College of Natural Resources, UC Berkeley

Professor Michael Hanemann of ARE discusses S.1733, the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, on KPFA's "Letters to Washington."

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(Scroll in to the 45-minute mark to hear the segment).

Posted by Eva St. Clair at 9:56 PM | Permalink

As the U.S. Senate debates clean energy and climate legislation, a new economic analysis finds that strong federal policy could stimulate both employment and income growth across the national economy. The new study was conducted by the University of California in collaboration with University of Illinois and Yale University and provides an in-depth, state-by-state examination of the impacts of three pillars of federal legislation: energy efficiency, renewable energy and limits on carbon pollution.

“This report shows that stronger federal energy and climate policies are compatible with economic growth,” said the report’s lead author David Roland-Holst, Adjunct Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics at UC Berkeley. “Those who say we cannot afford to take action now may not understand the opportunity we stand to lose by not acting. By revenue, energy is the world’s largest industry, yet traditional energy use patterns have created unsustainable carbon liabilities that threaten all of us. The next great knowledge-intensive sector will arise in an emerging multi-billion dollar global clean energy market. To participate in this technology breakout, we need policies that price carbon risk responsibly and create appropriate incentives for investors and innovators.”

Using EAGLE, a new state-of-the-art forecasting model, the study assesses the detailed economic implications of climate and energy policies currently under consideration in Congress. On a state-by-state basis, the study models both moderate and aggressive implementation of policies that put a cap on carbon emissions, create a market based program to reduce carbon emissions, and standards for and investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency.

The study is available in summary form as a PDF: Report: New ARE Study Projects Growth Dividend.

Posted by Eva St. Clair at 10:04 PM | Permalink

The original video

Professor Kris Niyogi discusses algae's natural capacity to produce energy and its potential use in carbon-neutral biofuels.

Posted by Eva St. Clair at 11:21 AM | Permalink

The San Francisco Chronicle recently highlighted plant biologist Chris Somerville, director of the Energy Biosciences Institute, among 10 Bay Area entrepreneurs, scientists and policymakers at the vanguard of a revolution that aims to reinvent the way people use water, power their cars, build their houses and live their lives.

"They might not become household names," wrote the Chronicle, "but their research, policy papers and startups could shape the way many households run in the years to come." The story continues:

As a plant biochemist, Chris Somerville has pioneered the search for clean liquid-fuel sources harnessed from the solar energy stored in nonfood plants. Somerville is director of the Energy Biosciences Institute at UC Berkeley, an ambitious project financed by a $500 million grant from BP, the British oil company. It is the world's largest alliance between industry and academia.

Somerville has made the study of biofuels for transportation, along with the social, economic and environmental impact of such fuels, the institute's top priority.
His research teams are using global satellite imagery, geologic surveys and market databases to identify abandoned farmlands and nonagricultural soils that could support energy crops; trying to identify the plant species most suitable for biofuels; and using biotechnology laboratories to explore nature's methods of releasing plant sugars and to create synthetic catalysts.

"We're not in commercial development; we're trying to understand it first," said Somerville. "I feel optimistic. We're trying to push the frontier forward."

Click here for the full story at www.sfgate.com.

Posted by Cyril at 8:57 AM | Permalink

In a recent conversation with Green Technology magazine, Professor David Roland-Holst, co-author of two key reports on green economic policies, discussed workforce creation, federal stimulus money and governmental policymaking.

Continue reading "Green Perspectives: David Roland-Holst " »

Posted by Cyril at 5:14 PM | Permalink

Hot on the heels of a report demonstrating the economic opportunities available to California if it invests in policies to address climate change, ARE adjunct professor David Roland-Holst has released a new study showing the enormous costs to the state posed by global warming.

About $2.5 trillion of real estate assets in California are at risk, with a projected annual price tag of between $300 million and $3.9 billion, according to the report.

Audio: David Roland-Holst discusses the report on KQED Forum.

Reports the LA Times:

For the first time, the costs of global warming's projected effects in the nation's largest state have been quantified: About $2.5 trillion of real estate assets in California are at risk from extreme weather events, sea level rise and wildfires, with a projected annual price tag of between $300 million and $3.9 billion.

Continue reading "The staggering cost of climate change quantified for California" »

Posted by Cyril at 11:27 AM | Permalink

Above, Chris Somerville, professor of plant and microbial biology and director of the Energy Biosciences Institute, discusses the future of cellulosic biofuels.

In addition, ABC 7 News recently featured Somerville and David Zilberman, professor of agricultural and resource economics, in an excellent piece on Responsibly creating new plant biofuels (video).

Posted by Cyril at 2:55 PM | Permalink

Professor Tasios Melis is unlocking the chemical power of green algae to create clean hydrogen fuel that eliminates air-polluting fossil fuels in its production. Check out "Power of Green," a segment from Fueling America, the latest episode of USDA CSREES video magazine.

Posted by Cyril at 9:16 AM | Permalink| Comments (0)

This op-ed, by Assistant Professor Max Auffhammer and UCSD economist Richard Carson, originally appeared in the Washington Post on August 2, 2007.

China is about to emerge as the world's leading emitter of greenhouse gases, a position the United States has held since 1890. Now is the time for China to take the lead in finding a way to reduce global emissions, which the United States has thus far failed to do. It should start by imposing a sizable tax on the carbon content of its fossil fuel consumption and by heading an effort among other major trading countries to do the same.

