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Climate News at MIT

India has pledged to reduce its carbon emissions, a difficult task as the country’s electric power system relies on many coal-burning power plants. While some of the plants are fuel-efficient (right), many more are not (left). MITEI researchers have explored and clarified India’s decarbonization options and have posted their methods and results for use by other countries in the midst of similar energy transitions.

How can India decarbonize its coal-dependent electric power system?

A detailed MIT analysis identifies some promising options but also raises unexpected concerns.
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Left to right: Lalitha Venkataramanan, scientific advisor and SLB research center manager; Kelly Gavin, MIT.nano consortium manager; Vladimir Bulović, MIT.nano director and the Fariborz Maseeh (1990) Professor of Emerging Technologies at MIT; and Smaine Zeroug, research director and SLB ambassador to MIT.

SLB joins the MIT.nano Consortium

The energy innovation company becomes a sustaining member.
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Participants of the MIT-Portugal Program Annual Conference 2024

The MIT-Portugal Program enters Phase 4

New phase will support continued exploration of ideas and solutions in fields ranging from AI to nanotech to climate — with emphasis on educational exchanges and entrepreneurship.
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For the coastal country of Bangladesh, once-in-a-century storm tides could strike every 10 years — or more often — by the end of the century, scientists report. In this photo, a Bangladeshi woman and child walk over the top of a sandbag embankment in Khulna on May 4, 2019.

Hundred-year storm tides will occur every few decades in Bangladesh, scientists report

With projected global warming, the frequency of extreme storms will ramp up by the end of the century, according to a new study.
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MIT PhD candidate Shaylin Cetegen (pictured) and her colleagues, Professor Emeritus Truls Gundersen of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and Professor Emeritus Paul Barton of MIT, have developed a comprehensive assessment of the potential role of “liquid air energy storage” for large-scale, long-duration storage on electric power grids of the future.

Using liquid air for grid-scale energy storage

New research finds liquid air energy storage could be the lowest-cost option for ensuring a continuous power supply on a future grid dominated by carbon-free but intermittent sources of electricity.
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Pictured here is the Hedwig Oldendorff vessel at the Port of Taicang, China, prior to the start of the emission monitoring voyage.

Study: Burning heavy fuel oil with scrubbers is the best available option for bulk maritime shipping

Researchers analyzed the full lifecycle of several fuel options and found this approach has a comparable environmental impact, overall, to burning low-sulfur fuels.
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