Energy Reads

39 Episodes

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How are cities managing record-setting temperatures?

2023-11-2207:01

Following record heat levels in the summer of 2023, MIT Associate Professor David Hsu describes what cities are doing as climate change accelerates. Read the article: https://news.mit.edu/2023/3-questions-cities-managing-record-setting-temperatures-0905 Listen to more audio articles: https://energy.mit.edu/energyreads Join the mailing list or send us feedback: ⁠⁠https://energy.mit.edu/podcast/subscribe⁠⁠

MIT design would harness 40 percent of the sun's heat to produce clean hydrogen fuel

2023-11-0107:36

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 that can be used to power long-distance trucks, planes, and ships. Read the article: https://news.mit.edu/2023/mit-design-harness-suns-heat-produce-clean-hydrogen-fuel-1016 Listen to more audio articles: https://energy.mit.edu/energyreads Join the mailing list or send us feedback: ⁠⁠https://energy.mit.edu/podcast/subscribe⁠⁠

Explained: The 1.5 C climate benchmark

2023-10-1208:54

To prevent worsening and potentially irreversible effects of climate change, the world’s average temperature should not exceed that of preindustrial times by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius. But why 1.5 degrees C and how close are we to achieving this goal? Read the article: https://news.mit.edu/2023/explained-climate-benchmark-rising-temperatures-0827 Listen to more audio articles: https://energy.mit.edu/energyreads Join the mailing list or send us feedback: ⁠⁠https://energy.mit.edu/podcast/subscribe⁠⁠

Making aviation fuel from biomass

2023-09-2713:50

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/news/making-aviation-fuel-from-biomass Listen to more audio articles: https://energy.mit.edu/energyreads Join the mailing list or send us feedback: ⁠⁠https://energy.mit.edu/podcast/subscribe⁠⁠

Capturing methane before it warms the climate

2023-09-0607:48

Methane is the second most impactful human-generated greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide. Desirée Plata, an environmental engineer and professor at MIT, is developing tools to reduce methane with the goal of cutting emissions by 45% by 2030, which would save up to 0.5 degree Celsius of warming by 2100. Read the article: https://energy.mit.edu/news/straight-from-the-cows-mouth Listen to more audio articles: https://energy.mit.edu/energyreads Join the mailing list or send us feedback: ⁠⁠https://energy.mit.edu/podcast/subscribe⁠⁠

Footnote: How cities are reducing emissions by retrofitting buildings

2023-08-2336:07

40% of global carbon emissions come from buildings. MIT professor Christoph Reinhart joins us to discuss how cities are leveraging retrofits to increase building energy efficiency and reduce their carbon emissions. Dig deeper into our article "Cutting urban carbon emissions by retrofitting buildings" in this footnote edition of the podcast. Show notes and transcript: https://energy.mit.edu/news/footnote-how-cities-are-reducing-emissions-by-retrofitting-buildings Read the article: https://energy.mit.edu/news/cutting-urban-carbon-emissions-by-retrofitting-buildings Listen to more audio articles: https://energy.mit.edu/energyreads Join the mailing list or send us feedback: ⁠⁠https://energy.mit.edu/podcast/subscribe⁠⁠

Power to the people: MIT startup Waya Energy helps deliver universal electricity access

2023-08-0909:10

Waya Energy, a MITEI spinoff, is helping governments determine the most cost-effective ways to provide electricity to all their citizens. Read the article: https://energy.mit.edu/news/power-to-the-people Listen to more audio articles: https://energy.mit.edu/energyreads Join the mailing list or send us feedback: ⁠⁠https://energy.mit.edu/podcast/subscribe⁠⁠

Cutting urban carbon emissions by retrofitting buildings

2023-07-2617:39

Cities around the world have been adopting policies and incentive programs to encourage building retrofits to reduce their energy use and carbon emissions. But analyses from an MIT team have revealed that cities’ retrofit plans often won’t achieve their goals—although decarbonizing the local grid could make the difference. This episode follows the MIT News version of the article. Read it at: https://news.mit.edu/2023/cutting-urban-carbon-emissions-retrofitting-buildings-0713 Read the original, full-length article: https://energy.mit.edu/news/cutting-urban-carbon-emissions-by-retrofitting-buildings Listen to more audio articles: https://energy.mit.edu/energyreads Join the mailing list or send us feedback: ⁠⁠https://energy.mit.edu/podcast/subscribe⁠⁠

Footnote: Open SESAME, energy career paths, and the war in Ukraine

2023-07-1220:12

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 Ukraine, and how he's helping to deliver aid to Ukrainians on the frontlines. Dig deeper into our article "Responding to Ukraine's 'ocean of suffering'" in this footnote edition of the podcast. Show notes and transcript: https://energy.mit.edu/news/footnote-open-sesame-energy-career-paths-and-the-war-in-ukraine Read the article: https://energy.mit.edu/news/responding-to-ukraines-ocean-of-suffering Listen to more audio articles: https://energy.mit.edu/energyreads Join the mailing list or send us feedback: ⁠⁠https://energy.mit.edu/podcast/subscribe⁠⁠

Responding to Ukraine's "ocean of suffering"

2023-06-2808:27

Energy researcher Ian Miller is delivering medical aid, vehicles, and equipment to Ukrainians on the front lines through the nonprofit he co-founded, Zero Line. Read the article: https://energy.mit.edu/news/responding-to-ukraines-ocean-of-suffering Listen to more audio articles: https://energy.mit.edu/energyreads Join the mailing list or send us feedback: ⁠⁠https://energy.mit.edu/podcast/subscribe⁠⁠

