Sustainability

“We are overusing natural resources. Why not be efficient with the climate?” Alpha Yacob Arsano says. “It is a misconception that building energy-efficient structures is more expensive. In the long-term it is much cheaper.”

Lessons from pre-industrial climate control

Graduate student Alpha Yacob Arsano wants to bring natural ventilation to the forefront of modern architecture.

July 24, 2017

The Varanasi research group visits the MIT Central Utilities Plant cooling towers, where they will test their water-recapture technology with support from the new Campus Sustainability Incubator Fund.

New fund makes MIT a living sustainability lab

MIT Office of Sustainability announces awards to multi-departmental projects that test management, design, and operations solutions on campus.

July 21, 2017

Angela Belcher (left) and Kristala Prather

3 Questions: Angela Belcher and Kristala Prather on the promise of energy bioscience

Engineers and co-directors of MITEI's Energy Bioscience Low-Carbon Energy Center discuss their vision for transforming the energy system.

July 10, 2017

Chemical engineering postdoc Antoni Forner-Cuenca (far right) explains work in the Brushett Lab on advanced flow batteries for grid-level energy storage to 2017 MPC-CMSE Summer Scholars (l-r) Kaila Holloway, Gaetana Michelet, Alexandra Oliveira, Saleem Iqbal, and Alejandro Aponte-Lugo. Forner-Cuenca is holding carbon paper where battery reactions take place.

Summer interns' lab work underway

Summer Scholars in materials science and engineering are tackling projects ranging from magnetic thin films to catalysts for energy.

July 3, 2017

Amanda Giang PhD '17 is working to empower local, regional and global decision makers with better policies to minimize impacts of mercury and other long-range persistent pollutants.

Monitoring and mitigating mercury

Amanda Giang PhD '17 models a pollutant’s pathways and helps decision makers craft more effective mitigation policies.

June 14, 2017

Letter regarding US withdrawal from Paris climate agreement

June 2, 2017

MIT issues statement regarding research on Paris Agreement

June 2, 2017

Dora Aldama: Drawn to multidimensional problems

MIT graduate student connects the business, engineering, and human elements of producing aerospace technology.

June 1, 2017

Participants at Sustainability Connect 2017 engaged in a workshop to explore what kinds of sustainability goals MIT might set in the future, on topics ranging from resilient buildings to food systems.

Sustainability Connect 2017 brings MIT together to balance needs of the present and future

Third annual conference explores innovation, social justice, and the Institute as a living lab for sustainability.

May 26, 2017

Participants in the Metals and Minerals for the Environment initiative’s first public symposium on May 11 and 12 at MIT gathered for a group shot outside Fariborz Maseeh Hall.

Envisioning the future of metal and mineral production

MIT researchers team up with leaders from the metals and minerals industry to envision a more sustainable future.

May 24, 2017

The winning team Lightmatter pose with organizers and friends.

MIT $100K winner’s optical chips perform AI computations at light speed

A flushless toilet that shrinks waste and a device that detects leaky pipes also won top prizes.

May 18, 2017

For their 2017 J-WAFS Seed Grant project, MIT professors Stephen Graves and Bishwapriya Sanyal will analyze irrigation practice, supply chain design, and extension services in Senegal. Their goal is to understand how policy and market conditions influence the availability of irrigation technologies in developing countries. Seen here: Irrigated rice cultivation in the Senegal River Valley.

J-WAFS awards $1.4 million in third round of seed grant funding

Principal investigators will receive grants of up to $200,000 per year for two years, overhead free, for innovative research on food and water challenges.

May 10, 2017

A new website, Energize_MIT, provides to the MIT community a broad swath of detailed information about energy use and carbon emissions on campus.

MIT opens its energy-use data to the community

Campus energy “dashboard” will provide detailed information to Institute’s faculty, staff, and students.

May 7, 2017

At the second annual Rabobank-MIT Food and Agribusiness Innovation Prize competition, seven finalist startups and teams from MIT and other universities pitched their business ideas to a panel of judges, for a chance to win prizes totaling $25,000. The pitches addressed some of today’s most pressing issues in the food and agriculture industries.

Funding solutions for pressing food and agriculture issues

Teams tackling crop spoilage, pesticide pollution, and farming efficiency win annual competition.

May 3, 2017

Conceptual sketch of the upgraded MIT Central Utilities Plant, as viewed from Portland Street

Mass. Department of Environmental Protection set to approve application for Central Utilities Plant upgrade

Public hearing scheduled for May 22.