Search Results for: water use

Water Group

The ERG Water Group as an interdisciplinary collaboration focused on the social dimensions of water. Members work on issues of equitable access and efficient, sustainable management of freshwater resources for both humans and the environment in the US and across the globe.

Faculty by Primary Interest

Areas of Interest Climate ChangeEcologyEnergyGovernanceWaterInternational Climate Change ERG CORE David Anthoff David Anthoff is an environmental economist who studies climate change and environmental policy. He co-develops the integrated assessment model ... Continue Reading »

Summer Instructors

The Energy and Resources Group summer instructors understand the complex and interdisciplinary nature of sustainability. All have significant experience teaching and/or professional experience in the subject areas of their courses. ... Continue Reading »

Affiliated Faculty

ERG has a small core faculty but a much larger group of affiliated faculty. Affiliated faculty are based in other departments on campus or at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, ... Continue Reading »

Minor/Certificate in Sustainability — Courses

Summer 2022 Curriculum ERG’s minor and certificate require a minimum of five courses and 15 total units of coursework, completed over one or two summers (or for a UC Berkeley ... Continue Reading »

Courses

All Course Offerings Please note: This is a full list of ERG course offerings; not all courses are offered each term. For current course offerings, please refer to the online ... Continue Reading »

Give to ERG

Your donation to ERG provides critical funding and academic opportunities for our graduate students. ERG has a 50-year history of outstanding research, teaching, policy advice and scholar-activism. ERG has researched ... Continue Reading »

Publications

“Biodiversity Scales from Plots to Biomes With a Universal Species-Area Curve” John Harte, Adam B. Smith, and David Storch“Carbon Cycle Uncertainty Increases Climate Change Risks and Mitigation Challenges” Paul A. ... Continue Reading »

Renewable & Appropriate Energy Laboratory (RAEL)

RAEL is engaged in projects to develop the science, technology, policy needs and to foster engagements that explore the future of energy, specifically the transition to a low-cabon, environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable energy system.

Research at ERG

Through teaching, mentorship and research projects, ERG supports a diverse suite of basic and applied projects.  The goal of this engagement is to understand, inform, and transform the knowledge and ... Continue Reading »

Climate & Carbon Sciences Program

The research mission of the Climate & Carbon Sciences Program is to advance the understanding and prediction of multiscale climate dynamics, abrupt and extreme climate events, terrestrial feedbacks to climate change, and their impacts on energy and water resources.

Master’s Degree Curriculum Requirements (MA or MS)

The purpose of the ERG Master’s program is to educate the next generation of interdisciplinary leaders. Specifically, students are taught the range of methods and subjects they should be able ... Continue Reading »

Sustainability Summer Minor and Certificate

The Minor and Certificate in Sustainability provides a comprehensive understanding of the most pressing issues facing the world today. ERG’s Minor/Certificate program offers a practical and relevant interdisciplinary approach at ... Continue Reading »

Sustainability Minor/Certificate FAQs

Synchronous vs. Asynchronous Learning What is the difference between synchronous vs. asynchronous instruction, and online courses vs. remote instruction courses? Courses originally offered online (i.e. Energy and Society and Water ... Continue Reading »

Two ERG Projects Included in White House Plans for Sustainable Water Future

March 31, 2016

Commitments by two groups within ERG were included in the White House Summit on Water last week

Advocating for Women on World Water Day

March 22, 2023

New commentary published in the Lancet on World Water Day (March 22) calls on researchers, policy makers, and professionals to strengthen their commitment to addressing gender inequities in global water delivery systems. Co-authored ... Continue Reading »

000 Californians May Lack Safe Drinking Water ERG Researchers Lead New Study: 400

January 26, 2022

ERG alumna Dr. Lara Cushing (MA ’10, PhD ’15) and ERG PhD student Nicholas Depsky contributed to a UC Berkeley, UCLA-led study recently published in the American Journal of Public ... Continue Reading »

