This is an archived copy of the 2019-20 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
Sustainability: Summer Minor and Certificate
Graduate Programs
Energy and Resources: MA, MS, PhD
Courses
Energy and Resources
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 [+]
Rules & Requirements
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 1 hour of seminar per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Energy and Resources Group/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: The grading option will be decided by the instructor when the class is offered. Final exam required.
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 [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 2 hours of seminar per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Energy and Resources Group/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final Exam To be decided by the instructor when the class is offered.
Instructor: John Harte
Freshman and Sophomore Seminar: Complex Systems, Information Theory, and Big Data: Read Less [-]
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 [+]
Rules & Requirements
Credit Restrictions: Enrollment is restricted; see the Introduction to Courses and Curricula section of this catalog.
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit under special circumstances: Course may be repeated with consent of department.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 1-4 hours of directed group study per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Energy and Resources Group/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Offered for pass/not pass grade only. Final exam not required.
Directed Group Study for Lower Division Students: Read Less [-]
Terms offered: Fall 2020, Fall 2019, Fall 2018
Supervised research on specific topics related to energy and resources.
Supervised Independent Studies for Freshmen and Sophomores: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Consent of faculty adviser directing research; lower division standing (3.3 GPA or better)
Credit Restrictions: Enrollment is restricted; see the Introduction to Courses and Curricula section of this catalog.
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 1-4 hours of independent study per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Energy and Resources Group/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Offered for pass/not pass grade only. Final exam not required.
Supervised Independent Studies for Freshmen and Sophomores: Read Less [-]
Terms offered: Fall 2020, Fall 2019, Fall 2018, Summer 2018 10 Week Session
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 [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture and 1 hour of discussion per week
Summer:
8 weeks - 6 hours of lecture and 1.5 hours of discussion per week
10 weeks - 6 hours of lecture and 1.5 hours of discussion per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Energy and Resources Group/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Instructor: Kammen
Also listed as: PUB POL C184
Terms offered: Fall 2020, Summer 2020 8 Week Session, Summer 2019 8 Week Session
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 [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of web-based lecture and 1 hour of web-based discussion per week
Summer: 8 weeks - 6 hours of web-based lecture and 1.5 hours of web-based discussion per week
Online: This is an online course.
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Energy and Resources Group/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Instructor: Kammen
Also listed as: PUB POL W184
Terms offered: Summer 2020 8 Week Session, Summer 2019 8 Week Session, Summer 2018 8 Week Session
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 [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: One college level course, or high school Advanced Placement, in either physics or biology; introductory calculus
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Summer:
6 weeks - 7.5 hours of lecture per week
8 weeks - 6 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Energy and Resources Group/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Instructor: TBA
Terms offered: Spring 2020, Spring 2019, Spring 2018
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 [+]
Objectives & Outcomes
Course Objectives: Application of basic principles of natural science to the analysis of human influence on environmental conditions and processes at continental to global scale. Topics covered include dimensions of the physical world and of human modifications of it; techniques of estimation and back of the envelope calculation; box models of environmental stocks and flows: equilibrium and feedback; chemical equilibria in the environment; nutrient cycles and their disruptions; acid deposition and its consequences; climate change and its consequences; stratospheric ozone depletion; sources, fate and effects of toxic substances in the global environment; radioactivity and radiation; macroecology; carrying capacity and human population growth; biodiversity and its diminution; epidemics.
Student Learning Outcomes: Students will also have gained insight into the multi-disciplinary nature of environmental science, having used physical, chemical, and biological principles to create and solve analytical models.
Students will be familiar with and able to apply a diverse set of quantitative tools for understanding and analyzing environmental problems.
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Upper division standing; calculus (Mathematics 1A-1B or 16A-16B); Physics (7A-7B or 8A-8B), Chemistry (1A or 4A), Biology (1B), or consent of instructor
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture and 2 hours of laboratory per week
Summer: 8 weeks - 6 hours of lecture and 4 hours of laboratory per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Energy and Resources Group/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Instructor: Kueppers
Quantitative Aspects of Global Environmental Problems: Read Less [-]
Terms offered: Fall 2020, Fall 2019
This course will teach students to build, estimate and interpret models that describe phenomena in the broad area of energy and environmental decision-making. Students leave the course as both critical consumers and responsible producers of data-driven analysis. The effort will be divided between (i) learning a suite of data-driven modeling and prediction tools (including linear model selection methods, classification and regression trees and support vector machines) (ii) building programming and computing expertise and (iii) developing capacity to formulate and answer resource allocation questions within energy and environment contexts.
