MIT Climate Project

To ensure that a #concrete mixture meets its required strength, producers often formulate the mixture to have more strength than is specified. This practice, called overdesign, raises the mixture's cost and embodied greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. A new research brief from the MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub suggests that overdesign optimization can decrease embodied GHG without sacrificing safety or performance. Elsa Olivetti, one of the brief's authors, is a mission director for the MIT Climate Project and a professor in the MIT Department of Materials Science and Engineering (DMSE). #ghg #carbon #construction #MIT #cement

Congratulations to Evelyn Wang, MIT's new Vice President for Climate, for her election to the National Academy of Engineering. Professor Wang is one of eight faculty members from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology among the 128 new members and 22 international members. One of the highest professional distinctions for engineers, membership in the NAE is given to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to “engineering research, practice, or education, including, where appropriate, significant contributions to the engineering literature” and to “the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, making major advancements in traditional fields of engineering, or developing/implementing innovative approaches to engineering education.” https://lnkd.in/ebYrCjkh #MIT #womeninstem

Carbon Border Adjustments, or #CBAM, is "a complicated topic with a kind of funny name," says Catherine Wolfram. "But this is something that could have pretty profound implications for carbon emissions around the world. “I’ve been studying climate policy for about 20 years, and this is the thing that has made me most optimistic.” The idea behind CBAM, which will be introduced in the European Union in 2026, is to tackle the "free rider" problem. That is, a manufacturer or supplier from a country without carbon regulations enjoys an economic advantage over those within countries that have carbon regulations. Wolfram, a professor of energy economics at the MIT Sloan School of Management and a former deputy assistant secretary for climate and energy economics at the U.S. Treasury, explains CBAM--and her optimism—in a recent Q&A. Read more at the link in the comments. #carbonemissions #energy #carbon #MIT #climatepolicy

What happens after Utah’s coal-fired power plants close? The energy transition is a fraught subject in Carbon and Emery counties, where #coal has been the economic backbone since the late 1800s. “We have invested in coal for the last 100 years, and that is our only resource,” Powell, deputy director of Utah’s Southeastern Regional Development Agency (#SERDA), told the High Country News. “It’s the majority of the jobs.” Meanwhile, the Utah Office of Energy Development describes the state as heading toward an energy crisis. ?There’s hope that the counties’ industrial past can be the foundation for a vibrant future—but the options all come with pros and cons. See the link in the chat for a thoughtful article about this complicated and important conversation for Utah from Brook Larsen, a journalism fellow at the MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative. Photo Credit: Luna Anna Archey #energytransition #utah #energypolicy #journalism

Andrew Babbin found MIT to be a "nerd's playground" when he came here as a post-doc. But as a professor today in the MIT Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, his field of play is the entire planet—especially the oceans. Through his graduate work, at sea and in the lab, Babbin became fascinated with the cycling of nitrogen and the role that nitrogen-fixing microbes play in supporting the ocean’s ecosystems and the climate overall. A balance of nitrogen inputs and outputs sustains phytoplankton and maintains the ocean’s ability to soak up #carbondioxide. “Some of the really pressing questions in ocean biogeochemistry pertain to this cycling of nitrogen,” Babbin says. “Understanding the ways in which this one element cycles through the ocean, and how it is central to ecosystem health and the planet’s climate, has been really powerful.” Andrew is a Mission Director for the MIT Climate Project. Read more about his research and his role as a Mission Director for the MIT Climate Project at the link in the comments. #climateresearch #oceans #biogeochemistry #MIT

It’s crowded at the center of the climate challenge. That is to say, certain topics come up and it is clear that they are central to the question of what solutions are needed to address the crisis of an overheating planet. Food and water is one of those topics. And J-WAFS at MIT has been leading the charge on campus. Founded by John Lienhard of the MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering (MechE), the center will celebrate its 10th anniversary this spring. Learn more from Professor Lienhard below. #climate #food #water #agriculture

We are thrilled to share the appointment of Evelyn Wang '00 as the inaugural Vice President for Climate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Ford Professor of Engineering and former head of MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering (MechE), Professor Wang returns to MIT on April 1 to lead the Climate Project after a two-year leave to serve the nation as the head of ARPA-E. "As I have said many times, the accelerating problem of climate change and its countless impacts represent the greatest scientific, technical and policy challenge of this or any age. The Climate Project is MIT’s strategic response," said MIT President Sally Kornbluth in a letter to the MIT community. "We are tremendously fortunate that Evelyn Wang has agreed to lead this crucial work – and I’m eager to see the progress we can achieve together." See President Kornbluth's letter in the comments. #climatechange #MIT #womenintech #leadership

#ESG?data are noisy and unreliable. Enter the The Aggregate Confusion Project from the MIT Sloan Sustainability Initiative. With five member companies, the?Sustainability Initiative is working to solve the problem through a program of research to improve the quality of ESG measurement and decision making in the financial sector. Cool stuff--but also effective. Congratulations to the team for being named to the Financial Times Responsible Business Education Award winners in the category of ‘Research making a real difference’! Read more at the link below in the comments. #mit #sustainability #sustainablefinance

Design of the built environment will be critical to the future of #sustainability, but how is sustainability defining the future of design? Join professors from the MIT School of Architecture and Planning (MIT SAP) including John Ochsendorf and Anne Whiston Spirn, on Feb. 19 for "Sustainability in Practice" at the MIT Media Lab. Free and open to the public, the event is part of the Architectural Record "Record on the Road" series. See the link below in the comments for details. #sustainabledesign #mit #architecture

If you are not familiar with the MIT Climate Policy Center (CPC), check out their most recent newsletter to get a sense of the center's activities. Part of the MIT Sloan School of Management, the CPC's mission is to serve as a trusted, non-partisan resource for policymakers who wish to advance evidence-based climate policy in the next decade—an important pillar in the MIT Climate Project. Signup at the CPC site to receive their updates. See the most recent one here: https://lnkd.in/dEw9S5z9 #mit #climate #sustainability #policy #climatepolicy