Continue reading "China's Chance to Lead" »

Posted by Cyril at 11:20 PM | Permalink| Comments (0)

From the Associated Press:

Increased production of biofuels such as ethanol might help farmers' bottom lines and address climate-change concerns, but it could inflate food prices worldwide, warns a former White House economist.

"Worldwide, especially in developing countries ... food price increases are definitely something we're going to have to come to grips with," said David Sunding, who served on former President Bill Clinton's Council of Economic Advisers.

Sunding, an [agricultural resources and economics] professor at the University of California, Berkeley, spoke on March 26 to water experts at a conference at the University of Nebraska.

The combination of rising energy prices and the demand for corn, which is used to produce ethanol, will continue to drive up commodity prices, he said.

Corn prices have already begun to soar. A rush to turn more land into corn production could decrease supplies of other commodities, driving up prices of them as well.

The resulting higher market prices could then dampen the public's support for government subsidies that are designed to help farmers reap profits when markets are down.

Sunding envisioned a scenario in which price supports for farmers are replaced by another government program — one to purchase food to keep prices affordable and prevent hunger.

Energy costs will also be a factor, said Sunding, who predicted that "ag policy will ... become energy policy."

"The ag sector," he added, "is so vulnerable to energy price changes."

Higher fuel costs affect farm operations that depend on irrigation and make it more expensive for farmers to transport their crops.

A study released last month by the Energy Information Administration, an arm of the federal government that provides energy statistics, forecasts that world oil prices might decrease over the next five or six years, then steadily increase over the next two decades.

Original article (IHT)

Posted by Cyril at 8:28 AM | Permalink| Comments (0)

Thanks to Congress, the U.S. "sprang forward" three weeks early this year, and daylight savings time will last one week longer in the fall. The idea behind the switch is energy conservation.

But as reported here in January, two ARE researchers, doctoral students Ryan Kellogg and Hendrik Wolff, found that a similar switch in Australia didn't meet the mark. Now that the the bleary-eyed mornings and brighter evenings are upon us, their work is getting a lot more attention:

Daylight Savings Might Not Save Energy (Video - ABC News)

Does daylight-saving time really save energy? (ScienceBlogs)

Daylight Savings Time: Energy Dud? (Discovery Channel News)

Economists find no difference in electricity usage when Australia moved time change back (Contra Costa Times)

Posted by Cyril at 10:00 AM | Permalink

A campus colloquium on "Energy Self-Sufficiency in the 21st Century" recently took the global climate crisis as the starting point for a freewheeling discussion among some of the world's top thinkers. Issues covered included the urgent need to make conservation a national way of life, getting the U.S. public to accept nuclear reactors, and persuading the U.S. government to serve as a world leader in developing clean, renewable energy sources.

Posted by Cyril at 10:58 AM | Permalink

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has issued an executive order calling for California to establish the world's first carbon standard for transportation fuels. (Read about it in the Governor's op-ed here.)

Relying on research by David Roland-Holst, adjunct professor in ARE, the governor writes:

The University of California estimates our greenhouse gas emissions goals will increase our gross state product by $60 billion and create more than 20,000 new jobs. The time is now for America to transition to a clean-energy economy.... I am very pleased to be able to announce that California is leading the way.

Posted by Cyril at 11:20 AM | Permalink

Springing forward may not help save energy, according to a study by two graduate students in Agricultural and Resource Economics.

From Bloomberg:

U.S. plans to cut electricity usage by lengthening daylight saving time may backfire, the report said. Lengthening daylight saving time by several weeks was included in energy legislation passed in 2005, with the goal of saving energy equivalent to 100,000 barrels of oil a day.

Extending daylight saving time may actually result in increased electricity demand as additional usage during morning hours cancels out the reduced demand in the evening, according to the Berkeley study. The paper analyzed electricity usage in Australia, which lengthened its daylight saving time by two months while hosting the 2000 Olympics.

``There is no evidence that extending daylight saving time will lead to energy savings,'' said Hendrik Wolff, one of the study's authors, in an interview. ``Actually, there is evidence that it may lead to a little higher energy consumption.''

Posted by Cyril at 3:40 PM | Permalink

Aurora BioFuels, an alternative energy company based on technology developed by microbial biology professor and hydrogen fuel pioneer Tasios Melis, won both first prize and the People's Choice Award in the eighth annual UC Berkeley Business Plan Competition, held on April 27 at the Haas School of Business.

Continue reading "Aurora BioFuels Takes Top Prize in the UC Berkeley Business Plan Competition" »

Posted by Cyril at 4:12 PM | Permalink

Eleven eminent scientists will speak on Friday, April 28 on topical energy issues at this day-long symposium honoring their colleague, California Energy Commissioner, UC Berkeley Professor Emeritus, and energy efficiency pioneer Arthur H. Rosenfeld, on the occasion of his 80th birthday. Rosenfeld has also just received the prestigious Enrico Fermi Award (press release here).

Sessions of The "Rosenfeld Effect" Energy Symposium will discuss the role of increased energy efficiency in California, in China, and on a global scale; the intersection of energy and safe drinking water in the developing world; the twin challenges of mitigating climate change and sustaining orderly markets in fluid fuels; how to turn good science into good politics; and defining, predicting, and coping with global warming.

View the full program.

8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Friday, April 28
Sibley Auditorium, UC Berkeley

This event has reached full capacity. However, it will be webcast live at http://webcast.berkeley.edu/events/details.php?webcastid=15730

Contact Adrienne Hink with questions.

Posted by Cyril at 4:29 PM | Permalink