Prof. Christopher Reinhart speaks with GBH reporter Craig LeMoult about the feasibility of harvesting energy from the Charles River. Reinhart notes that using renewable heat pumps along with the old, existing steam infrastructure could be a good option for Boston and other cities around the country that have district energy systems. “I think you would see a lot of those, especially with the overall push towards decarbonization,” says Reinhart.
Postdoctoral associate Stewart Isaacs SM ’19 PhD ’24 speaks with Physics Today reporter Toni Feder about his passion for the sport of jump roping, research into solar-powered egg incubators for use in West Africa, and his work at MIT focused on addressing climate change and social inequities through the development of clean energy systems. “In jump rope, you have the basic building blocks of tricks. You need to combine them in ways that look interesting and are creative and fun to do. In engineering, you have the basic building blocks of physics. When you need to solve a problem, you need to come up with a creative solution to get there,” says Isaacs of the intersection between jump roping and scientific research. “And jump rope is hard. To be really good at it takes a lot of effort. The habits of working hard and problem-solving are also very useful in engineering.”
Prof. Jacopo Buongiorno speaks with Nature reporter Davide Castelvecchi about how AI has increased energy demand and the future of nuclear energy.
Prof. Jessika Trancik speaks with BBC reporter Isabelle Gerretsen about the future of electric vehicles and how shifting to EVs can help reduce carbon emissions. Trancik and her research lab developed an online tool, dubbed Carboncounter, that can analyze the climate impact of different vehicles. “A shift to an electric vehicle is one of the single most impactful decisions that someone can make if they want to reduce their own emissions," explains Trancik.
Graduate student Zoe Fisher speaks with Yusuf Khan of The Wall Street Journal’s about what inspired her to pursue a career in nuclear engineering, noting that being able to fight climate change firsthand is one of the key reasons she wanted to make a career in nuclear.. “It’s a cool thing to study that is going to have a lot of broader impacts,” Fisher says.
Prof. Asegun Henry has been named a 2024 Grist honoree for his work developing a “sun in a box,” a new cost-effective system for storing renewable energy, reports Grist. Based on his research, Prof. Henry has founded Fourth Power, a startup working to build a prototype system that will hopefully “allow us to decarbonize electricity,” says Henry.
MIT spinoff Electrified Thermal Solutions is developing electrically charged bricks that generate and store heat as part of an effort to one day replace fossil fuels, reports Phil McKenna for Inside Climate News. “If you are running an industrial plant where you’re making cement or steel or glass or ceramics or chemicals or even food or beverage products, you burn a lot of fossil fuels,” explains Daniel Stack SM '17, PhD '21, chief executive of Electrified Thermal Solutions. “Our mission is to decarbonize industry with electrified heat.”
Prof. Asegun Henry founded Fourth Power, a startup using new technology to cut the cost of storing renewable energy, reports Adele Peters for Fast Company. The technology is designed “to tap into excess renewable energy,” explains Peters. “That energy heats up liquid tin, which flows down carbon pipes to heat up the blocks. When the grid needs electricity again, the system generates it using special solar panels that run on the white-hot light from the pipes rather than sunshine. Because the system was designed for durability, the team expects it to last for three decades—far longer than lithium-ion batteries, which quickly degrade.”
Robert Stoner, interim director of the MIT Energy Initiative, speaks with Boston Public Radio hosts Jim Braude and Margery Eagan about how the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act provides funding for hydrogen hubs around the country to create networks of hydrogen fuel producers. “We're going to use hydrogen as a substitute for natural gas. In order for that to happen, we have to get the cost way down,” Stoner explains.
Researchers from MIT and elsewhere explored the effectiveness of climate commitments made by banks to mitigate the effects of climate change, reports Nicole Goodkind for CNN. “Our results cast doubt on the efficacy of voluntary climate commitments for reducing financed emissions, whether through divestment or engagement,” the researchers note.
Researchers from MIT and elsewhere have found that climate pledges made by banks to reduce carbon emissions and finance energy transitions may not be as effective as previously thought, reports Eshe Nelson for The New York Times. “The researchers found that since 2018 the banks had reduced lending 20 percent to sectors they had targeted in their climate goals, such as oil and gas and transport,” explains Nelson. “That seems like progress, but the researchers argued it was not sufficient because the decline was the same for banks that had not made the same commitment.”
Senior Lecturer John Parsons speaks with Grist reporter Gautama Mehta about the future of nuclear energy in the United States. “It’s also possible that nuclear, if we can do it, is a valuable contribution to the system, but we need to learn how to do it cheaper than we’ve done so far,” explains Parsons. “I would hate to throw away all the gains that we’ve learned from doing it.”
Radia, an energy startup founded by Mark Lundstrom '91, SM '93, MBA '93, has developed the “Windrunner,” an airplane designed to deliver 300-foot-blades directly to wind farms, reports Maureen O’Hare for CNN. The plane will “help the world meet its decarbonization targets, it’ll use sustainable aviation fuel and need only a simple packed-dirt or gravel runway to land on,” writes O’Hare.
Radia – a startup founded by Mark Lundstrom '91, SM '93, MBA '93 – has unveiled the “WindRunner,” a large cargo plane equipped with wind turbine blades aimed at transforming wind energy across the United States, reports Jennifer Hiller and Brian McGill for The Washington Post. “Radia estimates the larger turbines could reduce the cost of energy by up to 35% and increase the consistency of power generation by 20% compared with today’s onshore turbines,” they write.
Paris Smalls PhD '22 founded Eden GeoPower – a startup that uses “a new kind of fracking that uses jolts of electricity, rather than blasts of water, to shatter underground rocks,” reports Hiawatha Bray for The Boston Globe. “While the process can work for extracting oil and natural gas, Smalls mainly wants to tap into a squeaky-clean energy source — the natural heat of the planet’s crust,” writes Bray.