Energy

A new study found that cities with an orderly pattern, like the street grid seen in most of this map, have a much greater urban heat island effect than those with a more disorderly pattern, such as areas in the upper right.

Urban heat island effects depend on a city’s layout

The way streets and buildings are arranged makes a big difference in how heat builds up, study shows.

February 22, 2018

3 Questions: The future of nuclear energy

Jacopo Buongiorno and John Parsons, co-directors of the MITEI Low-Carbon Energy Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems, discuss how to overcome the challenges and realize the benefits of expanding nuclear power.

February 21, 2018

Pablo Rodriguez Fernandez, first author of the study and a graduate student in the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering

Integrated simulations answer 20-year-old question in fusion research

Study finds that turbulence competes in fusion plasmas to rapidly respond to temperature perturbations.

February 16, 2018

The team’s test device, which has been deployed on the roof of an MIT building for several months, was used to prove the principle behind their new energy-harvesting concept. The test device is the black box at right, behind a weather-monitoring system (white) and a set of test equipment to monitor the device’s performance (larger black case at left).

System draws power from daily temperature swings

Technology developed at MIT can harness temperature fluctuations of many kinds to produce electricity.

February 15, 2018

Jennifer Rupp's current ceramics research applications range from battery-based storage for renewable energy, to energy-harvesting systems, to devices used to store data during computation.

Jennifer Rupp: Engineering practical ceramics

Assistant professor in EECS is developing materials with novel structures and useful applications, including renewable energy and information storage.

February 9, 2018

MIT engineers working with scientists in Kuwait have found that volcanic rocks, when pulverized into a fine ash, can be used as a sustainable additive in concrete structures.

Cities of the future may be built with locally available volcanic ash

Study finds adding volcanic ash reduces the overall energy required to manufacture concrete.

February 6, 2018

Carissa Skye a third-year physics major who interned at Shell in Hamburg, Germany, poses at the top of the Hamburg Planetarium.

Undergrads gain experience in energy sector with MITEI member companies

MISTI places MIT students in energy-focused internships abroad.

February 6, 2018

The co-directors of MITEI’s Low-Carbon Energy Center for Electric Power Systems Research are (left) Christopher Knittel, the George P. Shultz Professor of Applied Economics at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and Francis O'Sullivan, director of research for the MIT Energy Initiative.

3 Questions: Transforming our electric power system

Christopher Knittel and Francis O'Sullivan, co-directors of the MITEI Low-Carbon Energy Center for Electric Power Systems Research, are exploring cleaner, more reliable, and more cost-effective solutions.

February 2, 2018

On Jan. 25, the MIT Climate Action Team organized a carbon-pricing panel that included (from left to right) Massachusetts State Sen. Michael Barrett, State Rep. Jennifer Benson, Climate XChange Research and Policy Director Marc Breslow, Associate Professor Janelle Knox-Hayes, Joint Program Co-director and Sloan School of Management Senior Lecturer John Reilly, and Center for Energy and Environment...

Is Massachusetts ready for carbon pricing?

Panel at MIT explores benefits, costs, and political challenges.

January 30, 2018

Soon-to-be assistant professor Jing Li’s training in economics allows her to examine each step as a clean energy technology progresses from the lab to the marketplace.

Jing Li: Applying economics to energy technology

Soon-to-be assistant professor of applied economics focuses on development and deployment solutions that can help the world move to a low-carbon future.

January 30, 2018

Professor William Tisdale (left), Rachel Gilmore PhD '17, and their colleagues are developing novel methods of synthesizing quantum dot materials for use in solar cells, LEDs, and more. Testing confirms that their new techniques enable them to control the nanoscale structure of their materials — the key to high performance in energy devices.

Novel methods of synthesizing quantum dot materials

MIT researchers are optimizing nanostructures for energy devices such as solar cells.

January 24, 2018

A type of battery first invented nearly five decades ago could catapult to the forefront of energy storage technologies, thanks to a new finding by researchers at MIT.

A new approach to rechargeable batteries

New metal-mesh membrane could solve longstanding problems and lead to inexpensive power storage.

January 22, 2018

MIT researchers, looking for ways to turn heat into electricity, find efficient possibilities in certain topological materials.

Turning heat into electricity

Study finds topological materials could boost the efficiency of thermoelectric devices.

January 16, 2018

$Hydraulic fracturing is an industrial process in which a mixture of water, sand, and chemicals is injected into a well at rates of up to 4,000 gallons per minute, at pressures up to 10,000 pounds per square inch.$

Charting gas and oil's future in a decarbonizing world

New analytical method addressing the dynamic nature of the petroleum industry could enable more accurate energy scenarios.

January 12, 2018

A drawing illustrates the unusual topological landscape around a pair of features known as exceptional points (red dots), showing the emergence of a Fermi arc (pink line at center), and exotic polarization contours that form a Mobius-strip-like texture (top and bottom strips).

New exotic phenomena seen in photonic crystals

Researchers observe, for the first time, topological effects unique to an “open” system.

January 11, 2018

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