Curriculum Vitae
Education
Ph.D. in Environmental and Energy Systems Studies, Lund University, Institute of Technology, Faculty of Engineering, Sweden. Degree conferred 1991
M.Sc. in Energy and Resources, University of California, Berkeley, USA. Degree conferred 1987
B.Sc. in Conservation and Resource Studies, University of California, College of Natural Resources, Berkeley, USA. Degree conferred 1985 (with Honors)
Professional Appointments & Affiliations
U.S. Department of Energy, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Energy Technologies Area [USA] Retiree Affiliate (2018-present); Senior Scientist (2014-July 2018); Staff Scientist (1992-2014); Student Assistant and Graduate Student Research Associate (1982-1988)
Management positions held: Assistant Division Director (1998-1999); Communications Director (1998-1999); Acting Head, Center for Building Science (1994-1998)
University of California, Berkeley [USA] Research Affiliate, Energy & Resources Group (2008-present)
Lund University, Department of Environmental and Energy Systems Studies [Sweden] Visiting Research Scientist (1988-1991)
Specialties
Analysis at the intersection of energy technology, planning, and policy
Energy demand forensics
Advanced engineering and information technologies for energy management and performance assurance
Emerging technologies for achieving energy access in the developing world
Risk assessment applied to climate change impacts and mitigation technologies, with emphasis on insurance, disaster resilience, and synergisms between mitigation and adaptation strategies, particularly in buildings
Research Funding
US$24 million in research grants, representing 103 projects/phases for 35 clients [details]
Publications
371 publications, of which 83 refereed journals, 34 conference proceedings (of which 23 peer-reviewed), 112 reports and papers, 17 book chapters (of which 15 peer-reviewed, 123 articles in trade press, op-eds, etc. First author on 72 of the peer-reviewed publications.
Key Achievements
Research
Member of the international body of scientists known as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which collectively shared in the Nobel Peace Prize for 2007 with former U.S. Vice President Albert Arnold (Al) Gore Jr. "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change"
Convening Lead Author, Chapter 8, "Insurance and Other Financial Services", Working Group II, Third Assessment Report, 2001 [PDF]
Lead Author, Chapter 15, "North America", Working Group II, Third Assessment Report, 2001 [PDF]
Contributing Author, Chapter 3, "Technological and Economic Potential of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction,' Working Group III, Third Assessment Report, 2001 [PDF]
Author, "Climate Change 2001: Synthesis Report," Third Assessment Report, 2001 [PDF]
Author, "Summary for Policymakers: Climate Change 2001: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability," Third Assessment Report, Working Group II, 2001 [PDF]
Lead Author, "Summary for Policymakers: Climate Change 2001: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability," Third Assessment Report, Working Group II, 2001 [PDF]
Contributing Author, Chapter 14, "North America", Working Group II, Fourth Assessment Report, 2007 [PDF]
Co-author of Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States, a definitive US government assessment, representing 13 agencies (2009)
Pioneering work on solutions to the problem of global fuel-based lighting in developing countries (published in Science)
Helped lay the groundwork for a multinational World Bank program - Lighting Africa - achieving:
8 million direct beneficiaries as of 2013 (latest numbers)
Initiated development of system-level quality assurance test protocols for off-grid lighting products, now expanded within a global World Bank protocol, with 84 products by 39 manufacturers successfully rated (latest numbers); methods adopted into IEC standard
Participated in scale-up efforts: Global Lighting and Energy Access Partnership (Global LEAP), operated under the Clean Energy Ministerial, and en.lighten operated under the United Nations Environment Programme
Created a professional social media platform--LuminaNET: used by over 600 practitioners from 70 countries
Garnered two Association of Energy Engineers awards (1995-present)
Pioneering work in developing web-based energy analysis and carbon-footprinting tools
Creating the first web-based residential energy calculator suite. One-third of surveyed users of the do-it-yourself residential tool, Home Energy Saver, report taking action to save energy based on tool recommendations. The suite also includes tools for professionals and for creating home ratings (1994-present).
