Lecture, The MIT Club of Northern California, “Has the Green Energy Revolution Finally Begun”

Addressing Conflict and Inequity through Energy Access in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

September 25, 2019: RAEL Lunch with Kenji Shiraishi, “A new geospatial modeling approach to clean energy deployment in Japan”.

RAEL and GSPP PhD student Kenji Shiraishi - who was involved in the Fukushima-Daiichi cleanup while employed in the Japanese Ministry the Environment -- will present his work on a new geospatial multi-criteria decision analysis method with spatial regression to identify Japan’s high-quality onshore wind energy potential. After identifying the economic potential of grid-connected onshore wind with a GIS-based multicriteria method, logistic regression and Bayesian Conditional Autoregressive (CAR) regression was used to create a predictive model of overall quality of 4,458 project areas. Other than economic costs, the model showed other physical, environmental, social factors, and spatial heterogeneity are incorporated to rank the overall quality of potential. The results also showed far more high-quality onshore wind potential exists in Japan than the 18 TWh targets in 2030 and necessary policy measurements to utilize the vast potential. This presentation is an excellent introduction to geospatial and economic energy planning and modeling efforts.  Kenji is also developing SWITCH-Japan, and may have openings in the design team for students with strong programming and spatial skills.  Kenji has also worked on issues of nuclear energy in Japan and Asia, and on energy options for Bangladesh, among other projects. (Pizza and salad will be provided)

September 23, 2019: The Green Energy Revolution (Beijing, China)

Laos Energy Modeling and Policy Analysis (LEMPA) Project

Meet the Laos Energy Modeling and Policy Analysis (Undergraduate!) Team: The focus of this inter-disciplinary and inter-university research group is to develop sustainable energy, water, and land-use scenarios for Laos, and to work with local stake-holders on the costs and benefits for communities, the nation, and the regional commerce in energy, water, food, timber and other commodities. Aaditee Kudrimoti Bio: Aaditee is a fourth-year at UC Berkeley studying political science and public policy with a concentration in energy, development, and international relations. Aaditeeis originally from Tucson, Arizona, where she began to develop an interest in international environmental affairs. At UC Berkeley, Aaditeeis working on projects in the political economy of Chinese development finance, rural electrification, and collective action. Aaditeehas become especially interested in how the rise of renewable technology is influencing energy diplomacy around the world. She hopes to pursue a career in academia and public policy and work on governance tools to build the bargaining capacity of LDCs against MNCs, foreign state-owned enterprises, etc. on the subject of FDI and other types of investment. She sees SWITCH-Laos as having the potential to serve as a critical tool in assisting the increase of the Lao people’s bargaining power over FDI in the energy sector and thus their autonomy in determining their own economic development. Outside school, Aaditee’s interests include dance, food journalism, and cooking.   Alex Lathem Bio: Alex Lathem is a third-year undergraduate at Yale University. He is a physics major with several years of experience using programming languages, including Python SQL, C, and Bash, to analyze scientific data. Previous research projects Alex has worked on include astrometry of near-Earth asteroids and the creation of a Hubble curve through the analysis of Type Ia supernovae. Alex spent the summer of 2019 working on the SWITCH model for China, and is very excited to apply the skills he learned there to a version for Laos. Outside of research, Alex is also interested in music, video game design, linguistics, and history.   Ashley Yip Bio: Ashley is a second-year undergraduate studying environmental science with an emphasis in global politics. She moved to New Mexico, where she developed an interest in environmental affairs. At UC Berkeley, she is involved in a pre-law association that helped her explore her interest in law and how she may integrate that into environmentalism. Off campus, she is working on a sex education reform project in Singapore with the Ministry of Education. She is constantly exploring the intersection between policy, education, and the environment. She hopes to return home to Singapore and pursue a career in international environmental policy or law within Southeast Asia. Ashley chose to work on SWITCH-Laos not only because greening ASEAN's economic development is essential to tackling climate change, but also because she is familiar with the demographic. She has done research in regards to both urban and rural agriculture in Asia and the US, and led research for environmental management in business operations. Outside of school, her interests include climbing, hiking, piano, and camper vans. Rachel Ng Bio: Rachel is a second-year Environmental Science and Data Science major. A Singapore-native, Rachel describes that SWITCH-Laos extremely important to her because it is an important step towards the energy security of Southeast Asia. She believes that the sustainable electrification of Southeast Asia is key to regional grid stability and energy trade. She is pursuing SWITCH-Laos as critical in leading the way towards sustainable electrification. Rachel is interested in the intersectionality between climate change and community, exploring how community based issues caused by climate change can be alleviated through data. Furthermore, Rachel is currently concerned about equal access to education and volunteers weekly as a mentor to elementary school students. In the future, she hopes to return to Singapore and guide environmental change through creating an ecosystem of sustainable communities and businesses. Her hobbies include dance, rock climbing and water sports.

