Yu, Hilary

Hilary received her B.A. in Gov­ern­ment and Bio­log­i­cal Sci­ences, with a con­cen­tra­tion in Ecol­ogy and Evo­lu­tion­ary Biol­ogy in the lat­ter, from Cor­nell Uni­ver­sity, where she grad­u­ated in 2015. At ERG, Hilary is inter­ested in explor­ing the science-​​law nexus and the fac­tors – polit­i­cal, eco­nomic, and social – that inform the trans­la­tion of sci­ence into leg­is­la­tion. Her aca­d­e­mic inter­ests addi­tion­ally include top­ics in sus­tain­able devel­op­ment, cli­mate change edu­ca­tion, restora­tion ecol­ogy, water and energy effi­ciency, and envi­ron­men­tal jus­tice. Hilary was pre­vi­ously involved in research­ing energy and wildlife issues as an intern with the NRDC’s North­ern Rock­ies office, and in the year before com­ing to ERG, she spent some time pur­su­ing another pas­sion, work­ing in Malawi on a death penalty sen­tence rehear­ing project. Hilary is a Gates Foun­da­tion Mil­len­nium Fellow.

Mozersky, Dave

David Moz­er­sky is the Found­ing Direc­tor of the Pro­gram on Con­flict, Cli­mate Change and Green Devel­op­ment. An expert on Sudan and South Sudan, he has been involved in con­flict pre­ven­tion efforts in Africa since 2001, with a spe­cific inter­est in medi­a­tion, nego­ti­a­tion and peace processes. He has worked with the Inter­na­tional Cri­sis Group, the African Union High-​​​​Level Panel on the Sudans, and Human­ity United, among oth­ers. He has writ­ten exten­sively about the con­flicts and peace­mak­ing efforts in the Horn of Africa, and has tes­ti­fied or pre­sented before the U.S. Sen­ate and House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives, the Cana­dian Par­lia­ment, and South Sudanese Par­lia­ment. David has authored and co-​​​​authored more than two dozen Inter­na­tional Cri­sis Group reports and brief­ing papers, and his writ­ing has appeared in the Har­vard Inter­na­tional Review, Inter­na­tional Herald-​​​​Tribune, Finan­cial Times-​​​​Europe, and other publications.

Dave now directs Energy Peace Part­ners to put many of the ideas devel­oped in this pro­gram in practice.

Maushund, Brooke

Brooke’s under­grad­u­ate career was pro­filed in the CNR Newslet­ter.

The Platform for Energy Access Knowledge

The Plat­form for Energy Access Knowl­edge (PEAK) is a project part­ner­ship between RAEL and Power for All,  a global cam­paign to accel­er­ate the market-​​​​based growth of decen­tral­ized renew­ables as the key to achiev­ing uni­ver­sal energy access. The cam­paign, estab­lished in 2014, serves as a col­lec­tive voice for busi­nesses and civil soci­ety focused on off-​​​​grid renew­able solu­tions. The research prod­ucts of this part­ner­ship will pro­vide crit­i­cal evi­dence needed to sup­port wide­spread adop­tion of dis­trib­uted technologies.

PEAK is an inter­ac­tive infor­ma­tion exchange plat­form designed to help aggre­gate and repack­age the best research and infor­ma­tion on energy access into com­pelling data-​​​driven sto­ries for a range of tar­get audi­ences to ensure max­i­mum vis­i­bil­ity, usabil­ity and dis­cov­er­abil­ity of that infor­ma­tion by indi­vid­u­als, orga­ni­za­tions and com­mu­ni­ties work­ing to make energy ser­vices acces­si­ble to all.

The Power for All Cam­paign is directed by Kristina Skierka. PEAK research is directed by Dr. Rebekah Shirley, cur­rent Post­doc­toral Researcher at RAEL.

See PEAK’s Launch Press Release, March 2016

See PEAK prod­ucts here and look out for our web por­tal soon to come.

Recently, PEAK con­ducted a quan­ti­ta­tive analy­sis that exam­ines the poli­cies of five high-​​growth mar­kets striv­ing to achieve uni­ver­sal energy access — India and Bangladesh in Asia, and Kenya, Tan­za­nia and Ethiopia in Africa — and high­lights areas for pol­icy pri­or­i­ti­za­tion in Low Energy Access coun­tries. Our research is cur­rently under peer-​​review. See an unpub­lished, draft/​working ver­sion of our man­u­script and look out for more infor­ma­tion soon.

