Robert & Patricia Switzer Foundation

Plug-in Cargo Ships on West Coast of California

Content Type: Switzer Network News It is estimated that shipping produces 4 to 5% of global carbon dioxide emissions. In most cases, these ships are powered by diesel fuel. On today's report we learn about an innovative California technology aimed at reducing this pollution. 2007 Switzer Fellow Francisco Donez is an environmental engineer with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 9. This video is part of our series on...

von Meier awarded $4 million for work on electric power grid monitoring

Content Type: News - Fellows The University of California, Berkeley, got a $4 million grant for three years' work on electric power grid monitoring.UC Berkeley's California Institute for Energy and Environment, or CIEE, will oversee the research, working with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the UC Center for Information Research.Alexandra von Meier is co-director of electric grid research at CIEE and will lead the...

[WEBINAR] From Lab to Law: Using Science to Shape Public Policy (Switzer Foundation Webinar Series)

Content Type: Blog Post - Fellow Amy Clipp (2009) gave a webinar for us that offered ideas for bridging the gap between science and policy, with a particular focus on helping scientists apply their work in complex, political environments.As a starting point, the webinar examined the following questions:What do scientists need to know before they collaborate on high profile policy projects?How can scientists most productively...

Greacen on grid-tied decentralized power generation

Content Type: News - Fellows Visit on YouTube

Understanding the Life Cycle and Regional Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing in the Marcellus Shale Basin

Content Type: Other Switzer Foundation Grant Awards Switzer Fellows will collaborate with Earthworks to research the life cycle and regional impacts of hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," in the Marcellus Shale of the northeastern U.S.  While fracking has occurred for decades in less populated areas of the western U.S., including Wyoming and Texas, recent rapid development in the Marcellus Shale in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio and New...

Keeping Solar Clean

Content Type: Switzer Network News Producing electricity from the sun with solar panels seems like the perfect solution to our energy needs.  But solar panels can also create problems for the environment. Switzer Fellow Dustin Mulvaney believes there are win-win solutions out there.

Orosz awarded Echoing Green Fellowship

Content Type: News - Fellows Matt Orosz is an inventor and entrepreneur focused on overcoming the challenges to building sustainable energy infrastructure in underserved areas. A former Peace Corps volunteer in Lesotho, Matt's experience living without electricity or running water catalyzed his study of engineering and the foundation of STG International, an organization that works to build capacity for solar micro-utilities...

Orosz wins 2012 Energy Globe Award for first solar powered hospital in Lesotho

Content Type: News - Fellows “Imagine taking some parts from a car, from an air conditioning system, some more parts from a plumber, and you build a machine that is run with heat instead of gasoline. Then you hook it up to a free energy source such as the sun, and what you get is a clean, sustainable, cost-efficient source of hot water, electricity and even cooling.” Since 2005, Matt and his team have been doing exactly that...

Garbesi organizes competition to get college students to think big about energy efficiency

Content Type: News - Fellows "Our interest is to push energy efficiency as rapidly as we can to address very, very serious problems of climate change," competition organizer Karina Garbesi said.Read the full story and watch a video

Garbesi on battle between AC and DC systems in the push for greater energy efficiency

Content Type: News - Fellows But away from transmission lines, DC is also gaining ground as an alternative in the developing world, according to Karina Garbesi, a professor and visiting researcher at LBNL. Getting power to remote areas from an AC grid is very costly and doesn't make much sense, since some of these regions can construct wind turbines and solar farms."Once you start going to this whole scenario, this direct DC...

O'Rourke quoted in NY Times about fixing Apple's supply lines

Content Type: News - Fellows When he became chief, many people wondered whether Mr. Cook, a skilled manager of Apple's operations, could ever rival the visionary influence of Mr. Jobs on Apple products. Instead, it appears Mr. Cook could make his earliest and most significant mark by changing how Apple's products are made.''I want to give credit to Tim Cook for this,'' said Dara O'Rourke, associate professor of environmental...

Hare harvesting methane from the Santa Rosa regional sewer plant's wastewater treatment process

Content Type: News - Fellows At Santa Rosa's Regional sewer plant, ponds covered with fast-growing aquatic plants are being used to help clean toxics and pollutants out of the water as part of the wastewater treatment process. But there's another, very different benefit those plants can offer as well.While showing off the FAB project at the treatment plant, Caden Hare explained that the effort to develop on site energy...

Nazaroff co-authored study that reveals humans emit about 37 million bacteria per hour

Content Type: News - Fellows A recent study may give germophobic students yet another reason to dread going to lecture.A joint study of indoor microbial composition by UC Berkeley and Yale University researchers found that human presence causes a significant increase in levels of bacteria and fungi indoors. The average human emission, the study states, is about 37 million bacteria per person per hour.The study — entitled “...

Mulvaney quoted in article addressing residents' concerns over Antelope Valley Solar Ranch One project

Content Type: News - Fellows Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC) representative Dustin Mulvaney, an Assistant Professor at San Jose State University, works with SVTC to see that materials in computers and solar panels are safely handled and recycled. Mulvaney said First Solar is required to handle PV modules in a way that minimizes any accidental cadmium leakage at other sites. Most likely, he added, the biggest...

Converting Waste to Fuel for Families in Africa

Content Type: Switzer Network News For 2011 Switzer Fellow Jeannette Laramee, it all started with designing a school in Zambia, Africa. That led to building systems that make biogas.

Rinker publishes stinging op-ed about TransCanada's Keystone pipeline

Content Type: News - Fellows What will cost $7 billion; will snake across the country from Alberta to the Gulf Coast, carrying 700,000 barrels a day of Canadian crude oil; and seems (at least from the animated assertions of Congressional Republicans and the American Petroleum Institute) a perfect solution for the flagging U.S. economy?Answer: TransCanada’s Keystone oil sands pipeline expansion project. Imagine a river of...

Dustin Mulvaney on "Are Green Jobs, Just Jobs? Innovation, Environmental Justice, and the Life Cycle Impacts of Photovoltaics"

Content Type: Events This paper explores the environmental justice (EJ) implications from solar energy manufacturing, deployment, and end-of-life. Photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing processes involve hazardous materials and processes similar to those found in the electronics industry, where groundwater contamination and occupational burdens were widespread. Seen as the frontiers of innovation and darlings of venture...

Infusing Organizations with Sustainability

Content Type: Switzer Network News Tim Greiner is Managing Director of Pure Strategies, a consulting firm that specializes in building environmental and social integrity into products, brands, and businesses. Mr. Greiner consults with retailers, manufacturers, and environmental groups – helping them on their sustainability journey.Tim is currently working with clients to incorporate sustainability into product design and...