Environment

‘Efficiency Forward'Ambitious collaboration between MIT and NSTAR aims to cut campus electricity use by 15 percent over 3 years.

Pooling MIT’s resources to ‘rethink’ waterWorkshop assesses scope of water research currently underway at Institute, eyes work that lies ahead.

Environmental Research Council issues reportCouncil is asked to develop plan to establish MIT Environmental Initiative

Fly the eco-friendly skiesMIT-led team designs airplanes that would use 70 percent less fuel than current models.

Slideshow: Mapping the oil spillMIT student leads project using balloons and kites to provide aerial documentation of the Gulf oil slick’s extent and effects

3 Questions: Stephen Connors on offshore wind farmsWhat the federal approval of the Cape Wind project will mean for Massachusetts and the nation

In the World: Clean Water for GhanaMIT students help a researcher build a factory that could provide water filters for 1 million people in northern Ghana

New phenomenon found in internal wavesMIT team shows that waves inside oceans, air and stars are filtered and reflected by layers.

Fund helps energy efficiency bloom across campusAlumni gifts support the greening of MIT, and the resulting savings are being reinvested in similar projects.

Four decades of Earth DaysMIT plans a week of events and activities to mark Earth Day’s 40th anniversary.

Monaco’s Prince Albert visits MIT and discusses his film

Viruses harnessed to split waterMIT team’s biologically based system taps the power of sunlight directly, with the aim of turning water into hydrogen fuel.

Using plants to purify canal waterResearchers outline a natural way to clean Italy's polluted Pontine Marshes

3 Questions: David MacKay on renewable energyScience advisor to the British government talks about Climategate, the Copenhagen conference, and emission-free energy technology

Slideshow: A Terrascope spring breakStudents visit Abu Dhabi to learn about plans for the world’s first carbon-neutral city

A system that’s worth its saltNew approach to water desalination could lead to small, portable units that could be sent to disaster sites or remote locations.

Explained: Climate sensitivityIf we double the Earth’s greenhouse gases, how much will the temperature change? That’s what this number tells you.

Wind resistanceMIT analysis suggests generating electricity from large-scale wind farms could influence climate — and not necessarily in the desired way.

In the World: Nanotech on the farmMIT chemical engineer Paula Hammond lends her nanotechnology expertise to farmers in Africa.

Explained: Radiative forcingWhen there’s more energy radiating down on the planet than there is radiating back out to space, something’s going to have to heat up

Action needed to save climate, create jobsMIT Energy Conference speakers see need to boost clean-energy businesses through a price on carbon and incentives for manufacturing

3 Questions: Hunt Allcott on behavioral economics and the energy crisisCan understanding human irrationality help solve our energy problems? An MIT researcher explains

Ecological balancing actPhytoplankton diversity depends on balance between competition and the ocean’s physical dynamics, new research suggests

Ancient hurricanesIntense hurricane activity millions of years ago may have caused and sustained warmer climate conditions, new research suggests

John Heywood on reducing greenhouse gas emissionsPresented by Transportation@MIT

MIT's chapter of Engineers Without Borders launches first projectStudents hope to bring electricity and clean water to Ugandan health clinic

A silver lining to the Copenhagen cloud?Though widely seen as a failure, December’s climate conference may actually have set the world on the right path, panelists suggest

CRTs going down the tubes? HardlySurprisingly, old-style television sets and computer screens are still in demand — to make new TV sets

Power from down underEarth’s own heat could provide vast amounts of clean electricity, and current MIT research could help make it feasible

Architecture student wins $15K in worldwide competitionProposal Would Create Large Recreational Network in Mumbai