On behalf of the Natural Resources Defense Council (“NRDC”) and our 1.2 million members and activists, I appreciate the opportunity to comment on the CPUC’s Staff White Paper, Light-Duty Vehicle Electrification in California: Potential Barriers and Opportunities. 1 The document will serve as an important tool to stakeholders and policymakers working on reducing barriers to electrification in th...

In this paper, we summarize the recent advances on the electrification of wind-blown sand. Some of the outstanding questions, such as the interpretation of the electrification of wind-blown sand, measurements on and models of the features of the wind-blown sand E-fields, as well as their effect on the wind-blown sand flux and electromagnetic wave propagation, are reviewed. We end by highlightin...

We explored the role of the water vapor content below the freezing level in the response of idealized supercell storm electrical processes to increased concentrations of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). Using the Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with parameterizations electrification and discharging, we performed 30 simulations by varying both the CCN concentration and water vapor...

[1] Wind-blown sand, or ‘saltation,’ creates sand dunes, erodes geological features, and could be a significant source of dust aerosols on Mars. Moreover, the electrification of sand and dust in saltation, dust storms, and dust devils could produce electric discharges and affect atmospheric chemistry. We present the first calculations of electric fields in martian saltation, using a numerical m...

Bhutan sells electricity across the border to India. However large sections of its population do not have access to electricity. The harsh mountainous terrain coupled with sparse and dispersed settlements in Bhutan makes grid extension difficult, costly and economically unviable. Therefore, it is worth looking at renewable energy options to meet electricity demand in remote locations. This stud...

The contact electrification of insulating organic polymers is still incompletely understood, in part because multiple fundamental mechanisms may contribute to the movement of charge. This study describes a mechanism previously unreported in the context of contact electrification: that is, "contact de-electrification", a process in which polymers charged to the same polarity discharge on contact...

Mozambique and Tanzania are countries with very low rural electrification rates – far below 5 % percent of the rural population use electricity. The pace of rural grid electrification is slow and for most remote areas access to the national electricity grids will not occur within a foreseeable future. Off-grid (decentralized) electricity grids are seen as a complement and fore-runner to the nat...

In this paper, we assess the sustainability of rural electrification programs in Ecuador, paying special attention to programs targeting small indigenous communities in the Amazon basin. Our assessment considers four dimensions of sustainability (institutional, economic, environmental, and socio-cultural) and is based on an exhaustive qualitative document analysis, complemented by semi-structur...

developing electrical energy is one of the basic needs for development, so equipping the rural regions and villiages is one of the main responisiblities of thirdworld countries. in this study, we used economic evaluation indexes to compare electrification to baghtaj village by power grid expansion and application of solar photovoltaic systems. economic evaluation indexes suggests that in the ab...

A review on rural electrification programs and projects based on off-grid Photovoltaic (PV) systems, including Solar Pico Systems (SPS) and Solar Home Systems (SHS) in Developing Countries (DCs) was conducted. The goal was to highlight the main multidimensional drawbacks that may constrain the sustainability of these systems. Four dimensions of sustainability (institutional, economic, environme...