Cheaper Sucker
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, CA, believe they can save the country more than $1.5 billion a year in electricity by updating the 60-year-old-design of a laboratory staple: the fume hood. There are close to a million fume hoods in the United States, protecting high-school chemistry students and industry researchers alike by sucking up airborne chemicals, microbes, and particles. But hoods also suck up a lot of power: a typical one uses more energy each year than three homes. The key to the efficiency of the Berkeley Lab’s design is small fans at the top and bottom of the hood opening that create a curtain of clean air between the worker and hazardous substances on the countertop. Behind that curtain, a more powerful fan draws out the contaminated air, in much the way a conventional hood’s does. But because the fumes are already contained, the new system requires only about a third of the airflow and therefore much less energy. Berkeley Lab researchers and fume hood manufacturers are now field-testing the hoods in operating laboratories.
Keep Reading
Most Popular
Large language models can do jaw-dropping things. But nobody knows exactly why.
And that's a problem. Figuring it out is one of the biggest scientific puzzles of our time and a crucial step towards controlling more powerful future models.
The problem with plug-in hybrids? Their drivers.
Plug-in hybrids are often sold as a transition to EVs, but new data from Europe shows we’re still underestimating the emissions they produce.
Google DeepMind’s new generative model makes Super Mario–like games from scratch
Genie learns how to control games by watching hours and hours of video. It could help train next-gen robots too.
How scientists traced a mysterious covid case back to six toilets
When wastewater surveillance turns into a hunt for a single infected individual, the ethics get tricky.
Stay connected
Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.