The Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR) has awarded $790,000 to UC Davis to test a new technology to improve the drying methods used in food production. Moisture must be removed from harvested agricultural products to safely preserve them prior to processing into food products.

Researchers will test an innovative moisture-absorbing technology called drying beads, instead of relying on heated air to dehydrate foods such as grains, nuts, rice and seeds. The beads absorb water without using heat, reducing the use of energy by up to 50 percent during the drying process. The beads are reusable and can be reactivated, which would reduce drying costs over time.

The research is being led by principal investigator Irwin R. Donis-Gonzalez, Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering in UC Davis’ College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

“Drying agricultural produce is an energy-intensive process, and it is imperative to find alternative means of drying for the enhancement of food quality, safety, and economical operations, while reducing food losses and waste,” said Donis-Gonzalez.

According to researchers, this technology could save more than 1.06 quadrillion kilojoules of energy annually in the U.S. This is about the same amount of energy it takes to provide electricity to residents of New York, California and Florida for one year.

The $790,000 FFAR grant has also been matched with funding from the UC Davis Innovation Institute for Food and Health and the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences for a total $1.5 million investment.

“This project exemplifies how new innovations can help us produce a safe, reliable food supply that uses resources more efficiently,” Rockey said.

Researchers on this project include Kent J. Bradford, co-principal investigator, distinguished professor at UC Davis; Kurt Kornbluth, co-principal investigator, assistant adjunct professor at UC Davis; Edward Spang, co-principal investigator, assistant professor at UC Davis; and Johan Van Asbrouck, collaborator, CEO of Rhino Research, Bangkok, Thailand.

See full release for more information.

UC Davis assistant professor Frances Moore and colleagues at Purdue University and Stanford University updated estimates for the social cost of carbon in the agricultural sector. These updated estimates reveal far more adverse agricultural impacts; the social cost of carbon more than doubled—increasing from $8.60 per ton of CO2 to between $14.80 and $19.70.

Read the press release

Read the journal article

Beginning on October 5, 2017, UC Davis will compete alongside 12 different teams in the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon hosted in Denver, Colorado.

Click here to see a video about their house.

The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon is a collegiate competition made up of 10 contests that challenge student teams to design and build full-size, solar-powered houses. The winner of the competition is the team that best blends design excellence and smart energy production with innovation, market potential, and energy and water efficiency.

Free public tours of all the homes will be available from October 5-9 and October 12-15. Please visit solardecathlon.gov for the full schedule and to learn more.

For the first time, the Solar Decathlon is offering at-home visitors a unique virtual event experience. Visit the Solar Decathlon Facebook page to experience daily tours broadcast live.

We are excited to welcome UC Davis’ inaugural class of 16 UC Davis Energy Graduate Group students. These students will earn master’s or doctoral degrees in Energy Systems and will receive the interdisciplinary training required to tackle the energy challenges of the 21^st century and beyond.

During their first week on campus, September 11-14, students are participating in an orientation program–Power Trip–where they will be introduced to a wide variety of energy-related research and policy work at UC Davis and in the Sacramento/Bay area through discussions with researchers and leaders from industry, government, public interest groups, and academia.

For more information on the Energy Graduate Group, click here.

UC Davis’ Western Cooling Efficiency Center and the Department of Animal Science are working together to test innovative cooling technologies on dairy cows. The new technologies are designed to reduce water by up to 86 percent and electricity by up to 38 percent over conventional methods.

To read the full article, please click here.

UC Davis’ Energy Efficiency Center (EEC) is pleased to announce that Wells Fargo has renewed its support of the EEC with a commitment of $500,000 over the next four years. Funds will support critical operational and programmatic needs of the EEC, including its new Energy Graduate Group program.

To read the full announcement, please click here.

UC Davis was ranked 9th in the nation by Washington Monthly magazine for contributions to the “public good.” The magazine defines the “public good” as social mobility (recruiting and graduating low-income students), research (producing cutting-edge scholarship and Ph.D.s) and service (encouraging students to give back to their country).

To read the full article, please click here.

Kurt Kornbluth, an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering and founding director of the Program for International Energy Technologies, which, through its D-Lab courses, involves students in solving real-life energy problems in developing countries, is one of  two recipients of UC Davis’ inaugural Chancellor’s International Engagement Achievement Awards.

To read the full article, please click here.