GC-Sustainable Earth Archives - Earth and Environmental Sciences Area

Tool created at Geosciences Measurement Facility Enables Unprecedented Look at Subsurface Rock Fractures

June 1, 2018

A new instrument developed at the Geosciences Measurement Facility at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will help scientists working to identify ways to improve enhanced geothermal systems technologies to expand access to clean energy. Two of the instruments, called SIMFIP (Step-Rate Injection Method for Fracture In-Situ Properties), were installed in late May nearly 5,000 feet below…

Post Announcements Discovery Geosciences Program Domain Energy Geosciences Division Energy Resources Program Area Energy Resources Program Domain GC-Resilient Systems GC-Sustainable Earth Geologic Carbon Sequestration Program Geophysics Department Geothermal Systems Publication Research Highlight Resilient Energy

EESA Scientists Leverage Machine Learning to Connect Measurements of Shale Across Scales

May 2, 2018

EESA Scientists were able to use the new synchrotron Infrared Nano Spectroscopy (SINS) capability at Advanced Light Source. Above: Diagrams of the setup of (a) the Germanium-hemisphere enhanced attenuated total reflection (Ge micro-ATR) and (b) the resonance enhanced SINS. Berkeley Lab scientists have identified a way to use machine learning to connect fine-…

Post Climate & Carbon Sciences Program Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division Climate Modeling Program GC-Climate Carbon Sink GC-Sustainable Earth

EESA Faculty Scientist Shares Forest Insights Relevant to Wildfires with California State Assembly

April 12, 2018

Jeff Chambers, faculty scientist within the Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division at Berkeley Lab, provided testimony during a recent informational hearing of the California State Assembly focused on the impact of climate change on wildfire risk. Chambers was among a number of subject matter experts called upon to share knowledge relevant to the lawmakers’ consideration…

Post Announcements Discovery Geosciences Program Domain Energy Geosciences Division Energy Resources Program Domain GC-Sustainable Earth Sustainable Energy Systems Program Domain

Berkeley Lab Signs Memorandum of Understanding with French Geological Survey

April 12, 2018

On April 10, Berkeley Lab and France’s Geological Survey, BRGM (Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières), signed a Memorandum of Understanding representing their intent to expand a collaborative partnership. The French geological survey is one of Berkeley Lab’s key European counterparts in working to address the need to protect and sustain Earth’s energy and environmental…

Post Announcements Discovery Geosciences Program Domain Energy Geosciences Division Energy Resources Program Domain GC-Sustainable Earth Geologic Carbon Sequestration Program Geothermal Systems Hydrocarbon Resources Hydrogeology Department Resilient Energy Resilient Energy Water Infrastructure

Scientists Unveil New Version of Popular Flow-Simulation Tool

March 22, 2018

Scientists from the Energy Geosciences Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) have released the latest version of TOUGH (Transport Of Unsaturated Groundwater and Heat), a suite of software codes used worldwide to simulate nonisothermal multiphase flow and transport in fractured and porous media. TOUGH3 builds on the impressive legacy of its TOUGH predecessors, which…

Post Ecology Department Ecosystems Biology Program Environmental and Biological Sciences Environmental and Biological Systems Science Program Domain Environmental Remediation & Water Resources Program GC-Microbial Engines GC-Resilient Systems GC-Sustainable Earth

Digging Deep: Harnessing the Power of Soil Microbes for More Sustainable Farming

March 14, 2018

Berkeley Lab’s ‘farm of the future’ project marries microbiology and machine learning

Post Energy Geosciences Division Energy Resources Program Area Energy Resources Program Domain GC-Sustainable Earth Geothermal Systems

Berkeley Lab Scientists Go Deep Underground to Study Rock Fractures in Geothermal Environments

March 5, 2018

In February EESA Staff Scientist Tim Kneafsey helped escort leadership from the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy on a journey 4,850 feet below the ground. They toured Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF), an old South Dakota gold mine turned testing ground for studying how the process of extracting heat from rocks…

Post Discovery Geosciences Program Domain Energy Geosciences Division Environmental Remediation & Water Resources Program GC-Sustainable Earth

EESA Researchers Study How to Sustainably Remediate Contaminated Soil and Groundwater in Wake of Extreme Events

February 9, 2018

Researchers from the Earth and Environmental Sciences Area at Berkeley Lab are being recognized for developing advanced scientific tools that can inform how to sustainably remediate soil and groundwater contamination. Such remediation has become increasingly difficult in the wake of extreme climate events such as flooding. Hurricane Harvey, for example, caused flooding in 13 EPA-designated…

Post Center for Nanoscale Control of Geologic CO2 Discovery Geosciences Program Domain Energy Geosciences Division Energy Resources Program Area Energy Resources Program Domain Fundamental Earth Sciences Program Area Fundamental Geosciences Program GC-Sustainable Earth Geologic Carbon Sequestration Program Resilient Energy Sustainable Energy Systems Program Sustainable Energy Systems Program Domain

New EESA Study Indicates Greater Capacity for Carbon Storage in the Subsurface

February 6, 2018

New research from the Energy Geosciences Division at Berkeley Lab shows that carbon dioxide can penetrate the inner layers of some non-swelling clay minerals which make up the dominant clays in the Earth's deep subsurface. Results of the work performed at the Center for Nanoscale Controls on Geologic CO2 (NCGC) and the national lab’s Molecular Foundry could help inform practices intended to help limit carbon dioxide emissions, such as carbon capture and storage (CCS) and enhanced oil recovery (EOR).

Post Energy Resources Program Area Energy Resources Program Domain GC-Sustainable Earth Research Highlight Sustainable Energy Systems Program

Berkeley Lab Experts Helping Test Novel Monitoring Solutions for Unconventional Oil Recovery with Reduced Environmental Footprint

January 25, 2018

Scientists from the Energy Geosciences Division at Berkeley Lab are part of a research team led by Texas A&M University that is working to develop a new field laboratory in the hydrocarbon-producing geological formation known as Eagle Ford Shale. Their work is focused on increased recovery from previously fractured wells that were left behind because of low production, and has the potential to foster continued growth in U.S. oil production, but with a much lower environmental footprint.