After serving as a minister and leading the renewable energies transformation in my homecountry, I had the honor of teaching in several universities around the world
- USA: Columbia, Yale and Georgetown universities
- Australia: The University of Queensland
- China: PKU, BFSU and Renmin universities
Globally, US universities are the best in the world. I did not look for that, however in the US I had the privilege to teach in the schools attended by presidents Clinton (Georgetown), Bush (Yale) and Obama (Columbia).
I am well qualified to say that universities in China are progressing fast and the level of their students is unmatched.
I enjoyed every minute of my experience in Australia, a fabulous country with a top notch education system that attracts students from all over the world.
I benefitted from a great intellectual environment and, above all, had the opportunity to teach fabulous students, a number of which became personal friends.
Teaching talented and hard working students is an easy task. My classes were always oversubscribed and I learnt plenty from my students.
Students are eager to learn energy and climate science and there are few classes on these topics, even in top universities. I believe that my comparative advantage is to easily combine theory and practice.
The name of my class is Global Energy Policies or Energy economics and Finance, you may find the syllabus here
https://manuelpinhoglobalenergypolicy.com/manuel-pinho/
The shared experiences through similar geographies and renewable energy resources stemming from this early investment in knowledge-sharing and personal connections that Manuel spearheaded have been hugely productive in advancing the clean energy agenda in California and Portugal
Class of 1935 Distinguished Professor of Energy University of California, Berkeley Dr. Kammen has served as a contributing or coordinating lead author on various reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change since 1999. The IPCC shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.
In 2005, renewable electricity in Portugal supplied only 16% of the total production of electricity, with half of that from large dams, while wind power and biomass represented 20% each and PV only a very small share (3 GWh). The renewables share in California, the 5th largest economy on the planet, provided a similar share. I first met Dr. Manuel Pinho, in 2007, who was then the Portuguese Minister of Economy and Innovation (2005–09). A that time Manuel and the Ministry had just launched what I felt was a brilliant advertising campaign: Portugal, the renewables leader on the west Coast of Europe. Like Portugal, California had recently passed, in 2006, our first comprehensive greenhouse gas law (Assembly Bill 32). Dr. Pinho and I hosted each other in academic and government dialogs. These led to a series of partnership meetings and study tours of Portugal, where students and young professionals from my program, the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California travelled to Portugal and both met with energy professionals and toured energy facilities. A number of the alumni from those exchanges have gone on to take on major energy and climate leadership positions in both of our governments. In April 2016, renewable sources provided 95% of the electricity demand in Portugal, which then broke the European record most consecutive hours running on100 percent renewable electricity energy sources. In California, we met our 2020 renewable energy target of 33% three years early, and today stand at 37% renewables (which does not count large-hydropower or nuclear energy). California is now committed to 60% of all electricity from renewables by 2030, and 100% renewables by or before 2045. The shared experiences through similar geographies and renewable energy resources stemming from this early investment in knowledge-sharing and personal connections that Manuel spearheaded have been hugely productive in advancing the clean energy agenda in California and Portugal.