Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory

A number of cities and counties across the U.S. are launching programs to finance renewable energy and energy efficiency upgrades for homes and businesses. RAEL is supporting these efforts through research, consulting, and the creation of educational tools. This project focuses on what we call Property-Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) which covers the up-front costs for energy efficiency improvements and installation of solar energy systems for residential and commercial properties within a city or county.

Copenhagen Climate Council Report and Green Jobs Calculator available for download below.

Contacts:
Prof. Dan Kammen (kammen@berkeley.edu)
Max Wei (max_wei@haas.berkeley.edu)
Shana Patadia (shanapat@sbcglobal.net)

Copenhagen Climate Council Green Jobs Report

Green Jobs Calculator

Green Jobs References

In conjunction with the Energy & Information Technologies Laboratory in Mechanical Engineering, our research aims to develop a Rankine cycle heat engine system which will convert sunlight to heat at 60-80% solar-thermal efficiency and electricity at 8-10% solar-electric efficiency using concentrating solar collectors. In contrast to photovoltaic systems which cost ~$7/Watt [Solarbuzz, 2007] of generator rated peak electrical output, in mass production the proposed collector and generator system sized at 1-10kW would cost ~$4/Watt electricity or $0.80/Watt heat, allowing adjustment of heat and electrical output on demand. Considering that 112 MW of grid-connected PV was installed in the U.S. in 2006, there is a large proven market for solar energy. With widespread market penetration, this system would reduce greenhouse gas and criteria pollutant emissions from electricity generation and heating for a significant portion of the developed and developing world.

The CoolClimate Calculator has been designed to help US households evaluate their complete climate footprints, including all direct and indirect greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from transportation, household energy, food, goods and services. See the calculator

The project focuses on improving water quality for people in developing areas where other water treatment methods are not applied consistently because of their cost, inconvenience, complexity, or energy requirements. The goal of the UV-Tube Project is to design and promote the UV-Tube—an affordable, simple, and easy to use household water disinfection device that uses ultraviolet (UV-C) light to inactivate pathogens.

More Information about UV-Tube: Ultraviolet Water Disinfection

The “KUUTE” stove, developed in Tanzania and made by local artisans, is twice as efficient as prevalent improved charcoal stoves. However, many well- engineered stoves have failed to impact livelihoods, as they are not adopted by households. The Blum Center is supporting research on cost-effective dissemination methods.

See project website

Small-scale wind turbines help address a global need for cheap, reliable distributed energy. The market for these small (0.1 -10 kW) turbines ranges from remote off-grid locations to residential systems and grid-tied commercial applications. In recent years, the wind market has seen a rapid increase with a 28% annual growth rate and over 60 GW of installed capacity worldwide. However, small wind turbines only account for an estimated 30 MW or 0.05% of this capacity.