Welcome to the 2018/2019 academic year: The Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory (RAEL) is a unique new research, development, project implementation, and community outreach facility based at the University of California, Berkeley in the Energy and Resources Group and the Department of Nuclear Engineering. RAEL focuses on designing, testing, and disseminating renewable and appropriate energy systems. The laboratory’s mission is to help these technologies realize their full potential to contribute to environmentally sustainable development in both industrialized and developing nations while also addressing the cultural context and range of potential social impacts of any new technology or resource management system.
Go to AboutA note to prospective visitors to RAEL:
Due to the high demand for places in RAEL I regret inform to you that we no longer can accept any short-term visitors (months to a year). We now can only accept students who apply to and are accepted in a degree program on campus. If you write to RAEL making this request anyway, your email won’t be returned (because both we receive far too many such requests, and because you have not read/found this announcement on the RAEL home page).
With our regrets,
Dan
To highlight the latest research findings emerging from UC Berkeley and the Berkeley Lab, on sustainability we present Cal Future Forum: Our Changing World, an unusual opportunity to learn directly from leading researchers who are developing solutions to the environmental challenges we face.
In May 2017 over a dozen prominent Berkeley researchers provided a synopsis of the state of the planet, a better understanding of the challenges we face, and the solutions being developed at Berkeley – and being implemented globally. This rare gathering of leading Berkeley scientists, engineers, scholars and policy experts was moderated by prominent radio host, Michael Krasny.
Please visit this page for access to all of the talks.
Go to News & Events
RAEL is a unique collaboration of scholars, activists, policy makers, community groups and engaged leaders from industry all working to to expand our ability to do and put into practice “use-inspired basic research” in words of Donald Stokes. Please visit the RAEL project, student, publication and media pages to find information on our many activities. After a decade of the old RAEL website, this new site is just now being fully populated with our old and new content. Please visit the ‘support RAEL’ pages too, as your interest attention, and support is vitally need to extend and expand our ability to make a difference in accelerating the clean energy transition.
2018:
2017:
2016:
EAST BAY TIMES: MARCH 4, 2021: For the original, click here. Opinion: Daniel M Kamen If you live in Northern California, your utility bill likely will rise by 8% this month. For Pacific Gas & Electric customers, this will be the seventh year in a row of increases. The company’s rates have doubled since 2005 — and they’re […] Read more
To link to the publication on our RAEL pages, click here. On the pages of the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania, click here. Read more
For the original in The New Yorker (February 19, 2021), click here. By Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow In 2004, Heather Hoff was working at a clothing store and living with her husband in San Luis Obispo, a small, laid-back city in the Central Coast region of California. A few years earlier, she had earned a B.S. in materials engineering […] Read more
Nicole Karlis, Salon. Link to the original article in Salon, click here. Wednesday marked the third day that many Texans found themselves without power following a rare winter storm and frigid temperatures dipping into the low 20s. While power is being restored in some areas, rotating outages are expected to start on Wednesday in Texas. The situation is dire […] Read more
Published in Nature’s Scientific Reports: Mapping of affordability levels for photovoltaic-based electricity generation in the solar belt of sub-Saharan Africa, East Asia and South Asia Sándor Szabó, Irene Pinedo Pascua, Daniel Puig, Magda Moner-Girona, Mario Negre, Thomas Huld, Yacob Mulugetta, Ioannis Kougias, László Szabó & Daniel Kammen Lack of access to modern forms of energy hampers efforts to reduce poverty. The provision of electricity to off-grid […] Read more
Here is the syllabus of our new Climate Justice course: for sharing, comments, and suggestions. To download click here. Read more
For the article in English and Japanese versions, click here Read more
The paper, “Modeling the impact of EVs in the Chinese power system: Pathways for implementing emissions reduction commitments in the power and transportation sectors” is now available from Energy Policy, and is also available on the RAEL Publications page. Click here. This work involves partners from Chongqing University, Stonybrook University, Tsinghua University, the University of California at […] Read more
From The Daily Californian, November 13, 2020. Click here for the original. With Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ presidential victory came an international sigh of relief. After the dismal past four years, science, social justice and both domestic and global partnerships to address climate change are now back on the agenda in the United States. More than any […] Read more