Sustainability

A new report by researchers from MIT’s Center for Sustainability Science and Strategy finds that the “world is on track to exceed key climate thresholds under current policies,” reports Ryan Krugman for Inside Climate News. The outlook is “based on MIT’s Integrated Global System Modeling framework, which links population growth, economic activity, energy use, and international policy decisions to changes in the global climate,” Krugman explains. “It’s not a reason to give up hope or stop the necessary action,” explains Sergey Paltsev, deputy director of the MIT Center for Sustainability Science and Strategy and a co-author of the report. “Limiting every degree possible matters, even every tenth of a degree.”

Brian Bergstein at The Boston Globe speaks with Bob Mumgaard SM '15, PhD '15, CEO of MIT spinout Commonwealth Fusion Systems, about the company’s efforts to advance fusion technologies.  “When the federal government said in 2012 that it would cut funding for the experimental fusion reactor on campus, the MIT researchers took that as an opportunity to develop new fusion techniques — which eventually formed the basis of CFS’s plans,” writes Bergstein. 

Prof. John Sterman speaks with Guardian reporters Dharna Noor and Oliver Milman about the climate concerns surrounding increased oil production in Venezuela. “If there are millions of barrels a day of new oil, that will add quite a lot of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere and the people of Earth can’t afford that,” says Sterman. 

New York Times reporter Rebecca Elliott spotlights Phoenix Tailings, a startup co-founded by MIT alumni that is developing a sustainable process for refining rare-earth refining in the United States. Elliott notes that Phoenix Tailings created a closed-loop design for their manufacturing method that “distinguishes this process from the more energy-intensive techniques used in China, where workers scoop up molten metal with ladles.”

MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics Research Scientist Sreedevi Rajagopalan speaks with Associated Press reporter Aya Diab about the impact of “fast shipping” options on emissions. “For the same demand, fast shipping definitely increases emissions 10 to 12%,” explains Rajagopalan. “Given that companies want to be competitive in terms of speed, it comes at the cost of your efficiency. Vans are half full, and you make multiple rounds, multiple trips to the same location … your fuel consumption goes up, and you’re not able to consolidate.”

Fortune contributor Andrew Winston highlights an analysis from the MIT Sustainable Supply Chain Lab, part of MIT’s Center for Transportation and Logistics, examining the role of sustainability in supply chains. The researchers found that “85% of companies were maintaining or accelerating sustainable supply chain practices.”

Researchers at MIT have developed a new physical model that can help “improve predictions of proton mobility across a wide range of metal oxides,” reports Ameya Paleja for Interesting Engineering. “This can help develop new materials and technologies powered by protons as charge carriers, rather than relying on lithium, which is widely used now,” explains Paleja. 

Lila Sciences, a startup co-founded by Prof. Rafael Gómez-Bombarelli, is developing new platforms aimed at enabling AI-driven laboratories to accelerate materials discovery for energy, sustainability, and computing, writes David Rotman for Technology Review. “If they succeed, these companies could shorten the discovery process from decades to a few years or less,” Rotman notes. 

A study by MIT researchers examining the carbon emissions of self-driving cars found that “the power required to run one billion driverless vehicles driving for one hour per day could consume as much energy as all existing data centers in the world,” reports Claire Brown for The New York Times. Graduate student Soumya Sudhakar explains that another big unknown is how autonomous vehicles could change the way people travel, adding to the uncertainty over the overall long-term emissions outlook for self-driving cars. 

CNN spotlights how MIT researchers have developed a new ultrasonic device that can extract clean drinking water from moisture in the atmosphere. “This method is much faster, we’re talking minutes instead of hours, compared to the old way,“ CNN explains. The new device “could be a game-changer in desert conditions, and for communities around the world that don’t have reliable access to drinking water.” 

Researchers at MIT have developed a new “system that uses a vibrating ceramic ring to produce clean drinking water from humid air in several minutes,” reports Matthew Burgos for DesignBoom. Burgos explains that with the system developed by MIT researchers, "clean water-making can take a few minutes versus the tens of minutes or hours required by thermal designs. In their system, the engineers use ultrasonic waves to shake the water out of the material that can absorb moisture from the air.” 

The MIT Sailing Pavilion will house the floating wetland - a pilot project aimed at finding ways to improve Charles River water quality and restore biodiversity - l for the winter season, reports Brianna Borghi for NBC Boston. “The Charles River Conservancy installed the 730-square-foot floating wetland in 2020 following years of research and development,” Borghi explains. “Under the surface, the floating wetland serves as a feeding ground for zooplankton, which help keep toxic algae blooms under control.” 

Yuly Fuentes-Medel of the MIT Climate Project speaks with Fast Company reporter Elizabeth Segran about how encouraging collaboration between shoe manufacturers could help increase shoe recycling. “The shoe industry is competitive, and these brands are rivals,” says Fuentes-Medel. “But by sharing costs, data, and infrastructure, they can achieve the sustainability goals that have eluded them for years.”

Stwart Peña Feliz MBA '23 co-founded MacroCycle, a startup that has “devised a way to pluck desirable synthetic fibers from waste textiles, leaving everything else behind,” reports Tim de Chant for TechCrunch. “MacroCycle differs because it doesn’t break down polymers,” explains Tim de Chant. “Instead, it loops the polymer chains back on themselves, forcing them into rings called macrocycles. Those macrocycles remain behind as different solvents wash away contaminants, which themselves could be recycled. Later, the rings are reopened to reform the polymer chain.” 

Prof. Peter Shor speaks with Katia Moskvitch and her nine-year-old son Kai of The Quantum Kid about how quantum technologies could be applied to developing climate change and sustainability solutions. Shor explains that quantum computers can be used for “simulating quantum mechanics, which would really help immensely in designing new materials, and new materials could be very useful for solving the climate crisis.”