Energy and Resources Group

University of California, Berkeley

This is an archived copy of the 2016-17 guide. To access the most recent version of the guide, please visit http://guide.berkeley.edu.

Overview

The Energy and Resources Group (ERG) is an interdisciplinary academic unit of UC Berkeley, conducting programs of graduate teaching and research that treat issues of energy, resources, development, human and biological diversity, environmental justice, governance, global climate change, and new approaches to thinking about economics and consumption. Established in 1973, ERG offers two-year MA and MS degrees in Energy and Resources, as well as a PhD and an undergraduate minor.

The faculty of ERG consists of eight professors of energy and resources plus 100 affiliated faculty members whose main appointments span all five colleges and four of the schools of the Berkeley campus, as well as the University's Lawrence Berkeley and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories. The chair is normally drawn on a rotating basis from the affiliated faculty.

There are approximately 60 graduate students enrolled in ERG degree programs; about half of them are doctoral candidates. The students come from a wide variety of backgrounds — engineering, natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities. The characteristics they have in common are an interest in interdisciplinary approaches to energy and resource issues and the intellectual credentials to succeed in a rigorous academic program. All receive training at ERG in the technological, environmental, economic, and sociopolitical dimensions of energy and resource issues while pursuing additional course work and individual research tailored to their interest and backgrounds.

ERG graduates are employed across the U.S. and around the world in universities, governmental and international agencies, legislative staff positions, national laboratories, public and private utilities, other energy and resource companies, consulting firms, and public-interest organizations.

Undergraduate Program

Energy and Resources : Minor

Graduate Programs

Energy and Resources : MA, MS, PhD

Visit Group Website

Courses

Energy and Resources

ENE,RES 24 Freshman Seminar 1 Unit

Terms offered: Fall 2015, Spring 2012, Spring 2011
The Freshman Seminar Program has been designed to provide new students with the opportunity to explore an intellectual topic with a faculty member in a small-seminar setting. Freshman Seminars are offered in all campus departments, and topics may vary from department to department and semester to semester.
Freshman Seminar: Read More [+]

ENE,RES 39A Freshman and Sophomore Seminar: Complex Systems, Information Theory, and Big Data 2 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2016
Freshman and sophomore seminars offer lower division students the opportunity to explore an intellectual topic with a faculty member and a group of peers in a small-seminar setting. These seminars are offered in all campus departments; topics vary from department to department and from semester to semester. Enrollment limits are set by the faculty, but the suggested limit is 25.


Freshman and Sophomore Seminar: Complex Systems, Information Theory, and Big Data: Read More [+]

ENE,RES 98 Directed Group Study for Lower Division Students 1 - 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Spring 2016
Lectures and small group discussions focusing on topics of interest that vary from semester to semester.
Directed Group Study for Lower Division Students: Read More [+]

ENE,RES 99 Supervised Independent Studies for Freshmen and Sophomores 1 - 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Spring 2016
Supervised research on specific topics related to energy and resources.
Supervised Independent Studies for Freshmen and Sophomores: Read More [+]

ENE,RES C100 Energy and Society 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Summer 2017 8 Week Session, Fall 2016
Energy sources, uses, and impacts: an introduction to the technology, politics, economics, and environmental effects of energy in contemporary society. Energy and well-being; energy in international perspective, origins, and character of energy crisis.
Energy and Society: Read More [+]

ENE,RES 101 Ecology and Society 3 Units

Terms offered: Summer 2017 8 Week Session, Fall 2014, Fall 2012
This course introduces students to the many ways in which our lives are intertwined with the ecosystems around us. Topics will include ecological limits to growth, climate change and other threats to biodiversity, the value of ecosystem goods and services, the ecology of disease, ecotoxicology, the evolution of cooperation in ecosystems, industrial ecology, and the epistemology of ecology.
Ecology and Society: Read More [+]