System adopted by DOE as official analysis methodology for two national programs: Weatherization Assistance Program and Home Energy Score Program
These sites combined have had 8 million visitors, and the associated web services have been licensed by dozens of third-party software developers (including Microsoft)
Founded Home Energy Pros social network, which relays latest research results to 3,800 home performance contractors in 53 countries (2010-present)
Garnered two awards: R&D100 and Energy100
Developed new techniques for benchmarking non-residential buildings, embedded in the web-based EnergyIQ software, which has 1,300 users who have analyzed more buildings representing 130 million square feet of floor area (2007-present)
Developed widely-used fume-hood energy calculator for use in laboratory-type facilities.
Pioneering work on the rubric of non-energy benefits and the nexus of energy management and risk management, inspiring large-scale initiatives within the insurance industry (published in Science). Uniquely characterized insurance-loss-prevention attributes of energy-efficient and renewable energy technologies and created world's largest database of insurer climate change activities (1998-present)
Pioneering work in on energy use associated with computer gaming.
Pioneering work in on the carbon footprint of cannabis cultivation.
Participant in research teams conducting novel climate-model downscaling to assess climate change impacts on crop losses (with NASA-GISS), wildfire regimes (with USDA Forest Service), and human health risk factors (with Harvard Medical School) (2003-2005)
Led study opening up a 15-year research program on energy efficiency in laboratories and other "high-tech" facilities (1996)
Conducted definitive studies on the costs and benefits of commissioning (quality assurance) for new and existing buildings, which included assembling and analyzing the world's largest compilation of field data on commissioned buildings (100 million square feet), demonstrating significant cost-effective energy savings. Results widely used to make business case within the industry and by policymakers (2004-2009)
Garnered the Benner award from the Building Commissioning Association (2021)
Participated in early energy-efficiency potential studies. Led first national assessment for the Swedish power and heat sectors, in partnership with Swedish State Power Board - Vattenfall (1988-1991)
Performed first utility energy-efficiency program evaluation outside the United States, and first meta-analysis of energy-efficient utility lighting programs anywhere (42 programs; 8 countries) (1990)
Authored an assessment of barriers to energy efficiency in U.S. public housing that played a key technical role in shaping enabling legislation (1986)
Institutional and Advisory
Led the Center for Building Science, coordinating and communicating division-wide, buildings-related RD&D (1994-1998)
Founded and led the EETD Communications Office (1998-1999)
Co-founded the LBNL Applications Team to deploy state-of-the-art energy efficiency strategies in real-world contexts (1995)
Authored "From the Lab to the Marketplace," a definitive assessment of taxpayer benefits of publicly funded R&D on energy efficiency in buildings (1995)
Served as early member of core analysis team in the "Greening of the U.S. Capitol" project, developing plan to enable major Congressional facilities and operations to become carbon-neutral (2005)
Led early development of a multi-year NSF project benefitting urban high-school and community college students (2003), which in 2012 expanded into a $4M NSF Efficiency Center
Conceived and organized the first International Conference on Energy-Efficient Lighting, which has convened in six countries (Sweden, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Denmark, France, China) (1991-2005)
Served as frequent advisor to the Swedish Parliament Working Group on Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Sources (1988-1991)
Communications and Technology Transfer
Authored or co-authored 364 publications
Delivered 75 presentations, of which 17 were keynotes, and 26 were outside the US