Data, Environment and Society: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Required: Foundations of Data Science (Computer Science C8/Information Systems C8/ Statistics C8) and high school or college calculus Recommended: An introductory computer programming course (Computer Science 61A or Computer Science 88) and Linear Algebra (Mathematics 54, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science 16A, or Statistics 89A)
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture and 2 hours of laboratory per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Energy and Resources Group/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Alternative to final exam.
Instructor: Callaway
Terms offered: Not yet offered
Climate change is transforming our world in ways we are only beginning to understand, and in many ways we cannot yet imagine. The emerging theoretical and practical lenses of social and environmental justice (EJ) provide tools with which to examine and understand this new world. Using literature, media, and engaged field experiences, this course brings together the scholarship, scientific and engineering innovation, policy, literature and media, and activism around the interacting themes of climate change and social justice.
Climate Justice: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture and 1 hour of discussion per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Energy and Resources Group/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Alternative to final exam.
Instructor: Kammen
Terms offered: Summer 2020 8 Week Session, Summer 2019 8 Week Session, Summer 2018 Second 6 Week Session
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 [+]
Objectives & Outcomes
Course Objectives: This course will use a selection of books and papers from the last 6 decades that have had a profound impact on academic and wider public thinking -- primarily in the USA -- about the environment and society to probe these issues. In class, we will situate the key reading in its historical context and discuss its contributions, critiques and consequences. Through these classics the class will explore: the evolution of environmental thought; the connections between environment, perception and policy; and the links between scientific thought and public perception.
Hours & Format
Summer: 8 weeks - 4 hours of seminar per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Energy and Resources Group/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Alternative to final exam.
Terms offered: Summer 2020 8 Week Session, Summer 2019 8 Week Session
The story of water development in California provides compelling examples of water politics, the social and environmental consequences of redistributing water, and the relationships between water uses, energy, and climate.This course provides the historical, scientific, legal, institutional, and economic background needed to understand the social and ecological challenges of providing water for California’s growing population, agricultural economy, and other uses - all of which are made more complex by climate change.
California Water: Read More [+]
Objectives & Outcomes
Course Objectives: Students will grasp the historical, scientific, legal, institutional, and economic background needed to understand the social and ecological challenges of providing water for California’s growing population, agricultural economy, and other uses - all of which are made more complex by climate change.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Summer:
6 weeks - 6 hours of lecture per week
8 weeks - 4 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Energy and Resources Group/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Alternative to final exam.
Terms offered: Summer 2020 8 Week Session, Summer 2019 8 Week Session
This course will explore the many manifestations of water and sanitation justice and injustice on interlocking scales (i.e. local, national, transnational) while illustrating analytical ideas connecting to a range of social processes including claims for human rights, deprivation and exclusion, urbanization and infrastructure development, and privatization of land and water. We will look at various case studies in high-income and low-income countries and use key technical and social concepts to examine rights, equity, and justice with respect to water and sanitation. This course partially satisfies requirements for the ERG Summer Minor/Certificate in Sustainability.
Water and Sanitation Justice: Read More [+]
Objectives & Outcomes
Course Objectives: This course will acquaint you with theoretical and practical knowledge about water and sanitation justice.
Student Learning Outcomes: Analyze water and sanitation through a variety of disciplinary perspectives: Arts, Engineering, Humanities, and in the social sciences of Sociology, Geography, Environmental Studies, Politics, Economics, Anthropology
Compare issues at local to global scales
Explain key issues of water and sanitation justice
Explain water and sanitation policy and governance historical examples, locally and globally
Identify factors influencing water and sanitation justice and injustice
Seriously consider strategies for addressing water and sanitation injustice
Understand impacts of water and sanitation injustice on quality of life
Hours & Format
Summer: 8 weeks - 6 hours of web-based lecture and 2.5 hours of web-based discussion per week
Online: This is an online course.