ENE,RES 102 Quantitative Aspects of Global Environmental Problems 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2018, Spring 2017, Spring 2016
Human disruption of biogeochemical and hydrological cycles; causes and consequences of climate change and acid deposition; transport and health impacts of pollutants; loss of species; radioactivity in the environment; and quantitative models to understand these environmental problems.
Quantitative Aspects of Global Environmental Problems: Read More [+]

ENE,RES 170 Environmental Classics 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2011, Fall 2009, Fall 2007
What is the history and evolution of environmental thinking and writing in the USA? How have certain ‘environmental classics’ shaped the way in which we think about nature, society and progress? Why did these become ‘classics’ and why/how did they influence environmental thought and policy? What is their relevance today? This course includes substantial reading assignments.
Environmental Classics: Read More [+]

ENE,RES 175 Water and Development 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2016, Spring 2014, Spring 2013
This course introduces students to water policy in developing countries. It is a course motivated by the fact that over one billion people in developing countries have no access to safe drinking water, three billion do not have sanitation facilities, and many millions of small farmers do not have reliable water supplies to ensure a healthy crop. Readings and discussions will cover: the problems of water access and use in developing countries; the potential for technological, social, and economic solutions to these problems; the role of institutions in access to water and sanitation; and the pitfalls of the assumptions behind some of today's popular "solutions."
Water and Development: Read More [+]

ENE,RES C176 Climate Change Economics 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016
This course is a self-contained introduction to the economics of climate change. Climate change is caused by a large variety of economic activities, and many of its impacts will have economic consequences. Economists have studied climate change for more than two decades, and economic arguments are often powerful in policy decisions. The course will familiarize students with these arguments and equip them with the tools to participate in discussions of climate change policy through an economic lens.
Climate Change Economics: Read More [+]

ENE,RES N176 Economics of Climate Change 3 Units

Terms offered: Not yet offered
This course is a self-contained introduction to the economics of climate change. Climate change is caused by a large variety of economic activities, and many of its impacts will have economic consequences. Economists have studied climate change for more than two decades, and economic arguments are often powerful in policy decisions. The course will familiarize students with these arguments and equip them with the tools to participate in discussions of climate change policy through an economic lens. NOTE this summer course does NOT satisfy the EEP Major requirements that the 4-unit course ENERES C176/ENVECON C176/IAS C176 that is offered in the regular academic spring/fall terms. Repeating this course under the C176 course number restricted.
Economics of Climate Change: Read More [+]

ENE,RES 180 Ecological Economics in Historical Context 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2016
Economists through history have explored economic and environmental interactions, physical limits to growth, what constitutes the good life, and how economic justice can be assured. Yet economists continue to use measures and models that simplify these issues and promote bad outcomes. Ecological economics responds to this tension between the desire for simplicity and the multiple perspectives needed to understand complexity in order to move toward sustainable, fulfilling, and just economies.
Ecological Economics in Historical Context: Read More [+]

ENE,RES 190 Seminar in Energy and Resources Issues 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Fall 2016, Summer 2016 Second 6 Week Session
Critical, cross disciplinary analysis of specific issues or general problems of how people interact with environmental and resource systems. More than one section may be given each semester on different topics depending on faculty and student interest.
Seminar in Energy and Resources Issues: Read More [+]

ENE,RES 198 Directed Group Studies for Advanced Undergraduates 1 - 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2016, Fall 2015, Fall 2014
Group studies of selected topics.
Directed Group Studies for Advanced Undergraduates: Read More [+]

ENE,RES 199 Supervised Independent Study and Research 1 - 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Summer 2017 8 Week Session, Spring 2017
Individual conferences.
Supervised Independent Study and Research: Read More [+]

ENE,RES C200 Energy and Society 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Summer 2017 8 Week Session, Fall 2016
Energy sources, uses, and impacts; an introduction to the technology, politics, economics, and environmental effects of energy in contemporary society. Energy and well-being; energy international perspective, origins, and character of energy crisis.
Energy and Society: Read More [+]

