California has built a water management infrastructure that is among the most sophisticated, extensive, and energy-intensive in the world. Approximately 19% of the State’s electricity and 30 percent of its non-power plant natural gas is used to store, convey, conserve, and treat water and wastewater. Across all sectors, many energy technologies require substantial quantities of water, and have impacts on water quality.

Transportation accounts for the largest share of California’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and still relies overwhelmingly (~96%) on petroleum products. As California progresses toward meeting its 2020 GHG reduction commitment and develops its 2030 target towards the 2050 goal, transportation energy sources will realize a radical shift to alternative fuel sources that might include biofuels, natural gas, electricity, and hydrogen.

This webinar, “Future Transportation Energy Water Use Under California’s Climate Goals,”  held on Wednesday, October 15, discusses how climate policies can manage and reduce water use for oil production, oil refining, as well as electricity generation.

Speakers:

• Sonia Yeh, Research Scientist, ITS
• Jacob Teter, PhD Student, ITS
• Kate Tiedeman, Graduate Student Researcher, ITS
• Gouri Shankar Mishra, PhD Candidate, ITS

To read a policy brief on transportation energy water use, click here.

To read a technical brief on oil production water use, click here.

To view the presentation slides, click here.

The early 2000s witnessed a surge in public interest in hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (FCVs), but the enthusiasm waned quickly. The public perception was that hydrogen was too difficult, and would not appear for several decades.  However, in the past few years, important factors have emerged that are re-accelerating the commercialization of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies.

This webinar is the first public presentation of the recently published white paper:  “The Hydrogen Transition.”  The lead researchers, Joan Ogden, Christopher Yang, Michael Nicholas and Lew Fulton will present an analysis of the issues surrounding a transition to large-scale use of hydrogen, examining the current status of hydrogen vehicle and infrastructure technologies, and ongoing early commercialization efforts.

To download the PowerPoint presentation, please click here.

To view the slides for the May 16th webinar, click here.

Biofuels present great promise but also great challenges. For the past 10 years the enthusiasm around cellulosic biofuels has waxed and waned. At the same time, a great deal of innovation has occurred at existing ethanol and biodiesel plants. This webinar is the first public presentation of the recently published white paper: “Three Routes Forward for Biofuels: Incremental, Transitional, and Leapfrog”. The lead researchers, Lew Fulton, Geoff Morrison, Nathan Parker, and Julie Witcover, will discuss potential routes for biofuel industry development while considering investments made to date, related policies, technology GHG profiles, and barriers to commercialization.

There is also a post on the GreenLight Blog discussing the white paper.

Large reductions in vehicle fuel use and CO2 emissions are needed globally in order to address pressing issues of climate change, energy security and sustainable mobility.  Plug-in electric vehicles are a promising solution and sales have started, but it will take time to reach volumes that can contribute significantly to policy goals.  In the meantime, fuel economy improvements from conventional internal combustion engine cars can save $2 trillion over the next ten years and can cut vehicle CO2 emissions in half by 2050, and help fund a transition to plug-in vehicles, according to a new report by ITS-Davis and the Global Fuel Economy Initiative (GFEI), a partnership of international agencies and top energy policy experts.

This webinar took place on November 7, 2013.

Speaker: Professor Lew Fulton, Co-Director of the UC Davis Sustainable Transportation Energy Pathways

Click here for the slides  from Professor Fulton’s presentation

Bioenergy has the potential to significantly contribute to California’s climate-change, energy, and economic goals by producing low-carbon electricity and transportation fuels. Furthermore our state has the high-tech business capacity to be a leader in this field, as well as abundant resources from our agricultural and forest lands and municipal solid waste. The UC Davis Policy Institute for Energy, Environment, and the Economy in partnership with the California Biomass Collaborative presents a series of webinars to explore how California businesses, scientists, and policy-makers can sustainably unlock the State’s bioenergy potential.

 Click here to view the presentation.

The second webinar took place on June 7th, 2013 .  This webinar covered basic questions about the technologies available to produce energy from biomass and key challenges for expanding bioenergy production in California:

• How is biomass transformed into energy, fuel, and products?
• What state policies affect bioenergy in California?
• What does the future hold for bioenergy?

Speakers:

• Rob Williams,  Development Engineer – California Biomass Collaborative,  Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering at UC Davis
• Colin Murphy, PhD Candidate, Institute of Transportation Studies

Bioenergy can contribute to California’s climate-change and economic goals by producing low-carbon electricity and fuels. Our state has the high-tech business capacity to be a leader in this field, as well as abundant potential resources, from our agricultural and forest lands as well as municipal solid waste. These resources have not yet been fully utilized. The UC Davis Policy Institute for Energy, Environment and the Economy in partnership with the California Biomass Collaborative presented a series of forums during Spring and Summer 2013, to explore this issue. At the heart of this discussion is the question: How can scientists and policy makers sustainably unlock the vast potential of California’s farms, forests and waste streams?

 Click here to view the presentation.

The first webinar took place on May 17th 2013, and addressed basic questions about the availability of biomass within California, including:

• What bioenergy products are currently operating in California?
• How much biomass is available in the state and where will it be produced?
• What is California’s current plan for bioenergy?

• Stephen Kaffka, Extension Agronomist – Department of Plant Sciences, Director – California Biomass Collaborative
• Colin Murphy, PhD Candidate, Institute of Transportation Studies