Energy

Guanyu Su, MIT graduate student in nuclear science and engineering, is examining multi-scale physics in annular flow heat transfer using advanced diagnostics.

Turning up the heat

Fine-tuning thermal hydraulics in reactors, doctoral student Guanyu Su hopes to advance more powerful nuclear energy technology.

May 17, 2018

In January, Flux and the MIT Solar Electric Vehicle Team went on a road-testing trip in Georgia.

Powered by the sun

Flux, built by the MIT Solar Electric Vehicle Team, was recently unveiled at Johnson Rink in preparation for its participation in the American Solar Challenge.

May 16, 2018

The grand prize winner at this year’s MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition was Infinite Cooling, which is developing a system that captures and recycles vaporized water from thermoelectric power plants. Pictured here are the four Infinite Cooling team members, holding the big check (from left): Maher Damak, Karim Khalil, Kripa Varanasi, and Derek Warnick.

Device that recycles vaporized water from power plants wins MIT $100K

Eight teams pitched business ideas, and three took home cash prizes, at the annual entrepreneurship competition.

May 16, 2018

Kouichi Murakami (left), general manager of corporate research and development at IHI Corporation, meets with MIT Energy Initiative Director Robert Armstrong.

IHI Corporation to support MIT Energy Initiative

Tokyo-based IHI will join MITEI’s Low-Carbon Energy Center for Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage to reduce greenhouse gases and advance clean energy.

May 15, 2018

Mircea Dincă: Searching for materials that collect and store energy

A lifelong fascination with chemistry has led to research on exotic new materials with environmental advantages.

May 8, 2018

A team of researchers at MIT and elsewhere has come up with a way to figure out the best type of solar panel for a given location and type of installation.

How to assess new solar technologies

MIT analysis shows when and where advanced photovoltaics would be economic to install.

April 30, 2018

“What this study shows is that rather than shut down nuclear plants, you can operate them in a way that makes room for renewables,” says MIT Energy Initiative researcher Jesse Jenkins. “It shows that flexible nuclear plants can play much better with variable renewables than many people think, which might lead to reevaluations of the role of these two resources together.”

Keeping the balance: How flexible nuclear operation can help add more wind and solar to the grid

Model finds operating nuclear plants flexibly can reduce electricity costs, increase revenue for nuclear plants, and cut carbon emissions in electric power systems.

April 25, 2018

Grand prize winner of $15,000 at the annual MIT IDEAS Global Challenge showcase and awards ceremony went to Umbulizer, a team developing a low-cost, portable ventilator for patients in rural areas where medical resources are scarce and unreliable. Pictured is team member Moiz Imam, a senior in mechanical engineering at MIT, accepting the award from Kate Trimble, senior director of the Priscilla Ki...

IDEAS Global Challenge rewards inventions with social impact

At annual event, 10 teams split $92,500 in prize money for designing innovations that improve lives worldwide.

April 23, 2018

Assistant professor of nuclear science and engineering Mingda Li relishes the freedom of his new academic life, and the growing MIT network that sustains his research passions.

Deriving a theory of defects

Mingda Li seeks to harness atomic irregularities in materials for improved energy applications.

April 19, 2018

At Michigan State University’s W. K. Kellogg Biological Station, Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center researchers are evaluating the performance of a variety of novel bioenergy crop production systems for crop yield and quality, impacts on microbial-plant interactions, biogeochemical and biodiversity responses and water use.

Gauging the effects of water scarcity on an irrigated planet

Study projects likely impacts on food prices, bioenergy production, and deforestation.

April 19, 2018

Professor John Heywood is a leading expert on internal combustion engines. His seminal book, "Internal Combustion Engine Fundamentals," has been revised in a second edition to reflect recent technological advances that make the internal combustion engine more efficient and environmentally friendly.

3Q: John Heywood on the future of the internal combustion engine

Professor of mechanical engineering explains the importance of advancing internal combustion engines and offers his take on recent EPA rollbacks.

April 18, 2018

Lithio Storage, a team from Tufts University and Northwestern University, won the top $100,000 MIT Clean Energy Prize (CEP) for developing an electrolyte that helps batteries withstand much broader temperature ranges, making them safer, more energy efficient, and cheaper to operate. Pictured is team member and inventor Anthony D’Angelo (right) with (from left) CEP co-managing directors Lisa Khan...

MIT Clean Energy Prize rewards student innovation

Robust batteries, solar refrigeration, UV membrane cleaner, and smart factory technologies take home $140,000 in prize money.

April 17, 2018

MIT postdoc Theresa Wilks enjoys time in the DIII-D control room, where she oversees experiments that provide insights about plasma turbulence in fusion tokamaks.

Fine-tuning fusion

Postdoc Theresa Wilks finds home on the west coast, helming an MIT collaboration with the DIII-D tokamak fusion reactor.

April 9, 2018

Juliana Mitkiewicz (fourth from right) was a 2017 MIT D-Lab visiting graduate student. She is pictured in Estelí, Nicaragua with a group of MIT D-Lab: Gender and Development students and colleagues from Universidad Centroamericana de Nicaragua in January. From left to right: Janel Mendoza, Gabriela Orozco, Thea Louis, Olivia Waring, Mitkiewicz, Nelson Salazar, Migdalia Herrera, and Laureano Arcia...

3Q: Juliana Mitkiewicz on sustainable development and empowering women in developing countries

Former MIT D-Lab visiting graduate student is helping local communities address environmental challenges, improve regional economies, and promote gender equality.

April 6, 2018

Putting a price on carbon, in the form of a fee or tax on the producers of fossil fuels, can be an effective way to curb emissions of greenhouse gases.

Carbon taxes could make significant dent in climate change, study finds

Several different carbon-pricing approaches would help reduce emissions, and some would be fair as well, researchers report.