Kaihui Song a Postdoctoral Scholar at RAEL, affiliated with CoolClimate Network. Her research develops models and datasets for subnational climate actions, including emission inventories at the city and community level and emissions embedded in international and domestic supply chains. Her work analyzes carbon inequality, local climate impacts, urban sustainability, and explores opportunities for renewable energy in just low-carbon transition to support effective and equitable climate policies. She is also a co-chair of the Environmentally-Extended Input-Output (EEIO) section in the International Society of Industrial Ecology (ISIE). She serves on the Editorial Board for the journals of STOTEN and Carbon Footprints. Prior to joining UC Berkeley, Kaihui worked at Data-Driven EnviroLab and interned at AGCI and WWF. She obtained her Ph.D. in Geographical Sciences at the University of Maryland, College Park (2022).
Xi Xi is a Master’s student for the Energy Resource group. Xi Xi uses interdisciplinary methods such as quantitative modeling techniques and policy analyses to assess impacts on emissions, energy use, and other socio-economic indicators. Xi Xi looks forward to applying her knowledge in the context of international development. Xi Xi would also like to study how developing countries may be affected by or benefit from tensions between China and the West related to China’s emerging role in international development and international climate politics.
In RAEl she is researching US-China climate policy, decarbonization in Africa, and China’s role in Africa, among other topics.
Prior to joining ERG, Xi Xi earned a BA from Wellesley College. Xi Xi has worked for the Institute for Global Decarbonization Progress (iGDP), Abt, and the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC).
Xi Xi also enjoys traveling in their free time.
Ari Ball-Burack is a first year PhD student in the Energy & Resources Group at the University of California, Berkeley, advised by Dr. Dan Kammen. He studies data and computational tools to inform effective decarbonization policy. Specifically, he is interested in incorporating key complexities such as justice and equity, behaviorally realistic decision-making, and technological innovation in energy policy decision support tools. His current research investigates decarbonization policy interactions at the national and global levels, distributional equity in electric vehicle charging infrastructure, and representations of consumer adoption in multi-sector energy system models.
Ari graduated from Williams College, where he studied Computer Science and Physics, and received MPhil degrees in Advanced Computer Science and Environmental Policy from the University of Cambridge. Prior to joining ERG, he worked as a researcher at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership. Ari enjoys running, playing music, and quality time with loved ones (ideally in nature).
Gordon received his Batchelor’s Degree with Highest Honors in Chemistry from Williams College (2013), and then conducted research on solar energy in Nicaragua, and then spending time as a Visiting Scholar at the University of Oslo where he conducted research on the usage of electric vehicles in Norway as a fellow with the American Scandinavian Foundation.
At UC Berkeley and in ERG, Gordon is a Graduate Research Fellow where he works with Dr. Susan Shaheen in the Transportation Sustainability Research Center, at Lawerence Berkeley National Laboratory, and in RAEL.
Present position:
Researcher, International Council on Clean Transportation
Bo is a doctoral student in Electrical Engineering at Chongqing University. His work is focused on the integration of renewable energy and of electric vehicle fleets into the Chinese power grid.
马子明 Ziming Ma
博士生 Ph.D Student
清华大学电机工程与应用电子技术系
Dept. Electrical Engineering and Applied Electronic Technology
Tsinghua University
Ziming is a visiting doctoral student who will be working on clean energy science, technology, and markets in and for China as part of RAEL’s work with several partner institutions in China.
Emerging economies will account for more than 90 percent of new energy-generation capacity by 2035, and Latin America is no exception to this trend. In the last 40 years, the region’s primary energy demand has more than doubled. In a global environment of increasingly volatile fuel prices, emerging technologies, and climate-change impacts, the continued increase in demand presents challenges and opportunities to Latin America and the Caribbean. To manage the next phase of development, the region’s governments will need to develop new energy sources and pay more attention to sustainability.
Kammen and students (Juan Pablo Carvallo, Diego Ponce de Leon Barido and Rebekah Shirley) discussed strategies to design and evaluate programs for managing energy and other resources in the region both as a speaker panel for the Center for Latin American Studies at UC Berkeley and in a new publication on integrated tools for building low-carbon economies in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Our researchers also delve into the specific case study of Nicaragua along with Fulbright Nexus Fellows 2012–2013. This group explored three case studies at the national, regional and community levels in Nicaragua: breadfruit and food insecurity; rainwater harvesting on the Pacific coast; and, bio-energy production from agricultural waste. This research shows the increasing need to see the climate, land, energy, and water (CLEW) sectors as interrelated, and to proactively plan policy with these interconnections in mind. Nicaragua’s opportunities for sustainable development within a CLEW nexus framework are sufficiently large that the country could well become an example of wise natural resource use for Latin America and the world.
Press release on our work with biogas digesters in Mexico:
Fusion, March 24, 2014. These students have bold ideas on how to make renewable energy more accessible.
Article, full video and photos from our panel discussion with CLAS:
Center for Latin American Studies. February 10, 2014. Sustainable Energy Systems in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Read more about our involvement in the Fulbright Regional Network for Applied Research (NEXUS) Program 2012–2013.