ERG has a small core faculty but a much larger group (100+) of affiliated faculty. Affiliated faculty are based in other departments on campus or at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and share ERG’s commitment to shared learning and interdisciplinary work. They are advisors, mentors, or employers to ERG students, and serve on master’s project, […]
The Energy Modeling, Analysis and Control (EMAC) group addresses the engineering and techno-economic challenges to decarbonizing electric power systems. Our work ranges from applied to theoretical. Much of our work focuses on building new control and optimization frameworks to facilitate the operation of low carbon grids.
Monday, March 16th, 2020 “After several years of professional experience, ERG has given me a new lease on life. Because of the incredible latitude ERG gives its students to explore, I’ve had the opportunity to take classes in law, business, public policy, and data science, above and beyond the core requirements in social science, […]
Give Big to ERG on Thursday, March 12 during UC Berkeley’s annual Big Give fundraiser! Big Give is UC Berkeley’s annual fundraising blitz—24 hours when we celebrate all of the moments that make Berkeley such a big deal by sharing the love on social media, supporting all of our favorite schools and programs, and competing […]
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. Instructors listed may be subject to change. SAMUEL EVANS Course: Climate Change Economics […]
The Minor and Certificate in Sustainability provides a comprehensive understanding of the most pressing issues facing the world today. The program offers a practical and relevant interdisciplinary approach at the intersection of environmental, economic, social, political, and cultural issues. Students complete courses in: Global and local environmental change The science, engineering, economics, and policy […]
Daniel Kammen is the Class of 1935 Distinguished 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.
My interests range from the integration of renewables into existing grids,the possibility of indigenes (especially women) in rural communities producing their own power or at least understanding its workings and the interaction between science and policy making in developing countries. I would love to study in the Renewable & Appropriate Energy Laboratory (RAEL) or the […]
Anna is a PhD student at ERG and an MS student in Electrical Engineering. She studies how electricity systems are changing in the United States. She is interested in enabling high-penetration renewable energy while ensuring cost-effectiveness and preserving grid reliability, and in how renewables adoption can be increasingly technically, economically, and socially sustainable. Previously, Anna […]
Integrating Fuel-Based End Uses Into a Clean Electric System: Quantifying the Trade Off Between Electrification and Electrically Synthesized Fuels (MS ’20) Jess Carney is interested in understanding how sustainable energy integration impacts power grids and electricity markets. She received her undergraduate degree at Johns Hopkins University in 2018, where she majored in Environmental Science and […]
My research focuses on the intersections between renewable energy, gender, and rural life in northern Tanzania. Informed by critical social theory and political economy and ecology of energy, my work pivots around the gendered dimensions of rural energy use in a region where more and more large-scale ‘energy grabs’ are throwing social relations in the […]
Effects of Electricity Consumption and Rate Design on Solar Plus Storage-enabled Grid Defection (MS ’19) Will’s primary research interests involve assessing the opportunity for distributed energy resources to participate on the electric system while investigating their technical impact on the grid. Prior to joining ERG, he worked for the Brattle Group’s utilities group in Boston […]
Stephen is a PhD Candidate at UC Berkeley’s Energy & Resources Group and a Researcher at the Energy Institute at Haas. His work lies at the intersection of economics, public policy and data science. His research interests are centered on the energy sector and the environment, with a particular focus on electricity markets. His primary […]
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 […]
Joyceline is a Tanzanian who holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Rochester. Her research interest lies in energy decentralization, diversification, economics and policy making to empower women and improve the standard of living in East Africa. She currently works at the Renewable & Appropriate Energy Laboratory on Off grid systems […]
Reem is a concurrent MPP/ERG student at UC Berkeley. She is broadly interested in leveraging energy policy toward the decarbonization of transportation and transit systems in urban settings. Previously, Reem consulted on energy and climate policy at National Journal, in Washington, DC. She is a native of New Jersey, and is in constant search of […]
Development for the Stateless: the Displacement-Development Nexus and Implications for the Future (MS ’19) Samira is a PhD student in the Energy and Resources Group and researcher at the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory. Her research focuses on development for stateless people and migrants, most recently on energy access and the development priorities of UN […]
Edem received his B.S in Environmental Science and Technology, with a concentration in Ecological Technology Design and minor in Geographic Information Science (GIS) from the University of Maryland, College Park in 2019. Edem is interested in sustainable energy development and natural resource management, in particular, exploring solutions to renewable energy integration and energy access in […]
Peter’s research focus areas are information technology approaches to energy development, understanding markets for demand-side energy technology, and energy technology policy. Outside of academics, he contributes to the Lighting Global program, which supports the market for modern off-grid lighting in the developing world. Peter’s work for Lighting Global includes technical and engineering support, policy development, […]
Designing and Adapting Appropriate Socio-Technical Systems for the Renewable Energy Transition (PhD ’18) Nkiruka has expertise in solar grid integration and climate policy in California, and in electricity access in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. She draws from engineering and urban planning disciplines to envision how the renewable energy transition could lead to equitable socio-technical […]
Targeted Efficiency: Using Customer Meter Data to Improve Efficiency Program Outcomes (PhD ’14) Sam’s works focuses on tools to scale up and improve the performance of energy efficiency programs in support of renewable energy integration and climate mitigation goals. His work combines insights from building science, behavioral sciences, and engineering to interpret patterns in building […]
Samuel Carrara holds a Bachelor Degree and a Master Degree in Mechanical Engineering (Major: Energy and Mechanical Plants) and a PhD in Energy and Environmental Technologies, all from the University of Bergamo, Italy. After working as an engineer in the gas turbine field, he is now a researcher at Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM), Milan, […]
Mind the Gap: Bridging Strategies for Universal Energy Access (PhD ’19) Since graduating as an electronics engineer in 2004, JP Carvallo has been working, studying, and researching different aspects of the energy field. His current interests relate to varied topics in sustainable development for less industrialized economies, with a geographical focus in Latin America and Asia. […]
India’s Low Carbon Electricity Futures (PhD ’17) Ranjit’s research efforts largely focus on addressing the clean energy and energy access challenges in developing nations. As part of both the International Energy Studies group at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and ERG, Ranjit is developing models of the Indian national power system to analyze policies and […]
Economic, technological, and policy aspects of integrating renewable energy into existing electricity systems using innovative demand response strategies.