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Energy and Resources Group/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Alternative to final exam.
Instructor: Ray
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 [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Upper division standing or consent of instructor
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture and 1 hour of discussion per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Energy and Resources Group/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Alternative to final exam.
Instructor: ERG Faculty
Terms offered: Fall 2020, Summer 2020 8 Week Session, Fall 2019
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 [+]
Objectives & Outcomes
Course Objectives: The course will start with a brief review of the science of climate change, discuss scenarios of economic growth and the greenhouse gas emissions caused by economic activities and investigate various emission reduction opportunities and their economic costs. A significant amount of time will be spent on studying the impacts of climate change, their economic evaluation and how adaptation can lower the costs of climate damages.
We will then study various theoretical frameworks economists have developed that answer the question how estimates about the costs and benefits of climate policy can be combined to find “good” climate policies. We then study three more specialized topics that turn out to be of great importance when analyzing climate change policy: first, how do we compare costs and benefits of generations that live many centuries apart? Second, how do we design climate policy when our projections of both the costs and the benefits of climate policy are highly uncertain? And third, how can equity considerations be accounted for in an economic assessment of climate change policy? The course will close with a look at international cooperation on climate policy and why it has been so difficult to agree on effective treatises that implement climate change policy.
Student Learning Outcomes: Students will also have gained insight into the practical aspects of modeling the economics of climate change by building a simple integrated assessment model in Excel. They will be able to use that model to do simple analysis of climate change policy themselves.
Students will be familiar with the tools economists use to analyze climate change policy. They will have studied empirical estimates of the costs and benefits of climate policy and have an understanding of the analytical issues that drive research on the economics of climate change.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture and 2 hours of laboratory per week
Summer: 8 weeks - 6 hours of lecture and 4 hours of laboratory per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Energy and Resources Group/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Instructor: Anthoff
Also listed as: ENVECON C176/IAS C176
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 [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Summer:
6 weeks - 7.5 hours of lecture per week
8 weeks - 6 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Energy and Resources Group/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Alternative to final exam.
Terms offered: Summer 2020 8 Week Session, Spring 2019, Summer 2018 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 [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Upper division standing and consent of instructor
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 1-3 hours of lecture per week
Summer:
6 weeks - 7.5 hours of lecture per week
8 weeks - 2-6 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Energy and Resources Group/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Fall 2020, Fall 2018
Critical, data-driven analysis of specific issues or general problems of how people interact with environmental and resource systems. This course will teach students to build, estimate and interpret models that describe phenomena in the broad area of energy and environmental decision-making. More than one section may be given each semester on different topics depending on faculty and student interest.
Energy and Environmental Issues: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: 1. Foundations of Comp Sci: COMPSCI C8 or STAT C8 or INFO C8: Foundations of Data Science 2. Computing: COMPSCI 61A: The Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs or COMPSCI 88: Computational Structures in Data Science 3. Math: MATH 54: Linear Algebra and Differential Equations or ELENG 16A: Designing Information Devices and Systems I or STAT 89A: Linear Algebra for Data Science
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture and 2 hours of laboratory per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Energy and Resources Group/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Fall 2020, Fall 2019, Spring 2016
Group studies of selected topics.
Directed Group Studies for Advanced Undergraduates: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Upper division standing, plus particular courses to be specified by instructor
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 1-4 hours of directed group study per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Energy and Resources Group/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Offered for pass/not pass grade only. Final exam not required.
Directed Group Studies for Advanced Undergraduates: Read Less [-]
Terms offered: Fall 2020, Fall 2019, Fall 2018
Individual conferences.
Supervised Independent Study and Research: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Enrollment restricted by regulations in General Catalog
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 1-4 hours of independent study per week
Summer: 8 weeks - 1.5-15 hours of independent study per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Energy and Resources Group/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Offered for pass/not pass grade only. Final exam not required.
Terms offered: Fall 2020, Fall 2019, Summer 2019 10 Week Session, Fall 2018, Summer 2018 10 Week Session
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 [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture and 1 hour of discussion per week
Summer:
8 weeks - 6 hours of lecture and 1.5 hours of discussion per week
10 weeks - 6 hours of lecture and 1.5 hours of discussion per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Energy and Resources Group/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Instructor: Kammen
Also listed as: PUB POL C284
Terms offered: Fall 2020
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 [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of web-based lecture and 1 hour of web-based discussion per week
Online: This is an online course.
