Renewable energy

“Learning from this model, we can understand what’s really going on in these superconductors, and what one should do to make higher-temperature superconductors, approaching hopefully room temperature,” says Martin Zwierlein, professor of physics and principal investigator in MIT’s Research Laboratory of Electronics.

For first time, researchers see individual atoms keep away from each other or bunch up as pairs

Observations of atomic interactions could help pave way to room-temperature superconductors.

September 15, 2016

MIT spinout EverVest has built a data-analytics platform that gives investors rapid, accurate cash-flow models and financial risk analyses for renewable-energy projects.

Calculating the financial risks of renewable energy

Financial-modeling software for sustainable-infrastructure projects could boost investment in sector.

September 15, 2016

Québec Premier Philippe Couillard delivers remarks after Professor Pierre-Olivier Pineau, chair in energy sector management at HEC Montréal; MIT Vice President for Research Maria Zuber; and Ouranos Executive Director Alain Bourque sign an agreement to launch a new research collaboration to analyze cross-border, low-carbon energy policy options.

MIT, Québec research institutions launch initiative to analyze low-carbon energy policy options

Focusing on New England/Québec Region, Québec premier and MIT vice president for research speak at Boston signing ceremony; Hydro-Québec CEO pledges funding.

August 29, 2016

MIT graduate student George Ni holds a bubble-wrapped, sponge-like device that soaks up natural sunlight and heats water to boiling temperatures, generating steam through its pores.

Sponge creates steam using ambient sunlight

Bubble-wrapped structure requires no mirrors or lenses to focus the sun’s heat.

August 22, 2016

In an invited report and presentation at the White House ahead of the Paris climate negotiations, Jessika Trancik of the MIT Institute for Data, Systems, and Society described an analysis that she and her colleagues at MIT and Tsinghua University performed, including results that demonstrate a mutually reinforcing cycle between emissions-reduction policies and technology development.

Reducing emissions, improving technology: A mutually reinforcing cycle

An MIT study on the connection between technology development and emissions-reduction policies informs Paris climate negotiations.

August 8, 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

Back row (l-r): Rebecca Pearl-Martinez, Kathryn Zyla, Suzanne Tegen, Shelee Kimura. Front row (l-r): Nicky Phear, Sarah Kurtz, Maria Kingery, Jodie Wu. Not pictured: Debora Rodrigues

Leading and transforming the global energy sector to address climate change

2016 C3E symposium convenes international leaders on climate, energy, and diversity.

July 5, 2016

CoalMap is an online tool that allows users explore the potential effects of various market factors on the cost-competitiveness of coal versus renewable energy.

Mapping coal’s decline and renewables' rise

CoalMap online tool shows what policy regulations and technological advancements can do for the cost-competitiveness of solar and wind energy.

June 22, 2016

“Researchers and practitioners have struggled to compare the costs of different [energy] storage technologies, because of the multiple dimensions of cost and the fact that no technology dominates along all dimensions," says Jessika Trancik, the Atlantic Richfield Career Development Assistant Professor of Energy Studies at MIT.

Energy storage for renewables can be a good investment today, study finds

Systems that bank energy can add value to solar and wind projects.

June 13, 2016

A new concept for a flow battery functions like an old hourglass or egg timer, with particles (in this case carried as a slurry) flowing through a narrow opening from one tank to another. The flow can then be reversed by turning the device over.

New concept turns battery technology upside-down

Pump-free design for flow battery could offer advantages in cost and simplicity.

May 25, 2016

While all research in traditional photovoltaics faces the same underlying theoretical limitations, MIT PhD student David Bierman says, “with solar thermal photovoltaics you have the possibility to exceed that.”

Hot new solar cell

System converts solar heat into usable light, increasing device’s overall efficiency.

May 23, 2016

Fred Krupp, executive director of the Environmental Defense Fund

Balancing realism and hope for the future

The Environmental Defense Fund's Fred Krupp speaks about the Paris Climate Agreement at MIT.

April 20, 2016

MIT Energy Initiative and AVANGRID to study the future of the electricity industry

A new collaboration could inform New York’s Reforming the Energy Vision initiative by simulating the impact of distributed resources on the power system.

March 30, 2016

Shown here is guest speaker Ernest Moniz (right), with Robert Armstrong, director of the MIT Energy Initiative.

“Big meets small” at annual MIT Energy Conference

Speakers describe energy solutions at varying scales, and need for further progress.

March 8, 2016

Innovation, Ernest Moniz said, is “the essence of America’s strength.”

Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz touts great opportunities in energy

New international agreement on “Mission Innovation” could lead to major progress on climate change.

March 4, 2016

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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