Renewable & Appropriate Energy Laboratory (RAEL)

RAEL is engaged in projects to develop the science, technology, policy needs and to foster engagements that explore the future of energy, specifically the transition to a low-cabon, environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable energy system.

The Energy and Resources Group summer instructors understand the complex and interdisciplinary nature of sustainability. All have significant experience teaching and/or professional experience in the subject areas of their courses. For course descriptions and schedule, visit our Summer Curriculum and Schedule page. Unless otherwise stated, office hours take place at 310 Barrows Hall. SAMUEL EVANS […]

Study finds racial inequality in the deployment of rooftop solar

A new study by researchers at UC Berkeley and Tufts University shows fewer rooftop solar photovoltaics installations exist in African-American and Hispanic-dominant neighborhoods than in white-dominant neighborhoods, even when controlling for household income and home ownership. It was published in Nature Sustainability. The study was conducted by Deborah Sunter (former postdoctoral scholar in Dan Kammen’s […]

Misplaced Praise – How Kosovo Took a Step in the Wrong Direction

The U.S. government recently congratulated the government of Kosovo for signing a contract with American multi-national corporation Contour Global to build a new 500 MW coal-fired power plant. Kosovo highlights the potential of this plant to relieve a long history of energy insecurity, and provide for better health and economic prosperity. However, ERG Chair Dan […]

Ponce de Leon Lessons from Fracking in the USA and Mexico – ERG’s Kammen

Last week, Dan Kammen, Diego Ponce de Leon, and Peter Marsters published their analysis of the environmental, social, economic, and community impacts of the shale industry on Mexico. The team also discussed lessons that can be learned from the recent ‘shale boom’ in the United States. The analy­sis seeks to inform mainly Mex­i­can pol­icy mak­ers, […]

Paper Authored by PhD Candidate Noah Kittner and Professor Dan Kammen Published in Nature Energy

Noah Kittner and Dan Kammen's new paper, "Energy stor­age deploy­ment and inno­va­tion for the clean energy tran­si­tion," was published in Nature Energy on July 31, 2017

New ERG Chair Daniel M. Kammen

We are pleased to announce the appointment of the new Energy and Resources Group Chair, Professor Daniel M. Kammen. His appointment began July 1, 2017. Daniel Kam­men is a Pro­fes­sor of Energy with appoint­ments in the Energy and Resources Group, The Gold­man School of Pub­lic Pol­icy, and the Depart­ment of Nuclear Engi­neer­ing at the Uni­ver­sity of Cal­i­for­nia, Berke­ley. […]

New Partnership with Kammen’s RAEL Lab and University of Maryland’s Research for Climate Action

Last week, Daniel Kammen announced that RAEL is supporting and participating in the launch of the Research for Climate Action global consortium anchored at the University of Maryland.

RAEL and GRID Alternatives Partner for Off-Grid Solar

  Solar Industry Magazine has announced a partnership between the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory (RAEL) and nonprofit solar installer GRID Alternatives. RAEL is a unique new research, development, project implementation, and community outreach facility founded by ERG’s Daniel Kammen and is based at the University of California, Berkeley in the Energy and Resources Group and Department […]

Two ERG Projects Included in White House Plans for Sustainable Water Future

Commitments by two groups within ERG were included in the White House Summit on Water last week

ERG Professor Daniel Kammen Appointed as U.S. Science Envoy

ERG Professor Daniel Kammen has been appointed as one of five U.S. Science Envoys by the US State Department.

CFCC15: ERG Students Present at Paris Conference

ERG & RAEL students present and engage at scientific conference “Our Common Future under Climate Change” ahead of COP21

Sarawak May See the End of Mega Dams

As an alternative to the current Baram Dam project, Professor Daniel Kammen presented the benefits of using renewable energy instead of mega hydro-dams at a press conference held at Kuch­ing, Sarawak, East Malaysia.

RAEL at UN Climate Summit

SWITCH model selected as a "Project to Watch" by the UN's Big Data Climate Challenge.

Rethinking Energy on Islands

Rebekah Shirley (ERG PhD) and Professor Dan Kammen show how small-scale energy can work in the Pacific Islands.

ERG students win United Nations award

Jalel Sager (PhD candidate) and Austin Cappon (Minor) head to Nairobi, Kenya to pick up UN prize for a sustainable energy development project in Vietnam.

Bodie Cabiyo

Bodie’s interests lie at the intersection of health, environment, and energy access. To date, Bodie has primarily focused on modernizing cooking in South Asia and Sub Saharan Africa. This work has taken him from rural villages building mud “chulhas” to high-tech cookstove manufacturing and testing facilities. Presently, he is working to understand the social, economic, […]

Isa Ferrall

Isa is a MS/PhD student in the Energy and Resources Group. She is interested in the impact of renewable energy on rural electrification, global development, and the domestic energy sector. Previously, Isa gained experience on both the technical and applied sides of renewable energy. She researched innovative energy materials at Duke University and the National […]

Jonathan Lee

Jonathan studies transitions in electric power systems and electricity markets, specifically microgrids and distributed energy resources, the role of new technologies in grid planning, and the effects of the physical structure of power systems on social equity. He is interested in both industrial contexts and unelectrified rural areas, and has done electrification work in Nicaragua, […]

Susana Arrechea

Dr. Susana Arrechea holds a PhD and masters degree in Nano-science and Nanotechnology from the University of Castilla—La Mancha (UCLM), Toledo, Spain, and a bachelors in chemical engineering from the University of San Carlos of Guatemala (USAC), where she is currently a researcher at the engineering faculty. In 2011 she received a fellowship through the […]

José Daniel Lara

Jose Daniel was born in San José Costa Rica, received his B.Sc. and Licentiate in Electrical Engineering from the University of Costa Rica in 2009 and 2012 respectively, his M.Sc. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Waterloo, Canada in 2014, and his M.S. in Energy and Resources from the University of […]

Cauvery Ganapathy

Cauvery is a Fulbright Visiting Scholar working on her doctoral dissertation on "The politics of energy security: India's foreign and domestic policy imperatives." Currently, Cauvery is a Research Fellow at Global India Foundation and a Doctoral student at Jadavpur University, Calcutta.

Patricia Hidalgo-Gonzalez

Patricia graduated as an industrial and electrical engineer in 2012 from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC). During her undergraduate studies she worked as a Linear Algebra teaching assistant for three years, performed research in Dr. Daniel Kammen’s Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory (RAEL) at UC Berkeley working on the SWITCH model for the US. […]

Ian Bolliger

Ian’s interests lie in predicting regional impacts of climate change on coastal communities and on water management systems, as well as in developing tools to facilitate efficient resource management that is adaptive to these impacts. Currently, he is developing a spatially-resolved, probabilistic quantification of the economic risk of climate-driven changes to hurricane frequency and intensity. […]

Veronica Jacome

Veronica Jacome is a PhD student in the Energy and Resources Group (ERG) and holds a BS in Engineering Physics from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. At ERG, Veronica focuses on the terms of access within electricity services – investigating how policy, supply and infrastructure shape access and how access shapes vulnerabilities. Veronica’s work draws […]

Daniel Sanchez

Daniel L. Sanchez holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Energy and Resources. He is interested in quantitative analysis to inform public policy, focusing on bioenergy and climate policy. His past research focused on design, deployment, and commercialization of bioenergy with carbon capture and sequestration (BECCS) technologies. Daniel has previously held positions with the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), Green for All, and the California Public Utilities Commission.