In an article for The Huffington Post, Erik Rancatore highlights how “researchers at the MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub have developed a method to incorporate the risk and repair costs of damage from hurricanes and earthquakes into life-cycle analysis of residential buildings.”
National Geographic reporter Wendy Koch writes that colleges are developing ways to produce their own energy, highlighting MIT's efforts to become energy independent and reduce emissions. “There’s an emerging movement in higher education toward resiliency,” says Julie Newman, director of MIT’s Office of Sustainability. MIT’s plans will enable the university to “withstand anything that happens around us.”
In an interview with Eduardo Porter of The New York Times, Prof. Christopher Knittel speaks about whether a carbon tax could be effective in the U.S. According to Porter, Knittel explains that “a properly calibrated carbon price in the United States could effectively replace all the climate-related regulations businesses hate so much.”
Engadget’s Timpthy Seppala reports that MIT researchers have developed a model for estimating gas and electricity for every building in Boston. Seppla explains that, “the idea here is to use the model as a way of making Beantown more energy efficient across the board.”
In an article for The Boston Globe, David Abel writes about MIT’s efforts to combat climate change. Abel notes that, “MIT is embarking on an unprecedented program to accelerate progress on low-carbon energy technologies.”
MIT researchers have developed an algorithm that could reduce how long planes wait before takeoff, reports Lee Moran for The Huffington Post. The formula allows air traffic controllers to use data on weather conditions and runway traffic to “hold airplanes at the gate, which would help avoid congestion.”
Researchers at MIT have developed an incandescent light bulb that vastly improves the device’s energy efficiency, The Economist reports. The modified bulb “maintains the technology’s advantages while vastly improving its energy credentials, giving it the potential to trounce CFLs and LEDs.”
Popular Science reporter Mary Beth Griggs writes that MIT researchers are developing a more efficient incandescent light bulb. Griggs explains that the prototype “is already as energy efficient as some LEDs and fluorescent bulbs currently on the market.”
MIT researchers have developed a technique to increase the efficiency of incandescent light bulbs, reports Matt McGrath for BBC News. "We have this huge challenge that the world is facing right now, global warming and energy efficiency and this gives you one more tool," says Prof. Marin Soljačić.
Boston Herald reporter Jessica Van Sack writes that Grove, an MIT startup dedicated to enabling people to grow their own produce, will award five of its indoor garden/fish tank systems to local schools. “When you have a full ecological system, it becomes more than just planting seeds and watching them grow,” explains co-founder Gabe Blanchet.
Bryanna Cappadona reports for Boston.com that Matt Damon will be MIT’s 2016 commencement speaker. “Damon joins a long list of notable MIT commencement speakers, including U.S. Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith in 2015, DuPont CEO Ellen Kullman in 2014, and Dropbox co-founder and CEO Drew Houston in 2013,” writes Cappadona.
Actor and Cambridge native Matt Damon will speak at MIT’s 2016 commencement, writes Steve Annear for The Boston Globe. In addition to his success in Hollywood, Annear writes that Damon “is one of the founders of Water.org, a non-profit dedicated to delivering access to clean drinking water in developing countries.”
Academy Award-winning actor, filmmaker and social activist Matt Damon will deliver the 2016 commencement address at MIT, reports the Associated Press.
Research scientist Caleb Harper speaks with Steph Yin of Popular Science about his work developing personal food computers, and the vegetables he grew for Thanksgiving using this technology with students in Boston-area schools. Harper says that food computers can help “kids understand the production of food.”
Atlantic reporter April Wolfe writes that three MIT materials science and engineering students have developed a washing machine filter that recycles 95% of laundry wastewater. The device filters “the small amount of waste and recycles the clean water and detergent for further cleaning cycles.”