How utilities are working to meet AI data centers’ voracious appetite for electricity

Utilities have options for addressing surging power demand from AI data centers, but there’s no silver bullet.

Anurag Srivastava, Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, West Virginia University • conversation
Dec. 9, 2024 ~9 min

So you want to build a solar or wind farm? Here’s how to decide where.

MIT engineers show how detailed mapping of weather conditions and energy demand can guide optimization for siting renewable energy installations.

David L. Chandler | MIT News • mit
Dec. 6, 2024 ~8 min


Want to design the car of the future? Here are 8,000 designs to get you started.

MIT engineers developed the largest open-source dataset of car designs, including their aerodynamics, that could speed design of eco-friendly cars and electric vehicles.

Jennifer Chu | MIT News • mit
Dec. 5, 2024 ~9 min

Supreme Court could narrow the scope of federal environmental reviews, with less consideration of how projects would contribute to climate change

The Supreme Court will consider how far outward federal agencies should look when they analyze how a proposed action could affect the environment.

J.B. Ruhl, Professor of Law, Director, Program on Law and Innovation, and Co-director, Energy, Environment and Land Use Program, Vanderbilt University • conversation
Dec. 4, 2024 ~11 min

A new catalyst can turn methane into something useful

MIT chemical engineers have devised a way to capture methane, a potent greenhouse gas, and convert it into polymers.

Anne Trafton | MIT News • mit
Dec. 4, 2024 ~6 min

Research of Galaxies Supports Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity

VOA Learning English • voa
Dec. 1, 2024 ~5 min

Is there enough land on Earth to fight climate change and feed the world?

Study shows how smart policies could address competing land-use needs.

Mark Dwortzan | Center for Sustainability Science and Strategy • mit
Nov. 26, 2024 ~4 min

China’s influence grows at COP29 climate talks as US leadership fades

The annual UN climate conference ended with a weaker deal than many countries hoped for, and with calls to overhaul the climate talks for the future.

Lucia Green-Weiskel, Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science, Trinity College • conversation
Nov. 26, 2024 ~8 min


Reality check on technologies to remove carbon dioxide from the air

Study finds many climate-stabilization plans are based on questionable assumptions about the future cost and deployment of “direct air capture” and therefore may not bring about promised reductions.

Nancy W. Stauffer | MIT Energy Initiative • mit
Nov. 20, 2024 ~13 min

Many physicists argue the universe is fine-tuned for life – our findings question this idea

Humans may still appear even if the universe were very different. In fact, we may not live in the most likely of possible universes.

Daniele Sorini, Post Doctoral Research Associate in Cosmology, Durham University • conversation
Nov. 20, 2024 ~9 min

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