CANDELARIA BERGERO
The greenhouse gas emissions caused by our energy system threaten a sustainable future. To overcome this threat, we need to transition towards cleaner energy forms. We have to change nearly everything around us: from the way we heat our homes, to the ways we power our planes and produce our steel. My research focuses on how we can achieve this transition and on the environmental justice implications for people like you and me.
My passion is to establish a symbiotic relationship with our planet and with one another.
PUBLICATIONS
Deep decarbonization and U.S. biofuels production
How feasible are deep decarbonization scenarios that rely on large amounts of biomass? Integrated assessment models heavily rely on biomass in mitigation scenarios. However, these models do not capture short-term technical supply chain dynamics. We use BSM, a systems dynamic model, and GCAM, an integrated assessment model, to analyze the thresholds that would need to be overcome to meet the bioenergy demands GCAM requires in ambitious mitigation scenarios.
Read more2023
Laura Vimmerstedt, Swaroop Atnoorkar, Candelaria Bergero, Marshall Wise, Steve Peterson,
Emily Newes, Daniel Inman
Pathways to net-zero emissions from aviation
What does it take to achieve a net-zero emissions aviation sector? Aviation accounted for about 1 gigaton of CO2 in 2019, before the global pandemic. The sector grows faster than the economy as a whole and it relies on dense fossil energy fuels for which we do not currently have competitive alternatives. We analyze nine pathways to meet a net-zero aviation sector, looking into changes in future demand, energy intensity and carbon intensity of aviation.
Read more2023
Candelaria Bergero, Greer Gosnell, Dolf Gielen, Seungwoo Kang, Morgan Bazilian, Steven Davis
Diverse carbon dioxide removal approaches could reduce impacts on the energy-water-land system
What are the tradeoffs of carbon dioxide removal approaches for meeting the 1.5 °C target? Based on the IPCC, keeping temperature increases to well below 1.5 °C would require removing carbon from the atmosphere. Different carbon dioxide removal approaches have different tradeoffs in terms of energy, water, and land demands. Yet, models that captured the dynamics between these different systems, called integrated assessment models, only include few of these approaches. Here we include six CDR technologies into GCAM and assess their potential deployment.
Read more2023
Jay Fuhrman, Candelaria Bergero, Maridee Weber, Seth Monteith, Frances M. Wang, Andres F.
Clarens, Scott C. Doney, William Skobe, Haewon McJeon
Technology, technology, technology: an integrated assessment of deep decarbonization pathways for the Canadian oil sands
What is the future of the oil sands sector in deeply decarbonized economies? Canada has committed to ambitious climate goals, and at the same time holds the world’s third largest oil reserves in the Alberta oil sands. Using the integrated assessment model GCAM, we look into the impact that different technologies and mitigation efforts have on the Canadian oil extraction sector.
Read more2022
Candelaria Bergero, Matthew Binsted, Osama Younis, Evan G.R. Davies, Muhammad-Shahid Siddiqui,
Rui Xing, Evan J. Arbuckle, Diego V. Chiappori, Jay Fuhrman, Haewon McJeon, Nick Macaluso
Integrated assessment modeling of Korea’s 2050 carbon neutrality technology pathways
What would it take for Korea to meet its 2050 carbon neutrality goal? Korea is a rapidly growing industrial nation, and has recently become the 11th largest greenhouse gas emitter. Yet, in October 2020, Korea pledged to be carbon neutral by mid-century. Here we use the integrated assessment model GCAM and assess five scenarios with varying energy technologies.
2022
Hanwoong Kim, Haewon McJeon, Dawoon Jung, Hanju Lee, Candelaria Bergero, Jiyong Eom
All roads lead to Paris: the eight pathways to renewable energy target adoption
What are the patterns of the diffusion of renewable energy targets? Between 1975 and 2017, globally, 162 countries adopted renewable energy targets. Some of these countries may have learned from successful experiences elsewhere, others may have answered to market dynamics, some may have emulated similar partners, while others may have copied their pairs. Applying a qualitative comparative analysis, we analyze the pathways to renewable energy target adoption.
Read more2021
Candelaria Bergero, Michael J. Rich, Eri Saikawa
Insights for Canadian electricity generation planning from an integrated assessment
model
How is hydropower expansion affected by modeling market dynamics? About 60% of Canada’s electricity generation comes from hydropower. As Canada continues to decarbonize its economy, more and more hydropower electricity would be required. Yet, this technology is usually fixed in integrated assessment models like GCAM - thus not allowing for market dynamics to influence its future deployment.
Read more2021
Evan J. Arbuckle, Matthew Binsted, Evan G.R. Davies, Diego V. Chiappori, Candelaria Bergero,
Muhammad-Shahid Siddiqui, Christopher Roney, Haewon C. McJeon, Yuyu Zhou, Nick Macaluso
An integrated assessment of a low coal low nuclear future energy system for Taiwan
How can Taiwan decarbonize its economy without relying on nuclear energy? Taiwan imports over 90% of its energy, and most of its energy consumption comes from fossil fuels. Taiwan has, however, great renewable resources that could be installed to decarbonize its economy. We analyze three decarbonization scenarios using GCAM, an integrated assessment model.
Read more2021
Candelaria Bergero, Matthew Binsted, Chia-Wei Chao, Kuei-Tien Chou, Cheng-Cheng Wu, Yang Wei, Brinda Yarlagadda, Haewon C. McJeon