All Course Offerings
Please note: This is a full list of ERG course offerings; not all courses are offered each term. For current course offerings, please refer to the online Schedule of Classes.
ENERES 98/198 – Energy DeCal
Instructor: Daniel Kammen (Instructor of Record); class conducted by undergraduate students
Introduction to energy topics and explore the social, environmental and economic consequences of our carbon-based economy. Includes guest speakers, article presentations, projects, discussions, and films to explore the energy cycle; tracing its origins, distribution, consumption and waste.
ENERES C100 /C200 – Energy and Society
Instructor: Daniel Kammen
(Cross-listed with Pub Pol C184/C284.)
You will develop an understanding – and a real working knowledge – of our energy technologies, policies and options. This will include analysis of the different opportunities and impacts of energy systems that exist within and between groups defined by national, regional, household, ethnic, and gender distinctions. Analysis of the range of current and future energy choices will be stressed, as well as the role of energy in determining local environmental conditions and the global climate. ER C100 is open to undergraduates. ER C200 is open to graduate students.
ENERES 101 – Ecology and Society
(Prerequisites: One college level course, or high school Advanced Placement, in either physics or biology; introductory calculus)
Introduction to the many ways in which our lives are intertwined with the ecosystems around us. Topics will include ecological limits to growth, climate change and other threats to biodiversity, the value of ecosystem goods and services, the ecology of disease, ecotoxicology, the evolution of cooperation in ecosystems, industrial ecology, and the epistemology of ecology.
ENERES 102 – Quantitative Aspects of Global Environmental Problems
Instructor: Lara Kueppers
Human disruption of biogeochemical and hydrological cycles; causes and consequences of climate change and acid deposition; transport and health impacts of pollutants; loss of species; radioactivity in the environment; epidemics.
ENERES 131 – Data, Environment, and Society
Instructor: Duncan Callaway
(This course will use Python, and students must have taken Data 8 before enrolling)
This course will teach students to build, estimate and interpret models that describe phenomena in the broad area of energy and environmental decision-making. Students leave the course as both critical consumers and responsible producers of data-driven analysis. The effort will be divided between (i) learning a suite of data-driven modeling and prediction tools (ii) building the programming and computing expertise to use those tools and (iii) developing the ability to formulate and answer resource allocation questions within energy and environment contexts.
ENERES C176/276 – Climate Change Economics
Instructor: David Anthoff
This course is a self-contained introduction to the economics of climate change. Climate change is caused by a large variety of economic activities and many of its impacts will have economic consequences. Economists have studied climate change for more than two decades and economic arguments are often powerful in policy decisions. The course will familiarize students with these arguments and equip them with the tools to participate in discussions of climate change policy through an economic lens.
ENERES 201 – Interdisciplinary Analysis in Energy and Resources
Required for and limited to new ERG Master’s students. Introduction to interdisciplinary analysis as it is practiced in the Energy and Resources Group (ERG). Most of the course consists of important perspectives on energy and resources issues introduced through a particularly influential book or set of papers. The course also provides an introduction to the current research activities of the ERG faculty and practical knowledge and skills necessary to successfully complete graduate school in an interdisciplinary program.
ENERES 254 – Electric Power Systems
Instructor: Duncan Callaway
(Three hours of lecture per week. Prerequisites: Physics 7B or 8B or equivalent. Not offered Spring 2024.)
Provides an understanding of concepts in the design and operation of electric power systems, including generation, transmission, and consumption. Covers basic electromechanical physics, reactive power, circuit and load analysis, reliability, planning, dispatch, organizational design, regulations, environment, and end-use efficiency, and new technologies.
ENERES 273 – Social Science Methods
Instructor: Isha Ray
This course aims to introduce graduate students to the rich diversity of research methods that social scientists have developed for the empirical aspects of their work. Its primary goal is to encourage critical thinking about the research process: how we “know,” how we match research methods to research questions, how we design and conduct our information/data collection, what we assume explicitly and implicitly, and the ethical dilemmas raised by fieldwork-oriented studies.
ENERES 275 – Water and Development
Instructor: Isha Ray
Introduction to water policy in developing countries. It is a course motivated by the fact that over one billion people in developing countries have no access to safe drinking water, three billion do not have sanitation facilities, and many millions of small farmers do not have reliable water supplies to ensure a healthy crop. Readings and discussions will cover: the problems of water access and use in developing countries; the potential for technological, social, and economic solutions to these problems; the role of institutions in access to water and sanitation; and the pitfalls of the assumptions behind some of today’s popular “solutions.” ER 275 is open to graduate students.
ENERES 292 A – Master’s Seminar: Tools of the Trade
Recommended for Energy and Resources Master’s students in the fall of their first year. Limited to ERG graduate students. Quantitative methods for energy and resource analysis. Topics include linear algebra, differential equations, statistical methods, chemical equilibrium theory and thermodynamics.
ENERES 292 B – Master’s Seminar
Required for, and limited to, Energy and Resources Master’s candidates in the spring of their first year. Topics include research skills, critical reading and analysis of research papers; development of Master’s project ideas. Human subject research issues, ethics and protocols introduced.
ENERES 292C – Master’s Seminar
Required of, and limited to, first-year Energy and Resources Master’s students in the fall of their second year. Topics include the adoption of a research project, research design, presentation of work, statistical analyses. Students will apply the interdisciplinary methods, approaches and perspectives learned in the core curriculum.
ENERES 292D – Master’s Seminar
Required of and limited to second-year Energy and Resources Master’s students in the spring of their second year. Topics include the adoption of a research project, research design, presentation of work, statistical analyses. Students will apply the interdisciplinary methods, approaches and perspectives learned in the core curriculum. Sequence begins spring each year.
ENERES 295 – ERG Colloquium: Special Topics in Energy and Resources
Instructor: Lara Kueppers with guest speakers
Presentations of research in energy issues by faculty, students, and visiting lecturers. Master’s degree students required to enroll for two semesters.
ENERES 296 – Doctoral Seminar
Instructor: Isha Ray with guest speakers
Presentations of current Ph.D. research. Limited to ERG graduate students.
ENERES 298 – Grant Writing Seminar
Instructor: Isha Ray with grad student facilitation
Offered to all ERG students who are planning to submit a fellowship or grant application during the current academic year. The primary purpose of the course is to help students develop a solid foundation in effective proposal writing and to advance their work on a fellowship or grant application of their choice. These grant-writing skills are transferable to both academia and the professional world and are often critical for maintaining funding across different sectors of work.
ENERES 299 – Independent Research
For information on independent research units with individual faculty members please contact the department at erggrad@berkeley.edu.