Features

The University of California at Berkeley announced this week that a project it is leading to research and develop energy savings methods for the state and the nation is to receive $100 million in state funding. 

The project, Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS), received $20 million for this year, with a $100 million commitment overall.  

Already one emerging project idea is to outfit buildings with wireless sensor networks to monitor energy use - technology a university spokesman says could save California as much $8 billion in energy costs and 5 million metric tons of carbon each year. 

CITRIS is a partnership between the University of California campuses at Berkeley, Santa Cruz, Davis and Merced. In 2002, CITRIS is to be one of the state's California Institutes for Science and Innovation, which are designed to conduct research in scientific fields critical to the state’s economic future.  

CITRIS has also received $250 million in support from business and industrial partners and other federal and state research grants.