UC Berkeley’s Energy and Resources Group (ERG) confers an interdisciplinary Undergraduate Minor in Energy and Resources and a Minor/Certificate in Sustainability, as well as graduate M.A., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees.
ERG research and courses emphasize science-based knowledge of the environmental consequences of resource use; analytical tools that promote efficiency, conservation, affordability, and equity in energy and resource use; and understanding of the social and institutional contexts in which resource and environmental problems arise, and in which creative and ethical solutions can be sustained. It is this synthesis of basic science, practical problem-solving, and constructive social critique that defines ERG.
Visit the ERG website for more information about our undergraduate minors and graduate programs.
Summer Sustainability Minor
Whatever direction your studies take you, the Energy and Resources Minor or Certificate in Sustainability will equip you with tools to tackle some of the most pressing issues facing the world today. This program offers a practical and relevant interdisciplinary approach at the intersection of environmental, economic, social, political, and cultural issues.
The interdisciplinary Summer Minor in Sustainability offers online and classroom courses in:
Global and local environmental change
The science, engineering, economics, and policy of renewable energy
The economics of environmental degradation and sustainability
Environmental justice
Sustainable design and building
Water science, policy, engineering, and equity
The Summer Minor or Certificate in Sustainability is open to matriculated UC Berkeley undergraduates, students from other institutions, and the general public. Upon completion, UC Berkeley undergraduates receive a Minor in Sustainability, while other participants receive a Certificate in Sustainability from UC Berkeley. Visit the ERG website for more information.
Energy and Resources Minor
The ERG Minor offers knowledge and skills to enable students to address the complex and interdependent issues associated with the interaction of social, economic, political, technical, and environmental factors. Students in any major may add the ERG minor, which is composed of two core and three elective upper division courses. Several of these courses have prerequisites in mathematics or science.
Declaring the Minor
Students interested in pursuing the ERG minor should submit an Intent to Declare the ERG Minor form during the semester in which upper division ERG minor coursework is started. For information on how to submit your intent to pursue the minor, courses that fulfill the minor, how common lower division prerequisites may be completed, and how to declare the minor once completed, please visit the ERG website.
Students who have a strong interest in an area of study outside their major often decide to complete a minor program. These programs have set requirements and are noted officially on the transcript in the memoranda section, but they are not noted on diplomas.
General Guidelines
All courses taken to fulfill the minor requirements below must be taken for graded credit.
A minimum grade point average (GPA) of 2.0 is required for courses used to fulfill the minor requirements.
No more than one upper division course may be used to simultaneously fulfill requirements for a student's major and minor programs.
At least four upper division courses must be taken at Berkeley.
Lower Division Recommended Course Work
Students have or will develop strong foundations in math, physics, chemistry, and biology.
Lower division prerequisites for the ERG minor can be satisfied with Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and other transfer credit. Please visit the ERG Minor Website for more information. Please consult with the ERG minor advisor if you have not taken or not yet placed out of the lower division coursework.
Quantitative Aspects of Global Environmental Problems
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Three upper division electives, approved by the ERG faculty (see below):
At least one course must be in the social sciences.
At least one course must be in the natural sciences or engineering.
At one of the three upper division electives must be from the ERG department.
Electives
The choice of electives should be made with two goals in mind: exploring the range of approaches available to address energy and resource issues and complementing the student's major. The latter can be achieved by adding relevant depth in closely related areas or by exploring methods and approaches that contrast with the tools and knowledge base employed in the major. Students are encouraged to discuss their program with the ERG minor advisor.
The following courses have been approved, but students should contact the the head ERG minor advisor to request approval of alternate courses. At least four upper division courses must be taken at Berkeley.
Summer-only Minor and Certificate in Sustainability
The Energy and Resources Group summer minor and certificate program in Sustainability is open to matriculated UC Berkeley undergraduates and summer-only students. Upon completion, UC Berkeley undergraduates receive a Minor in Sustainability; summer-only students receive a Certificate in Sustainability from UC Berkeley. More information can be found by clicking here .
CURRICULUM:
The Sustainability minor or certificate focuses on environmental sustainability. Students complete courses in global and local environmental change; fossil fuels; the science, engineering, and economics of renewable energy; biodiversity; the economics of degradation; and sustainable economics, policy, and environmental justice. Scholarship available to eligible students.
15 total units of coursework are required, which can be completed one or two summers. Students must take either Energy and Society (ENE,RES C100 / PUB POL C184 /ENE,RES W100 /PUB POL W184) or Climate Change Economics (ENE,RES N176/ENVECON C176/IAS C176) in addition to other approved courses listed below.
All other courses will be offered during the summer only and are unique to summer. The courses Energy and Society and Water and Sanitation Justice are offered online during the summer and can be taken remotely.
Special Topics in Energy and Environment (Zero Energy Building)
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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