Environment and MIT

MIT-Led Team Designs Two Airplanes That Would Use 70% Less Fuel Than Current Models

Green Car Congress

MAY 15, 2010

An MIT-led team has designed an airplane that is estimated to use 70% less fuel than current planes while also reducing noise and emission of NO x. Images: MIT/Aurora Flight Sciences. MIT was the only university to lead one of the six US teams that won contracts from NASA in October 2008. Click to enlarge.

MIT

MIT Design Fuel Concept

MIT, Scripps study examines behavior of midwater sediment plumes from deep-sea nodule mining

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JULY 28, 2021

In April, the BMW Group, WWF and other companies—including the Volvo Group—undertook, as a precautionary measure, not to use deep-ocean minerals or finance deep-sea mining until comprehensive scientific research into the impact of deep-sea mining can be conducted and the consequences for the environment are clearly assessed.

MIT

MIT South Korea Water Environment

MIT, Brookhaven team develops simple method for stabilizing interfaces in solid-state lithium-ion batteries

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MARCH 11, 2022

Now, a team of researchers at MIT and Brookhaven National Laboratory has developed a way of achieving results that equal or surpass the durability of the coated surfaces, but with no need for any coatings. The findings are reported in an open-access paper in the journal Advanced Energy Materials.

Lithium Ion

Lithium Ion MIT Batteries Battery

MIT study says combustion emissions cause ~200,000 premature deaths/year in US; vehicles and power generation top sources

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AUGUST 29, 2013

Source: MIT. Researchers from MIT’s Laboratory for Aviation and the Environment have concluded that ground-level PM 2.5 Steven Barrett, an assistant professor of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT, and colleagues have published their results in the journal Atmospheric Environment. Click to enlarge. 2013.05.081.

MIT

MIT Emissions Ozone Power

MIT system trains driverless cars using reinforcement learning with data-driven simulation

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MARCH 26, 2020

A data-driven simulation system invented at MIT, in collaboration with the Toyota Research Institute, to train driverless cars creates a photorealistic world with infinite steering possibilities, helping the cars learn to navigate a host of worse-case scenarios before cruising down real streets. We basically say, ‘Here’s an environment.

MIT

MIT Cars Environment Engine

MIT researchers propose subsea version of pumped hydro for renewable energy storage

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APRIL 25, 2013

Researchers at MIT are proposing using a variation on pumped hydroelectric systems for storage of electricity produced by offshore wind farms. The team hopes to extend its testing to a 3-meter sphere, and then scale up to a 10-meter version to be tested in an undersea environment, if funding becomes available. Earlier post.).

MIT

MIT Energy Storage Renewable Energy

MIT Task Force on the Work of the Future suggests widespread autonomous driving at least a decade away

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JULY 27, 2020

The MIT Task Force on the Work of the Future has released a new research brief examining the future of autonomous vehicles.

MIT

MIT Future Environment Auto Industry

MIT study attributes > 50% of Li-ion rapid cost decline to investment in materials & chemistry R&D

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NOVEMBER 23, 2021

A team at MIT has analyzed what has accounted for the extraordinary savings and found that by far the biggest single factor was work on research and development, particularly in chemistry and materials science. Trancik (2021) “Determinants of lithium-ion battery technology cost decline” Energy Environ. —Jessika Trancik.

Li-ion

Li-ion MIT Lithium Ion Climate Change

MIT study: half of US deaths related to air pollution are linked to out-of-state emissions

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FEBRUARY 15, 2020

More than half of all air-quality-related early deaths in the United States are a result of emissions originating outside of the state in which those deaths occur, MIT researchers report in a paper in the journal Nature. —study leader Steven Barrett, an associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT. Dedoussi, I.C.,

MIT

MIT Pollution Emissions 2005

Ford kicks off new automated driving research projects with MIT and Stanford University

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JANUARY 22, 2014

Building on the capabilities of the automated Ford Fusion Hybrid research vehicle unveiled last month ( earlier post ), Ford is working with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Stanford University to research and to develop solutions to some of the technical challenges surrounding automated driving. —Greg Stevens.

MIT

MIT Universal Ford Fusion

MIT engineers develop efficient means of carbon capture using electrochemical cell

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OCTOBER 27, 2019

Researchers at MIT have developed a new, efficient way to capture carbon that addresses the inherent inefficiencies ( earlier post ) of incumbent technologies, due to their thermal energy losses, large footprint or degradation of sorbent material. Alan Hatton (2019) “Faradaic electro-swing reactive adsorption for CO 2 capture” Energy Environ.

