BERKELEY, Calif. (KCBS) -- Congressional leaders are turning to the leaders of major universities for ideas on how to combat global warming. The chancellor of U.C. Berkeley was among those recently invited to testify on Capitol Hill.
U.C. Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau told the Senate's Environment and Public Works Committee that his campus has emerged as leader in the effort to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
”Scientists from U.C. Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have been developing a bold research agenda called “Helios,” exploring solar energy devices from photovoltaics to micro-organisms including nano-technology to produce cheaper and more efficient solar cells,” said Birgeneau.
U.C. Berkeley researchers are also working on what could emerge as the next generation of bio-fuels.
Birgeneau says Berkeley students, staff and faculty are working together to reduce the campus's greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2014. If U.C. Berkeley can meet its greenhouse gas goals, it will have reached new state climate standards six years before they go into effect.
(MGO)
KCBS' Chris Filippi reports
