Sustainability

Students gather in the Stata Center to hear the 2019 MIT EnergyHack challenges. Participants had 36 hours to come up with a solution to the challenge they were assigned with their team members before presenting to company representatives, fellow hackers, and judges.

Hacking into a sustainable energy future

The 2019 MIT EnergyHack presented opportunities for students and companies to collaborate and solve problems facing the energy sector today.

December 11, 2019

A 70-unit British Columbia lakeside resort hotel was built with local engineered wood products, including cross-laminated timber. New research explores the potential environmental and economic impact in the United States of substituting lumber for energy-intensive building products such as cement and steel.

Taking the carbon out of construction with engineered wood

Substituting lumber for materials such as cement and steel could cut building emissions and costs.

December 11, 2019

Moungi Bawendi, the Lester Wolfe Professor of Chemistry at MIT, described recent progress on new kinds of solar cell materials.

Getting the carbon out of the electricity sector

MIT symposium looks at the role of advances in storage, solar, nuclear, EVs and more in cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

December 9, 2019

MIT Dining recently won the New England Food Vision Prize. "Food from Here" combines resources from area universities, local food-processing collaboratives, and regional farms to sustainably increase the amount of local food served on campus.

MIT Dining wins the New England Food Vision Prize

The $250,000 prize is awarded to six teams of college and university dining programs to bring more local food to campus menus.

December 6, 2019

Professor Thomas Peacock (left) with graduate students Rohit Balasaheb Supekar (center) and Carlos Munoz Royo (right) aboard the RV Sally Ride.

Understanding the impact of deep-sea mining

Mining materials from the sea floor could help secure a low-carbon future, but researchers are racing to understand the environmental effects.

December 5, 2019

Researchers have used silk derived from ordinary silkworm cocoons, like those seen here, mixed with bacteria and nutrients, to make a coating for seeds that can help them germinate and grow even in salty soil.

Coated seeds may enable agriculture on marginal lands

A specialized silk covering could protect seeds from salinity while also providing fertilizer-generating microbes.

November 25, 2019

The Hive Garden, a first-of-its-kind pollinator garden at MIT, recently opened on Saxon Lawn.

MIT’s new sustainability garden creates a buzz

Collaborative process makes space for community, plants, and pollinators alike.

November 25, 2019

MITEI’s "Insights into Future Mobility" report highlights the importance of near-term action to ensure the long-term sustainability of personal mobility.

MIT Energy Initiative report charts pathways for sustainable personal transportation

Technological innovations, policies, and behavioral changes will all be needed to reach Paris climate agreement targets.

November 19, 2019

Oil and natural gas wells require concrete to seal the area between the well casing and the surrounding borehole, but because of the high temperatures and pressures at depth, it has been hard to study how these specialized cements harden. Now, a new method developed at MIT can help to fill in that missing knowledge.

New tools could improve the way cement seals oil wells

Techniques for observing concrete as it sets could facilitate the development of new cements.

November 12, 2019

A new report from MIT outlines how companies in the fossil fuel business can make better use of scenarios to show their vulnerabilities, as well as their opportunities, in a world facing major climate change.

MIT report provides guidance on climate-related financial disclosures

Recommendations could help companies deliver more useful disclosures to investors on risks they face due to climate change.

November 6, 2019

3 Questions: When the student becomes the teacher

Grad student Brandon Leshchinskiy created EarthDNA Ambassadors, an outreach program “for the Earth, for future generations.”

November 5, 2019

Joe Higgins named vice president for campus services and stewardship

New position to oversee facilities, construction, planning, sustainability, and EHS.

November 1, 2019

Susanne Moser, director of Susanne Moser Research and Consulting, addresses MIT’s second Symposium on Climate Change. In the background are Andrew Steer, president and CEO of the World Resources Institute, and Richard Schmalensee, the Howard W. Johnson Professor of Management and Professor of Economics Emeritus at the MIT Sloan School of Management, who moderated the panel discussions.

Symposium explores challenges of adapting to climate change

“Uncertainty is a reason to act, not to wait,” panelists agree.

October 31, 2019

If the world is to be free of hunger and malnutrition in accordance with the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals, actions to strengthen the resilience and adaptive capacity of food systems must be rapidly implemented in order to adapt to climate change. Research launched by J-WAFS seeks to map out the most strategic ways that research can be used to ensure a global transition toward food-system ...

J-WAFS zeroes in on food security as agricultural impacts of the climate crisis become more apparent

The Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab presents a new report on climate, agriculture, water, and food security — with plans for more research.

October 30, 2019

System provides cooling with no electricity

Passive device relies on a layer of material that blocks incoming sunlight but lets heat radiate away.