News

MIT spinoff Verdox Inc. is developing a system that could capture carbon dioxide directly from the air using up to 70% less energy than alternatives. The company recently raised more than $80 million from investors such as Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures.

Nuclear science PhD candidate Robbie Stewart co-founded Boston Atomics, a startup creating “design to build” nuclear power plants that can be constructed quicker and at a lower cost than traditional plants.

MIT spinout Ubiquitous Energy is developing a transparent solar cell that can coat windows, potentially turning buildings and skyscrapers into “vertical solar farms.”

In a roundup of fusion advancements during 2021, Forbes contributor Melanie Windridge highlights the September test of the high-temperature superconducting fusion magnet designed by Commonwealth Fusion Systems and MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center.

Computer models play an important role in creating solar cells but often operate slowly. MIT and Google Brain have developed a more streamlined software to efficiently make discoveries and advancements.

MITEI Research Associate Ian Miller and Jessika Trancik (Institute for Data, Systems, and Society) address misinformation around the amount of fossil fuels required to power electric vehicles, which has caused confusion online.

Solugen, a startup cofounded by Sean Hunt PhD ’16, M. Eng ’13, is using corn syrup to make chemicals without chemicals. The startup could potentially begin to remove a billion tons of carbon dioxide per year if milestones are met.

MIT’s venture capital fund, The Engine, is expanding into a new, 42,000 square foot facility in Somerville near the climate tech incubator Greentown Labs. The Engine has funded MIT energy spinouts such as Osmoses, Sublime Systems, Commonwealth Fusion Systems, Form Energy, Via Separations, and more.

Jinhua Zhao (MIT Mobility Initiative, Urban Studies and Planning) and others from MIT discuss the ways in which the recently passed U.S. infrastructure bill can be best utilized.

MIT spinout Commonwealth Fusion Systems raised $1.8 billion in the largest funding round ever by a Massachusetts-based company to further support the company’s cutting-edge nuclear fusion technology.

No one has been able to generate net energy by combining atoms, yet Commonwealth Fusion Systems has attracted Bill Gates and George Soros.