People are increasingly trying to grow both food and clean energy on the same land to help meet the challenges of climate change, drought and a growing global population that just topped 8 billion. This effort includes agrivoltaics, in which crops are grown under the shade of solar panels, ideally with less water.

Now scientists from the University of California, Davis, are investigating how to better harvest the sun — and its optimal light spectrum — to make agrivoltaic systems more efficient in arid agricultural regions like California. 

Dams poorly mimic the temperature patterns California streams require to support the state’s native salmon and trout — more than three-quarters of which risk extinction. Bold actions are needed to reverse extinction trends and protect cold-water streams that are resilient to climate warming, according to a study published in the journal PLOS ONE by the University of California, Davis. 

With their tough skins, pointy armor and legendary stamina, cacti are made to defend themselves from whatever nature throws at them. 

But large solar energy facilities are one threat that cacti weren’t built to withstand, according to a study by the University of California, Davis. 

David Bunn has been selected to serve as director of the Master of Science in Environmental Policy and Management (EPM) program at UC Davis, a unique professional degree developed by the John Muir Institute of the Environment and the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences to train the next generation of environmental professionals.

As director of the EPM program, Bunn will lead a team of key contributors including the Muir Institute, faculty from across campus, and institutional partners in Sacramento and beyond.

The John Muir Institute of the Environment at University of California, Davis, announced the selection of the 2019 Muir Institute Fellows during its annual open house on October 1 at The Barn.

Launched in 2017, the program recognizes exemplary UC Davis faculty and staff whose career and research epitomizes the mission of the Muir Institute: Discover. Research. Solve. Each recipient receives $5,000 to help seed their research.

Commercial organic and synthetic nitrogen fertilizer helps feed around half of the world’s population. While excessive fertilizer use poses environmental and public health risks, many developing nations lack access to it, leading to food insecurity, social unrest and economic hardship.

A study released today provides the most complete list yet of the advantages of solar energy — from carbon sequestration to improvements for pollinator habitat. The paper offers a new framework for analyzing solar projects to better understand the full suite of benefits.

With a terrain covering volcanoes, steaming fumaroles and forestlands, the Lassen Field Station became the newest addition to the University of California, Davis’ Natural Reserve System today (May 16), following approval by the UC Board of Regents.

California leads the nation in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but reductions alone will not be enough to reach the targets set by the 2015 Paris climate agreement. To do that, greenhouses gases like carbon dioxide will need to be removed from the atmosphere on a monumental scale.

The John Muir Institute of the Environment at University of California, Davis, announced the selection of the 2018 Muir Institute Fellows during its annual open house on October 22 at The Barn. Now in its second year, the program recognizes exemplary UC Davis faculty and staff whose career and research epitomizes the mission of the Muir Institute: Discover. Research. Solve.