ERG professor Dan Kammen was recently quoted in AP News regarding California’s power grid operator cancelling rolling blackouts. These scheduled widespread blackouts were averted after regulators warned that the electric grid would not have enough power to meet demands in the midst of a heat wave.

Kammen commented that the state needs to do more to store and sell clean energy sources, and he hopes this week’s blackouts will prompt officials to act.

“This is kind of a stress test on the system,” he said. “We have not built up enough of a smart enough system to take advantage of all the renewables we have in place.”

ERG PhD student Anna Brockway and two UC Berkeley students recently published their article, “California must prepare its electric grid for complex climate risks”, on the San Francisco Chronicle. The op-ed discusses the necessity of reworking California’s electrical system to pave the way for efficient climate adaptation.

“In order to make good decisions about maintenance, facility siting and the specs of new equipment, electric grid operators must understand how weather and climate affect electricity demand, supply and delivery. Normally, they look at historical weather patterns and operating conditions. But now, the electricity system must prepare for more record-setting events,” the article states.

ERG Professor Dan Kammen was recently featured on U.S. News explaining the severity of California’s energy shortages. Despite pandemic restrictions that have somewhat reduced overall electricity demand in California, Kammen points out the rising demand for electricity due to heat waves.

“Investments in electricity storage and distribution would [allow California avoid future rolling blackouts]. But those could be expensive, and even harder to budget for at a time when the state faces huge deficits amid the pandemic-related slowdown,” Kammen stated.

ERG Professor Dan Kammen was featured on a recent Al Jazeera article, discussing America’s progress towards building a greener economy.

“The 2020 election in the United States is absolutely critical, because we know on the climate side that we have very few years left to get on an innovative green energy path,” Kammen stated.

In a recent article for The Guardian, ERG Alumnus Zeke Hausfather speaks on climate predictions and adjusting forecasts for global warming — including the best and worst case scenarios.

ERG Alumnus Christopher Jones was recently featured on a New York Times article depicting communities facing a “double spikes of risk” from the Coronavirus and heat waves.

ERG Alumnus Zeke Hausfather recently published “Explainer: How the rise and fall of CO2 levels influenced the ice ages”, explaining the powerful influence CO2 levels had on the ice ages as well as the present age.

ERG PhD student Seigi Karaski co-authored a recently published research paper on the discovery of novel fungal species and pathogens on bat carcasses. The research focuses on the new fungal disease, explaining how it could potentially affect human and animal health. The research focuses on the scientific testing and analysis of the new fungus.