Climate goals may take longer, but we’ll get there

2023-06-1408:07

Massachusetts has set ambitious goals for cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 2030. State Senator Mike Barrett discussed the challenges the state has faced in meeting those goals, focused particularly on obstacles to offshore wind development. Read the article: https://energy.mit.edu/news/climate-goals-may-take-longer-but-well-get-there Listen to more audio articles: https://energy.mit.edu/energyreads Join the mailing list or send us feedback: ⁠⁠https://energy.mit.edu/podcast/subscribe⁠⁠

Responsive design meets responsibility for the planet's future

2023-05-2408:44

MIT senior Sylas Horowitz is tackling engineering projects with a focus on challenges related to clean energy, climate justice, and sustainable development. Their personal mission is to create systems and technology that "serve the well-being and longevity of communities and the ecosystems we exist within." Read the article: https://energy.mit.edu/news/sylas-horowitz-responsive-design-meets-responsibility-for-the-planets-future Listen to more audio articles: https://energy.mit.edu/energyreads Join the mailing list or send us feedback: ⁠⁠⁠https://energy.mit.edu/podcast/subscribe⁠⁠

Flow batteries for grid-scale energy storage

2023-05-1015:58

A modeling framework by MIT researchers can help speed the development of flow batteries for large-scale, long-duration electricity storage on the future grid. Read the article: https://energy.mit.edu/news/flow-batteries-for-grid-scale-energy-storage Listen to more audio articles: https://energy.mit.edu/energyreads Join the mailing list or send us feedback: ⁠⁠⁠https://energy.mit.edu/podcast/subscribe⁠⁠

An education in climate change

2023-04-2609:27

Climate Action Through Education is a new multidisciplinary climate change curriculum for high schools that aims to engage and mobilize teachers and students in a range of disciplines—from science to language arts to math. Read the article: https://energy.mit.edu/news/new-multidisciplinary-climate-change-curriculum-for-high-schools-aims-to-engage-and-mobilize-teachers-and-students Listen to more audio articles: https://energy.mit.edu/energyreads Join the mailing list or send us feedback: ⁠⁠⁠https://energy.mit.edu/podcast/subscribe⁠⁠

Using combustion to make lithium-ion batteries

2023-04-1215:05

Combustion experts at MIT have designed a system that uses flames to produce materials critical to lithium-ion batteries. Their combustion-based method promises to be simpler, much quicker, and far less energy-intensive than the conventional method now used to manufacture cathode materials. Read the article: https://energy.mit.edu/news/using-combustion-to-make-lithium-ion-batteries Listen to more audio articles: https://energy.mit.edu/energyreads Join the mailing list or send us feedback: ⁠⁠⁠https://energy.mit.edu/podcast/subscribe⁠⁠

Shrinky Dinks, nail polish, and smelly bacteria

2023-03-2908:31

With the help of a children’s toy called Shrinky Dinks, carbon-based materials, nail polish, and a certain smelly bacterium, high school students spent the summer in an MIT lab creating electrodes for low-cost microbial fuel cells. Read the article: https://energy.mit.edu/news/shrinky-dinks-nail-polish-and-smelly-bacteria Listen to more audio articles: https://energy.mit.edu/energyreads Join the mailing list or send us feedback: ⁠⁠⁠https://energy.mit.edu/podcast/subscribe⁠⁠

Michael Howland gives wind energy a lift

2023-03-0810:05

By studying how climate change is affecting wind of the future, MIT Assistant Professor Michael Howland is optimizing wind farms and finding ways to create more reliable energy production. Read the article: https://energy.mit.edu/news/michael-howland-gives-wind-energy-a-lift Listen to more audio articles: https://energy.mit.edu/energyreads Join the mailing list or send us feedback: ⁠⁠⁠https://energy.mit.edu/podcast/subscribe⁠⁠

To decarbonize the chemical industry, electrify it

2023-02-2207:52

The chemical industry is the world’s largest industrial energy consumer and the third largest source of industrial emissions; and yet, the chemical industry has been largely untouched when it comes to decarbonization. In a new paper, researchers from MIT and DC-MUSE urge industry and the research community to explore electrification pathways to reduce chemical industry emissions. Read the article: https://energy.mit.edu/news/to-decarbonize-the-chemical-industry-electrify-it Listen to more audio articles: https://energy.mit.edu/energyreads Join the mailing list or send us feedback: ⁠⁠⁠https://energy.mit.edu/podcast/subscribe⁠⁠

3 Questions: Antje Danielson on energy education and its role in climate action

2023-02-0810:33

As MITEI’s director of education, Antje Danielson manages a team devoted to training the next generation of energy innovators, entrepreneurs, and policy makers. She discusses new initiatives in MITEI’s education program and how they are preparing students to take an active role in climate action. Read the article: https://energy.mit.edu/news/3-questions-antje-danielson-on-energy-education-and-its-role-in-climate-action Listen to more audio articles: https://energy.mit.edu/energyreads Join the mailing list or send us feedback: ⁠⁠⁠https://energy.mit.edu/podcast/subscribe⁠⁠

Paper-thin solar cell can turn any surface into a power source

2023-01-2507:17

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 conventional solar cells while generating about 18x more power-per-kg. Read the article: https://news.mit.edu/2022/ultrathin-solar-cells-1209 Listen to more audio articles: https://energy.mit.edu/energyreads Join the mailing list or send us feedback: ⁠⁠⁠https://energy.mit.edu/podcast/subscribe⁠⁠

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