Isa Ferrall

Isa Fer­rall is a MS/Ph.D. stu­dent in the Energy and Resources Group and Renew­able and Appro­pri­ate Energy Lab at the Uni­ver­sity of Cal­i­for­nia, Berke­ley. She is inter­ested in the impact of renew­able energy on rural elec­tri­fi­ca­tion, global devel­op­ment, and the domes­tic energy sec­tor. Pre­vi­ously, Isa gained expe­ri­ence on both the tech­ni­cal and applied sides of renew­able energy. She researched inno­v­a­tive energy mate­ri­als at Duke Uni­ver­sity as a National Acad­emy of Engi­neer­ing Grand Chal­lenge Scholar and at the National Renew­able Energy Lab­o­ra­tory as a Depart­ment of Energy Intern. She also has ana­lyzed sys­tem data for Off-​​Grid Elec­tric, a solar home sys­tem com­pany oper­at­ing in east Africa. Isa grad­u­ated Magna Cum Laude from Duke Uni­ver­sity in 2015 with dis­tinc­tion in Mechan­i­cal Engi­neer­ing and a Cer­tifi­cate in Energy and the Environment.

Clean Energy Solutions for Borneo

Rapid eco­nomic growth sus­tained in South­east Asia through­out the new mil­len­nium has led to a surge in large-​​scale infra­struc­ture projects to facil­i­tate indus­trial pro­duc­tiv­ity and con­sump­tion. The state of Sarawak, located along the north­ern coast of the island of Bor­neo, is the poor­est and most rural state in Malaysia but has long been a focal point for the devel­op­ment of large-​​scale hydro­elec­tric power. At least six dams are sched­uled to be com­pleted in Sarawak by 2020 as part of a high hydro-​​potential cor­ri­dor in cen­tral Sarawak. These forests have undis­puted global and local sig­nif­i­cance eco­log­i­cally, bio­log­i­cally and culturally.

In col­lab­o­ra­tion with local grass-​​roots renew­able project devel­op­ers and river pro­tec­tion groups we have explored the poten­tial for clean energy alter­na­tives in the state through an inte­gra­tion of mod­el­ing tools: (a) mod­el­ing long-​​term util­ity scale elec­tric­ity gen­er­a­tion alter­na­tives in East Malaysia to deter­mine trade-​​offs across dif­fer­ent tech­nolo­gies; (b) explor­ing the poten­tial for rural com­mu­ni­ties in dam-​​affected areas to sat­isfy energy access needs using local resources; © demon­strat­ing a rapid assess­ment method for esti­mat­ing the impact of mega-​​projects on bio­di­ver­sity. Each of these stud­ies pro­vides infor­ma­tion use­ful to the dis­cus­sion of alter­na­tives and fur­thers the analy­sis of green econ­omy costs and ben­e­fits. Our pub­lished find­ings have influ­enced pol­icy dis­cus­sions at the Min­is­te­r­ial level and a mora­to­rium against the Baram Dam was announced in 2015.

Media cov­er­age of our research and the Baram Dam Moratorium: 

The Bor­neo Project, March 21, 2016 — Fan­tas­tic new video on “Devel­op­ment with­out destruc­tion” in Sarawak.

Mongabay, Octo­ber 20, 2015 — Indige­nous anti-​​dam activists con­verge in Sarawak from around the globe

Sarawak Report, Sep­tem­ber 25, 2015 — BMF Press State­ment: Vic­tory, Mora­to­rium on the Baram Dam in Malaysia

The Bor­neo Post, Sep­tem­ber 27, 2015 — Small is Beau­ti­ful: The Peo­ple Matter

Media cov­er­age of our June 28, 2015 press con­fer­ence in Kuch­ing, Sarawak:

The Bor­neo Post, August 11, 2015 - Ade­nan wants SEB to light up the rural areas

The Malaysian Insider, July 31, 2015 - Ade­nan puts Baram dam on hold, agrees to lis­ten to natives’ grouses

Radio Free Sarawak, July 15, 2015 - “Sjotveit should be out”, say Sarawakians

The Malaysian Insider, July 14, 2015 - Stop Baleh dam ten­der until envi­ron­men­tal study scru­ti­nised, says Sarawak PKR

