Closing the Loop

Welcome to Closing the Loop. Founded in 2005 by undergraduate Kendra Johnson, Closing the Loop consists of various campus-related projects designed to minimize energy consumption, using feedback tools and educational outreach. We strive to use the MIT campus as a living laboratory for discovering effective strategies to motivate individual behavior change.

Lights Out 16-56

The latest results from "Lights Out 16-56" pilot program to increase lighting efficiency shows a decline of 1-2 hours in overnight lighting, and a 16%-17% increase in occupancy efficiency for labs with at least 2 program participants.

Revolving Doors

You’ve probably seen the signs around campus, “Help MIT save energy. Please use the revolving door.” But does it really make any difference? Absolutely. On average 8x as much air is exchanged when a swing door is opened as opposed to a revolving door. That's 8x as much new air that needs to be heated or cooled and that's why using the revolving door is a great way to reduce energy requirements on campus.

Zero Waste Planning Guide for MIT Events

This guide will help members of the MIT community to plan and execute meetings, parties, or other events with a goal of minimizing waste and environmental impact without sacrificing the quality of the event. The guide outlines the most important factors to consider and provides information about local resources available to reduce your event’s environmental footprint.

Reduce your personal carbon footprint

Five tips for reducing your carbon footprint.

Fume Hoods

Fume hoods are a significant contributor to energy consumption in laboratory spaces. Hoods use high-powered fans to exhaust conditioned laboratory air, and can consume the energy of over three homes. An open fume hood is essentially an open door with a big fan pushing the air outdoors. Lab spaces are required to have a high air exchange rate, but in general the air pushed through fume hoods far exceeds these minimum requirements.

Bicyle Powered Laptop

The bicycle-powered laptop ws designed and built in course 1.102 and implemented in the Wang Fitness Center adjacent to the Stata Center. Your pedal strokes drive a generator, which charges a 12 Volt battery, which runs the laptop. We have removed the laptop battery so if you stop pedaling and there is not enough residual charge in the battery, then the laptop will turn off. The laptop runs as a regular Athena Workstations, so users are able to access their files, e-mail, the internet, just as they would on any other workstation.

Squeaky Wheel

Please let us know what you think MIT should do to improve our Energy Footprint