Energy Reads: Recent Episodes
MIT Energy Initiative
The latest in energy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Listen to hand-picked articles from the MIT Energy Initiative covering the future of energy.
Following record heat levels in the summer of 2023, MIT Associate Professor David Hsu describes what cities are doing as climate change accelerates.
Read the article:
https://news.mit.edu/2023/3-questions-cities-managing-record-setting-temperatures-0905
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https://energy.mit.edu/energyreads
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MIT engineers have designed a new train-like system that harnesses the sun's heat to split water and generate hydrogen—a green, carbon-free fuel that can be used to power long-distance trucks, planes, and ships.
Read the article:
https://news.mit.edu/2023/mit-design-harness-suns-heat-produce-clean-hydrogen-fuel-1016
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To prevent worsening and potentially irreversible effects of climate change, the world’s average temperature should not exceed that of preindustrial times by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius. But why 1.5 degrees C and how close are we to achieving this goal?
Read the article:
https://news.mit.edu/2023/explained-climate-benchmark-rising-temperatures-0827
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A new processing technique developed by an MIT-led team may be the key to 100% sustainable aviation fuel.
Read the article:
https://energy.mit.edu/news/making-aviation-fuel-from-biomass
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Methane is the second most impactful human-generated greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide. Desirée Plata, an environmental engineer and professor at MIT, is developing tools to reduce methane with the goal of cutting emissions by 45% by 2030, which would save up to 0.5 degree Celsius of warming by 2100.
Read the article:
https://energy.mit.edu/news/straight-from-the-cows-mouth
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40% of global carbon emissions come from buildings. MIT professor Christoph Reinhart joins us to discuss how cities are leveraging retrofits to increase building energy efficiency and reduce their carbon emissions.
Dig deeper into our article "Cutting urban carbon emissions by retrofitting buildings" in this footnote edition of the podcast.
Show notes and transcript:
https://energy.mit.edu/news/footnote-how-cities-are-reducing-emissions-by-retrofitting-buildings
Read the article:
https://energy.mit.edu/news/cutting-urban-carbon-emissions-by-retrofitting-buildings
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https://energy.mit.edu/energyreads
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Waya Energy, a MITEI spinoff, is helping governments determine the most cost-effective ways to provide electricity to all their citizens.
Read the article:
https://energy.mit.edu/news/power-to-the-people
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Cities around the world have been adopting policies and incentive programs to encourage building retrofits to reduce their energy use and carbon emissions. But analyses from an MIT team have revealed that cities’ retrofit plans often won’t achieve their goals—although decarbonizing the local grid could make the difference.
This episode follows the MIT News version of the article. Read it at:
https://news.mit.edu/2023/cutting-urban-carbon-emissions-retrofitting-buildings-0713
Read the original, full-length article:
https://energy.mit.edu/news/cutting-urban-carbon-emissions-by-retrofitting-buildings
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https://energy.mit.edu/energyreads
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Energy researcher Ian Miller joins us to discuss modeling renewable energy, living in an active combat zone, energy and its connection to the war in Ukraine, and how he's helping to deliver aid to Ukrainians on the frontlines.
Dig deeper into our article "Responding to Ukraine's 'ocean of suffering'" in this footnote edition of the podcast.
Show notes and transcript:
https://energy.mit.edu/news/footnote-open-sesame-energy-career-paths-and-the-war-in-ukraine
Read the article:
https://energy.mit.edu/news/responding-to-ukraines-ocean-of-suffering
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https://energy.mit.edu/energyreads
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Energy researcher Ian Miller is delivering medical aid, vehicles, and equipment to Ukrainians on the front lines through the nonprofit he co-founded, Zero Line.
Read the article:
https://energy.mit.edu/news/responding-to-ukraines-ocean-of-suffering
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https://energy.mit.edu/energyreads
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Massachusetts has set ambitious goals for cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 2030. State Senator Mike Barrett discussed the challenges the state has faced in meeting those goals, focused particularly on obstacles to offshore wind development.
Read the article:
https://energy.mit.edu/news/climate-goals-may-take-longer-but-well-get-there
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MIT senior Sylas Horowitz is tackling engineering projects with a focus on challenges related to clean energy, climate justice, and sustainable development. Their personal mission is to create systems and technology that "serve the well-being and longevity of communities and the ecosystems we exist within."
Read the article:
https://energy.mit.edu/news/sylas-horowitz-responsive-design-meets-responsibility-for-the-planets-future
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A modeling framework by MIT researchers can help speed the development of flow batteries for large-scale, long-duration electricity storage on the future grid.
