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 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 […]
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.
Operation, Cost, and Environmental Impact of Self-Driving Electric Taxi Fleets (MS ’18) Transportation has long been dominated by the personal gasoline-powered automobile, but breakthroughs in electric vehicles, shared mobility, and automation promise to disrupt the sector. Gordon’s research focuses on leveraging these disruptions to maximize both social and environmental sustainability, drawing on insights from a […]
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 […]
Margaret is pursuing an MS/MPP with ERG and the Goldman Policy School. At Berkeley, she hopes to focus on demand flexibility (a key aspect of greening the power grid) and electric vehicles (the future of transportation), and ideally on how the two intersect. She is coming to Berkeley from Rocky Mountain Institute, where her interest […]
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 […]
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, […]
Transportation Energy Use in Bolivia: Environmental Implications, Policy Perspectives (MS ’96)
Julian’s interests lie in the relationships between water use and economic development, focusing on modeling and governance. Mr. Fulton’s previous research includes water use in the transportation sector, conservation strategies among California utilities, and European flood management policy. He recently completed a Fulbright Fellowship in the Netherlands and holds an M.S. in Civil and Environmental […]
Harnessing Financial Motivation to Drive Transportation Electrification: a Resource for Electric Utility Regulators (MA ’19) Michelle is a concurrent degree student at the Goldman School of Public Policy and the Energy Resources Group. Prior to graduate school, she worked in political, legal, and regulatory advocacy at the Natural Resources Defense Council and NextGen Climate America. […]
California Policy Should Distinguish Biofuels by Differential Global Warming Effects (’06 MS) Life Cycle Regulation of Transportation Fuels: Uncertainty and its Policy Implications (’10 PhD)
Predicting the Impact of Transportation Control Measures on Pollutant Emissions and Energy Consumption (’93 M.S.)
Shop ‘Till We Drop: A Historical and Policy Analysis of Goods Movement in the U.S. (MS ’11) Transportation Behavioral Data and Climate Change (PhD ’20) Laura studies the environmental impacts of transportation in the developed world. She focuses on new methods of data collection and analysis to better understand the various levers behind driving behavior, […]
Greenhouse Gas Abatement Supply Curves for California’s Transportation Sector (MS ’08) Interactions of Water and Energy Mediate Responses of High Latitude Terrestrial Ecosystems to Climate Change (PhD ’12)
Maggie’s research focuses on reducing the environmental impacts of transportation by decreasing both the amount that people drive and the per-mile emissions of personal vehicles. Her work focuses on California’s ground-breaking laws to cut the greenhouse gas impacts of driving. Maggie holds an M.S. in Energy and Resources and a B.A. from Claremont McKenna College. […]
In a recent Sustainability Times article, ERG professor Dan Kammen explains how pandemic lockdowns resulted in historic drops in our CO2 emissions. Additionally, Kammen's previous study on how exactly COVID-19 lowered said Co2 emissions was featured in a Berkeley News article, arguing that a move towards greater usage of electric-powered vehicles would "reduce the major greenhouse gas responsible for climate change and global warming". "The greatest reduction of emissions was observed in the ground transportation sector. Largely because of working from home restrictions, transport CO2 emissions decreased by 40% worldwide,” Kammen stated. Read how the pandemic lockdowns decreased Co2 emissions here, and what this means for the future usage of electric vehicles here.
ERG professor Dan Kammen recently co-authored and published a research article, "Near-real-time monitoring of global CO2 emissions reveals the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic", on Nature. The article was featured on various news sources, including AZO Cleantech, ScienceDaily, and StudyFinds. "The greatest reduction of emissions was observed in the ground transportation sector. Largely because of working from home restrictions, transport CO2 emissions decreased by 40% worldwide. In contrast, the power and industry sectors contributed less to the decline, with −22% and −17%, respectively, as did the aviation and shipping sectors," Kammen states in his research.
ERG Professor John Harte recently published an article on Environmental Health News giving a roadmap on we can use the same interconnectedness that is spurring catastrophe to instead promote health and sustainability.
In an op-ed today in the New York Times, professor Dan Kammen and state Senator Scott Wiener are blunt: “To solve the climate crisis, we have to solve the housing crisis.”
