Energy Solutions (Video)

With a rapid shift of policy attention to the virus and economic recovery, how will the energy system change? And what will happen to climate emissions and policy? Speakers: Michael Davidson and David Victor Series: "Climate Crisis" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 35871]

In the fight against climate change, those with the least resources have been left behind. In the case of solar power, the vast majority of investment in the United States has gone to majority-white communities. This means not only are people of color losing out on the benefit of solar power, but society as a whole is losing out on potential advocates for clean energy.

Dan Kammen, a professor at UC Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy is researching how we can reverse this trend and leapfrog toward clean energy for all. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Science] [Show ID: 35619]

Transforming our energy infrastructure to support greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction goals will require the deployment of technologies such as electric vehicles and energy storage. Improper integration of these technologies into the electric grid and a lack of careful planning of their scale, however, can significantly reduce their real-world effectiveness in supporting GHG emissions reduction goals. Research by Brian Tarroja and his colleagues at UC Irvine presented here focus on identifying grid integration needs and life cycle planning considerations for electric vehicles and energy storage deployment to better ensure that their potential GHG benefits are fully realized in future electricity systems. Series: "Institute for Energy Efficiency" [Science] [Show ID: 35164]

Decarbonizing our electricity and transportation sectors will require large deployments of wind, solar, and storage. Ranjit Deshmukh develops models for planning and operations of low carbon electricity grids and analyzes tradeoffs between economic, environmental, and social objectives for regions in the U.S., India, and Africa. These models optimize wind, solar, and other generation, demand, and storage resources for region-specific conditions including spatial and temporal variability of renewable resources. Series: "Institute for Energy Efficiency" [Science] [Show ID: 35165]

California's recent drought has highlighted the need for a reliable source of water. Peter Stricker of SeaWell presents a reverse osmosis (RO) system to address climate-driven drought which is an entirely new approach to water supply. The SeaWell buoy is a self-contained floating vessel, moored to the sea floor, with seawater intake and brine diffusion outfall. It contains reverse osmosis equipment, electric power and water piping, and can permeate water at a rate of 950–3,800 acre-feet/year. The implementation plan is to deploy pilot SeaWell Buoys at a water cost already below the cost of State water,initially partnering with water districts to deploy five water portals. Landing sites could be chosen based in previously disturbed areas, such as decommissioned oil receiving facilities and sanitary district outfalls. These deployments will augment new water reuse projects, and share siting and infrastructure. Series: "Institute for Energy Efficiency" [Science] [Show ID: 35163]

Increasingly, Internet-of-Things (IoT) applications require energy efficiency, low-latency, privacy and security of code and data, and programming support that simplifies IoT software development and deployment. UCSB Professor of Computer Science Chandra Krintz presents a new distributed software platform and programming model that addresses these requirements for the next generation of IoT applications. Her research lab (the UCSB RACELab) develops novel approaches to code portability for heterogenous devices and IoT tiers, energy efficiency for resource-constrained execution, privacy and security control, and integration of IoT services (e.g. data analytics, machine learning, artificial intelligence, etc.), and automated, multi-tier application deployment and management at scale — which together enable write-once, run-anywhere software development for IoT. Series: "Institute for Energy Efficiency" [Science] [Show ID: 35162]

Global prosperity over the last century has been powered by low-cost fossil fuels. Unfortunately, they are a finite resource and pose significant risks to our environment; therefore, they must be replaced. For the transition to a future energy economy making use of hydrogen as a fuel produced by nuclear power and renewables, Professor Eric McFarland predicts that methane will be the most important molecule for prosperity in the next century. McFarland’s research has shown that the methane in abundant natural gas can be cost-effectively converted by pyrolysis in high-temperature molten metals and salts to solid carbon and hydrogen gas. The cheapest heat and electricity in the U.S. comes from burning natural gas; however, increasingly major markets (e.g. California and Germany) have imposed carbon taxes which make this CO2-free process competitive today. Series: "Institute for Energy Efficiency" [Science] [Show ID: 35161]

Southern California Edison has a goal to reduce carbon-emissions 40% below 1990 levels by 2030, with an electric grid supplied by 80% carbon-free sources. Gary Barsley discusses SCE's pathway to clean power and electrification, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, and cleaning the power grid by decarbonizing the electric sector, electrifying the transportation sector, and electrifying buildings. SCE Emerging Products projects include assessing a number of new technologies to help achieve these important goals. Series: "Institute for Energy Efficiency" [Science] [Show ID: 35160]

At the 24th meeting of the Parties to the UN Climate Change Convention, governments completed the so-called Paris Rulebook, the set of guidelines for implementing the Paris Climate Change Agreement, and attention is shifting to implementation of measures that cut greenhouse gas emissions. Mark Radka, Chief of the Energy and Climate Branch at UN Environment, describes how the UN works with countries, companies, and people to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases. Series: "Bren School of Environmental Science & Management" [Public Affairs] [Science] [Show ID: 34900]

Our planet is experiencing worldwide growth in energy consumption and CO2 emission and is experiencing temperature rise and climate change at an accelerating rate. This video introduces the Institute for Energy Efficiency at UC Santa Barbara and describes a path to reducing our energy consumption and CO2 emission. In his talk, John Bowers, Director of the Institute of Energy Efficiency and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Materials, discusses the evolution of photonics and what the future holds for more efficient, higher capacity data centers, which are important for machine learning and data processing. Series: "Institute for Energy Efficiency" [Science] [Show ID: 35159]