Energy
“If one advance could transform America's prospects, it would be ready access, at scale, to a range of affordable, renewable, low-carbon energy technologies. Only one path will lead to such transformative technologies: research.” - Susan Hockfield
Many highly populated coastal regions around the globe suffer from severe drought conditions. In an effort to deliver fresh water to these regions, while also considering how to produce the water...
When the Deepwater Horizon oil rig suffered a catastrophic explosion and blowout on April 21, 2010, leading to the worst oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry, the well’s operators...
Recognizing the critical need for scalable energy storage solutions to develop regional energy systems in China,...
When you charge a battery, or when you use it, it’s not just electricity but also matter that moves around inside. Ions, which are atoms or molecules that have an electric charge, travel from one...
Energy demand for transportation — which today accounts for approximately one-fifth of the world’s energy consumption — is expected to rise substantially as a growing middle class in emerging...
Let’s say country X is sitting on an abundance of oil reserves. If its institutions are strong and stable — think Norway — then society will benefit. If, on the other hand, its institutions are...
Three MIT-affiliated research teams will receive about $10M in funding as part of a $35M materials science discovery program launched by the Toyota...
Vermont senator Bernie Sanders made a forceful pitch for his progressive political vision in a talk at MIT on Friday evening, asserting that U.S. politics “must be” liberal in nature if the...
Before sophomore Sara Hauptman set foot in a nuclear science and engineering (NSE) class, she was learning to operate MIT’s nuclear reactor. “When I heard my first lectures describing reactor...
Assistant professor of nuclear science and engineering Michael Short and collaborators — professors Bilge Yildiz, Matteo Bucci, and Evelyn Wang, as well as the MIT Nuclear Reactor Laboratory and...
The MIT Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering (NSE) Graduate Student Expo, which traditionally kicks off the visiting weekend for prospective graduate students, was held on March 17. In...
In a time of political transition and uncertainty in the U.S. and abroad, questions inevitably arise about the future of the energy sector. How will the shift to a low-carbon economy play out? How...
In the power grid, supply and demand need to match exactly. If consumers demand more power than producers can supply, or if producers provide more power than consumers need, the result can be...
More than 600 acres of solar panels have been successfully installed and connected on land in North Carolina and are delivering their power into the nation’s grid, thanks to a power purchase...
Lourdes Melgar SM ’88 PhD ’92, the Robert Wilhelm Fellow at the Center of International Studies at MIT and Mexico’s former deputy secretary of energy for hydrocarbons, recently...
After more than three and a half years of service as the 13th U.S. Secretary of Energy, nuclear physicist Ernest J. Moniz has returned to his roots at MIT, the place where he served most of his...
Researchers at MIT and Carnegie Mellon University are studying a new kind of electrolyte for “self-healing” lithium battery cells, which will be formed by adding a halide element such as iodine,...
One of the key technologies needed to transform world energy supplies away from fossil fuels and toward clean, renewable sources is a cheap and reliable way of storing and releasing energy. That...
Maria T. Zuber, vice president for research and the E.A. Griswold Professor of Geophysics within the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, recently published an...
Zachary Hulcher was once set on becoming a lawyer. In high school, he took part in mock trials and competed in youth judicial, playing the role of legal counsel and presenting cases in front of a...
Residential solar power is on a sharp rise in the United States as photovoltaic systems become cheaper and more powerful for homeowners. A 2012 study by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)...
As the world transitions to a low-carbon energy future, near-term, large-scale deployment of solar power will be critical to mitigating climate change by midcentury. Climate scientists estimate...
From mimicking the natural characteristics of photosynthesis in human-made solar energy systems, to modeling plasma behavior in fusion reactor designs, some of MIT's newest faculty bring a wide...
Mother nature is like a restless child who fidgets even when at rest, because electrons are never completely at rest, even at the coldest temperatures, says Professor Senthil Todadri, a...
Most batteries are composed of two solid, electrochemically active layers called electrodes, separated by a polymer membrane infused with a liquid or gel electrolyte. But recent research has...