The January/February 2019 edition of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) International features an interview with ERG alumna Laura Schewel (MS ’11). Schewel is the CEO of Streetlight Data, a transportation analytics company she founded while at ERG. Streetlight Data uses anonymous cellular and GPS navigation data to study transportation patterns and develops analytical software to be […]
“So while President Macron has highlighted the need for funds to invest in clean energy, that is not actually what was planned,” Mr. Kammen said.
Costa Rica’s president-elect Carlos Alvarado announced his goal to remove gasoline and diesel from the country’s transportation plans by 2021, its 200 year anniversary of independence. This promise marks the first time a Costa Rican leader has backed such a move, though green organizations have previously urged it. While completely eliminating fossil fuels within three years may […]
“What would it look like if all Yellow Cabs in Manhattan were replaced with self-driving electric taxis? How much battery range would they need, and where would you put charging stations? How much would it cost to ride in a robotaxi, and what would the environmental impact be?” These are the questions posed by ERG […]
Mexico City is one of the most congested cities in the world, and it’s taking a toll on the health of its citizens and the environment. Sergio Castellanos, a postdoctoral scholar with Energy and Resources Group, along with Dan Kammen and other researchers from UC Berkeley and the National Institute of Ecology and Climate Change […]
The Oakland EcoBlock Project is an urban sustainability experiment that focuses on reducing the footprint of a typical neighborhood block. As a mini-grid system for shared energy and water in a low-income community, it has the potential to encourage more efficient resource usage and shared clean transportation, and to promote far broader social and racial […]
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. […]
The first-of-its-kind interactive map was produced by the University of California, Berkeley’s CoolClimate Network and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, and covers census block groups –neighborhoods of several hundred to a few thousand households – in the nine-county area. Neighborhoods with relatively high emissions for any component of their carbon footprints show up […]
ERG Professor Daniel Kammen was featured in two magazine publications regarding Obama's Clean Power Plan and the impacts it might have on the U.S. population.
ERG alum Chris Jones (MS '05, PhD '15) explains the level in which airplanes contribute to the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
Rachel Golden will share her views in the state capital in April.
SWITCH model selected as a "Project to Watch" by the UN's Big Data Climate Challenge.
3-day certificate course Oct 3-5, offering a practical perspective on the economic effects of climate and energy policy.
Chris Jones (ERG PhD) and Prof. Dan Kammen point out that U.S. households are responsible for about 20% of annual worldwide greenhouse gas emissions, which are driving climate change.
Sam Miles is a Ph.D. student in the Energy and Resources Group, and in the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Lab at the University of California, Berkeley. His research focus is at the intersection of the scalability challenge for electricity mini-grids and the socio-economic characteristics of urbanization in Africa, particularly for the artisans and entrepreneurs who […]
Arthur is interested in using sustainable innovation as a framework for designing new businesses, services, and products that help tackle climate change. He is particularly interested in promoting sustainability through energy and resource efficiency, solar power deployment, and sustainable mobility, as well as bringing clean water, sanitation, and electricity to the rural and urban poor. […]
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 […]
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 […]
A Discrete-event Simulator to Determine if Public Transit Buses Go Battery Electric Today (MA ’20) A native of Utah, Nick holds a BA in Environmental Studies from Westminster College in Salt Lake City. He has focused his career on real-time environmental monitoring, previous working at Oberlin College and Lucid on energy and resource monitoring. Prior […]
Margaret is pursuing an MS/MPP with ERG and the Goldman Policy School. At Berkeley, she hopes to focus on demand flexibility (a key aspect of greening the power grid) and electric vehicles (the future of transportation), and ideally on how the two intersect. She is coming to Berkeley from Rocky Mountain Institute, where her interest […]
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. […]
Battery Energy Storage Technology Adoption & Electric Utility Structure (MS ’19) Sara is an architect who delved into distributed generation while developing fuel cell projects for Bloom Energy. She became interested in the energy industry in general, and specifically the regulatory and finance conditions that make markets more open to uptake of innovative technologies. While […]
Harnessing Financial Motivation to Drive Transportation Electrification: a Resource for Electric Utility Regulators (MA ’19) Michelle is a concurrent degree student at the Goldman School of Public Policy and the Energy Resources Group. Prior to graduate school, she worked in political, legal, and regulatory advocacy at the Natural Resources Defense Council and NextGen Climate America. […]
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 […]