Serving on boards of two refereed journals
Developed novel protocols for software licensing with Application Programming Interfaces (2009-2011), and successfully licensed three advanced web-based energy models to dozens of companies and other institutions (2010-present)
Served as technical and script advisor for design of the Energy Pavilion (entitled "The Universe of Energy") at Disney's Epcot Center, visited by nearly 10 million people annually (1994-1996)
Research receives frequent national and international media coverage
Expert Witness
Importance and research needs for energy benchmarking for commercial buildings, California Energy Commission Sacramento, CA, April 2005 [PDF]
National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Hearing on the Implications of Climate Change on Insurers and Insurance Consumers, Chicago, Illinois, December 3, 2005. (transcript and written submission "Availability and Affordability of Insurance Under Climate Change: A Growing Challenge for the U.S." [PDF]
Mills, E. 2022. Testimony related to regulatory violations and environmental justice, presented at the Bay Area Air Quality Management District hearing, June 27, 2022. "Report on the Foreseeability and Avoidability of Power Disruptions and the Need for 11 Megawatts of Diesel Generators to Power Cannabis Cultivation at 5601 and 5733 San Leandro Street Oakland, CA." [PDF]
Awards
Collectively shared in the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, awarded to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and former U.S. Vice President Albert Arnold (Al) Gore Jr. for work on climate change
Association of Energy Engineers (AEE), 2006 Energy Project of the Year (International)
Association of Energy Engineers (AEE), Bay Area Chapter: Appropriate Technology Champion of 2005 (USA)
Home Energy Saver and Home Energy Score website (Project leader)
Federal Laboratory Consortium Award see also FLC site (2022)
R&D 100: One of the best 100 inventions of 2009 (2010)
Energy 100: One of the best 100 innovations during DOE's 23-year history (2000)
PC Magazine: One of the Top 100 Undiscovered Websites (2004)
Building Commissioning Association, Benner Award for research on the value of building commissioning (2021)
EETD Identity Brochure: Society for Technical Communications, Northern California chapter. "Technical Publications/Promotional Materials" (Project Leader) [PDF]
Berkeley Lab Director’s Award for Exceptional Achievement - Societal Impact - Home Energy Scoring Tool (2013)
Professional Activities & Organizations
Editorial Board, Energy Efficiency (Springer). Founding member (2007-present)
Foreign Advisory Board, Light Engineering, also published in Russian as Svetotekhnika, Moscow, Russia (1995-present)
Founder and Executive Editor, Environmental Energy Technologies News (formerly Center for Building Science News), Berkeley, USA (1992-2000)
Science Advisor, Casualty Actuarial Society, Climate Change Committee (2008-present)
Member, Global Roundtable on Climate Change (GROCC), Economics/Public Policy Working Group (Earth Institute, Columbia University (2005-2009)
Member, Global Climate Change Task Force, Columbia University Business School, New York, USA (1996)
Member, International Commission on Illumination (CIE) Technical Committee 3-24 (Energy and Lighting), Geneva, Switzerland (1995-2000)
Founding Chairman, International Association for Energy-Efficient Lighting (IAEEL); Associate Editor of the IAEEL Newsletter, Stockholm, Sweden (1991-2000)
Expert Member, Project Group on Environmental Improvement through Urban Energy Management. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Paris, France (1991)
Member Technical Steering Team, National Affordable Housing Design Network, Butte, Montana, USA (1985-1987)
Member, Advisory Board, EcoHome Network, Los Angeles, USA (1995-1998)
Major Clients
California Air Resources Board (CARB)
California Energy Commission (CEC)
California Institute for Energy & Environment (CIEE)
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
National Science Foundation (NSF)
U.S. Agency for International Development (AID)
