@energy

class="content__text" ROOTS: Under our feet, there’s a complex network of interactions. Plant roots and organisms in the surrounding soil have a big effect on climate and environmental systems. 🌱 They store carbon and cycle nutrients. However, there’s a lot that scientists don’t know about this area called the rhizosphere. Enter, researchers supported by DOE's Office of Science. For example, those at our Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory user facility grow and analyze plant species to understand how they’re affected by environmental changes and the soil surrounding them. The researchers examine interactions between roots, the soil, and microbes. Photo description: A person using a stapler-like tool to grasp onto a plant’s leaf and measure plant parameters related to photosynthesis Photo credit: Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory

May 20, 2023

class="content__text" ¿Quiere saber qué estamos haciendo para traer energía limpia cerca de usted? Escuche todo sobre las inversiones que hemos hecho en energía geotérmica, hidroeléctrica y marina para cubrir las necesidades energéticas de los estadounidenses.

May 20, 2023

class="content__text" ❗️NEW BIDEN ENERGY UPDATE Want to know what the Department of Energy’s been doing to bring clean energy to you? From investments in #geothermal to #hydropower & marine energy to meet the energy needs of Americans, hear all about it.

May 20, 2023

class="content__text" FOLLOWING THE WATER: 🌈Rainbows are made of light and water – but that doesn’t make them any less magical. From the mountains to the bedrock, the path that water travels to eventually become a rainbow is pretty amazing too. Why are scientists interested in tracing where water goes? More than 60 percent of the world’s fresh water starts in mountain ranges as runoff from snow and precipitation. Tracking its path and using that data in simulations of the climate will help scientists understand how the climate is changing and evaluate solutions. That’s what researchers supported by the Department of Energy’s Office of Science are doing for the Colorado River watershed. The Surface Atmosphere Integrated Field Laboratory project, led by our Berkeley Lab and ARM user facility, started in September 2021 and is running through June 2023. Read more about the project (link in bio). Photo description: A rainbow stretching over wide fields spotted with pine trees with mountains in the background Photo credit: Daniel Feldman, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

May 13, 2023

class="content__text" Stop, Hammer time! 🕺✨ The demonstration of fusion ignition provides unprecedented capability to support national security and serves as the first key step in exploring a fusion energy future. As one of the most significant scientific challenges ever tackled, the pursuit of ignition has drawn interest and support from all over the world – including from Bay Area science enthusiast @MCHammer . He joined us to tour the National Ignition Facility and learn more about the world’s largest and most energetic laser. Learn more about NIF: https://lasers.llnl.gov/about/what-is-nif. Learn more about ignition: www.llnl.gov/ignition Thank you for visiting the Lab, MC Hammer – science is 2 Legit 2 Quit! 💥 #Ignition #FusionIgnition #LLNL #LivermoreLab

May 13, 2023

class="content__text" ✅Up to 65% saved on energy bills ✅Eligible for federal tax credits ✅Cut 7.6 tons of CO2 emissions/year by making the switch Watch to get the 101 on heat pumps, and go to https://www.energy.gov/save to learn about the potential savings you can earn through clean energy upgrades. (link in bio)

May 13, 2023

class="content__text" SEEING BACK IN TIME: You may think you’d need a time machine to look back in space 11 billion years ago – more than twice as long as the Earth’s lifetime. However, the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) is making it possible. Even though light is the fastest thing in the universe, it still has limits. If a star that is three million light years away explodes today, that light won’t get to Earth until three million years later. In addition, the universe is constantly expanding. As galaxies move further away from us, their light shifts to longer, redder wavelengths. The further away an object is, the “redder” its wavelength, which is called a redshift. By measuring the wavelengths of light coming from galaxies, we can understand how far away they are and look back in time. That’s where DESI comes in. DESI is an instrument mounted on the Mayall telescope in Arizona. A team with scientists from 13 nations collaborated on building the tool, led by DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. (Several other national labs are partners as well.) It started taking data in May 2021 and will be running until 2026. DESI has 5,000 robotically controlled optical fibers. Each one of these fibers captures information on a single object in the telescope’s field of view. Whenever the telescope is pointing at a section of the sky, it is taking data on 5,000 galaxies simultaneously. Scientists can take snapshots of how the universe looked at different periods of time. They expect the tool to reach back as far as 11 billion years. This data can also give us information on a galaxy’s chemical composition and velocity. Eventually, it will capture information on light from 30 million galaxies. With this data, scientists are developing 3D maps of the universe. These maps provide insight into why the universe is expanding ever more quickly, a phenomenon scientists call “dark energy.” Photo description: Photo of DESI, which has a giant blue metal ring on a platform with scaffolding above it. The white tiled ceiling of the building arcs around it. Photo credit: Marilyn Chung/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

