News

Jeffrey Grossman, the department head of Materials Science and Engineering, and others have developed a thin gel layer that mimics camel fur and could potentially help keep food and medicine cool for days, without electricity.

Joel Jean, the CEO and co-founder of Swift Solar, a startup with MITEI roots that has licensed patents for new solar photovoltaic technology devised at NREL, says his company has also started to make prototype devices that could expand the new solar PV technology to a variety of products that "'move and fly.'"

MITEI Research Scientist Dharik Mallapragada speaks with Energy Evolution podcast about variable renewable energy generation and the economic value of energy storage, as well as possible future paths for storage.

Sergey Paltsev (MITEI, MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change) explains how energy-exporting countries like Russia can diversify their economies and stimulate economic growth while supporting more aggressive emissions targets.

MITEI’s article discussing research on transportation policy-making in different types of Chinese cities by Joanna Moody (MITEI Mobility Systems Center) and Jinhua Zhao (Urban Studies and Planning, JTL Urban Mobility Lab) is featured as a guest contribution on the “GIZ Sustainable Transport in China” blog, in both English and Mandarin.

Dharik Mallapragada, a MITEI research scientist, discusses smart thermostats in an article on how to air-condition your home more efficiently in the summer heat.

In a paper recently published in Applied Energy, researchers including Dharik Mallapragada of MITEI examine battery storage to determine the key drivers that impact its economic value, how that value may change with increasing deployment over time, and the implications for the long-term cost-effectiveness of storage. They find that “capacity deferral,” or substitution of batteries for generation or transmission capacity, is the primary source of storage value.

MITEI Director Robert Armstrong joins a panel of experts to analyze the energy transition challenge, cross-sectoral approaches to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, and a new model to measure their impact.

MIT spinoff Quaise Inc. has raised $6 million in a funding round led by The Engine. The company is working to develop and commercialize a new hybrid deep drilling technology for geothermal energy, pioneered by Paul Woskov and a team at MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center. The early research for this technology was supported through MITEI’s Seed Fund grant program.

Researchers from MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, including former MIT Tata Fellow Emily Hanhauser, have developed a low-cost water collection device that could enable mail-in testing to detect heavy metals in water.

MIT spinoff Commonwealth Fusion Systems has raised $84 million dollars in its latest round of funding, putting the company on track for a demonstration reactor by 2025.

Spun out of MIT, Form Energy has signed a deal to develop a grid-scale, long-duration energy storage pilot program—an encouraging step toward creating an affordable, 100% renewable electricity system.