U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
U.S. Global Climate Change Research Program (GCRP)
Consulting & Advising
AIG
Armstrong/Energyn (USA)
Barakat, Howard & Chamberlin, Inc. (USA)
Bay Area Air Quality Management District (USA)
Better Energy Systems (United Kingdom)
California Air Resources Board (USA)
California Department of Insurance (USA)
CalPERS - California Public Employees' Retirement System (USA)
Capital-E (USA)
Center for Applied Environmental Law and Policy (USA)
Ceres (USA)
Connecticut Interlocal Risk Management Agency (USA)
CMC Energy Services (USA)
Disney Imagineering (USA)
Electricity Corporation of New Zealand (New Zealand)
Energy Auditor and Retrofitter Magazine (now Home Energy) (USA)
Environmental Democracy Project (USA)
FASECOLDA - Federacion de Aseguradores Colombianos (Colombian Federation of Insurance Companies) (Colombia)
Global Environmental Facility [GEF] (USA)
Government Accountability Office (GAO) (USA)
Greenpeace International (Netherlands)
Hartford Steam Boiler (USA)
Harvard Medical School - Center for Health and the Global Environment (USA)
Hewlett Foundation (USA)
Hewlett-Packard (USA)
Cal State Polytechnic University, Humboldt (USA)
Idyllwild Arts & Idyllwild School of Music and the Arts (USA)
Institute for Environmental Technologies (Netherlands)
Integrated Process Technologies (USA)
International Association for Energy-Efficient Lighting (Sweden)
International Project for Sustainable Energy Paths (USA)
Investment Research, Inc. (USA)
Noyo Center for Marine Science (USA)
Office of Technology Assessment, U.S. Congress (USA)
OECD Environment Directorate (Group on Urban Affairs) (France)
Peralta Community College District (USA)
RAND Corporation (USA)
Regents of the Central European University (Hungary)
Rockefeller Family Fund (USA)
Sierra Club (USA)
Swedish Parliament Working Group on Energy Efficiency and Renewable Sources (Sweden)
Teton Energy Partners (USA)
United States Trade and Development Agency (USA)
United Nations Environment Programme (France)
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) (Germany)
World Bank / International Finance Corporation (USA)
Teaching, Workshops & Guest-Lecturing
Haas School of Business Executive Education (USA, 2009)
University of California Berkeley: Law, Energy & Resources (USA, 2000-2007)
Stanford University: Business & Product Design (USA, 2003)
Central European University, Environmental Sciences & Policy (Hungary, 1999)
University of Bordeaux, Physics (France, 1990-1991)
University of Oslo, Summer Institute (Norway, 1991)
Lund University, Environmental and Energy Systems Studies (Sweden, 1988-1991)
Chulalongkorn University, School of Business (Thailand, 1990)
University of California at Berkeley, Department of Architecture (USA, 1984)
Popular Media
Written for popular publications such as Forbes, Slate, Salon, The Washington Post, The International Herald Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, San Francisco Chronicle, Sunday Times (London), and Technology Review
Research results cited in The Atlantic, The Boston Globe, Business Week, CBS News, Consumer Reports, CNN, Discover Magazine, Discovery Channel, The Economist, The Financial Times, Forbes, Grist, The Huffington Post, The International Herald Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, Mother Jones, MSNBC, National Geographic, National Public Radio, Nature, Newsweek, The New Yorker, New York Times, The Osgood Files, PC Magazine, Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, Science News, Scientific American, Slate, Time, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and Wired
Selected Invited Presentations - Keynotes or Sole Presenter
Insurers as Partners in Inclusive Green Growth, World Bank / International Finance Corporation, Washington, DC, November 5, 2013 [PDF]
Sustainability As An Art .... At Idyllwild Arts, Idyllwild, CA, November 1, 2011 [PDF]
Energy Efficiency, Victoria Managed Insurance Authority Risk Conference, Melbourne, Australia, August 17, 2011 [PDF]
Natural Disasters: More Extreme, More Destructive, and More Often...And Perhaps Not "Natural" at All , Victoria Managed Insurance Authority Risk Conference, Melbourne, Australia, August 17, 2011