Achieving Long-term Climate Goals in the US: Unlocking the Potential of High-Efficiency Electric Technology in Our Homes and Buildings (MS/MPP ’16) Rachel is interested in advancing policies that can help integrate large amounts of renewable energy and electric vehicles onto the grid. As such, she studies mechanisms that increase flexibility on the load and resource […]
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: ARNE JACOBSON Ph.D. 2004 Professor in the Department of Environmental Resources Engineering at Humboldt State University From his post at Humboldt State University, Arne Jacobson passionately extends his PhD research addressing the real-world barriers to providing clean energy for poor people in developing countries. In so doing, he plays a critical role […]
Chris Jones is lead developer at the CoolClimate Network, an applied research consortium at UC Berkeley’s Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory that supports the development of comprehensive, socially integrated carbon footprint management tools and programs for individuals, schools, businesses and communities. His primary research interests intersect the fields of industrial ecology, environmental psychology, and climate […]
Energy policy wonk trying to craft and institute economically efficient policy to promote the use of renewable energy technologies and reduce our emissions.
Jason is interested in optimization and control of distributed energy resources to support renewable energy integration into the electricity grid. He works at Lawrence Berkeley National lab researching wholesale electricity market integrated demand response and electric vehicles, particularly to provide fast reliability services. He graduated with from University of Michigan with an MS in Natural […]
Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions, System Flexibility Requirements, and Drivers of Storage Deployment in the Western North American Power System through 2050 (PhD ’14) Ana’s PhD research is in modeling electricity systems with high penetration levels of intermittent renewable energy to identify technological and policy alternatives for cost-effective emission reductions. While her work focuses on the […]
Measuring California’s Energy Service Affordability (MS ’19) Christian is fascinated by energy end-uses’ effect on communities’ economic and political well-being. While his formal scientific background is in biorenewable resources, his focus is on the sustainable development of holistic energy solutions based on socioeconomic, geographic, and natural resource characteristics for communities both domestic and developing abroad. […]
Everyday Transformations of Food to Waste: What and Why Food is Discarded in U.S. Households (PhD ’19) From digging through trash to looking inside of people’s refrigerators, Laura researches household-level food waste in the United States with a focus on measurement and behavior. In addition to examining the questions of “what?” and “how much?,” her […]
Scenarios for Deep Carbon Emission Reductions from Electricity by 2050 in Western North America Using the SWITCH Electric Power Sector Planning Model (PhD ’14) Jimmy Nelson is a graduating Ph.D. student in the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California at Berkeley and a Link Energy Fellow. His graduate work was performed in […]
Environmental, Economic, and Social Trade-Offs of Hydropower Relicensing (MS ’16) Joseph is interested in the social, environmental, and economic trade-offs in energy development, and in particular the social conflicts arising around utility-scale wind farm siting and hydropower relicensing. His master’s research focuses on the relicensing of the Yuba River Development Project, a large hydropower project […]
Jess studies the impact of and adaptation to climate change on Latin America’s coasts. Currently, she travels on her 39-foot sailboat, Oleada, down the Pacific coast of Mexico and Central America, through the Panama Canal, and into the Caribbean to document local climate knowledge through GIS mapping and personal narratives. You can follow her journey […]
Creating a Smooth Pathway From Innovation to Commercialization within the California Public Interest Energy Research Program (’01 M.S.) Research Interests: Performance of policy and technical analyses to increase awareness of global warming in a solutions oriented campaign to reduce energy use in California. We are pressuring public entities to increase the use of energy efficiency, […]
Exploring the Impacts of ASEAN Energy Cooperation on the Renewable Energy Development and Policy Implementation of the ASEAN Members (MS ’14)
Landing on the Sun! How to Make Residential PV Price-Competitive in the U.S. with Lessons Learned in Germany (MS/MPP ’12) Socio-Economic and Engineering Assessments of Renewable Energy cost Reduction Potential (PhD ’17) Joachim (Jo) Seel completed his Ph.D. at UC Berkeley’s Energy and Resources Group. His research focuses on electricity market design and on the integration […]
Ida Sognnaes is a PhD student in the Energy and Resources Group. She is originally from Norway and came to Berkeley for the first time as part of her five year MSc in Applied Mathematics and Physics where she focused on Renewable Energy and Climate Science. She wrote her Master thesis with John Harte in […]