MIT

MIT Carbon Engine Gas

MIT team proposes SCR emission control for hybrid aviation turbines; reducing NOx by 95%

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JANUARY 15, 2021

Now, MIT engineers are proposing using an ammonia-based selective catalytic reduction (SCR) system that could result in an approximately 95% reduction in NO x emissions in exchange for a ~0.5% —Steven Barrett, professor of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT and corresponding author. increase in block fuel burn.

MIT

MIT Emissions Hybrid Gas-Electric

MIT team reexamines rates of Li-ion cost decline

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MARCH 24, 2021

Now, MIT researchers have carried out an exhaustive analysis of the studies that have looked at the decline in the prices these batteries. Trancik (2021) “Re-examining rates of lithium-ion battery technology improvement and cost decline” Energy Environ. The work was supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Ziegler and Jessika E.

Li-ion

Li-ion MIT Lithium Ion Price

MIT team proposes process to recycle lead-acid batteries to fabricate solar cells

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AUGUST 18, 2014

Researchers at MIT have devised an environmentally-responsible process to recycle materials from discarded automotive lead-acid batteries to fabricate efficient organolead halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs)—a promising new large-scale and cost-competitive photovoltaic technology. Po-Yen Chen, Jifa Qi, Matthew T.

Lead Acid

Lead Acid MIT Solar Batteries

MIT researchers use genetically modified virus to template nanotubes that improve solar-cell efficiency by nearly one-third

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APRIL 25, 2011

Researchers at MIT led by Drs. The two functions are carried out in succession by the same virus, whose activity is “switched” from one function to the next by changing the acidity of its environment. The work was funded by Eni, through the MIT Energy Initiative’s Solar Futures Program. Click to enlarge. Strano, Paula T.

MIT

MIT Solar Carbon Conversion

Audi and MIT develop Road Frustration Index

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JUNE 6, 2013

Driving in chaotic urban traffic can be as nearly as stressful as jumping out of an airplane, according to new findings from an Audi and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) study. —Kael Greco, project leader, MIT SENSEable City Laboratory. —Professor Carlo Ratti, director, MIT SENSEable City Laboratory.

MIT

MIT Audi Boston Massachusetts

MIT team testing new SiC nuclear fuel-rod cladding that could lead to safer power plants

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JULY 25, 2013

A team of researchers at MIT is developing and testing a new silicon carbide (SiC) cladding material for nuclear fuel rods that could reduce the risk of hydrogen production by roughly a thousandfold compared to the common zircaloy cladding. SiC is “ very promising, but not at the moment ready for adoption ” by the nuclear industry, he adds.

MIT

MIT Fuel Power Powered

MIT team finds aviation emissions’ impacts on air quality larger than on climate

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NOVEMBER 11, 2019

Researchers at MIT have determined that growth in aviation causes twice as much damage to air quality as to the climate. —lead researcher Dr Sebastian Eastham, from the Laboratory for Aviation and the Environment in MIT's Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

MIT

MIT Climate Emissions Climate Change

MIT researchers build model simulating atmospheric transport of PAHs; how chemicals get to the Arctic

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SEPTEMBER 11, 2012

MIT researchers have built a model to simulate long-range atmospheric transport of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The model that will be further developed as part of an NSF-funded project to track how chemicals get to remote Arctic environments. Persistent organic pollutants are chemicals of substantial international concern.

MIT

MIT Transportation Rhode Island Building

Berkeley Lab/MIT team identifies promising multivalent cathode materials for high energy-density batteries

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DECEMBER 29, 2014

A team from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and MIT has used high-throughput first-principles calculations to evaluate systematically the performance of spinel-structure compounds as multivalent intercalation cathode materials. doi: 10.1039/C4EE03389B.

MIT

MIT Li-ion Energy Batteries

MIT study cautions smaller nations on rushing to develop their natural gas resources; Cyprus as model

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OCTOBER 27, 2013

Based on the interim results of a new study, MIT researchers are warning smaller nations to proceed with caution in pursuing the development of their natural gas resources. —Sergey Paltsev, an author of the study and a principal research scientist at the MIT Energy Initiative. Cyprus offshore hydrocarbon exploration blocks.

Cyprus

Cyprus MIT Gas Gas-Electric

MIT team synthesizes all carbon nanofiber electrodes for high-energy rechargeable Li-air batteries

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JULY 25, 2011

A team at MIT, led by Carl V. Energy Environ. Gravimetric Ragone plot comparing energy and power characteristics of CNF electrodes based on the pristine and discharged electrode weight with that of LiCoO 2. Source: Mitchell et al. Click to enlarge. ” Resources. Mitchell, Betar M. Gallant, Carl V.

