News and Blog Landing | MIT Sustainability

Currently, 90 percent of the world’s solar panels are made from crystalline silicon, and the industry continues to grow at a rate of about 30 percent per year.

MIT News Office

January 27, 2020

For cheaper solar cells, thinner really is better

Solar panel costs have dropped lately, but slimming down silicon wafers could lead to even lower costs and faster industry expansion.

An Army Corps of Engineers flood model depicting the Ala Wai watershed after a 100-year rain event. The owner of a local design firm described the Ala Wai Flood Control Project as the largest climate impact project in Hawai's modern history.Image...

MIT News Office

January 23, 2020

Reducing risk, empowering resilience to disruptive global change

Workshop highlights how MIT research can guide adaptation at local, regional, and national scales.

MIT News Office

January 23, 2020

Understanding combustion

Assistant Professor Sili Deng is on a quest to understand the chemistry involved in combustion and develop strategies to make it cleaner.

MIT Associate Professor Noelle Eckley Selin (left) and former graduate student Emil Dimanchev SM ’18 used a new method to analyze the impacts of current and proposed state-level renewable energy and carbon pricing policies. Their study yielde...

MIT News Office

January 22, 2020

Study: State-level adoption of renewable energy standards saves money and lives

MIT researchers review renewable energy and carbon pricing policies as states consider repealing or relaxing renewable portfolio standards.

Julie Newman, director of sustainability at MIT, says the final project for course 2.S999 “uses the campus as a test bed for engaging and exposing students to the complexity of solving [for] global issues in their own backyard.”Photo: Ken Richardson

MIT News Office

January 17, 2020

Students propose plans for a carbon-neutral campus

Students in class 2.S999 (Solving for Carbon Neutrality at MIT) are charged with developing plans to make MIT’s campus carbon neutral by 2060.

“In courses like Nuclear Technology and Society, which covered the benefits and risks of nuclear energy, I saw that some people believed the solution for climate change was definitely nuclear, while others said it was wind or solar,” say...

MIT News Office

January 15, 2020

Zeroing in on decarbonization

Wielding complex algorithms, nuclear science and engineering doctoral candidate Nestor Sepulveda spins out scenarios for combating climate change.

GreenBiz

January 10, 2020

This startup is helping universities and companies embrace circular asset management

The AES Corporation, based in Virginia, installed the world’s largest solar-plus-storage system on the southern end of the Hawaiian island of Kauai. A scaled-down version was first tested at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Photo: Denni...

MIT News Office

January 9, 2020

Pathways to a low-carbon future

A new study looks at how the global energy mix could change over the next 20 years.

A smart window developed by Professor Nicholas Fang includes thermochromic material that turns frosty when exposed to temperatures of 32 C or higher, such as when a researcher touches the window with her hand. Photo courtesy of the researchers.

MIT News Office

January 6, 2020

Preventing energy loss in windows

Mechanical engineers are developing technologies that could prevent heat from entering or escaping windows, potentially preventing a massive loss of energy.