Edgar Virgüez R, Ph.D.
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edgarvirguezr.bsky.social
Edgar Virgüez R, Ph.D.
@edgarvirguezr.bsky.social
Energy systems engineer and geographer. Decarbonization. Educator. Board Member. Global South. Husband, two-time dad, Latino.

Research Engineer at the Energy Science and Engineering Department at Stanford University.

Ph.D. & M.A. from Duke University.
Reposted by Edgar Virgüez R, Ph.D.
Publishing is a part of the academic language. @edgarvirguezr.bsky.social (Duke university), Executive Editor of Environmental Research: Energy #EREN gives his insight on overcoming barriers and understanding the publishing process.

Read more: publishingsupport.iopscience.iop.org/early-career...
October 23, 2025 at 12:59 PM
Reposted by Edgar Virgüez R, Ph.D.
It was super-fun to work with Alissa Ganter on this paper.

Substantial amounts of potential wind and solar generation is being curtailed in Europe.

This generation capacity could potentially be used to make hydrogen, substituting for hydrogen now made with fossil gas.

pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....
Utilizing Curtailed Wind and Solar Power to Scale Up Electrolytic Hydrogen Production in Europe
The growth of European wind and solar power capacity is associated with increasing electricity curtailment to manage excess generation and ensure safe network operations. Instead, this surplus electri...
pubs.acs.org
February 14, 2025 at 2:47 PM
We are organizing a meeting where a small group will discuss contrasting viewpoints, identify reasons for disagreement, and explore how much of that disagreement is due to differences in empirical beliefs, decision-making frameworks, or values.

If you have any suggestions, please reply to the post.
We are looking for good nondogmatic advocates for the position that climate concerns outweigh economic development goals in the Global South, and that poor people in the Global South should not use fossil fuels even if that would improve human welfare more rapidly.

money.rediff.com/news/market/...
Coal Sector Vital for India's Energy Security & Growth: Minister
Union Minister G Kishan Reddy highlights the crucial role of the coal sector in ensuring India's energy security and economic growth, emphasizing its contribution to sustainable development and enviro...
money.rediff.com
February 6, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Reposted by Edgar Virgüez R, Ph.D.
As Ken explains below, we are organizing a meeting where a small group will discuss contrasting viewpoints, identify reasons for disagreement, and explore whether or how much of that disagreement is due to differences in empirical beliefs, decision-making frameworks, or values.
We are looking for good nondogmatic advocates for the position that climate concerns outweigh economic development goals in the Global South, and that poor people in the Global South should not use fossil fuels even if that would improve human welfare more rapidly.

money.rediff.com/news/market/...
Coal Sector Vital for India's Energy Security & Growth: Minister
Union Minister G Kishan Reddy highlights the crucial role of the coal sector in ensuring India's energy security and economic growth, emphasizing its contribution to sustainable development and enviro...
money.rediff.com
February 6, 2025 at 10:25 AM
A fascinating thread examining the internal perspective at a high-profile journal, Science, which addresses some of the common narratives and myths surrounding the publishing world.

Thanks, @jeremymberg.bsky.social for your openness and transparency.
Bluetorial-A dream and a bit of a nightmare

Serving as Editor-in-Chief at Science was fascinating. I greatly enjoyed working with talented and committed editorial, news, graphics, and production staff. But the inside look into scientific publishing and AAAS was also deeply disillusioning.
a cartoon says hey everybody an old man 's talking while bart simpson looks on
ALT: a cartoon says hey everybody an old man 's talking while bart simpson looks on
media.tenor.com
January 30, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Reposted by Edgar Virgüez R, Ph.D.
If you are interested in a Stanford postdoc position in these areas, and like doing stylized studies, please contact me.

I value skills and a track record of achievement more than domain knowledge, and have had great success working with physicists.

scholar.google.com/citations?hl...
Ken Caldeira
‪Carnegie Insitution for Science, Dept. of Global Ecology‬ - ‪‪Cited by 58,529‬‬ - ‪climate‬ - ‪biogeochemical cycles‬ - ‪energy / environment‬ - ‪ocean acidification‬
scholar.google.com
January 27, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Reposted by Edgar Virgüez R, Ph.D.
We did our most important coral work at One Tree Island.

It has been one of the best protected reefs in the Great Barrier Reef.

www.nature.com/articles/nat...
www.nature.com/articles/nat...
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...
January 25, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Reposted by Edgar Virgüez R, Ph.D.
We reduce emissions to reduce long-term damage from climate change.

We adapt to reduce near-term damage from climate change.

New open access paper discussing how emissions mitigation and climate adaptation are complementary approaches to reducing climate damage:

www.nature.com/articles/s43...
January 13, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Reposted by Edgar Virgüez R, Ph.D.
The 1/6 of the world's population living in Africa lives on less than 1/40 of the world's income.

(The 1.3 billion people living in Africa are represented by the green area in the upper left of this figure. The United States has about 1/4 of this population.)

www.voronoiapp.com/economy/-How...
December 25, 2024 at 4:03 AM
Reposted by Edgar Virgüez R, Ph.D.
Thanks, @paulijllo.bsky.social, for giving us a nice tour of her workplace, the US Capitol Building.

Paulina is going to have a front row seat to a lot of crazy that is about to happen.

With Emily Zuetell, @lfreese.bsky.social , @edgarvirguezr.bsky.social, and @jadowling.bsky.social
December 16, 2024 at 2:59 PM
Reposted by Edgar Virgüez R, Ph.D.
Excited to present our energy storage portfolios paper at AGU in D.C. on Monday! #EnergySky

Paper: pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Research Brief: img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/65...