MIT

MIT Recharge Carbon Lithium Air

Cambridge-MIT Study Attributes ~8,000 Premature Deaths Per Year to Aircraft Cruise Emissions

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SEPTEMBER 28, 2010

A study by a team from the University of Cambridge (UK) and MIT attributes ~8,000 premature mortalities per year to aircraft cruise emissions. Lead author Steven Barrett from MIT notes that there are many uncertainties, including how accurately the model reflects how air travels vertically from high altitudes to low altitudes.

MIT

MIT Emissions Pollution Transportation

Venti Technologies secures $8M in seed round for autonomous mobility for logistics, supply chain and transportation markets

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JULY 26, 2021

Venti’s proprietary algorithms create powerful processing and fast reaction times, delivering practical advantages: Handling 30 – 40% change in the environment (compared to 5% for other leading industry players). The vehicles adapt to complex route conditions and can operate in unstructured and structured road environments.

Transportation

Transportation MIT Supplies Market

MIT Sequential Decomposition Synthesis process produces thin solid-state electrolytes without sintering

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JUNE 12, 2022

A team from MIT has developed a new approach to fabricating oxide-based solid-state electrolytes that are comparable in thickness to the polymer separators found in current Li-ion batteries without sintering: sequential decomposition synthesis (SDS). Rupp (2022) “A Sinter-Free Future for Solid-State Battery Designs” Energy Environ.

MIT

MIT Li-ion Polymer Lithium Ion

MIT team develops semi-autonomous system as ‘intelligent co-pilot’ for cars

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JULY 13, 2012

Researchers at MIT have developed a new semi-autonomous safety system for cars that allows a driver to control the vehicle, only taking the wheel when the driver is about to exit a “safe zone”. The system uses an onboard camera and laser rangefinder to identify hazards and identify the safe zones. —Sterling Anderson.

MIT

MIT Cars Eaton Spain

MIT study finds real-world NOx from diesels cars in Europe greatly exceeds laboratory levels; transboundary emissions cause 70% of health impacts

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SEPTEMBER 22, 2018

A new study by MIT researchers, published this month in Atmospheric Environment , finds that in Europe, 10 major auto manufacturers produced diesel cars, sold between 2000 and 2015, that generate up to 16 times more NO x emissions on the road than in regulatory tests—a level that exceeds European limits but does not violate any EU laws.

MIT

MIT Diesel Europe Emissions

MIT team develops new lane-change algorithm for autonomous cars

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MAY 23, 2018

Most existing lane-change algorithms for autonomous cars have one of two drawbacks: Either they rely on detailed statistical models of the driving environment, which are difficult to assemble and too complex to analyze on the fly; or they’re so simple that they can lead to impractically conservative decisions, such as never changing lanes at all.

MIT

MIT Cars Environment 2018

MIT team shows targeting metabolic pathways to mitochondria significantly boosts yeast production of isobutanol; potential for other chemicals as well

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FEBRUARY 18, 2013

Researchers from MIT and the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research have devised a way to boost significantly isobutanol production in yeast by engineering isobutanol synthesis to take place entirely within mitochondria. The lead author of the paper is José Avalos, a postdoc at the Whitehead Institute and MIT.

MIT

MIT Production 2013 Engine

MIT, Lockheed Martin launch long-term research collaboration on autonomy and robotics

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MAY 17, 2016

In a new collaborative initiative in autonomy and robotics, MIT and Lockheed Martin scientists will focus on innovations needed to enable generation-after-next autonomous systems. We’re confident that our relationship and collaboration in these technical areas will influence the fields of autonomy and robotics for the next 15-20 years.

MIT

MIT Environment Future Engine

MIT, Toyota team clarifies role of iodide in Li-air batteries

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AUGUST 15, 2017

Now, researchers from MIT, with a colleague from Toyota Motor Europe’s R&D group, have carried out detailed tests that seem to resolve the questions surrounding one promising material for such batteries: lithium iodide (LiI). display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" alt="Mit" title="Mit" src="[link] />.

MIT

MIT Li-ion Toyota Batteries

MIT team devises technique to observe hydrogen’s penetration in metal surfaces; understanding embrittlement

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FEBRUARY 6, 2019

Researchers at MIT have created a new technique that allows the observation of a metal surface during hydrogen penetration—the process that results in embrittlement of the metal. Using the setup, a clean, fine-polished surface of micrometer-to-millimeter scale can be observed and tested during hydrogen charging.

