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California Climate Change Research Center
California has been researching the impacts of climate change on California since 1998 under the programs of the California Energy Commission. Funding in 2007 totalled nearly $2.4 million.
The Energy Commission supports energy research and development projects that will help improve the quality of life in California by bringing environmentally safe, affordable and reliable energy services and products to the marketplace. One area of special interest to California is energy-related environmental research focusing on climate change and greenhouse gases.
One of the Commission's programs is the Public Interest Energy Research Program (called PIER for short). PIER's Environmental Area (or PIER-EA) was developed with a broad mandate to research the environmental effects of energy technology and energy production, delivery, and use in California. The ultimate goal of this program area is to enhance California's overall environmental quality. Based on the inextricable link between energy and greenhouse gas emissions, research into climate change is vital to PIER-EA's mission.
PIER-EA has funded climate change research that is categorized into the five research areas listed below. These research areas are linked to PIER-EA research projects and publications that cover topics ranging from climate change scenarios to the cost of climate change impacts on California. This research informs decision makers of the potential impacts of climate change in the following ways:
Climate Monitoring, Analysis, and Modeling provide researchers with a historical context of present and past conditions in California, help determine which models are most appropriate for providing inputs and assessing regional climate changes, and inform the development of climate scenarios that will illustrate the likelihood and severity of changes to weather and climate in California, including precipitation, average temperature, extreme heat days, and sea levels.
Improving greenhouse gas Inventory Methods and resolving existing uncertainties will enable California to more accurately track GHG emissions trends.
Options to reduce GHG Emissions weigh the relative costs and benefits of the available options to reduce GHG emissions to achieve the maximum benefit from public and private investment.
Impact and Adaptation studies identify potential impacts and effective adaptation methods for California, particularly with regards to ecological resources, water resources, and human health.
Economic analyses allow California to estimate both the costs of climate change and cost implications of various policy responses.
PIER helps fund the California Climate Change Center at U.C. Berkeley. Their website is at: http://calclimate.berkeley.edu/
Additionally, the Energy Commission is a partner in WESTCARB, the West Coast Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership. Please visit the WESTCARB website at: www.westcarb.org
| CONTRACT NUMBER | COMPANY / ORGANIZATION | PROJECT TITLE | AMOUNT | CONTRACT START DATE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 500-07-001 | Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory | Estimating the Global Climate Impact of Urban Albedo | $150,000 | 9/17/2007 |
| 500-07-004 | UC Davis | Dynamics of Sierra Nevada Conifer Loss Under Climate Change | $114,996 | 10/9/2007 |
| 500-07-013 | Hydrologic Research Center (HRC) | Performance of the Northern California Water System Under Climate Change: INFORM as an adaptation tool | $199,600 | 12/4/2007 |
| BOA-99-186-P | The Regents of the University of California, Office of the President - CIEE | 2008 Scenarios Project Supplementation | $50,000 | 12/17/2007 |
| ICF-06-012 | ICF Resources, LLC | Technical and Outreach Support for the PIER Climate Change Research Program | $138,238 | 4/9/2007 |
| SAIC-06-013 | Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) | 2007 California Global Climate Change Conference Expenses | $94,998 | 2/16/2007 |
| UC MR-063 | UC Berkeley | Water, Energy, and Climate Change | $456,644 | 3/16/2007 |
| UC MR-069 | The Regents of the University of California, Office of the President - CIEE | Point of Compliance Regulation and Point of Allocation in a CO2 Cap and Trade Program for the Electricity Sector in California | $75,000 | 9/1/2007 |
| UC MR-069 | The Regents of the University of California, Office of the President - CIEE | Quantifying Greenhouse Gas Emissions Generated by the Consumption Patterns of California Residents | $75,000 | 8/1/2007 |
| UC MR-069 | The Regents of the University of California, Office of the President - CIEE | Ozone Reductions Using Building Envelopes | $75,000 | 7/5/2007 |
| UC MR-069 | The Regents of the University of California, Office of the President - CIEE | Effects of Global Climate Change on Building Energy Consumption and its Implications on Building Energy Codes and Policy in California | $75,000 | 6/11/2007 |
| UC MR-069 | The Regents of the University of California, Office of the President - CIEE | Rapid Global Warming & Breeding in Migratory Birds: Utilizing an Undervalued Historic Database | $75,000 | 12/1/2007 |
| UC MR-069 | The Regents of the University of California, Office of the President - CIEE | Ecosystem Feedbacks to Climate Change in California: Integrated Climate Forcing from Vegetation Redistribution | $74,992 | 6/11/2007 |
| UC MR-071 | National Center for Atmospheric Research | Validation of Lateral Boundary Conditions for Regional Climate Models Applied to the California Region | $150,000 | 7/20/2007 |
| UC MR-074 | PRBO Conservation Science | Biological Impacts of Climate Change in California (BICCCA) | $500,000 | 10/12/2007 |
| 500-06-042 | California Air Resources Board | Haagen-Smit Symposium 2007 | $50,000 | 5/1/2007 |
| Total Funded in 2007: $2,354,467 | ||||
Source: 2007 PIER Annual Report, publication # CEC-500-2008-026-D.
For more information, please contact:
Climate Change Research
Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) Program
Calif. Energy Commission
Phone: 916-654-4542
kbirkins@energy.state.ca.us
Members of the news media, please contact the Energy Commission's Media & Public Communications Office at 916-654-4989.