With my mentee Anna X. Li now a PhD student at Princeton, @edgarvirguezr.bsky.social, @kencaldeira.bsky.social, & more!
The Influence of Regional Geophysical Resource Variability on the Value of Single- and Multistorage Technology Portfolios
A stylized macro-scale energy model of least-cost electricity systems relying only on wind and solar generation was used to assess the value of different storage technologies, individually and combine...
pubs.acs.org
December 5, 2024 at 7:45 AM
"We need to do hard work to bring the climate impact of our modern economy down to zero. But while we are trying to do the hard stuff, we can also grab some low-hanging fruit — no matter how high in the sky it may be."
Not sure I would go so far as to call contrail avoidance a "solution", but contrail avoidance is something we could do at very low cost that would be a small yet substantial contribution to climate risk reduction.

www.ciphernews.com/articles/red...
Reducing contrails could be a surprisingly effective climate solution - Cipher News
Not all opportunities to address climate change are created equal. Contrails may be the low-hanging fruit of the aviation industry.
www.ciphernews.com
November 18, 2024 at 5:05 PM
Reposted by Edgar Virgüez R, Ph.D.
🧵 How did Texas interconnect ~70% more capacity than any US market btwn 2021-2023? The answer explains, in part, why 25 parties just filed w/ FERC supporting streamlined interconnection service (ERIS), with no clear opposition—signaling a promising area for bipartisan reform. (1/15) #EnergySky
November 18, 2024 at 3:50 PM
Reposted by Edgar Virgüez R, Ph.D.
This is a useful summary (though the main factor determining PV generation is still just... how sunny it is, and the figure of 6-20% module efficiency is from 2015 and is now more like 20-23% for modern crystalline silicon modules).
🌞 New Paper Alert! 🌞

We review how solar PV performance is affected worldwide by environmental factors (temperature, dust, extreme weather...).

As PV moves beyond the hotspots of China, US, Europe, these can make or break productivity! 🔌💡

Free to read: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
November 13, 2024 at 12:45 PM
Reposted by Edgar Virgüez R, Ph.D.
The global carbon budget 2024 is out
November 13, 2024 at 7:03 AM
Reposted by Edgar Virgüez R, Ph.D.
Huge shoutout to @timlatimer.bsky.social and @jessejenkins.bsky.social for landing on the Time Climate 100! time.com/collection/t...
November 12, 2024 at 3:51 PM
Reposted by Edgar Virgüez R, Ph.D.
See y’all today. Summary of my presentation/career: we don’t know anything but we can still act
Tomorrow I'll be at the National Academies with great colleagues talking about data centers, AI, & climate. My starting principles: don't raise people's bills & don't cook the climate. It'll be livestreamed if u want to ask more of a comment than a question. www.nationalacademies.org/event/43750_...
www.nationalacademies.org
November 12, 2024 at 12:46 PM
Reposted by Edgar Virgüez R, Ph.D.
November 11, 2024 at 3:07 PM
Reposted by Edgar Virgüez R, Ph.D.
Here's a starter pack for electric grid & power systems - lmk if you want me to add your account! (Omissions 100% unintentional, still finding folks here :-) 🔌💡
go.bsky.app/RwCBCab
November 9, 2024 at 7:14 PM
Reposted by Edgar Virgüez R, Ph.D.
🙋Does your research focus on decarbonisation in the Global South? If so, consider submitting to Environmental Research: Energy's latest focus issue iopscience.iop.org/collections/...

Led by @edgarvirguezr.bsky.social, June Lukuyu, Krishnapriya Perumbillissery, Myriam Shiran
October 15, 2024 at 2:48 PM
Reposted by Edgar Virgüez R, Ph.D.
Designing reliable and cost-efficient wind-and-solar-based electricity systems requires more weather years for analysis than are customarily used.

Research Brief: climateenergylab.org/researchbrie...
Underlying Paper: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
September 25, 2024 at 10:16 PM
Check out our latest paper!
Reliable wind-and-solar-based electricity systems need to be designed taking into account more years of weather data than is now common practice, because weather is quite variable even at continental scale.

Paper sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Research Brief climateenergylab.org/researchbrie...
Planning reliable wind- and solar-based electricity systems
Resource adequacy, or ensuring that electricity supply reliably meets demand, is more challenging for wind- and solar-based electricity systems than f…
sciencedirect.com
September 17, 2024 at 8:50 PM
Reposted by Edgar Virgüez R, Ph.D.
Research Brief: "Switching from CO2-emitting oil to carbon-neutral wind and solar can reduce electricity costs on islands"
#climate #energy
climateenergylab.org/researchbrie...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
August 9, 2024 at 3:43 PM
Check out our latest paper. Key findings:
- Curtailed power may provide opportunities for low-efficiency H2 storage systems
- Underground H2 storage may provide value in deeply decarbonized systems
- Existing underground gas storage facilities may provide ample H2 energy storage at a national scale
Low-cost H2 storage, and low-cost and efficient H2-to-electricity conversion, may be key to cost reduction in reliable wind-and-solar-reliant electricity systems.
Free open-source pdf of Jackie Dowling's paper: iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...

Research Brief: climateenergylab.org/researchbrie...
July 22, 2024 at 6:13 PM
Reposted by Edgar Virgüez R, Ph.D.
We are starting to create little 2-pagers describing key results of recent work.

The first two are on long-duration storage in wind-and-solar-reliant electricity systems.

climateenergylab.org/researchbrie...
July 20, 2024 at 2:37 PM