Overview of Climate Science and Insurer Initiatives on Climate Change, National Association of Insurance Commissioners 2009 Winter National Meeting, Climate Change Summit, San Francisco, CA, December 9, 2009 [PDF]
Keeping Cool in the Greenhouse, American-Hungarian Educators Banquet, Berkeley CA, May 16, 2009 [PDF]
Staying out of Hot Water: Strategic Planning in a Warming World, Loudoun Water Strategic Planning workshop, Ashburn, VA, February 27, 2009 [PDF]
From Risk to Opportunity: Insurer Responses to Climate Change, Society of Actuaries, Valuation Actuary Symposium, Washington, DC, September 25, 2008 [PDF]
From Risk to Opportunity: Insurer Responses to Climate Change, Casualty Actuarial Society Annual meeting, Quebec City, Canada, June 16, 2008 [PDF]
From Risk to Opportunity: Insurer Responses to Climate Change, Financial Services Authority, Annual Insurance Sector Conference, London, United Kingdom, April 8, 2008 [PDF]
Energy Efficiency: A Key to Getting Out of the Greenhouse, League of Women Voters, Albany, CA, December 4, 2007 [PDF]
Climate Change & Insurance: What Regulators Need to Know, International Association of Insurance Supervisors, Fort Lauderdale, FL, October 18, 2007 [PDF]
Risk Assessment: Climate Change, Utilities, and Insurance, Utility Executive Leadership Institute (UELI), Pinehurst, NC, August 10, 2007 [PDF]
The Science of Behind Global Warming Liabilities, Mealy's Global Warming Insurance Litigation Conference, San Francisco, CA, June 6, 2007 [PDF]
From Risk to Opportunity: How Insurers Can Proactively Manage Climate Change, Munich Re Headquarters, Munich, Germany, May 15, 2007 [PDF]
Implications of Climate Change for the Insurance Industry: Risk or Opportunity??, Roundtable on Facing the Consequences of Climate Change in Puerto Rico, San Juan, PR, May 8, 2007 [PDF]
Climate Change is Here: Tipping Points & Rays of Hope, Idyllwild Community Earth Day Celebration, Idyllwild, CA, May 19, 2006 [PDF]
The Science of Climate Change: Risks and Impacts, Connecticut Global Climate Change Summit: Business Risks and Opportunities for Connecticut's Insurance Industry, Hartford, CT, October 27, 2005 [PDF]
Selected Invited Presentations - Other
Policymakers' Primer on Addressing the Carbon Footprint of Cannabis ProductionCouncil of State Governments, Las Vegas, December 14, 2017 [PDF]
An Introduction to Three Upcoming UNEP en.lighten Research Projects, ECOWAS Workshop on Appliance Standards and Regulations, Institutional Capacity and Efficient Lighting Policies, Cotonou, Benin, October 3, 2013
Carbon Finance for Off-Grid Lighting: Two Ripe Market Segments, Third Lighting Africa Conference, Dakar, Senegal, November 12, 2012 [PDF]
Health and Safety Benefits of Modern Off-grid Lighting, Third Lighting Africa Conference, Dakar, Senegal, November 12, 2012 [PDF]
Electric Grid Disruptions and Extreme Weather, U.S. Disaster Reanalysis Workshop, National Climatic Data Center, NOAA, Asheville, NC, May 4, 2012 [PDF]
Next-Generation Multifamily National Energy Audit Tools, National Weatherization Training Conference, New Orleans, LA, December 15, 2011 [PDF]
Energy Efficiency: Getting Rich while Getting out of the Greenhouse, Mendocino Rotary Club, Mendocino, CA, February 24, 2011
Keeping Cool in the Greenhouse, Mendocino Rotary Club, Mendocino, CA, January 6, 2011
Energy Efficiency: Getting Rich while Getting out of the Greenhouse, Fort Bragg Rotary Club, Fort Bragg, CA, December 1, 2010
Keeping Cool in the Greenhouse, Fort Bragg Rotary Club, Fort Bragg, CA, October 20, 2010
From Carbon to Light: Methodologies for Carbon Finance Monitoring and Evaluation, Lighting Africa 2010 Business Conference, Nairobi, Kenya, May 18-20, 2010 [PDF]
Action-Oriented Energy Benchmarking, ACG 6th Annual Conference on Total Building Commissioning, Las Vegas, NV, April 16, 2010 [PDF]
Illuminating the Developing World, Rosenfeld Symposium: The Next Generation of Energy Efficiency, UC Davis Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing, Davis, CA, March 9, 2010 [PDF]