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Energy and Resources Group/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Instructor: Kammen
Terms offered: Fall 2020, Fall 2019, Fall 2018
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 [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Open to ERG graduate students only or consent of instructor
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Energy and Resources Group/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Instructors: Harte, Kammen, Ray
Interdisciplinary Analysis in Energy and Resources: Read Less [-]
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 [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Integrative Biology 102 or consent of instructor
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Energy and Resources Group/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Instructor: Harte
Also listed as: ESPM C211
Modeling Ecological and Meteorological Phenomena: Read Less [-]
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 [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Consent of instructor
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Energy and Resources Group/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Also listed as: ESPM C205/INTEGBI C205
Quantitative Methods for Ecological and Environmental Modeling: Read Less [-]
Terms offered: Fall 2019, Fall 2018, Fall 2017
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 [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Graduate student standing or consent of instructor
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Energy and Resources Group/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Instructor: Kammen
Also listed as: DEVP C221/PUB POL C221
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 [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Material Science and Mineral Engineering 111 or 123 or equivalent. Should have a firm foundation in electronic and optical props of semiconductors and basic semiconductor device physics
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Energy and Resources Group/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Also listed as: MAT SCI C226
Terms offered: Spring 2020, Spring 2019, Spring 2017
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 [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Physics 7B or 8B or equivalent
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture and 1 hour of discussion per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Energy and Resources Group/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Instructor: Callaway
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 [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Graduate standing
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of seminar per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Energy and Resources Group/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Instructors: Kammen, Ray
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 [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Energy and Resources ENE,RES C100 or C200 or Public Policy PUB POL C184 or C284 Energy and Resources ENE,RES 102 Environmental Economics and Policy ENVECON C151 or ECON C171 or equivalent Economics course
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of seminar per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Energy and Resources Group/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Instructor: Kammen
Also listed as: PUB POL C271
Terms offered: Fall 2019, Fall 2017, Fall 2015
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 [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Graduate standing or consent of instructor
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Energy and Resources Group/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Instructor: Ray
Terms offered: Spring 2020, Spring 2018, Spring 2016
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 [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 4 hours of lecture and 1 hour of discussion per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Energy and Resources Group/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Instructor: Ray
Terms offered: Fall 2020, Fall 2019, Fall 2018
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 [+]
Objectives & Outcomes
Course Objectives: The course will start with a brief review of the science of climate change, discuss scenarios of economic growth and the greenhouse gas emissions caused by economic activities and investigate various emission reduction opportunities and their economic costs. A significant amount of time will be spent on studying the impacts of climate change, their economic evaluation and how adaptation can lower the costs of climate damages.
We will then study various theoretical frameworks economists have developed that answer the question how estimates about the costs and benefits of climate policy can be combined to find “good” climate policies. We then study three more specialized topics that turn out to be of great importance when analyzing climate change policy: first, how do we compare costs and benefits of generations that live many centuries apart? Second, how do we design climate policy when our projections of both the costs and the benefits of climate policy are highly uncertain? And third, how can equity considerations be accounted for in an economic assessment of climate change policy? The course will close with a look at international cooperation on climate policy and why it has been so difficult to agree on effective treatises that implement climate change policy.
Student Learning Outcomes: Students will also have gained insight into the practical aspects of modeling the economics of climate change by building a simple integrated assessment model in a scientific programming language of their choice. They will be able to use that model to do simple analysis of climate change policy themselves.
