In an article in the Orange County Register, AirUCI faculty Jack Brouwer is taking issue with potential changes to solar energy policy that encourages rooftop panels but neglects energy storage. California is reviewing its solar incentive program at the urging of large utility companies, who argue that non-solar customers unfairly foot the bill. Proponents of green energy want to increase the state's solar generation, but a problem with increasing the rooftop capacity is that most of the excess energy is sent back to the power grid during the middle of the day, when demand for power is lowest. “You have so many people installing solar that the electricity it produces costs the utilities money to manage it in the middle of the day,” Jack says. “People are playing games with solar policy when they know it’s not sustainable until we have long-term storage. Until the utilities find a a way to cheaply store energy long term, they will not want more solar in the middle of the day.” Read the article
News
Here's the latest news from AirUCI — our events, our people, our science.
2021
AirUCI grad student Shane Coffield (Randerson group) is quoted in the Daily Pilot as lead author on a study that shows how the decrease in California's vegetation due to massive fires could cause up to a 16% decrease in the state’s natural carbon storage capacity. Since part of the state’s goals to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045 involves putting more carbon into the land, with the help of vegetation that absorbs CO2 and stores it, the substantial increase in drought conditions and wildfires that have killed so many trees are leading to carbon being emitted to the atmosphere, not sequestered, so the state's mitigation models may be incorrect. Read the article
On July 9th, U. S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh came to learn about the workforce implications of developing more sustainable transportation infrastructure, including a nationwide network of electric vehicle charging stations, a key component of proposed legislation currently being negotiated in Congress. Two local Congressional representatives, Katie Porter (CA-45) and Mike Levin (CA-49) attended the meeting, as did City of Irvine Mayor Farrah Khan, Chancellor Howard Gillman, and other University of California dignitaries.
AirUCI faculty Scott Samuelsen and Jack Brouwer, both also with our partner organization APEP, discussed a variety of research projects happening at UCI with the goal of decarbonizing transportation in the United States. Secretary Walsh was shown an array of sustainable transportation assets, part of UCI's zero-emissions support system and transportation fleet. Read the article
A new study by AirUCI faculty Jun Wu and cited in an article in National Geographic measures the impact of fireworks on air quality and population health. Fireworks produce colorful, crackling light displays but they also create smoke. It’s less widely known that the smoke can be dangerous due to their particulate matter, which can be an asthma trigger and a leading contributor to respiratory disease as well as a cocktail of toxic metals like strontium, barium, and lead. While the pollution from a single fireworks display tends to dissipate quickly, many fireworks being set off over the Fourth of July can cause regional air pollution levels to spike and remain elevated for several days, posing a potentially serious health risk to vulnerable populations. Read the article
AirUCI is thrilled to announce the addition of three new faculty to our institute: James Randerson (Earth System Science), Ulrike Luderer (Environmental and Occupational Health), and Vojislav Stamenkovic (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering). Additional details about each of our new colleagues are available on our People page, but here is a brief biography for each of them.
AirUCI grad student Anqi Jiao (Wu group) was chosen as the 2021 Solutions that Scale Graduate Fellow from the School of Public Health. Anqi will be among a cohort of only seven other UCI scholars who were selected for this prestigious project. These fellowships are designed to support convergent research between two or more UCI schools to enable interdisciplinary approaches to scalable solutions to climate change. The award provides one year of support starting on July 1, 2021. Read the article
AirUCI faculty Jun Wu is quoted in a May 25th article in National Geopgraphic that discusses the combined effects of air pollution and extreme heat on health, particularly respiratory health. Bad heat and bad air work in tandem to increase the stress on people’s bodies and increase their risk of hospitalization. “Some of the associations [of extreme heat and ozone pollution] are hidden unless you look at the very local scale,” says Jun, pointing to historical influences like decisions to route freeways through communities of color which contribute to the extra burden of heat and pollution for some heavily affected areas. The risks will persist and perhaps expand in the future due to climate change. Read the article
The Edward K.C. Lee Dinner is the annual ceremony for UCI’s Department of Chemistry where numerous awards are presented. Most years, AirUCI team members are among the recipients of these prestigious awards, and it was true again for the May 2021 virtual awards ceremony.
AirUCI undergraduate Kimberly Zhang (Nizkorodov and Furche groups) received the 2021 Don L. Bunker Award which is given to one undergraduate student in the UCI Chemistry Department who has shown outstanding research and plans to pursue graduate work in chemistry.
Graduate student awardees of the 2021 Michael C. Gebel Award are Alexandra Klodt, Natalie Smith, and Jose Uribe. (Alexandra and Natalie are AirUCI team members from the Nizkorodov research group.) This award goes to graduate students working in Environmental Chemistry who have had a period of time employed outside of school before continuing on to graduate studies, and additional awards are also presented to undergraduate students in Environmental Chemistry. Undergraduate awardees of the 2021 Michael C. Gebel Award are Zaira Barrera , Jonathan Galicia, Elliott Einstein, and Sofiya Woodcock. We congratulate all winners at the Lee Dinner from all of Chemistry!
Jorg Meyer, longtime glass blower for UCI's School of Physical Sciences, has passed away. He was indispensable to generations of UCI scientists and researchers who relied on him to design and construct unique and techically complex containers and apparatuses. More than this, Jorg was instrumental in revising laboratory and fabrication procedures, making enormous contributions to the safety of chemical laboratories at UCI and around the world. As a global leader in his field, tributes are pouring in expressing condolences from near and far. Jorg was a dear friend of AirUCI, and we will miss him greatly. Details
AirUCI undergraduate Kimberly Zhang, a 2020-21 Beckman Scholar working in the Nizkorodov and Furche groups, is one of the 53 recipients of the 2021 Chancellor’s Award of Distinction at UCI. Out of numerous nominees, Kimberly was selected from an exceptional group of graduating students who exhibit a commitment to cutting-edge research, leadership, or service to UCI. Congratulations, Kimberly!
