News and Blog Landing | MIT Sustainability

“So many things I was lucky to be exposed to at MIT,” Doug Field says, were “all building blocks, pieces of the puzzle, that helped me navigate through difficult situations later on.”

MIT News Office

February 4, 2025

Driving innovation, from Silicon Valley to Detroit

Doug Field SM ’92, Ford’s chief of EVs and digital design, leads the legacy carmaker into the software-enabled, battery-propelled future.

The mission of Gradiant, a firm started by MIT alumni, is to preserve water for generations to come in the face of rising global demand through innovation. Here, a worker inspects a Gradiant water treatment system.

MIT News Office

January 30, 2025

MIT spinout Gradiant reduces companies’ water use and waste by billions of gallons each day

The company builds water recycling, treatment, and purification solutions for some of the world’s largest brands.

A new MIT study finds that biochar (charcoal produced from plant matter and stored in soil) is a cost-competitive option for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide removal is expected to play a key role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in alignment with long-term climate targets.

MIT News Office

January 29, 2025

Smart carbon dioxide removal yields economic and environmental benefits

MIT study finds a diversified portfolio of carbon dioxide removal options delivers the best return on investment.

In MIT course 15.366 (Climate and Energy Ventures) student teams select a technology and determine the best path for its commercialization in the energy sector.

MIT News Office

January 28, 2025

MIT Climate and Energy Ventures class spins out entrepreneurs — and successful companies

The course challenges students to commercialize technologies and ideas in one whirlwind semester. Alumni of the class have founded more than 150 companies.

“What’s cool here is we’re able to make shape-optimized building elements for the same amount of time and energy it would take to make rectilinear building elements,” Sandy Curth says.

MIT News Office

January 24, 2025

How good old mud can lower building costs

Builders pour concrete into temporary molds called formwork. MIT researchers invented a way to make these structures out of on-site soil.

Lawrence Vale is the co-author of the new book, “The Equitably Resilient City,” published by MIT Press.

MIT News Office

January 24, 2025

Building resiliency

In a new book, Lawrence Vale spotlights projects from around the globe that help insulate communities from climate shocks.

Station A’s platform helps real estate owners and businesses analyze properties to calculate returns on decarbonization projects, create detailed project listings, and more.

MIT News Office

January 24, 2025

A platform to expedite clean energy projects

Station A, founded by MIT alumni, makes the process of buying clean energy simple for property owners.

“I really do believe nuclear energy is going to be a leading carbon-free energy. It’s very important for our collective futures,” says Youyeon Choi, a doctoral student in MIT's Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering.

MIT News Office

January 24, 2025

How to make small modular reactors more cost-effective

Youyeon Choi is leaning on her work experience in South Korea — a leading nation in nuclear energy — and her love of multi-physics modeling as she pursues her doctoral research.

In a recent study, researchers assessed sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) feedstock availability, the costs of corresponding SAF pathways, and how SAF deployment would likely impact fuel use, prices, emissions, and aviation demand in six countries.

MIT News Office

January 21, 2025

Toward sustainable decarbonization of aviation in Latin America

Special report describes targets for advancing technologically feasible and economically viable strategies.