M.S. 1986 – A Vehicular Power Plant Application of the Monolithic Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Ph.D. 1995 – Fan-Lizhi’s Big Bang: Science and Politics in Mao’s China ERG alumnus Jim Williams, now a professor at the University of San Francisco, is a global thought leader in the area of low-carbon energy systems. At USF his focus is on […]
Land Use in Renewable Energy Planning (PhD ’18) Inspired by the possibility of ecologically-bounded growth, Grace is interested in water and land use impacts of energy technologies; water management that sustains agriculture, energy production, and biodiversity; and the role of policy analysis in decision-making. She is currently merging life cycle assessment, GIS, and optimization methods […]
ERG PhD student Julia Szinai, ERG Alumnus Anand Gopal, and two other co-authors from Lawrence Berkeley National Lab have recently published a collaborative research paper on ScienceDirect.
ERG’s Dan Kammen and RAEL investigate how the benefits of solar energy is not distributed equally among individuals, and how there are racial disparities especially in rooftop solar PV deployment in the United States. This article, published on The Beam, provides numerous statistical and graphic evidence supporting the need for more inclusive energy infrastructure policy. […]
As part of April’s Cool Campus Challenge, ERG alumnus Chris Jones (MS ’05, PhD ’14), now director of the CoolClimate Network, sat down with student reporters from the Goldman School of Public Policy to discuss the CoolClimate Calculator. The CoolClimate Calculator is an online tool developed by the Renewable & Appropriate Energy Laboratory that allows […]
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 […]
In a Knowledge @ Wharton public policy podcast, Dan Kammen joins Eric Orts, legal studies and business ethics professor, and director of the school’s Initiative for Global Environmental Leadership. Kammen and Orts discuss the implications of environmental policy decisions made in 2017, and consider sustainability options for businesses as well as federal and state governments in the […]
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
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. […]
Daniel Kammen comments for Scientific American on the opportunities scientists think they can seize with the appointment of Trump's climate skeptics.
ERG is offering four of its most popular courses this summer! Enroll Today!
The 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris has begun and will continue until December 11th. Energy and Resources Group faculty, students and alumni will be playing an active role at the conference and the many peripheral activities.
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.
"We wanted to help policymakers and members of the general public understand that household heating with biomass is a complicated issue," says ERG PhD candidate Zoë Chafe.
Watch White House scientists, including Dr. Cyrus Wadia (ERG MS'06, PhD'08), talk about the White House's shift toward renewables.
From the bottom up : how small power producers and mini-grids can deliver electrification and renewable energy in Africa
Integrating Fuel-Based End Uses Into a Clean Electric System: Quantifying the Trade Off Between Electrification and Electrically Synthesized Fuels (MS ’20) Jess Carney is interested in understanding how sustainable energy integration impacts power grids and electricity markets. She received her undergraduate degree at Johns Hopkins University in 2018, where she majored in Environmental Science and […]
Anna is a PhD student at ERG and an MS student in Electrical Engineering. She studies how electricity systems are changing in the United States. She is interested in enabling high-penetration renewable energy while ensuring cost-effectiveness and preserving grid reliability, and in how renewables adoption can be increasingly technically, economically, and socially sustainable. Previously, Anna […]
The Role of Renewable Energy in Global Warming Mitigation: A Critique of Trusted Assessments (’92 M.A.)
Community Wind Power Ownership Schemes in Europe and Their Relevance to the United States (01 MA)
Comparing The Risk Profiles of Renewable and Natural Gas Electricity Contracts: A Summary of the California Department of Water Resources Contracts (’02 MA)
Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions, System Flexibility Requirements, and Drivers of Storage Deployment in the Western North American Power System through 2050 (PhD ’14) Ana’s PhD research is in modeling electricity systems with high penetration levels of intermittent renewable energy to identify technological and policy alternatives for cost-effective emission reductions. While her work focuses on the […]
Energy Systems Integration and Innovation for a Clean Energy Transition (PhD ’18) Noah is an MS/PhD student at ERG. After graduating with a BS in Environmental Science from UNC-Chapel Hill, Noah was a Fulbright Fellow at the Joint Graduate School for Energy and the Environment in Thailand researching technical and policy aspects of solar electricity […]