Mongabay​.com, July 8, 2015 - Sarawak can meet energy needs with­out mega-​​dams: report

BFM 89.9 — The Busi­ness Sta­tion (www​.bfm​.my), Radio and online inter­view, July 3, 2015, Clean energy options in East Malaysia

The Daily Express — East Malaysia, June 30, 2015 - Sarawak Mega Dam Project Study

The Bor­neo Post, June 29, 2015 - Bor­neo May See the End of Mega-​​Dams

The Malaysian Insider, June 29, 2015 - Activists say Ade­nan rethink­ing mega dams pol­icy in Sarawak

Free Malaysia Today, June 29, 2015 - Ade­nan May Drop Mega Dam Projects

The May­lay Mail, June 29, 2015 - CM pulls the brakes on Baram dam until he goes through detailed stud­ies, group claims

Inter­na­tional Rivers (2014). Bet­ter Solu­tions Than Megadams for Pow­er­ing Sarawak, Study Finds. World Rivers Review Vol 29. No 2. Page 5.

Ear­lier media cov­er­age of this work on energy alter­na­tives to coal and mega-​​hydropower projects includes this report in TIME Mag­a­zine:

Feb­ru­ary 22, 2011 — Bor­neo says no to dirty energy

Recent dis­cus­sions of the rela­tion­ship between mega-​​dams and earth­quakes has also been receiv­ing local cov­er­age in Bor­neo: http://​www​.the​bor​neo​post​.com/​2​0​1​5​/​0​6​/​2​8​/​d​a​m​s​-​f​a​u​l​t​-​l​i​n​e​s​-​a​n​d​-​q​u​a​k​es/

Fingerman, Kevin

http://​www2​.hum​boldt​.edu/​e​n​v​i​r​o​n​m​e​n​t​/​f​a​c​u​l​t​y​-​a​n​d​-​s​t​a​f​f​/​d​r​.​-​k​e​v​i​n​-​f​i​n​g​e​r​man

My research is dri­ven by an inter­est in the broad-​​based envi­ron­men­tal and social impacts of energy tech­nolo­gies and poli­cies. This work seeks to make explicit the trade-​​offs that are often present between energy secu­rity, cli­mate, and other impor­tant social and envi­ron­men­tal objec­tives. In par­tic­u­lar, I have worked on issues at the water/​energy nexus, eval­u­at­ing the “water foot­prints” of a range of energy tech­nolo­gies. Water and energy are inex­tri­ca­bly linked, with elec­tric­ity gen­er­a­tion sec­ond only to agri­cul­ture in total global water with­drawals. This con­nec­tion is par­tic­u­larly acute for bioen­ergy, as it is by far the most water-​​intensive of all energy types. My research has employed life cycle assess­ment (LCA), agro-​​climatic mod­el­ing, and GIS tools to show that bio­fu­els rou­tinely require sev­eral orders of mag­ni­tude more water than petro­leum fuels while often pro­vid­ing only mod­est cli­mate benefit.

I approach my research with an eye toward imple­men­ta­tion. This has led me to work with Cal­i­for­nia reg­u­la­tory agen­cies on fuel pol­icy for­mu­la­tion and to serve as vice-​​chair of the Geneva-​​based Round­table on Sus­tain­able Bio­fu­els. Prior to com­ing to HSU, I worked in Rome for the United Nations Food and Agri­cul­ture Orga­ni­za­tion. While there, I pro­vided sup­port to the gov­ern­ments of Indone­sia and Colom­bia in eval­u­at­ing the envi­ron­men­tal and social impacts of their bio­fuel indus­tries, and in for­mu­lat­ing poli­cies to address those impacts.