ERG Professor Isha Ray on the Reality of Drinking Water Monitoring in Rural India

September 2, 2020

ERG professor Isha Ray recently co-authored and published her research paper, "The reality of water quality monitoring for SDG 6: A report from a small town in India" on IWA Publishing. The paper features their study of microbial water quality in a small town (Alibag) in India, and focuses on the weaknesses of water quality monitoring and testing infrastructure. "We show the practical limitations of monitoring for fecal indicator bacteria to meet SDG 6... We find that even when water quality monitoring and testing infrastructure is in place, low institutional capacity and the pressure to not ‘fail’ the expected water quality standards can result in the failure to accurately report bacterial water quality," the paper states.

Isha Ray and Chris Hyun Analyze Issues with Water Access Alerts in Bangalore

April 16, 2019

A recent article from UC Berkeley’s Blum Center considers the lessons learned from the trial run of Next drop, an application intended to help residents of Bangalore, India optimize their ... Continue Reading »

ERG Postdoctoral Researcher Cohen – Water Treatment Methods in Rural China

February 1, 2017

ERG postdoctoral researcher Alasdair Cohen (Ph.D. '16) is featured in Thriving Earth Exchange on his collaboration with government health researchers to better understand water treatment methods in rural China.

ERG-led THIMBY Wins Categories in Tiny House Competition

October 25, 2016

The Tiny House in My Backyard (THIMBY) team won several categories in the 2016 Sacramento Municipal District Tiny House Competition.

ERG Alumnus Peter Gleick Pushes for New Water Conservation Policy

July 2, 2016

“I think the state board is going to have to reconsider this strategy in light of what apparently is a complete abandonment of urban conservation efforts.” - Peter Gleick

THIMBY House Project Is Well Underway!

June 28, 2016

The Tiny House in My Backyard (THIMBY) is an interdisciplinary team of UC Berkeley graduate and undergraduate students working together to design and build an affordable, off-grid, 100% solar-powered “tiny” ... Continue Reading »

ERG Alum Calls For Effective Groundwater Management

May 25, 2016

ERG alum Michael Kiparsky (MS '04, PhD '10) co-authored an opinion column in The Fresno Bee on the pressing need for fair and effective groundwater management agencies in California.

ERG Alumnus Peter Gleick on the Future of the World’s Groundwater

March 29, 2016

ERG alumnus Peter Gleick contributed to an opinion special on The Desert Sun about the global groundwater crisis.

Sustainable Design of Communities: Kammen and Fraker in Scientific American

July 5, 2017

Neighborhood efforts to reduce fossil fuel and water consumption, as well as greenhouse gas emissions, could go beyond serving as a model for sustainability by providing local construction jobs and revitalizing entire communities.

ERG’s Woelfle-Erskine on Why Dams are Still an Issue

September 2, 2014

"The fight is far from over as far as dams are concerned."

ERG Alum Kripa Jagannathan Awarded EESA Early Career Development Grant

February 2, 2021

Congratulations to ERG alumna Kripa Jagannathan for receiving the Early Career Development Grant from Earth & Environmental Sciences (EEPS)! Kripa specializes in the field of climate change adaptation and climate-resilient planning. EEPS describes her most recent research being focused on "improving the ‘usability’ of climate science, and enabling science-based adaptation decision-making for water resources management and agricultural planning."

Rausser College’s Fall Breakthroughs Magazine Features ERG Professor Isha Ray and PhD Student Valeri Vasquez

December 29, 2020

In the latest fall 2020 issue of Breakthroughs magazine, ERG professor Isha Ray was interviewed on her work in social equity and inclusive activism, and ERG PhD student Valeri Vasquez was featured on her project of using computational models to research how genetic technologies might work as public health interventions. "Equity and inclusion have always motivated me, in both research and teaching, and I’ve served as an equity adviser in my department for many years," Ray states in her interview. "My field research has always focused on social justice, particularly in communities that are neglected and marginalized and with people struggling to be included as full citizens. You would think that, in this century, clean, affordable drinking water wouldn’t be such a huge ask, but apparently it is."