ENE,RES 201 Interdisciplinary Analysis in Energy and Resources 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015
Introduction to interdisciplinary analysis as it is practiced in the ERG. Most of the course consists of important perspectives on energy and resource issues, introduced through a particularly influential book or set of papers. The course also provides an introduction to the current research activities of the ERG faculty as well as practical knowledge and skills necessary to successfully complete graduate school in an interdisciplinary program.
Interdisciplinary Analysis in Energy and Resources: Read More [+]

ENE,RES C202 Modeling Ecological and Meteorological Phenomena 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2015, Fall 2014, Fall 2013
Modeling methods in ecology and meteorology; stability analysis; effects of anthropogenic stress on natural systems. Offered alternate years.
Modeling Ecological and Meteorological Phenomena: Read More [+]

ENE,RES C205 Quantitative Methods for Ecological and Environmental Modeling 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2015, Fall 2013, Fall 2012, Fall 2011, Fall 2009
This course will review the background mathematical and statistical tools necessary for students interested in pursuing ecological and environmental modeling. Topics include linear algebra; difference equation, ordinary differential equation, and partial differential equation models; stochastic processes; parameter estimation; and a number of statistical techniques. This course will be recommended as a prerequisite for advanced modeling courses in Integrative Biology, Energy and Resources Group, and Environmental Science, Policy, and Management.
Quantitative Methods for Ecological and Environmental Modeling: Read More [+]

ENE,RES C221 Climate, Energy and Development 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015, Fall 2014
Graduate seminar examining the role of energy science, technology, and policy in
international development. The course will look at how changes in the theory and practice
of energy systems and of international development have co-evolved over the past half-
century, and what opportunities exist going forward.

A focus will be on rural and decentralized energy use, and the issues of technology, culture,
and politics that are raised by both current trajectories, and potential alternative energy
choices. We will explore the frequently divergent ideas about energy and development that
have emerged from civil society, academia, multinational development agencies, and the
private and industrial sector.
Climate, Energy and Development: Read More [+]

ENE,RES C226 Photovoltaic Materials; Modern Technologies in the Context of a Growing Renewable Energy Market 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2015, Spring 2013, Spring 2011
This technical course focuses on the fundamentals of photovoltaic energy conversion with respect to the physical principals of operation and design of efficient semiconductor solar cell devices. This course aims to equip students with the concepts and analytical skills necessary to assess the utility and viability of various modern photovoltaic technologies in the context of a growing global renewable energy market.
Photovoltaic Materials; Modern Technologies in the Context of a Growing Renewable Energy Market: Read More [+]

ENE,RES 254 Electric Power Systems 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Fall 2015, Fall 2014
Provides an understanding of concepts in the design and operation of electric power systems, including generation, transmission, and consumption. Covers basic electromechanical physics, reactive power, circuit and load analysis, reliability, planning, dispatch, organizational design, regulations, environment, end-use efficiency, and new technologies.
Electric Power Systems: Read More [+]

ENE,RES 270 Environmental Classics 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2013, Fall 2011, Fall 2009
Motivation: What is the history and evolution of environmental thinking and writing? How have certain "environmental classics" shaped the way in which we think about nature, society, and development? This course will use a selection of 20th-century books and papers that have had a major impact on academic and wider public thinking about the environment and development to probe these issues. The selection includes works and commentaries related to these works that have influenced environmental politics and policy in the U.S. as well as in the developing world. Through the classics and their critiques, reviews, and commentaries, the class will explore the evolution of thought on these transforming ideas.
Environmental Classics: Read More [+]

ENE,RES C271 Energy and Development 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2016
This advanced graduate seminar will examine the theoretical frames and models used to examine the linkages between energy and development, and the impacts of one on the other.


