy programs. In this feature, we profile several projects on campus that have taken advantage of connections made through BERC.

EBI and Biofuels
Jerome Fox, a second year chemical engineering PhD student and BERC member, works at the newly formed Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI). The EBI represents a unique collaboration between UC Berkeley, LBL, the University of Illinois, and BP. BP will support the Institute with a 10-year $500-million grant.

Fox is working on the kinetics of lignocelluose breakdown, the molecule that gives strength and structure to plant cell walls and happens to be most abundant organic material on the planet. Lignocellulose, which is made up of sugar chains and the complex biopolymer lignin, is highly resistant to degradation due to the strong bonds between the sugars and the lignin. However, if it can be broken down to simpler sugars, it has a great potential to be an energy source. The energy would come from the fermentation of those sugars to produce carbon-neutral biofuels like ethanol. This is especially promising, because unlike other biofuel crops like corn, plants with high lignocellulose content cannot be digested by humans, so there is no competition with the food supply.

Fox aims to unravel the difficult problem of extracting simple, fermentable sugars from lignocellulose. He is studying the mechanism of action of cellulase, the naturally occurring enzyme that catalyzes the breakdown of cellulose, the complex sugar portion of lignocellulose. Fox, along with his colleagues, is trying to engineer new cellulase enzymes that are more efficient. They also hope to develop quantitative assays that will allow them to dissect the steps of the cellulose breakdown reaction. If successful, these EBI scientists could help create a new generation of cellulose-based biofuels that have the potential to decrease the overdependence on fossil fuels in much of the developed world.

Want to know more?
Check out: BSR article from issue 12: Collaborative Energy

ARUBA in Bangladesh
Arsenic is a well-known poison, which at high doses causes violent stomach pains, vomiting, delirium, and death. At lower doses it is a carcinogen. The groundwater in many parts of the world has very high concentrations of naturally occurring arsenic. Bangladesh is one of the most severely affected countries, with groundwater arsenic levels reaching as high as 1,000 parts per billion (ppb), a hundred times higher than the EPA standard of 10 ppb. This has led to a massive epidemic of arsenic poisoning, affecting almost 70 million Bangladeshis.

For the past few years, scientists at LBL and UC Berkeley have sought simple solutions to this problem. Aided by a grant from the campus-based Blum Center for Developing Economies, a multi-disciplinary team including many BERC members was formed. An international collaboration was also set up with scientists at the BUET (Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology) in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. Members of the Berkeley group, including Johanna Mathieu, a PhD student and BERC member and Kristin Kowolik, a chemistry undergraduate, both from Ashok Gadgil's group at LBL, visited Bangladesh to investigate the problem firsthand. Gadgil is a senior scientist and Deputy Director (Strategic Planning) of the Environmental Energy Technologies Division at LBL and an adjunct professor in the Energy and Resources Group

Since the arsenic problem was identified, a range of technological solutions have been tried to solve the crisis. Many of these solutions have been effective, but are either too difficult or too expensive to implement on a large scale. Mathieu and Kowolik have come up with a novel solution. Around five years ago, the Gadgil group realized they could exploit arsenic's inherent affinity for ferric hydroxide (an oxidized form of iron, also a component of rust) to remove it from water. The problem then became finding a low-cost surface on which to put the ferric hydroxide. They decided to investigate the potential of bottom ash, a non-toxic waste product of coal mines. Bottom ash is sterile, as the coal is usually baked at 800°C, and, more importantly, is present in abundance in Bangladesh and adjoining India.

Bottom ash turned out to be a great material. Working in their lab at the LBL, Mathieu and Kowolik optimized the conditions for linking ferric hydroxide to the bottom ash. When the material was mixed with arsenic- laced water, the ferric hydroxide bound to the arsenic to form insoluble complexes that could then be filtered out of the water. The arsenic concentration in the filtered water dropped a drastic 250-fold, making the water safe to drink. Since then, the group has modified the process slightly; instead of removing the arsenic compounds from water with a filter, which would eventually clog up and have to be maintained or replaced, they found that safe drinking water could be obtained by simply allowing the particles to settle over time. A device called a clarifier can then be used to allow water to flow from the bottom to the top of the container, thereby ensuring that by the time the water gets to the top it is clear and safe to drink.

