Groundwater contamination is increasingly recognized as a widespread environmental problem. The most important course of action often involves long-term monitoring. But what is the most cost-effective way to monitor when the contaminant plumes are large, complex, and long-term, or an unexpected event such as a storm could cause sudden changes in contaminant levels that may…
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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-…
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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…
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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).
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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.
Read MoreMack Kennedy will be the lead point of contact for the Berkeley Lab aspect of the multiphase FORGE effort, which could unlock access to a domestic, geographically diverse, and carbon-free source of clean energy.
Read MoreESD made strong contributions to the first volume of an independent scientific assessment released by the CCST on well stimulation in California, including an assessment of hydraulic fracturing.
Read MoreESD scientists contributed greatly to a recent CCST report reviewing well-stimulation technologies, including hydraulic fracturing, used in on-shore oil reservoirs in California—to be used to inform BLM’s oil and gas policies in the state.
Read MoreThree papers (Spycher et al., Peiffer et al., and Wanner et al.) by the same team of ESD geochemists are to appear in the July 2014 issue of Geothermics.
Read MoreChristoph Wanner recently led a team of ESD scientists in developing a new reactive transport model of the Dixie Valley, Nevada, geothermal region, aiming to assess fluid flow pathways and fluid rock interaction processes at the site.
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