Flex Appeal: Emerging Best Practices for Communications to Recruit Households into Load Flexibility Programs
Virtual power plants and automated demand-response programs have increased across the U.S., though the industry still hasn’t figured out how to talk to the customers it needs to enroll.
Stakeholders Agree California’s Grid Flexibility Technology Is Ready. State Rules and Guidance Needs More Work.
Across the board, participants said the devices and systems needed to shift electricity use in response to grid conditions already exist or are close to ready. What’s missing is clarity on how rates will be structured, what technical standards devices must meet, and whether state agencies have the political will and staffing to enforce any of it.
Liquid Cooling Could Cut Data Center Secondary Loop Cooling Energy Use by 93%, UC Davis Study Finds
The paper, published this month in the ACEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings, compares seven cooling strategies — from traditional air systems to direct-to-chip (D2C) liquid cooling and full immersion tanks — across energy efficiency, compute density, retrofit difficulty, cost, and environmental impact.
EGG Graduate Student Receives Prestigious Award
Congratulations to EGG student, Afshan Qamar on being selected as a recipient of the
2026 Director’s Award in Exceptional Scientific Achievement.
No Chiller, No Water, No Problem: A New Way to Cool AI’s Hottest Chips
Researchers at UC Davis’s Western Cooling Efficiency Center (WCEC) have designed a modular data center for AI computing that packs 1.5 megawatts of computing power into the volume of a standard 40-foot shipping container—and keeps it cool without energy-intensive compressor-based systems. Better still, the sealed-loop design rejects heat directly to the air, consuming no water at all.
UC Davis Energy News: July 2026
Special Seminar: Resource Demand and Supply Chain Drivers in Concrete Production Wednesday August 5th, 2026 / 1pm PDT Sabbie Miller, Faculty Director, Materials Decarbonization and Sustainability Center Societal demand for concrete is enormous, with estimates suggesting it is the most widely consumed engineered material in the world. Meeting this demand requires substantial natural resources, including […]
Field Testing Results for a Ventilation Controller That Knows What’s in the Air
Typical ventilation controllers are programmed only for energy savings. For example, a demand-control ventilation system with economizer cooling will pull in outdoor air whenever it’s cool enough to give the compressor a break—but it has no idea what’s in that air. On a smoky day, the system will do its job and lower indoor temperatures while filling the building with PM2.5 from wildfire smoke. Traditional controllers simply can’t tell the difference.
UC Davis Energy News – June 2026
Congratulations to the Energy Graduate Group Class of 2026! We are proud to congratulate our 12 Masters and 6 Ph.D graduates! We’re excited to see how your talents will shape the future of energy. Wishing you continued growth and meaningful impact in the future. See Photos New UC Davis Tool Lets Anyone Trace the Causes Behind America’s […]
UC Davis Energy News – May 2026
CalNEXT Launches Knowledge Sharing Series with UC Davis Residential Energy Research CalNEXT recently launched its Knowledge Sharing Webinar series with a residential energy technologies event featuring three projects led by UC Davis researchers. CalNEXT is a statewide emerging technology program that identifies, tests, and supports electric technologies and delivery methods that can help advance California’s […]
IAW FlexHub Seeks Demonstration Project Concepts
The open call is available to individuals and public or private entities, with the exception of publicly owned utilities. The Hub is especially interested in sites that could host relevant demonstrations or project concepts with secured site hosts.