Climate Change and Insurance, Haas School of Business, Executive Education Program, Berkeley, CA, April 23, 2009 [PDF]
Managing Climate Change Liability Risk: Examples from the Insurance Sector, Munich Re Climate Change Liability Workshop, Princeton, NJ, October 14, 2008 [PDF]
Varying Perspectives and Approaches in Developing Quality Assurance for Off-Grid Lighting, World Bank Group's Lighting Africa - Product Quality Assurance Workshop, Airlie Center, Warrenton, VA, October 14-16, 2007 [PDF]
Bringing it All Back Home: What Individuals Can Do to Affect Climate Change, A Town Hall Meeting on Solutions to the Global Warming Crisis, Berkeley City College Auditorium, Berkeley, CA, April 14, 2007 [PDF]
From Risk to Opportunity: Climate Change and the Insurance Industry, UCLA School of Law: Coping with Global Warming, Los Angeles, CA, March 2, 2007 [PDF]
Review of Liability Insurance Considerations in the Context of Global Climate Change, Stanford Law School: Spring 2007 Symposium: Climate Change Liability and the Allocation of Risk, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, February 24, 2007 [PDF]
From Risk to Opportunity: Insurer Exposures and Responses to Climate Change, Governor Corzine's Summit Confronting Climate Change in New Jersey, Trenton, NJ, September 25, 2006 [PDF]
Alternatives to Fuel-Based Lighting in Rural Areas of Developing Countries, Global Roundtable on Climate Change, Reykjavik, Iceland, June 13, 2006 [PDF]
The Home Energy Saver Do-it-Yourself Survey, Touchstone Energy Cooperatives / National Rural Energy Cooperative Association meeting, San Antonio, TX, May 16, 2006 [PDF]
Availability and Affordability of Insurance Under Climate Change, National Association of Insurance Commissioners Winter Meeting, Salt Lake City, UT, December 3, 2005 [PDF]
Alternatives to Fuel-based Lighting in Rural China, 6th International Conference on Energy-Efficient Lighting, Shanghai, China, May 2005 [PDF]
Costs and Benefits of Commissioning New and Existing Commercial Buildings, National Conference on Building Commissioning, New York, NY May 2005 [PDF]
Benchmarking: What's Your Building's Energy IQ?, California Energy Commission Benchmarking Workshop, Sacramento, CA, April 2005 [PDF]
Climate Change: Observed and Projected Impacts, National Association of Insurance Commissioners Spring Meeting, Salt Lake City, UT, March 2005 [PDF]
Insurance Sector Vulnerabilities to Climate Change, American Association for the Advancement of Science Meeting, Washington, D.C., February 2005 [PDF]
The $230-billion Global Lighting Energy Bill, 5th International Conference on Energy-Efficient Lighting, Nice, France, 2003 [PDF]
Linking Energy Management and Risk Management: Tapping Win-Win Synergisms, Hawaii Electric Annual Conference, Maui, HI, September 2003 [PDF]
Design Intent Tool: Facilitating Collaboration and Lifecycle Information Management in Energy-Efficient Buildings, Laboratories for the 21st Century Annual Conference: 2002, Durham, NC [PDF]
Saving Energy in the Government Sector: An International Review, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary, July 1999 [PDF]
Short Term Financial Impacts of Energy-Efficiency Programmes on European Electrical Utilities, 1st European Conference on Energy-Efficient Lighting, Stockholm, Sweden, 1991
Beginning to Reduce Greenhouse-Gas Emissions Need Not Be Expensive: Examples from the Energy Sector, Second World Climate Conference, Geneva, Switzerland, October 29 - November 7, 1990
Using Financial Incentives to Promote Compact Fluorescent Lamps in Europe: Cost Effectiveness and Consumer Response in 10 Countries,1st European Conference on Energy-Efficient Lighting, Stockholm, Sweden, 1991
The Inception and Proliferation of Residential European Lighting Efficiency Programs, 1990 ACEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings, Asilomar, CA
Energy Efficiency: Tools and Techniques Thailand Workshop on End-Use-Oriented Energy Analysis Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 1989
A Paradigm Shift in Energy: Moving from Supply-Side to Demand-Side Economics , 1988 Annual Meeting of the International Association of Energy Economics. Oslo, Norway