Energy and Development: Read More [+]

ENE,RES 273 Research Methods in Social Sciences 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2015, Spring 2014
This course aims to introduce graduate students to the rich diversity of research methods that social scientists have developed for the empirical aspects of their work. Its primary goal is to encourage critical thinking about the research process: how we "know," how we match research methods to research questions, how we design and conduct our information/data collection, what we assume explicitly and implicitly, and the ethical dilemmas raised by fieldwork-oriented studies.
Research Methods in Social Sciences: Read More [+]

ENE,RES 275 Water and Development 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2018, Spring 2016, Spring 2014
This class is an interdisciplinary graduate seminar for students of water policy in developing countries. It is not a seminar on theories and practices of development through the "lens" of water. Rather, it is a seminar motivated by the fact that over 1 billion people in developing countries have no access to safe drinking water, 3 billion don't have sanitation facilities and many millions of small farmers do not have reliable water supplies to ensure a healthy crop. Readings and discussions will cover: the problems of water access and use in developing countries; the potential for technological, social, and economic solutions to these problems; the role of institutions in access to water and sanitation; and the pitfalls of and assumptions behind some of today's popular "solutions."
Water and Development: Read More [+]

ENE,RES 276 Climate Change Economics 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016
This course is a self-contained introduction to the economics of climate change. Climate change is caused by a large variety of economic activities, and many of its impacts will have economic consequences. Economists have studied climate change for more than two decades, and economic arguments are often powerful in policy decisions. The course will familiarize students with these arguments and equip them with the tools to participate in discussions of climate change policy through an economic lens.
Climate Change Economics: Read More [+]

ENE,RES 280 Energy Economics 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2016, Fall 2015, Spring 2015
Input-output and cost benefit analysis applied to energy; exhaustion theory and economics of energy supply; patterns of energy use; trade-offs in energy conservation; the effect of energy policy on supply and demand; projecting future energy and resource supply and use.
Energy Economics: Read More [+]

ENE,RES 290 Seminar in Energy and Resources 1 - 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2016, Fall 2015, Spring 2015
Graduate student presentations and faculty-student discussions of advanced topics in energy and resources. Specific topics vary according to faculty and student interest.
Seminar in Energy and Resources: Read More [+]

ENE,RES 290A Seminar in Energy and Resources 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2018, Fall 2017, Spring 2017
Graduate student presentations and faculty-student discussions of advanced topics in energy and resources. Specific topics vary according to faculty and student interest.
Seminar in Energy and Resources: Read More [+]

ENE,RES 291 Special Topics in Energy and Resources 1 - 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2016, Spring 2012, Spring 2011
Study and critical analysis of advanced topics in energy and resources using interdisciplonary approaches. Specific topics vary according to faculty and student interest.
Special Topics in Energy and Resources: Read More [+]

ENE,RES 292A Tools of the Trade 2 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015
Quantitative methods for energy and resource analysis. Topics include linear algebra, differential equations, statistical methods, chemical equilibrium theory, and thermodynamics.
Tools of the Trade: Read More [+]

ENE,RES 292B Master's Project Seminar 2 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2018, Spring 2017, Spring 2016
Required of second-semester Energy and Resources Master's candidates. Topics include the adoption of a research project, research design, presentation of work, and statistical analyses. Introduction to research skills, including Human Subject Research Protocols, research ethics and methodologies. Critical reading and analysis of research papers; development and discussion of project ideas. Students begin to identify and solicit faculty readers for their projects. Students will apply the interdisciplinary methods, approaches, and perspectives learned in the core curriculum.
Master's Project Seminar: Read More [+]

ENE,RES 292C Master's Project Seminar 2 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015
Required for ERG Master's students in the semester previous to the one in which they plan to file their Project. Development of Master’s Project outline and research plan. Identification and solicitation of faculty readers. Evaluation and integration of critical feedback from readers and cohort on project. Topics include the adoption of a research project, research design, presentation of work, and statistical analyses. Students will apply the interdisciplinary methods, approaches, and perspectives learned in the core curriculum. Course requirements include:
Attendance and active participation in the sharing and critique of the cohort’s final master’s projects (50%); draft project outline and final readers confirmed by end of term (50%).
Master's Project Seminar: Read More [+]

ENE,RES 292D Master's Project Seminar 2 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2018, Spring 2017, Spring 2016
Required of all ERG Master’s students in the semester during which they plan to file their Final Master's Project. This course is intended to assist students in completing their required Master’s Projects, and to provide constructive feedback to students on their Final Master's Project oral presentations. The goal is to improve the quality of the research for the ERG Master’s Projects and to learn and refine presentation skills for an academic/professional audience.
Master's Project Seminar: Read More [+]