May 06, 2023

class="content__text" ❗️Season 4 of our Direct Current podcast is out❗️ We’ve got great lineup, from climate modeling and extreme weather, to the “Battery Revolution,” to energy & resilience in Puerto Rico. Kicking off this season: “Keeping the Lights on in Ukraine” (link in bio)

May 06, 2023

class="content__text" VISUALIZATION: When a scientist has an overwhelming amount of data, it can be useful to put it in a visual form. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, pathologists in New Orleans were making high-resolution 3D microscopic scans to understand the virus. However, the data sets were too large for them to analyze on their own. With the help of Brian Summa, a Tulane University researcher, they analyzed it effectively. Now, with the help of an Early Career award from the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, Summa is making it easier for all researchers to visualize their data. The systems he's developing will make it easier for scientists to search, analyze, and share even the biggest datasets. The first part of the project is a scientific version of Google’s reverse image search. Instead of relying on the descriptive tags researchers attach to images, the program will allow scientists to search within the images. Using machine learning, the program will structurally analyze the images. It will also allow scientists to look for patterns across data in different areas of research. Summa’s team will be beta-testing it with datasets from DOE’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The second part is finding ways to prioritize the key parts of data to make it easier to transfer very large datasets. Currently, most programs send a lower-resolution version of the data. This system will identify and emphasize key relationships in the data instead. Lastly, his team is developing large visualization software systems that will be easy for researchers to use. One thing that is unique about Summa’s project is that he’s designing it to run on different technologies. Instead of only working on very powerful supercomputers, his team is aiming to run it on systems as common as iPads. Image description: A swirl of blue waves cutting through an orange background. It's a visualization of a mixing transition in a Rayleigh-Taylor instability, which is when a light fluid pushes on a heavy one. Credit: Duong Hoang, Brian Summa, Pavol Klacansky, Will Usher, Harsh Bhatia, Peter Lindstrom, Peer-Timo Bremer, Valerio Pascucci

April 27, 2023

class="content__text" Induction stoves provide more efficient cooking and allow Americans to save money while saving the planet. But the savings don’t stop there. Our NEW @ENERGY Savings Hub is your guide to slashing your energy costs. ⚡️💵 www.energy.gov/save #linkinbio

April 27, 2023

class="content__text" ✨BRAND NEW: the Energy Savings Hub✨ The Department of Energy is committed to making clean energy and saving money accessible to all Americans. Enter, our newly launched Energy Savings Hub. The Hub puts President Biden’s clean energy tax credits and forthcoming rebates right at your fingertips, helping Americans take control of their energy costs and have more options as a consumer — whether they’re looking to purchase a vehicle, update an appliance, or make their home safer and more comfortable. So if you’re a homeowner, renter, driver, or know of one who’d want to save money, be one of the first to check out the Savings Hub (link in bio).

April 27, 2023

class="content__text" Happy Earth Day! 🌎 Measuring and documenting the past and potential effects of climate change is essential for dealing with the climate crisis. DOE’s Office of Science has been a leader for many years in atmospheric systems research and Earth systems modeling. We manage the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility, which has been collecting long-term climate data for more than 30 years. Scientists have used ARM instruments to fill major gaps in our knowledge, such as in the MOSAiC expedition in the Arctic. Our researchers have played an essential role in examining how ecosystems will respond to climate change. In our Spruce and Peatland Responses Under Changing Environments (SPRUCE) experiment, researchers have been collecting data since 2015 on how heating and increases in carbon dioxide affect northern bogs. As we increase research into human activities, we are also working to ensure representation of people from all walks of life in the scientific community. In the past, those from marginalized communities have bore the brunt of the climate crisis and been excluded from the process and benefits of climate research. As part of those efforts, we have been expanding our ARM efforts to cover urban areas. Scientists participating in the TRacking Aerosol Convection interactions ExpeRiment (TRACER) took data and examined the relationships between clouds, pollution, and thunderstorms in the Houston, Texas area. The data will help scientists understand how human activities affect the local weather and air quality, as well as how hurricanes form and move. Other projects have examined the relationship between neighborhoods designs, heating & cooling patterns, and local weather—especially during heat waves. Photo description: A meteorological tower for TRACER in La Porte, Texas, in a sunset Photo credit: Image courtesy of the U.S. Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility.

April 27, 2023