Read the article:
https://energy.mit.edu/news/flow-batteries-for-grid-scale-energy-storage
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https://energy.mit.edu/energyreads
Climate Action Through Education is a new multidisciplinary climate change curriculum for high schools that aims to engage and mobilize teachers and students in a range of disciplines—from science to language arts to math.
Read the article:
https://energy.mit.edu/news/new-multidisciplinary-climate-change-curriculum-for-high-schools-aims-to-engage-and-mobilize-teachers-and-students
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https://energy.mit.edu/energyreads
Combustion experts at MIT have designed a system that uses flames to produce materials critical to lithium-ion batteries. Their combustion-based method promises to be simpler, much quicker, and far less energy-intensive than the conventional method now used to manufacture cathode materials.
Read the article:
https://energy.mit.edu/news/using-combustion-to-make-lithium-ion-batteries
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https://energy.mit.edu/energyreads
With the help of a children’s toy called Shrinky Dinks, carbon-based materials, nail polish, and a certain smelly bacterium, high school students spent the summer in an MIT lab creating electrodes for low-cost microbial fuel cells.
Read the article:
https://energy.mit.edu/news/shrinky-dinks-nail-polish-and-smelly-bacteria
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https://energy.mit.edu/energyreads
By studying how climate change is affecting wind of the future, MIT Assistant Professor Michael Howland is optimizing wind farms and finding ways to create more reliable energy production.
Read the article:
https://energy.mit.edu/news/michael-howland-gives-wind-energy-a-lift
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https://energy.mit.edu/energyreads
The chemical industry is the world’s largest industrial energy consumer and the third largest source of industrial emissions; and yet, the chemical industry has been largely untouched when it comes to decarbonization. In a new paper, researchers from MIT and DC-MUSE urge industry and the research community to explore electrification pathways to reduce chemical industry emissions.
Read the article:
https://energy.mit.edu/news/to-decarbonize-the-chemical-industry-electrify-it
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https://energy.mit.edu/energyreads
As MITEI’s director of education, Antje Danielson manages a team devoted to training the next generation of energy innovators, entrepreneurs, and policy makers. She discusses new initiatives in MITEI’s education program and how they are preparing students to take an active role in climate action.
Read the article:
https://energy.mit.edu/news/3-questions-antje-danielson-on-energy-education-and-its-role-in-climate-action
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https://energy.mit.edu/energyreads
A new development from MIT can quickly and easily turn any surface into a power source. These thin-film solar cells weigh about 100x less than conventional solar cells while generating about 18x more power-per-kg.
Read the article:
https://news.mit.edu/2022/ultrathin-solar-cells-1209
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https://energy.mit.edu/energyreads
The next issue of the MIT Energy Initiative's Energy Futures magazine is releasing this month. In this episode, we are sharing a sneak peek of some of the engaging energy stories in our upcoming issue.
Read the transcript:
https://energy.mit.edu/news/coming-soon-in-energy-futures-magazine
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https://energy.mit.edu/energyreads
At MITEI's Fall Colloquium, Philip Sharp, the former president of Resources for the Future, highlighted dramatic steps the U.S. government has recently taken to combat climate change despite a seemingly unending series of once-in-a-generation crises.
Read the article:
https://energy.mit.edu/news/decarbonization-amid-global-crises
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Could battery power from electric vehicles dispatched to the grid open a fast lane to a net-zero future? A new MITEI study uncovers how electric vehicles could boost renewable energy growth by serving as "energy storage on wheels."
Read the article:
https://energy.mit.edu/news/reversing-the-charge
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https://energy.mit.edu/energyreads
How do different carbon tax policies impact U.S. household budgets? MIT researchers have developed a method to determine which U.S. households win and lose financially under these policies and suggest corrections to avoid inequities.
Read the article:
https://energy.mit.edu/news/policies-to-cut-carbon-emissions
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https://energy.mit.edu/energyreads
The 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) is currently taking place in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, bringing together governments, experts, journalists, industry, and civil society to discuss climate action to enable countries to collectively sharply limit anthropogenic climate change. Before the conference, MITEI Deputy Director for Science and Technology Robert Stoner spoke with us about the climate and infrastructure laws enacted in the last year in the United States and the impact these laws can have in the global energy transition.
Read the article:
https://energy.mit.edu/news/unpacking-u-s-climate-and-infrastructure-laws
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https://energy.mit.edu/energyreads
MIT chemical engineers are speeding up a chemical reaction key to converting carbon dioxide emissions into useful, valuable products. The secret to their success? DNA.
