Energy

Assistant Professor Karthish Manthiram (center), postdoc Kyoungsuk Jin (right), graduate student Joseph Maalouf (left), and their colleagues are working to help decarbonize the chemical industry by finding ways to drive critical chemical reactions using electricity from renewable sources.

Decarbonizing the making of consumer products

Researchers are devising new methods of synthesizing chemicals used in goods from clothing, detergents, and antifreeze to pharmaceuticals and plastics.

February 5, 2020

New research by engineers at MIT and elsewhere could lead to batteries that can pack more power per pound and last longer.

New electrode design may lead to more powerful batteries

An MIT team has devised a lithium metal anode that could improve the longevity and energy density of future batteries.

February 3, 2020

Fikile Brushett is the Cecil and Ida Green Career Development Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering.

Powering the planet

Fikile Brushett and his team are designing electrochemical technology to secure the planet’s energy future.

January 29, 2020

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.

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.

January 26, 2020

“My goal is to find out how to make the combustion process more efficient, reliable, safe, and clean,” says Sili Deng, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at MIT.

Understanding combustion

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

January 23, 2020

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.

Reducing risk, empowering resilience to disruptive global change

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

January 23, 2020

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.”

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.

January 17, 2020

“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,” says doctoral student Nestor Sepulveda. “I began wondering how to determine the value of different technologies.”

Zeroing in on decarbonization

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

January 15, 2020

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.

Pathways to a low-carbon future

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

January 9, 2020

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.

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.

January 6, 2020