At a Sleek Bioenergy Lab, a Lens on a Cabinet Pick

The New York Times Science
By KENNETH CHANG and ANDREW C. REVKIN
Published: December 22, 2008

EMERYVILLE, Calif. — The Joint BioEnergy Institute, which encompasses the fourth floor of a high-tech office building here in a neighborhood of biotech companies, radiates a sleek ecological modernity: floorboards manufactured of recycled materials and laminated to look like bamboo, trendy office furniture and laboratories stocked with new equipment.

It even has a hip nickname: Jay-Bay. That is how everyone pronounces JBEI. The institute has the look and feel — and organizational chart — of a startup venture, not a federal research laboratory.

But JBEI is financed by the Energy Department — $135 million over five years. And JBEI is under the purview of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in nearby Berkeley, whose director, Steven Chu, has been selected as the next energy secretary.

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