The Berkeley scientists named this simple but innovative technology ARUBA (Arsenic Removal Using Bottom Ash). They have tested the power of their material in the field with great success. Currently, they are planning to build a community-based prototype for large-scale filtration of drinking water using the ARUBA technology. Kowolik, who just graduated from UC Berkeley with a bachelor's degree in chemistry, has seen ARUBA grow over the past two years. She says this project allowed her to better understand the "human aspect of a technological problem," as well as gain technical expertise. "It was very fulfilling to put my knowledge to immediate good use," Kowolik says with a smile.

Want to know more? Check out:
arsenic.lbl.gov

Darfur cook stoves
Several members of BERC are working on technology directed toward relieving humanitarian crises using relatively simple technologies. One such crisis was the scarcity of cooking fuel in refugee camps in Darfur, Sudan. Refugees often travel miles from the safety of the camp in search of wood for fuel, facing the constant risk of rape and violence in order to cook dinner. In 2004, the US Agency for International Development called Ashok Gadgil. Could LBL scientists help Darfur refugees make the most of their limited fuel resources?

The members of Gadgil's research team, many of whom are associated with BERC, have a long history of coming up with simple but creative innovations to solve acute environmental problems in the developing world. The Gadgil team set out on a fact-finding expedition to Darfur to investigate the problem. The Sudanese have always cooked in round pots on traditional three-stone fires. These fires, however, are very inefficient, as most of the heat generated by the burning wood does not reach the pot and instead escapes through the sides of the stove. The scientists realized that they could help the Sudanese make better use of their fuel wood by creating a more efficient stove. But the solution would have to be practical in a refugee camp with minimal resources.

Returning to Berkeley, they got busy with the task at hand: building a low-cost, fuel-efficient stove. The aim was to come up with a stove on which the two common sizes of traditional Sudanese pots would fit snugly. This would help maximize heat transfer from the burning wood to the pot and decrease the heat dissipation that was characteristic of the three-stone fires. Moreover, the structure of the stove should contain the flames and ensure that the oxygen supply is adequate but controlled. "We have so much knowledge of science and engineering at our fingertips," Gadgil says, "but many desperate problems of people living at the bottom of the economic pyramid are easily solvable by application of what we have known for years and taken for granted."

The Gadgil team researched the design of various fuel-efficient stoves from other parts of the developing world but had to come up with something that would function best in Darfur's present circumstances. They used basic principles of engineering, their first-hand knowledge of the conditions in the field, and old-fashioned trial and error to make prototype stoves out of scrap metal. After a few months they had a model. Built using a dozen pieces of bent metal and a castiron grate, the stove significantly improved combustion and energy transfer and used 75 percent less wood than a cooking fire. The stoves fit traditional cookware and also shielded the fire from strong winds.

The stoves cost about twenty-five dollars, should last at least five years, and most importantly, were an instant hit in Darfur. "We didn't have to discover anything fundamentally new and none of our work involved any breakthrough in basic science or engineering," Gadgil says, "but we have engineered the technology to help this particular population cook their traditional food using locally available fuel."

Presently, the Gadgil group is exploring possibilities of large-scale assembly of these stoves in Darfur itself. This would simplify the process of getting the stoves to people that need them and also foster the prospects of income generation for the local population. Using the BERC network, they have set up collaborations with the engineering and business schools on campus.

Currently, the group is trying to set up a supply chain for IKEA-style flat-pack kits for the stoves. The kits consist of pre-cut sheet metal parts made with a mechanical stamping press that can be assembled into a stove with hand tools. If successful, production time as well as dimensional errors will decrease significantly compared to the current method of building the stoves from scratch with hand tools.

"One of the biggest lessons we learned was that tackling many of the problems that afflict the developing world is very different from trying to crack, say, the protein folding problem, " Gadgil says. "The solutions need to be practical, scalable, but immediate and affect the present population rather than some futuristic product which could affect the lives of people three generations later."