Jacobson, Arne

Dr. Jacob­son is the SERC Direc­tor and an asso­ciate pro­fes­sor of Envi­ron­men­tal Resources Engi­neer­ing at Hum­boldt State Uni­ver­sity. He is also the coor­di­na­tor of HSU’s master’s pro­gram in Energy Tech­nol­ogy and Pol­icy. Dr. Jac­bo­son has a Ph.D. from the Energy and Resources Group at the Uni­ver­sity of Cal­i­for­nia, Berke­ley and an M.S. in Envi­ron­men­tal Sys­tems (engi­neer­ing option) from Hum­boldt State. His areas of research inter­est include renew­able energy tech­nol­ogy, energy and cli­mate change mit­i­ga­tion pol­icy, and energy access for low income peo­ple in devel­op­ing coun­tries. His work is inter­dis­ci­pli­nary, com­bin­ing renew­able energy engi­neer­ing, energy pol­icy, and a social geog­ra­phy based approach to inter­na­tional devel­op­ment stud­ies. Dr. Jacob­son has exten­sive inter­na­tional work expe­ri­ence in Africa, South Asia, and Latin Amer­ica, includ­ing recent work focused on the devel­op­ment of an inter­na­tional pro­gram to ensure the qual­ity of afford­able LED-​​based off-​​grid light­ing sys­tems appro­pri­ate for use by low income peo­ple in devel­op­ing countries.

Greacen, Chris

Chris Grea­cen has worked on pol­icy and hands-​​on imple­men­ta­tion of renew­able energy from vil­lage to gov­ern­ment lev­els. As co-​​director of the non-​​profit orga­ni­za­tion Palang Thai he helped draft Thailand’s Very Small Power Pro­ducer (VSPP) poli­cies, which account for over 1200 MW of renew­able energy on-​​line and addi­tional 3700 MW with signed PPAs as of March 2012. He con­ducted dozens of stud­ies on renew­able energy and power sec­tor plan­ning and gov­er­nance in Thai­land, includ­ing a government-​​commissioned study that helped shape Thailand’s design of its feed-​​in tar­iff program.

As a World Bank con­sul­tant he has worked since 2008 with the Tan­zan­ian Energy Water Util­i­ties Reg­u­la­tory Author­ity (EWURA) to draft guide­lines and rules for Tanzania’s Small Power Pro­ducer (SPP) pro­gram, which stream­lines deploy­ment of renew­able energy mini-​​grids for rural elec­tri­fi­ca­tion and grid-​​connected renew­able energy to aug­ment Tanzania’s national grid.

With the Bor­der Green Energy Team (BGET) he has led instal­la­tion of 13 pico-​​hydropower projects with remote com­mu­ni­ties in the Thai-​​Burma bor­der area, as well as lead­ing the con­struc­tion of dozens of solar elec­tric sys­tems for remote med­ical clin­ics in east­ern Burma. His PhD dis­ser­ta­tion from the Energy and Resources Group (ERG) at the Uni­ver­sity of Cal­i­for­nia at Berke­ley focused on micro-​​hydroelectricity in rural Thai­land. He also has a BA in Physics from Reed Col­lege with a the­sis on solar pho­to­voltaic semi­con­duc­tor physics. He has worked on renew­able energy projects in Nepal, India, Burma, Cam­bo­dia, China, Guatemala, Microne­sia, North Korea, Tibet, Van­u­atu, Viet­nam, and on Native Amer­i­can reservations.

Kirubi, Charles

Gathu Kirubi, brings strong ana­lyt­i­cal skills and demon­strated man­age­ment expe­ri­ence cut­ting across renew­able energy, rural devel­op­ment and micro-​​finance. Aside from hold­ing a PhD in Energy & Rural Devel­op­ment from the Uni­ver­sity of Cal­i­for­nia Berke­ley, a pre­mier insti­tu­tion in the field, Kirubi brings to Solar Tran­si­tions over 10 years  expe­ri­ence in inno­va­tion and lead­er­ship in design­ing and man­ag­ing rural energy projects in East Africa. In 2001, Kirubi won the pres­ti­gious Ash­den Award in recog­ni­tion of “lead­er­ship and inno­va­tion in pio­neer­ing the start-​​up of a revolv­ing fund credit scheme that sup­ports schools and micro-​​enterprises with energy effi­cient wood stoves in Kenya.

In addi­tion to con­sult­ing on energy and micro­fi­nance with a num­ber of orga­ni­za­tions includ­ing UNDP, Arc Finance, E+Co, and Faulu-​​Kenya, Kirubi is also a Lec­turer at the Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ences Depart­ment, Keny­atta Uni­ver­sity, Nairobi,where he teaches courses on energy, tech­nol­ogy, and sus­tain­able devel­op­ment. His main inter­ests in the project are the link­ages between rural access to elec­tric­ity and income gen­er­at­ing activ­i­ties, includ­ing small and medium size enterprises.