ENE,RES 295 Special Topics in Energy and Resources 1 Unit

Terms offered: Spring 2018, Fall 2017, Spring 2017
Presentations of research in energy issues by faculty, students, and visiting lecturers. Master's degree students required to enroll for two semesters.
Special Topics in Energy and Resources: Read More [+]

ENE,RES 296 Doctoral Seminar 2 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2018, Fall 2017, Spring 2017
Lectures, reports, and discussions on current research in energy and resources. Particular emphasis on topics of research interest for current Ph.D. students in the Energy and Resources Group.
Doctoral Seminar: Read More [+]

ENE,RES 298 Doctoral Seminar 2 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2018, Fall 2017, Spring 2016
Lectures, reports, and discussions on current research in energy and resources. Sections are operated independently and under direction of different staff.
Doctoral Seminar: Read More [+]

ENE,RES 298N Directed Group Study 1 - 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2016, Spring 2016, Fall 2015
Informal group studies of special problems in energy and resources.
Directed Group Study: Read More [+]

ENE,RES 299 Individual Research in Energy and Resources 1 - 12 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2018, Fall 2017, Spring 2017
Investigation of problems in energy and resources from an interdisciplinary perspective.
Individual Research in Energy and Resources: Read More [+]

ENE,RES 301 Graduate Student Instructor Practicum 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2013, Fall 2012, Spring 2012
Course credit for experience gained in academic teaching through employment as a graduate student instructor.
Graduate Student Instructor Practicum: Read More [+]

Faculty and Instructors

Faculty

David Anthoff, Assistant Professor. Environmental economics, climate policy, integrated assessment models.
Research Profile

Duncan Callaway, Assistant Professor. Modeling and control of aggregated storage devices, power management, and system analysis of energy technologies and their impact.
Research Profile

John Harte, Professor. Global change, ecology, sustainability, energy policy, theoretical ecology, biodiversityl.
Research Profile

Daniel M. Kammen, Professor. Public policy, nuclear engineering, energy, resources, risk analysis as applied to global warming, methodological studies of forecasting, hazard assessment, renewable energy technologies, environmental resource management.
Research Profile

Catherine Koshland, Professor. Air pollution, metals, energy, resources, environmental human health, mechanistic analyses of combustion products in flow reactors, control strategies in urban airsheds, pollutant formation, chlorinated hydrocarbons, particulates, industrial ecology.
Research Profile

Isha Ray, Associate Professor. Water and development; Gender, water and sanitation; technology and development.
Research Profile

Margaret S. Torn, Associate Adjunct Professor.

Lecturers

Jalel Marti Sager, Lecturer.

Emeritus Faculty

John P. Holdren, Professor Emeritus.

Richard B. Norgaard, Professor Emeritus. Energy, resources, policy process, understanding of systems, environmental problems challenging scientific understanding, globalization effects, tropical forestry and agriculture, environmental epistemology, energy economics, ecological economics.
Research Profile

Gene I. Rochlin, Professor Emeritus.

Contact Information

Energy and Resources Group

310 Barrows Hall #5900

Phone: 510-642-1640

Fax: 510-642-1085

ergdeskb@berkeley.edu

Visit Group Website

Group Chair

Harrison Fraker, MFA (Department of Architecture)

fraker@berkeley.edu

Head Graduate Adviser

Isha Ray, PhD

isharay@berkeley.edu

Head Adviser for GSI Affairs and Head Minor Adviser

John Harte, PhD

310 Barrows Hall

jharte@berkeley.edu

Graduate Student Affairs Officer

Kay Burns

310 Barrows Hall

Phone: 510-642-8859

erggrad@berkeley.edu

Undergraduate Minor Academic Adviser

260 Mulford Hall

Phone: 510-643-9479

Group Manager

Megan Amaral

310 Barrows Hall

Phone: 510-642-1760

megana@berkeley.edu

Back to Top