Students will be familiar with the tools economists use to analyze climate change policy. They will have studied empirical estimates of the costs and benefits of climate policy and have an understanding of the analytical issues that drive research on the economics of climate change.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture and 2 hours of laboratory per week
Summer: 8 weeks - 6 hours of lecture and 4 hours of laboratory per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Energy and Resources Group/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Instructor: David Anthoff
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 [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Economics 100A or equivalent; basic calculus or linear algebra
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Summer: 6 weeks - 7.5 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Energy and Resources Group/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Terms offered: Fall 2020, Fall 2019, Fall 2018
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 [+]
Rules & Requirements
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 2-3 hours of seminar and 0-1 hours of discussion per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Energy and Resources Group/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Terms offered: Fall 2020, Spring 2020, Fall 2019
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 [+]
Rules & Requirements
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of seminar per week
Summer: 8 weeks - 6 hours of seminar per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Energy and Resources Group/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
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 [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Graduate standing or consent of instructor
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 1-3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Energy and Resources Group/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Terms offered: Fall 2018, Fall 2017, Fall 2016
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 [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Consent of instructor
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 2 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Energy and Resources Group/Graduate
Grading: Offered for satisfactory/unsatisfactory grade only.
Terms offered: Spring 2020, Spring 2019, Spring 2018
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 [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Energy and Resources 201
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 1.5 hours of seminar per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Energy and Resources Group/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Instructor: ERG Faculty
Terms offered: Fall 2020, Fall 2019, Fall 2018
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 [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Energy and Resources 201 and Energy and Resources 292B
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 1.5 hours of seminar per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Energy and Resources Group/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Instructor: ERG Faculty
Terms offered: Spring 2020, Spring 2019, Spring 2018
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 [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Energy and Resources 201, 292B, and 292C
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 1.5 hours of seminar per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Energy and Resources Group/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Instructor: ERG Faculty
Terms offered: Fall 2020, Spring 2020, Fall 2019
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 [+]
Rules & Requirements
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 1.5 hours of colloquium per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Energy and Resources Group/Graduate
Grading: Offered for satisfactory/unsatisfactory grade only.
Terms offered: Fall 2020, Spring 2020, Fall 2019
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 [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Consent of instructor
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 2 hours of independent study per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Energy and Resources Group/Graduate
Grading: Offered for satisfactory/unsatisfactory grade only.
Formerly known as: 298
Terms offered: Fall 2020, Spring 2020, Fall 2019
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 [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Consent of instructor
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 0 hours of independent study per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Energy and Resources Group/Graduate
Grading: Offered for satisfactory/unsatisfactory grade only.
Terms offered: Fall 2016, Spring 2016, Fall 2015
Informal group studies of special problems in energy and resources.
Directed Group Study: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Graduate standing and consent of instructor
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 1-3 hours of directed group study per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Energy and Resources Group/Graduate
Grading: Offered for satisfactory/unsatisfactory grade only.
Terms offered: Fall 2020, Spring 2020, Fall 2019
Investigation of problems in energy and resources from an interdisciplinary perspective.
Individual Research in Energy and Resources: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Graduate standing
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 1-12 hours of independent study per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Energy and Resources Group/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
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 [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Appointment as a graduate student instructor in the Group and permission of the graduate advisor
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 2 hours of seminar per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Energy and Resources Group/Professional course for teachers or prospective teachers
Grading: Offered for satisfactory/unsatisfactory grade only.
Faculty and Instructors
Faculty
David Anthoff, Assistant Professor. Environmental economics, climate policy, integrated assessment models.
Research Profile
Duncan Callaway, Associate Professor. Modeling and control of aggregated storage devices, power management, and system analysis of energy technologies and their impact.
Research Profile
John Harte, Professor of the Graduate School. Global change, ecology, sustainability, energy policy, theoretical ecology, biodiversity.
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
Laura Kueppers, Assistant Professor. Ecological responses and feedback to climate change, climate-ecosystem interactions in forests and agroecosystems, agriculture, climate change, ecology, forests, tropics.
Research Profile
Isha Ray, Associate Professor. Water and development, Gender, water and sanitation, technology and development, social science research methods .
Research Profile
Margaret S. Torn, Associate Adjunct Professor. Biodiversity, biogeochemistry, carbon cycle, climate change, ecology, ecosystem services .
Research Profile
Emeritus Faculty
John P. Holdren, Professor Emeritus.
Richard B. Norgaard, Professor Emeritus.
Research Profile
Contact Information
Energy and Resources Group
310 Barrows Hall #5900
Phone: 510-642-1640
Fax: 510-642-1085
Group Chair
Daniel Kammen
310 Barrows Hall
Phone: 510-642-1139