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In The News
Link to Article | Aug 12, 2015
New findings show Asia produces twice as much mercury emissions as previously thought.
Jennifer Chu | MIT News Office
Once mercury is emitted into the atmosphere from the smokestacks of power plants, the pollutant has a complicated trajectory; even after it settles onto land and sinks into oceans, mercury can be re-emitted back into the atmosphere repeatedly. This so-called...
In The News
Link to Article | Jul 20, 2015
Study finds many species may die out and others may migrate significantly as ocean acidification intensifies.
by Jennifer Chu | MIT News Office
Oceans have absorbed up to 30 percent of human-made carbon dioxide around the world, storing dissolved carbon for hundreds of years. As the uptake of carbon dioxide has increased in the last century, so has the acidity of oceans worldwide. Since pre-...
In The News
MIT News | Jun 26, 2015
MIT analysis informs a new EPA report on the effects of curbing climate change.
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Reducing global greenhouse gas emissions could have big benefits in the U.S., according to a report released today by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), including thousands of avoided deaths from extreme heat, billions of dollars in saved infrastructure expenses, and prevented...
In The News • China Energy & Climate Project
MIT Energy Initiative | Jun 08, 2015
MIT Energy Initiative | China Energy and Climate Project researchers conclude that by designing and implementing aggressive long-term measures now, Chinese policy makers will put the nation on a path to achieve recently pledged emissions reductions with relatively modest impacts on economic growth.
By Nancy W. Stauffer, MIT Energy Initiative
Overview
Researchers from MIT and Tsinghua University in Beijing are collaborating to bring new insights into how China—now the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide (CO2)—can reverse the rising trajectory of its CO2...
In The News
Link to Article | Jun 05, 2015
MIT Spectrum interviews MIT alumnus Kenneth Strzepek, who led a nonpartisan panel of 17 experts to investigate the international water debate between Egypt and Ethiopia in the hopes of forging a common solution.
For millennia, Egypt has relied on the Nile River for its agriculture. So Egyptians were understandably upset in 2011 when their upstream neighbor, Ethiopia, announced plans to build a hydroelectric dam that threatened to reduce the flow out of the spigot: the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (...
In The News
Road to Paris | May 18, 2015
When it comes to pricing CO2
By Daniel A. Gross
Most economists agree that if we want to efficiently reduce CO2 emissions, we’ll need to put a price on carbon. But a nagging question remains. How are we supposed to figure out a price for an invisible, amorphous gas that underpins the economy and transforms...
Around Campus
MIT News | May 05, 2015
Report highlights enormous potential and discusses pathways toward affordable solar energy.
In The News
MIT News | Apr 22, 2015
Report from conference at MIT addresses potential effects of huge construction project.
By David L. Chandler | MIT News Office
According to present plans, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) — now under construction across the Blue Nile River in Ethiopia — will be the largest hydroelectric dam in Africa, and one of the 12 largest in the world. But controversy has...
In The News
Oceans at MIT | Apr 20, 2015
Climate expert Jochem Marotzke tackles the discrepancy between climate models and real-world observations of global temperature at MIT's 15th Annual Henry W. Kendall Memorial Lecture.
By Cassie Martin | Oceans at MIT
Earlier this year, weather and climate agencies around the world declared 2014 the warmest year on record, even though the increase in global mean temperature has slowed. This warming “hiatus” has puzzled climate scientists, as it deviates from climate...
3 Questions
MIT News | Apr 17, 2015
MIT graduate student studies how a new UN treaty could affect mercury emissions from coal power plants in Asia
The Minamata Convention on Mercury, adopted by the UN in 2013, aims to reduce global mercury pollution by setting limits on specific pollution sources and prohibiting new mercury mining. Certain aspects of the treaty are still under negotiation, for instance the convention gives nations the...