News

Jessika Trancik (Institute for Data, Systems, and Society) describes two ways a climate policy can be effective: by reducing emissions and by creating pathways for technological advancement. "Many of the technological tools that are needed to address climate change are now available," states Trancik, "and ready to be adopted at scale because of a host of different types of policies that came before."

MIT spinout Found Energy has developed a chemical process that turns refined aluminum back into its raw form, generating energy in the process. “Our thesis is that aluminum is the most efficient way to move clean energy around,” states co-founder and MIT alum Peter Godart.

MIT spinout Swift Solar plans to build a factory in the United States to manufacture their thin-film solar photovoltaics.

MIT spinout Active Surfaces uses industrial roll-to-roll semiconductor printing technology to produce lightweight, flexible solar panels that can be integrated into virtually any surface.

MITEI Director William H. Green writes for the Boston Business Journal saying that if we are to solve the climate problem, the entire global economy needs to change. "We at MIT are searching for real climate solutions that the public will adopt, and that merit the huge investments necessary for wide deployment," says Green. "By working collaboratively to solve these complex issues we will successfully address the greatest threat facing humanity today."

Susan Solomon (Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences) discusses her efforts to communicate climate science and her new book, Solvable: How We Healed the Earth, and How We Can Do It Again: “We are in a world bursting with change. So it’s a perfect time to be a climate scientist and study all those things.”

A group of startups in San Francisco are aiming to support the power grid as electrification adds new demand. “We’re going to be moving a lot more electrons during certain time periods than the current transmission and, certainly, distribution network is capable of doing, if we don’t do that smartly. Technology is a potential solution to this,” states MITEI Deputy Director of Policy Chris Knittel.

Jacopo Buongiorno (Nuclear Science and Engineering) discusses the Biden Administration’s investments in nuclear power generation and the great potential of this energy source. “The nice thing about nuclear is that it’s a fairly versatile energy source. It can give you heat, if you want heat. It can give you electricity if you want electricity.”

John Sterman (MIT Sloan) discusses the effectiveness of flight offsets. In order for the offsets to be legitimate, the results must be “verifiable, immediate, and durable” as well as “additional”, meaning the project wouldn’t have happened without the offset.

MITEI’s Rob Stoner discusses AI’s unsustainable energy consumption. Even with the introduction of renewable energy sources—through the use of power purchase agreements (PPAs)—Stoner states that tech firms are pulling electricity from the grid faster than they can add to it.

MITEI's Rob Stoner discusses hydrogen energy and the seven hydrogen "hubs" created by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act. "[The hubs are] trying to create investment...and at the same time, they're trying to create demand for hydrogen so that will be the basis for buying and consuming hydrogen within a range of industries."

MIT President Sally Kornbluth is “determined to harness MIT’s considerable brainpower” to tackle climate change through the Climate Project at MIT. Kornbluth asserts that MIT’s “culture of entrepreneurship” uniquely positions the Institute to take on climate challenges.