In the new virtual series “Midday Science Cafe” hosted by Science at Cal, ERG PhD student Nancy Freitas will be speaking in the upcoming episode, “Climate Change Solutions: Managing the Global Carbon Cycle”. The event will be taking place on Thursday, September 17th, 12pm – 1:30pm.

Freitas will be discussing “how quantifying carbon dioxide and methane emissions released from deep lake sediments in the Arctic can improve Earth system models, advancing the quality of climate model projections.”

In a new Berkeley study “2035 – The Report: Plummeting Solar, Wind, and Battery Costs Can Accelerate Our Clean Energy Future,” ERG professor Dan Kammen comments that its findings of the U.S. being able to achieve 90% carbon-free, “clean” electricity could become a reality.

“That goal – 90% carbon-free electricity by 2035 – can be achieved without increasing consumer electricity costs ‘at all,'” Kammen states. “Solar, wind, and storage costs have fallen so significantly that even conservative leaders, conservative states, districts, countries can legitimately look at renewables, and actually economically need to look at renewables, as their next purchases.”

ERG PhD student Esther Shears recently published her work in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Her publication, titled “Improving data access democratizes and diversifies science”, focuses on how critical data access is for empirical research and the diversity of scientific research.

Shears shares a two-sentence summary from the abstract of what she found from her analysis, stating that “Scientists who start using Landsat data after access is improved tend to focus on previously understudied regions close to their home location and introduce novel research topics. These findings suggest that policies that improve access to valuable scientific data may promote scientific progress, reduce inequality among scientists, and increase the diversity of scientific research.”

ERG professor Isha Ray recently co-authored and published her research paper, “The reality of water quality monitoring for SDG 6: A report from a small town in India” on IWA Publishing. The paper features their study of microbial water quality in a small town (Alibag) in India, and focuses on the weaknesses of water quality monitoring and testing infrastructure.

“We show the practical limitations of monitoring for fecal indicator bacteria to meet SDG 6… We find that even when water quality monitoring and testing infrastructure is in place, low institutional capacity and the pressure to not ‘fail’ the expected water quality standards can result in the failure to accurately report bacterial water quality,” the paper states.

ERG professor Dan Kammen was recently quoted in AP News regarding California’s power grid operator cancelling rolling blackouts. These scheduled widespread blackouts were averted after regulators warned that the electric grid would not have enough power to meet demands in the midst of a heat wave.

Kammen commented that the state needs to do more to store and sell clean energy sources, and he hopes this week’s blackouts will prompt officials to act.

“This is kind of a stress test on the system,” he said. “We have not built up enough of a smart enough system to take advantage of all the renewables we have in place.”

ERG PhD student Anna Brockway and two UC Berkeley students recently published their article, “California must prepare its electric grid for complex climate risks”, on the San Francisco Chronicle. The op-ed discusses the necessity of reworking California’s electrical system to pave the way for efficient climate adaptation.

“In order to make good decisions about maintenance, facility siting and the specs of new equipment, electric grid operators must understand how weather and climate affect electricity demand, supply and delivery. Normally, they look at historical weather patterns and operating conditions. But now, the electricity system must prepare for more record-setting events,” the article states.

ERG Professor Dan Kammen was recently featured on U.S. News explaining the severity of California’s energy shortages. Despite pandemic restrictions that have somewhat reduced overall electricity demand in California, Kammen points out the rising demand for electricity due to heat waves.

“Investments in electricity storage and distribution would [allow California avoid future rolling blackouts]. But those could be expensive, and even harder to budget for at a time when the state faces huge deficits amid the pandemic-related slowdown,” Kammen stated.

ERG Professor Dan Kammen was featured on a recent Al Jazeera article, discussing America’s progress towards building a greener economy.

“The 2020 election in the United States is absolutely critical, because we know on the climate side that we have very few years left to get on an innovative green energy path,” Kammen stated.