Read the article:
https://energy.mit.edu/news/turning-carbon-dioxide-into-valuable-products
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Cutting carbon emissions from transportation is essential to any strategy addressing climate change. Decarbonizing Urban Mobility, a first-of-its-kind course offered at MIT, introduces students to the many factors involved in addressing this complex challenge.
Read the article:
https://energy.mit.edu/news/new-class-explores-paths-to-reducing-transportation-emissions
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https://energy.mit.edu/energyreads
What role will blue hydrogen play in decarbonizing the world's energy systems? MITEI Research Scientist Emre Gençer discusses findings from research analyzing the climate impacts of blue hydrogen.
Read the article:
https://energy.mit.edu/news/3-questions-emre-gencer-on-the-role-of-blue-hydrogen-in-decarbonizing-the-worlds-energy-systems
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https://energy.mit.edu/energyreads
MIT researchers have demonstrated a new approach to making porous materials called zeolites designed to capture molecules for specific uses, including cleaning up exhaust gases from trucks.
Read the article:
https://energy.mit.edu/news/porous-materials-designed-to-trap-molecules
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MIT spinoff Takachar is transforming waste biomass—a major contributor to air pollution—into solid, clean-burning fuel. Winner of the 2021 Earthshot Prize in the clean air category, they estimate their technology could reduce carbon dioxide equivalent emissions by gigatons per year at scale.
Read the article:
https://energy.mit.edu/news/mit-spinoff-takachar-processes-waste-biomass-to-reduce-airborne-emissions
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https://energy.mit.edu/energyreads
MITEI's IAP course "Leading the Energy Transition" connects students with practitioners and experts to inspire new leadership in the clean energy transition.
Read the article:
https://energy.mit.edu/news/lessons-from-energy-leaders
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MIT alum Joy Dunn '08 spent a decade working in aerospace manufacturing at SpaceX before joining Commonwealth Fusion Systems, where she plays a key role in developing a commercially viable fusion power plant.
Read the article:
https://energy.mit.edu/news/joy-dunn-08-bridging-careers-in-aerospace-manufacturing-and-fusion-energy-with-a-focus-on-intentional-inclusion
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https://energy.mit.edu/energyreads
Hydrogen has long been seen as potentially game-changing in the quest for a clean energy future. At MITEI's 2022 Spring Symposium, four industry experts laid out their efforts to produce it at scale.
Read the article:
https://energy.mit.edu/news/making-hydrogen-power-a-reality
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https://energy.mit.edu/energyreads
There's only one financially solvent utility company in Africa, and it operates under a government agreement called a concession. Learn why utility concessions can be a promising tool to help end energy poverty in developing countries around the world.
Read the article:
https://energy.mit.edu/news/building-consensus-on-concessions
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https://energy.mit.edu/energyreads
Utilizing digital and computational methods, MIT researchers have developed an approach that enables architects to use discarded tree forks as load-bearing joints in their structures.
Read the article:
https://news.mit.edu/2022/using-natures-structures-wooden-buildings-0309
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https://energy.mit.edu/energyreads
At the MIT Energy Initiative's Fall Colloquium, Poppy Allonby, a senior financial executive and the former managing director of BlackRock, laid out the current state of sustainability thinking among the investor class.
Read the article:
https://energy.mit.edu/news/investors-awake-to-the-risks-of-climate-change
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Inspired by the MIT community and assisted by his collaborators, postdoc Francesco Benedetti launched a startup to provide innovative technology for energy-efficient, high-performance chemical separations—and won the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition.
Read the article:
https://energy.mit.edu/news/francesco-benedetti-building-communities-founding-a-startup-with-people-in-mind
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In a study analyzing California’s power system, MITEI researchers Emre Gençer and Drake D. Hernandez SM ’21 show that hydrogen-generated electricity is a cost-competitive alternative to fossil-fuel-based peaker plants or lithium-ion battery arrays for backing up solar and wind.
Read the article:
https://energy.mit.edu/news/making-the-case-for-hydrogen-in-a-zero-carbon-economy
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https://energy.mit.edu/energyreads
Many industries use energy-intensive methods to separate liquids, often because a suitable filtration system is hard to come by. Startup Via Separations has developed a robust membrane that can cut energy use in industrial separations by 90%.
Read the article:
https://energy.mit.edu/news/via-separations-mitei-spin-off-takes-aim-at-industrial-decarbonization
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https://energy.mit.edu/energyreads