Want to know more? Check out:
http://darfurstoves.lbl.gov/

Artificial Photosynthesis
Photosynthesis, one of the most important biochemical processes in nature, allows plants, algae, and some bacteria to convert light energy from the sun into chemical energy that can be stored. Heinz Frei's research group in LBL's Physical Biosciences Division is particularly interested in how this works. During photosynthesis, sunlight is used to convert water and carbon dioxide from the air into oxygen and sugars. Chlorophyll, the pigment that gives leaves their green color, plays a vital role in this process. This molecule has the ability to release electrons when stimulated by light. Those electrons, through a cascade of complex reactions, eventually promote the conversion of carbon dioxide to energy-containing sugars. Chlorophyll, meanwhile, regains its lost electron from a water molecule, which is broken down to release oxygen. The end result is the simultaneous production of life-supporting oxygen and chemical energy and reduction of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide—the ideal "green" reaction.

It's no surprise, then, that scientists interested in renewable energy have long tried to understand the details of the complex reactions that occur during photosynthesis, with the ultimate goal of recreating the process on an industrial scale. If successful, these artificial photosynthetic units could mimic the natural photosynthesis process and even improve its efficiency. But first, they must answer some basic questions: How do you reduce carbon dioxide? How do you split water to produce the electrons that can be used as fuel? And how do you efficiently combine these processes in a synthetic system? Frei's group has set out to tackle these questions. Their experimental set-up consists of metal-to-metal charge-transfer (MMCT) units that are made up of two metal atoms connected by an oxygen atom. The metals in the MMCT unit take on the role of chlorophyll in nature, absorbing visible light and releasing electrons. Other inorganic molecules (photocatalysts) in the system accelerate the electron transfer reaction. Both the MMCT units and photocatalysts are assembled on a solid support. The Frei lab has successfully demonstrated units that can oxidize water to oxygen (the Chromium-Oxygen-Iridium unit) or reduce carbon dioxide (the Zirconium- Oxygen-Copper unit) in the presence of visible light.

A major advantage of the MMCT techology is that it is "a flexible and very tailorable method for assembling and coupling photocatalysts," says Tanja Cuk, a BERC member and postdoctoral fellow working in the Frei group. Currently, the lab is synthesizing new MMCT units using a variety of metals and photocatalysts to identify the most efficient combination. Cuk, a physicist by training, is studying light-driven electronic and structural reorganization of the MMCT units. Her studies will be crucial for designing more efficient systems in the future.

Want to know more? Check out:
pbd.lbl.gov/about/people/frei.htm

The Road Ahead
BERC has already accomplished much in the few years since it began from a conversation between students. Where, then, does it see itself in a few years? Jit Bhattacharya, a recent Haas graduate and former BERC co-chair, says that BERC "is great at education right now but should definitely concentrate on solutions in the future." The group should help research labs on campus "orient themselves towards more creative solutions," he adds.

He highlights the example of the Photovoltaic Idea Lab, which is a successful collaboration amongst various on- and off-campus groups with a shared interest in developing a new generation of low cost photovoltaic solar cell technologies. Bhattacharya, himself a budding entrepreneur, recently formed a start-up company called Hum Cycles. The company aims to use lithium-ion battery technology to manufacture high-performance electric motorcycles that can run up to 150 miles on a single charge using no petroleum. The Hum Cycles team is made up of a bunch of like-minded engineers and entrepreneurs who met at a local clean-tech conference and decided to take the proverbial plunge after a few brainstorming sessions. In the future, BERC hopes that it can help many more members make the right connections and take off on the best path right after graduation.

The vision, spirit, and enthusiasm of the students who form BERC has lead to significant successes in many areas. In particular, by acting as an umbrella organization, BERC has initiated dialogue between students, faculty, and those in need to facilitate the development of practical, green-technology that can be moved from "lab to land" and ensure a safe and sustainable future.

Want to know more? Check out:
berc.berkeley.edu and http://berc.berkeley.edu/?q=symposium

Sharmistha Majumdar is a postdoctoral fellow in molecular and cell biology

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