Pollution

A destructive wildfire burned through Canada’s Northern Alberta region, razing neighborhoods in Fort McMurray and displacing tens of thousands of residents.

Climate models may be overestimating the cooling effect of wildfire aerosols

Study finds accounting for year-to-year variability enables more accurate projections of climate change and its impacts.

November 29, 2016

University students walk through dense air pollution at Anyang Normal University in Henan Province, China.

Enabling China to shift from coal to natural gas

How an enhanced cap-and-trade system can help the world’s top carbon emitter cut emissions and improve air quality.

November 18, 2016

A silver-based catalyst material with a porous honeycomb-like structure, developed by the MIT team, can selectively transform carbon dioxide (CO2) to carbon monoxide (CO).

Turning greenhouse gas into gasoline

New catalyst provides design principles for producing fuels from carbon dioxide emissions.

November 15, 2016

A new study by researchers at MIT and elsewhere has found that, rather than adopting a standard for automotive gas-mileage ratings, the EU could achieve the same results at far lower cost to the economy by simply extending their existing emissions-trading system to encompass transportation rather than just electricity generation and energy intensive industry.

What’s the best way for Europe to curb greenhouse emissions from cars?

Emissions trading would be more effective than mileage standards, new study shows.

November 8, 2016

ROBOAT, a new collaboration between researchers from MIT and partner institutions in the Netherlands, seeks to design and deploy a fleet of autonomous boats on the canals of Amsterdam.

An autonomous fleet for Amsterdam

MIT, AMS Institute will collaborate to solve complex urban problems for Amsterdam with the development of autonomous "roboats."

September 19, 2016

A study led by MIT researchers suggests that using mobile-phone data to track people’s movement provides a deeper picture of exposure to pollution in urban settings, compared to only studying air-quality levels in fixed places.

Measuring exposure to pollution

Mobile-phone data helps researchers study an urban problem in greater detail.

September 1, 2016

A team of researchers, including graduate student Maher Damak (left) and associate professor of mechanical engineering Kripa K. Varanasi, have found a way to drastically cut down on the amount of pesticide liquid that bounces off plants.

Reducing runoff pollution by making spray droplets less bouncy

MIT researchers find a way to make pesticides stick to leaves instead of bouncing off.

August 30, 2016

Collectively, piston-engine aircraft like this Cirrus SR22 constitute the nation’s largest remaining source of lead emissions.

Unfriendly skies: Piston engine aircraft pose a significant health threat

Study shows long-lasting health, economic impacts of lead emissions from U.S. general aviation flights.

August 26, 2016

Nighttime image of New York City, with the red showing a large population density. “The adoption potential of electric vehicles is remarkably similar across cities, from dense urban areas like New York, to sprawling cities like Houston. This goes against the view that electric vehicles — at least affordable ones, which have limited range — only really work in dense urban centers,” says Jes...

Can today’s EVs make a dent in climate change?

Electric vehicles can meet drivers’ needs enough to replace nearly 90 percent of vehicles now on the road.

August 15, 2016

Zhang Gaoli (seated, right), vice premier of China, whose portfolio includes environmental issues, speaks with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry at the outset of a meeting about climate change and other topics at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, on Nov. 11, 2014.

Meeting climate goals through international carbon markets

Linking emissions trading systems in developed and developing countries could yield environmental, economic benefits.

July 29, 2016

“The Cultures of Markets: The Political Economy of Climate Governance,” by Janelle Knox-Hayes (pictured), published by Oxford University Press.

Market makers

Good emissions trading programs are unique, not one-size-fits-all, new book argues.

July 26, 2016

Jareth Holt, Susan Solomon, and Noelle Selin of the MIT Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences have developed new insights into how energy-related emissions form fine airborne particles that damage human health.

Regulating particulate pollution: Novel analysis yields new insights

MIT researchers demonstrate a new approach to designing location-specific emissions-control measures.

July 11, 2016

David Hagan, a Tata Fellow and MIT PhD candidate in civil and environmental engineering, is designing and building low-cost sensors that could be deployed in dense networks to monitor air pollution.

Air quality sensors track pollution

Research from MIT's Tata Center for Technology and Design is helping to quantify emissions in the world’s most polluted cities.

June 15, 2016

Coal barges head upstream on the Huangpu River in Shanghai.

Target coal or carbon?

Researchers are analyzing coal and energy caps as carbon policy instruments for China.

May 24, 2016

Higher coal use in Asia could increase water stress

Aerosol emissions would slow warming but suppress rainfall.

April 28, 2016

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