During a trip to Rome to renew MIT’s partnership with Eni aimed at accelerating clean energy technologies, President L. Rafael Reif spoke with Alessia Rastelli of Corriere della Sera about MIT’s Climate Action Plan, the Campaign for a Better World and bringing world-changing ideas to the marketplace. Reif explains that MIT researchers want to “have an impact on a global scale.”
GE is joining MITEI as a sustaining member and will participate in several Low-Carbon Energy Centers, reports Curt Woodward for The Boston Globe. “It’s not enough for a university to develop a technology,” says Robert Armstrong, director of MITEI. “It’s critical to have a partner like GE who can help you get it to people.”
BBC News reporter David Gibson writes that MIT researchers have developed a thin, transparent film that can store solar energy for later use. Gibson writes that the polymer could be used to de-ice windshields, “heat seats and steering wheels, or even let you solar charge your socks before a motorcycle ride.”
Boston.com reporter Eric Levenson writes that MIT researchers have developed a polymer material capable of storing solar energy and releasing it later as heat. The “polymer being developed would store the sun’s rays in a chemical reaction that is then converted into heat,” explains Levenson.