MIT

MIT Hydrogen 2019 Environment

MIT team develops sub-terahertz-radiation receiving system to help steer driverless cars through fog and dust

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FEBRUARY 15, 2019

MIT researchers have now developed a sub-terahertz-radiation receiving system that could help steer driverless cars when traditional methods fail. Our low-cost, on-chip sub-terahertz sensors will play a complementary role to LiDAR for when the environment is rough.

MIT

MIT Water Cars Design

MIT team finds lead levels higher in Indian Ocean than northern Atlantic and Pacific oceans

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JUNE 27, 2012

MIT researchers have discovered that lead concentrations in the Indian Ocean are now higher than in the northern Atlantic and northern Pacific oceans. But while leaded gasoline usage has decreased drastically in the last few decades, lead is still pervasive in the environment.

MIT

MIT Singapore Gasoline North America

Separate MIT, IEA reports both outline major expansion in role of natural gas; caution on climate benefits

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JUNE 10, 2011

” The MIT report said that natural gas should be seen as a “ bridge ” to a low-carbon regime, rather than as the ultimate long-term solution itself. MIT: The Future of Natural Gas. Separately, the International Energy Agency (IEA) released its own report exploring the potential for a “golden age” of gas. Source: IEA.

MIT

MIT Gas Climate Gas-Electric

MIT Multi-Robot Mapping Sets New “Gold Standard”

Cars That Think

JUNE 2, 2023

Those some would be a group of MIT roboticists who just won the IEEE Transactions on Robotics Best Paper Award for 2022, presented at this year’s IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation ( ICRA 2023 ) in London. But unknown environments are a big place, and it takes more than one robot to explore all of them.

MIT

MIT Standards Stimulus London

Ford, MIT project uses LiDAR, cameras to measure pedestrian traffic & predict demand for new, on-demand electric shuttles

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JULY 27, 2016

Ford Motor Company and MIT are collaborating on a new research project that measures how pedestrians move in urban areas to improve certain public transportation services, such as ride-hailing and point-to-point shuttles services. The MIT research is being conducted by the Aeronautics and Astronautics Department’s Aerospace Controls Lab.

MIT

MIT Ford Massachusetts Electrical

Toyota to invest ~$50M to establish joint research centers at MIT and Stanford; intelligent vehicle and mobility technologies

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SEPTEMBER 4, 2015

Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) will be investing approximately $50 million over the next 5 years to establish joint research centers at Stanford and MIT, focused on the research and development of intelligent vehicle and mobility technologies.

MIT

MIT Toyota Vehicles Environment

MIT team discovers two mechanisms at work in Li dendrite formation

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SEPTEMBER 2, 2016

Researchers at MIT have carried out the most detailed analysis yet of lithium dendrite formation from lithium anodes in batteries and have found that there are two entirely different mechanisms at work. The MIT team carried out tests at higher current levels that clearly revealed the two distinct types of growth. Brushett and Martin Z.

MIT

MIT Battery Batteries Recharge

Autoliv and MIT AgeLab to collaborate in the research of autonomous vehicle systems

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OCTOBER 11, 2017

This includes sensing driver gaze, emotion, cognitive load, drowsiness, hand position, posture, and fusing this information with the perception of the driving environment to create safe, reliable vehicles that drivers can learn to trust. —Bryan Reimer, MIT.

MIT

MIT Vehicles Massachusetts Volvo

Ceder group at MIT analyzes the limits and opportunities of phosphates as Li-ion cathode materials using a Materials Genome approach

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JULY 18, 2011

Researchers at MIT, led by Prof. Ceder leads the CEDER (Computational and Experimental Design of Emerging materials Research group) at MIT, and has been pushing for the realization of the “Materials Genome” project to bring advanced automated computing environments coupled to databases to materials design.

Li-ion

Li-ion MIT Ni-Li Obama

MIT engineers develop system to help autonomous vehicles see around corners; adapting ShadowCam

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OCTOBER 28, 2019

To improve the safety of autonomous systems, MIT engineers have developed a system that can sense tiny changes in shadows on the ground to determine if there’s a moving object coming around the corner. ShadowCam used the tags as features of the environment to zero in on specific patches of pixels that may contain shadows.

MIT

MIT Engine Vehicles Environment

MIT researchers developing LiDAR on a chip

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AUGUST 5, 2016

This mechanical apparatus limits the scan rate of the LiDAR system while increasing both size and complexity, leading to concerns about long-term reliability, especially in harsh environments. The current on-chip LiDAR system can detect objects at ranges of up to 2 meters; the researchers are hoping to achieve a 10-meter range within a year.

