TO: Napa County Climate Action Committee
FROM: Brian D. Bordona, Director of Napa County Planning, Building & Environmental Services
REPORT BY: Jesse Gutiérrez, Principal Planner, Sustainability
SUBJECT: Presentation: Introduction to the EV Equity Roadmap Tool by UC Berkeley PhD candidate Ari Ball-Burack
RECOMMENDATION
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PRESENTATION: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE EV EQUITY ROADMAP TOOL BY PHD CANDIDATE ARI BALL-BARACK OF UC BERKELEY'S ENERGY AND RESOURCES GROUP
STAFF REQUEST: Receive a presentation from Ari Ball-Burack, PhD student in the Energy & Resources Group at UC Berkeley, on the EV Equity Roadmap tool developed through the UC Berkeley Center for Law, Energy, & the Environment (CLEE).
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ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION: The proposed action is not a project as defined by 14 California
Code of Regulations 15378 (State CEQA Guidelines) and therefore CEQA is not applicable.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
Ari Ball-Burack is a second year PhD student in the Energy & Resources Group at the University of California, Berkeley, advised by Dr. Dan Kammen. Ball-Burack studies data and computational tools to inform effective decarbonization policy. Specifically, he is interested in incorporating key complexities such as justice and equity, behaviorally realistic decision-making, and technological innovation in energy policy decision support tools.
His current research investigates decarbonization policy interactions at the national and global levels, distributional equity in electric vehicle charging infrastructure, and representations of consumer adoption in multi-sector energy system models.
For the past year and a half, he has been the lead designer for an EV Equity Roadmap tool, a collaboration between UC Berkeley Law's Center for Law, Energy, and the Environment and the UC Berkeley Energy and Resources Group. Recently, Ball-Burack has worked with Napa County, its incorporated jurisdictional staff and GIS teams to develop county-specific data and insights which has expedited the publicly available tool to help inform equitable EV charger site selection and prioritization in the Napa region.
Ball-Burack graduated from Williams College, where he studied Computer Science and Physics, and received MPhil degrees in Advanced Computer Science and Environmental Policy from the University of Cambridge. Prior to joining UC Berkeley, he worked as a researcher at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership.
Ball-Burack will present the latest version of the EV Equity Roadmap tool to the Climate Action Committee.
The tool is a user-friendly and interactive platform that generates maps of potential Electric Vehicle (EV) charging station locations based on select criteria.
“The platform is intended for use by local governments and a range of stakeholders in planning, siting, and investment decision-making processes. It incorporates criteria such as environmental and demographic indicators, existing EV and charging access, electric grid capacity, commercial and public spaces, and more. “ - UC Berkeley Center for Law, Energy & the Environment: EV Equity Initiative
The project provides a tool that jurisdictions can use that is publicly accessible, easy to use, and that can help guide decision-making in identifying high-priority areas and sites for EV charging infrastructure. Additionally, insights gained from using the tool can assist in generating compelling applications when seeking funding for infrastructure projects.
LINKS:
EV Equity Roadmap Tool
www.law.berkeley.edu/research/clee/ev-equity/mapping/ <http://www.law.berkeley.edu/research/clee/ev-equity/mapping/>
EV Equity Initiative - UC Berkeley Law
www.law.berkeley.edu/research/clee/ev-equity/ <http://www.law.berkeley.edu/research/clee/ev-equity/>