What Does Development Mean for the Stateless?

August 31, 2018

For over one million Rohingya refugees living in Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, water and sanitation, health, and shelter are crucial issues. ERG PhD student Samira Siddique examines the importance of ... Continue Reading »

Patrick Gonzalez Selected to be a Lead Author of IPCC’s Next Major Climate Change Report

April 17, 2018

ERG alumnus Patrick Gonzalez (PhD ’97) has been selected by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to be a lead author for a chapter about freshwater ecosystems in their ... Continue Reading »

Emission-Free Neighborhoods? The Oakland EcoBlock Project Pioneers Residential Sustainability

February 14, 2018

The College of Environmental Design (CED) at UC Berkeley spotlighted the innovative Oakland EcoBlock project this week, lead by CED professor Harrison Fraker and ERG chair Dan Kammen. The project, ... Continue Reading »

ERG’s EcoBlock Project Selected by Scientific American as a World Changing Idea for 2017

November 28, 2017

The Oakland EcoBlock Project is an urban sustainability experiment that focuses on reducing the footprint of a typical neighborhood block. As a mini-grid system for shared energy and water in ... Continue Reading »

ERG Professor Ray on Toilets and Gender Equality

June 23, 2017

"Safe drinking water and sanitation are indispensable to sustain life and health, and fundamental to the dignity of all.”

ERG Alumni: Leaders at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

June 30, 2016

Two articles on the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory website featured the current work of ERG alumni Ryan Wiser (M.S. '96, Ph.D. '02) and Andrew Jones (M.S. '07, Ph.D. '12).

ERG Alum: Restoring Trust in Flint

March 9, 2016

ERG Alum Dr. Peter Gleick calls for action in Flint, Michigan focused on monitoring, testing, and fixing water at every single school to protect children.

ERG Summer Courses Available

February 28, 2016

ERG is offering four of its most popular courses this summer! Enroll Today!

ERG Alumna: Helping Agribusiness Shaw

January 22, 2016

Rebecca Shaw, MA 1992 Energy Resources Group, Ph.D. 1997 ERG, is featured in Berkeley's College of Natural Resources Breakthroughs magazine.

Jones & Kammen compare neighborhood footprints

January 7, 2016

The first-of-its-kind interactive map was produced by the University of California, Berkeley’s CoolClimate Network and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, and covers census block groups –neighborhoods of several ... Continue Reading »

One grad student’s story: from English lit to global climate talks

December 7, 2015

ERG grad student Valeri Vasquez will be at the COP21, acting as a counselor to the co-chair of the United Nations climate negotiations, Daniel Reifsnyder. She has been advising on the mediation and negotiations among the 195 national parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change.

WorldAffairs: “What’s it like to worry about every drop?”

August 12, 2015

ERG associate professor Isha Ray talks about the reality of life with restricted water access.

On a plane? Enjoy the view of the planet you’re killing!

June 12, 2015

ERG alum Chris Jones (MS '05, PhD '15) explains the level in which airplanes contribute to the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

NSF & More ERG Awards: Switzer Fellowships

May 14, 2015

3 current Switzer fellows, 2 more NSF fellows, and more. See the list of awards ERG students have received.

Forbes: Lower Carbon = Higher Profit

April 17, 2015

Study by ERG professor Daniel Kammen and PhD candidate Christopher Jones (MS'05) featured in Forbes.

Profs. Leach & Ray Launch UN Gender Equality Report

October 24, 2014

Dr. Isha Ray at UN Headquarters discussing report on gender equality.

Narain calls for Reinventing India’s Growth

April 22, 2014

Watch Sunita Narain's "thought provoking and disturbing" conversation during ERG's 20th Annual Lecture co-hosted with the Center for South Asia Studies.