MIT

MIT Light Commercial Low Cost

MIT, Novogy team engineers microbes for competitive advantage in industrial fermentation; the ROBUST strategy

Green Car Congress

AUGUST 6, 2016

Researchers at MIT and startup Novogy have engineered bacteria and yeast ( Escherichia coli , Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Yarrowia lipolytica ) used as producer microbes in biofuel production to use rare compounds as sources of nutrients. However, this is not the case for the more advanced biofuels and biochemicals under development.

MIT

MIT Engine Industry Industrial

MIT-Led Team Designs Two Airplanes That Would Use 70% Less Fuel Than Current Models

MIT, Scripps study examines behavior of midwater sediment plumes from deep-sea nodule mining

MIT, Brookhaven team develops simple method for stabilizing interfaces in solid-state lithium-ion batteries

MIT study says combustion emissions cause ~200,000 premature deaths/year in US; vehicles and power generation top sources

MIT system trains driverless cars using reinforcement learning with data-driven simulation

MIT researchers propose subsea version of pumped hydro for renewable energy storage

MIT Task Force on the Work of the Future suggests widespread autonomous driving at least a decade away

MIT study attributes > 50% of Li-ion rapid cost decline to investment in materials & chemistry R&D

MIT study: half of US deaths related to air pollution are linked to out-of-state emissions

Ford kicks off new automated driving research projects with MIT and Stanford University

MIT engineers develop efficient means of carbon capture using electrochemical cell

MIT team proposes SCR emission control for hybrid aviation turbines; reducing NOx by 95%

MIT team reexamines rates of Li-ion cost decline

MIT team proposes process to recycle lead-acid batteries to fabricate solar cells

MIT researchers use genetically modified virus to template nanotubes that improve solar-cell efficiency by nearly one-third

Audi and MIT develop Road Frustration Index

MIT team testing new SiC nuclear fuel-rod cladding that could lead to safer power plants

MIT team finds aviation emissions’ impacts on air quality larger than on climate

MIT researchers build model simulating atmospheric transport of PAHs; how chemicals get to the Arctic

Berkeley Lab/MIT team identifies promising multivalent cathode materials for high energy-density batteries

MIT study cautions smaller nations on rushing to develop their natural gas resources; Cyprus as model

MIT team synthesizes all carbon nanofiber electrodes for high-energy rechargeable Li-air batteries

Cambridge-MIT Study Attributes ~8,000 Premature Deaths Per Year to Aircraft Cruise Emissions

Venti Technologies secures $8M in seed round for autonomous mobility for logistics, supply chain and transportation markets

MIT Sequential Decomposition Synthesis process produces thin solid-state electrolytes without sintering

MIT team develops semi-autonomous system as ‘intelligent co-pilot’ for cars

MIT study finds real-world NOx from diesels cars in Europe greatly exceeds laboratory levels; transboundary emissions cause 70% of health impacts

MIT team develops new lane-change algorithm for autonomous cars

MIT team shows targeting metabolic pathways to mitochondria significantly boosts yeast production of isobutanol; potential for other chemicals as well

MIT, Lockheed Martin launch long-term research collaboration on autonomy and robotics

MIT, Toyota team clarifies role of iodide in Li-air batteries

MIT team devises technique to observe hydrogen’s penetration in metal surfaces; understanding embrittlement

MIT team develops sub-terahertz-radiation receiving system to help steer driverless cars through fog and dust

MIT team finds lead levels higher in Indian Ocean than northern Atlantic and Pacific oceans

Separate MIT, IEA reports both outline major expansion in role of natural gas; caution on climate benefits

MIT Multi-Robot Mapping Sets New “Gold Standard”

Ford, MIT project uses LiDAR, cameras to measure pedestrian traffic & predict demand for new, on-demand electric shuttles

Toyota to invest ~$50M to establish joint research centers at MIT and Stanford; intelligent vehicle and mobility technologies

MIT team discovers two mechanisms at work in Li dendrite formation

Autoliv and MIT AgeLab to collaborate in the research of autonomous vehicle systems

Ceder group at MIT analyzes the limits and opportunities of phosphates as Li-ion cathode materials using a Materials Genome approach

MIT engineers develop system to help autonomous vehicles see around corners; adapting ShadowCam

MIT researchers developing LiDAR on a chip

MIT, Novogy team engineers microbes for competitive advantage in industrial fermentation; the ROBUST strategy

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