For Berkeley alternative-energy project, big changes on the horizon

UCBerkeleyNews
By Barry Bergman, NewsCenter 11 January 2010

New research facility aims to save the planet, but thinks locally, too

BERKELEY — The Helios Energy Research Facility, originally proposed as a hillside headquarters for Berkeley-based alternative-energy research, appears close to finding a new home west of the Berkeley campus — and to replacing a shuttered neighborhood eyesore with an eco-friendly building and public open space designed to spur downtown revitalization as it seeks solutions to global climate change.

The brainchild of former Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory director Steven Chu — now head of the U.S. Department of Energy — the Helios project was initially slated to be housed in a large structure, to be built in Strawberry Canyon, for LBNL and UC Berkeley scientists working on solar energy, biofuels, and other ways to curb global climate change.

Now, under revised plans set to go to the UC Board of Regents next week, alternative-energy research will be more dispersed. If approved by the regents, a new five-story, 112,800-square-foot structure will rise on a university-owned lot just west of the central campus. Research there would focus on carbon-neutral biofuels, and would be conducted chiefly under the auspices of the BP-funded Energy Biosciences Institute and Berkeley's bioengineering program.

Read the full story