Ms. Atkinson performs lighting and appliance policy analysis projects, including standards analysis, non-regulatory program analysis, and DOE priority-setting. She played a key role in the fluorescent ballast standards analysis and the high-intensity discharge lamps determination analysis for DOE. Barbara has worked with CLASP projects, including the Uruguay standards and labeling project. She is the secretary of the Illuminating Engineering Society's Energy Mangement Committee, was a member of the National Lighting Collaborative, and served on the California Energy Commission's Lighting Efficiency Advisory Group.

Barbara received a B.S. in Engineering Technology from Temple University, Philadelphia, PA. She earned an M.S. in Energy and Resources from UC Berkeley in 1989. She is a registered professional engineer in the state of California.

Beginning in 1979, Barbara worked for Berkeley Solar Group (Berkeley, CA) modeling passive solar building performance with the CALPAS program. She then co-founded Soft Path Design in Berkeley, which performed Title 24 code compliance and CALPAS analysis. As principal of Atkinson Consultants, Berkeley, she conducted several consulting projects. These included lighting and HVAC energy audits of San Francisco municipal buildings, as well as of LBNL buildings. The company, now named Lightstream Energy, has consulted to international government agencies on lighting policy analysis and lighting technologies in Canada, the Netherlands, Costa Rica. Lightstream has performed monitoring and evaluation of lighting efficiency projects in Argentina, Peru, and Mexico.

Barbara began at LBNL in 1986 as a graduate student in the International Energy Studies Group. She then worked for the In-House Energy Management Group, before joining the Energy Efficiency Standards Group in 1990.

Barbara is active in community activities related to the environment. She serves on the board of the non-profit Community Energy Services Corporation. She previously served on the MidAtlantic Green-e Advisory Committee, and co-founded a volunteer project promoting solar energy development in Nicaragua.