Energy Reads
Activity Overview
Episode publication activity over the past year
Episodes
How are cities managing record-setting temperatures?
22 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Following record heat levels in the summer of 2023, MIT Associate Professor David Hsu describes what cities are doing as climate change accelerates. R...
MIT design would harness 40 percent of the sun's heat to produce clean hydrogen fuel
01 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
MIT engineers have designed a new train-like system that harnesses the sun's heat to split water and generate hydrogen—a green, carbon-free fuel...
Explained: The 1.5 C climate benchmark
12 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
To prevent worsening and potentially irreversible effects of climate change, the world’s average temperature should not exceed that of preindustrial...
Making aviation fuel from biomass
27 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A new processing technique developed by an MIT-led team may be the key to 100% sustainable aviation fuel. Read the article: https://energy.mit.edu/new...
Capturing methane before it warms the climate
06 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Methane is the second most impactful human-generated greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide. Desirée Plata, an environmental engineer and professor at M...
Footnote: How cities are reducing emissions by retrofitting buildings
23 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
40% of global carbon emissions come from buildings. MIT professor Christoph Reinhart joins us to discuss how cities are leveraging retrofits to increa...
Power to the people: MIT startup Waya Energy helps deliver universal electricity access
09 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Waya Energy, a MITEI spinoff, is helping governments determine the most cost-effective ways to provide electricity to all their citizens. Read the art...
Cutting urban carbon emissions by retrofitting buildings
26 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Cities around the world have been adopting policies and incentive programs to encourage building retrofits to reduce their energy use and carbon emiss...
Footnote: Open SESAME, energy career paths, and the war in Ukraine
12 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Energy researcher Ian Miller joins us to discuss modeling renewable energy, living in an active combat zone, energy and its connection to the war in U...
Responding to Ukraine's "ocean of suffering"
28 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Energy researcher Ian Miller is delivering medical aid, vehicles, and equipment to Ukrainians on the front lines through the nonprofit he co-founded, ...
Climate goals may take longer, but we’ll get there
14 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Massachusetts has set ambitious goals for cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 2030. State Senator Mike Barrett discussed the challenges the state has ...
Responsive design meets responsibility for the planet's future
24 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
MIT senior Sylas Horowitz is tackling engineering projects with a focus on challenges related to clean energy, climate justice, and sustainable develo...
Flow batteries for grid-scale energy storage
10 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A modeling framework by MIT researchers can help speed the development of flow batteries for large-scale, long-duration electricity storage on the fut...
An education in climate change
26 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Climate Action Through Education is a new multidisciplinary climate change curriculum for high schools that aims to engage and mobilize teachers and s...
Using combustion to make lithium-ion batteries
12 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Combustion experts at MIT have designed a system that uses flames to produce materials critical to lithium-ion batteries. Their combustion-based metho...
Shrinky Dinks, nail polish, and smelly bacteria
29 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
With the help of a children’s toy called Shrinky Dinks, carbon-based materials, nail polish, and a certain smelly bacterium, high school students sp...
Michael Howland gives wind energy a lift
08 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
By studying how climate change is affecting wind of the future, MIT Assistant Professor Michael Howland is optimizing wind farms and finding ways to c...
To decarbonize the chemical industry, electrify it
22 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The chemical industry is the world’s largest industrial energy consumer and the third largest source of industrial emissions; and yet, the chemical ...
3 Questions: Antje Danielson on energy education and its role in climate action
08 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As MITEI’s director of education, Antje Danielson manages a team devoted to training the next generation of energy innovators, entrepreneurs, and po...
Paper-thin solar cell can turn any surface into a power source
25 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A new development from MIT can quickly and easily turn any surface into a power source. These thin-film solar cells weigh about 100x less than convent...
Coming soon in Energy Futures magazine
11 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The next issue of the MIT Energy Initiative's Energy Futures magazine is releasing this month. In this episode, we are sharing a sneak peek of som...
Decarbonization amid global crises
21 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
At MITEI's Fall Colloquium, Philip Sharp, the former president of Resources for the Future, highlighted dramatic steps the U.S. government has rec...
Reversing the charge
07 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Could battery power from electric vehicles dispatched to the grid open a fast lane to a net-zero future? A new MITEI study uncovers how electric vehic...
Policies to cut carbon emissions
22 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
How do different carbon tax policies impact U.S. household budgets? MIT researchers have developed a method to determine which U.S. households win and...
Unpacking U.S. climate and infrastructure laws
10 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) is currently taking place in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, bringing together governments, experts,...
Turning carbon dioxide into valuable products
02 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
MIT chemical engineers are speeding up a chemical reaction key to converting carbon dioxide emissions into useful, valuable products. The secret to th...
New class explores paths to reducing transportation emissions
20 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Cutting carbon emissions from transportation is essential to any strategy addressing climate change. Decarbonizing Urban Mobility, a first-of-its-kind...
3 Questions: Emre Gençer on the role of blue hydrogen in decarbonizing the world’s energy systems
28 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What role will blue hydrogen play in decarbonizing the world's energy systems? MITEI Research Scientist Emre Gençer discusses findings from resea...
Porous materials designed to trap molecules
14 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
MIT researchers have demonstrated a new approach to making porous materials called zeolites designed to capture molecules for specific uses, including...
MIT spinoff Takachar processes waste biomass to reduce airborne emissions
01 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
MIT spinoff Takachar is transforming waste biomass—a major contributor to air pollution—into solid, clean-burning fuel. Winner of the 2021 Earthsh...
Lessons from energy leaders
18 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
MITEI's IAP course "Leading the Energy Transition" connects students with practitioners and experts to inspire new leadership in the cle...
Bridging careers in aerospace manufacturing and fusion energy with a focus on intentional inclusion
04 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
MIT alum Joy Dunn '08 spent a decade working in aerospace manufacturing at SpaceX before joining Commonwealth Fusion Systems, where she plays a ke...
Making hydrogen power a reality
21 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Hydrogen has long been seen as potentially game-changing in the quest for a clean energy future. At MITEI's 2022 Spring Symposium, four industry e...
Building consensus on concessions
07 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
There's only one financially solvent utility company in Africa, and it operates under a government agreement called a concession. Learn why utilit...
Using nature’s structures in wooden buildings
23 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Utilizing digital and computational methods, MIT researchers have developed an approach that enables architects to use discarded tree forks as load-be...
Investors awake to the risks of climate change
24 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
At the MIT Energy Initiative's Fall Colloquium, Poppy Allonby, a senior financial executive and the former managing director of BlackRock, laid ou...
Francesco Benedetti: Building communities, founding a startup with people in mind
12 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Inspired by the MIT community and assisted by his collaborators, postdoc Francesco Benedetti launched a startup to provide innovative technology for e...
Making the case for hydrogen in a zero-carbon economy
24 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In a study analyzing California’s power system, MITEI researchers Emre Gençer and Drake D. Hernandez SM ’21 show that hydrogen-generated electric...
Via Separations: MITEI spin-off takes aim at industrial decarbonization
01 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Many industries use energy-intensive methods to separate liquids, often because a suitable filtration system is hard to come by. Startup Via Separatio...