Dennis Best — RAEL Lunch, September 11 — SELF: Community Sustainable Energy in California’s Central Valley

ERG PhD student Dennis Best will overview his work with the SELF, a San Joaquin (Southern CA Central Valley) Community Development Cooperative that we are working with on a California Energy Commission supported project to develop community clean energy solutions.  

Patricia Hidalgo-​​Gonzalez named Siebel Energy Scholar!

Congratulations to Patricia Hidalgo-Gonzalez, who was names a 2019 - 2020 Siebel Energy Scholar! The Siebel Scholars program was established by the Thomas and Stacey Siebel Foundation in 2000 to recognize the most talented students at the world’s leading graduate schools of business, computer science, bioengineering, and energy science. Each year, more than 90 graduate students at the top of their class are selected during their final year of studies based on outstanding academic performance and leadership to receive a $35,000 award toward their final year of studies. Today, our active community of over 1,200 Siebel Scholars serves as advisors to the Siebel Foundation and works collaboratively to find solutions to society’s most pressing problems.

Patricia Hidalgo-​​Gonzalez named a 2019–2020 Siebel Scholar in Energy Science!

Patricia Hidalgo-Gonzalez was today named a  2019-2020 Siebel Scholar in Energy Science! Joining a community of graduate student Siebel Scholars, Paty is now part of The Siebel Energy Institute, global consortium for innovative and collaborative energy research. The Institute funds cooperative and innovative research grants in data analytics, including statistical analysis and machine learning, to accelerate advancements in the safety, security, reliability, efficiency, and environmental integrity of modern energy systems. Paty's work is on power systems theory, including both analytic work and the development of the SWITCH modeling tools, and practice, with research foci in the US, Chile, and China, and on basic power system reliability, and deep decarbonization of the sector. Bravo!

Affordable Energy for Humanity: A Global Movement to Support Universal Clean Energy Access

Bold actions are necessary to unlock the potential for economic empowerment by eradicating energy poverty (UN Sustainable Development Goal 7) by 2030. This will require a sustained commitment to significant levels of new investments. Delivering on the promise of universal energy access and improved life quality has eluded policy-makers and governments over the past seven decades. Affordability of energy services for every global citizen, spanning vastly diverse regions and local contexts, requires the development and massive diffusion of technologies that offer ``point-of-use'' options combined with new business models. Social innovations and flexible governance approaches will also need to be integrated with technological advances. The scope and scale of developmental change span large-scale grid systems to decentralized distributed resources at community levels to the households. We recommend a global network of ``energy access innovation centers'' dedicated to providing a dynamic ``extension service'' that bolsters the entire supply chain of talent and expertise, design and operational requirements of system deployment and capacity to embed low-cost, high-performance next-generation technological solutions in the field. To meet the needs of those at the base of the economic and social pyramid, the dual challenges of economic development and transition to a low-carbon energy future make clean energy access the quintessential challenge of the 21st century.

Techno–ecological synergies of solar energy for global sustainability