Joint Program In the News

Commentary • China Energy & Climate Project
The Energy Collective | Aug 12, 2013

By Michael Davidson

Wind is China’s fastest growing renewable energy resource. In 2012, 13 gigawatts (GW) were added to the system, and incremental wind electricity production exceeded coal growth for the first time ever. In the same year, unused wind electricity hit record highs while...

phytoplankton
In The News
Scientific American | Aug 09, 2013

By Mark Fischetti

As Earth’s atmosphere warms, so does the ocean. Scientists have demonstrated how rising ocean temperatures and carbon dioxide levels can stress marine organisms. But a new model developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology reveals a surprising conclusion: If...

NCAR C-130
In The News
MIT News | Aug 02, 2013

Keeley Rafter
Engineering Systems Division

Noelle Selin, assistant professor of engineering systems and atmospheric chemistry, along with Amanda Giang (Technology and Policy Program graduate) and Shaojie Song (Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences PhD student),...

Commentary • China Energy & Climate Project
The Energy Collective | Jul 22, 2013
Coal has been the primary fuel behind China's economic growth over the last decade, growing 10 percent per year and providing three quarters of the nation’s primary energy supply

By Michael Davidson

Coal has been the primary fuel behind China’s economic growth over the last decade, growing 10 percent per year and providing three quarters of the nation’s primary energy supply. Like China’s economy, coal’s use, sale and broader impacts are also dynamic, changing...

In The News
Living on Earth | Jul 12, 2013
New research in China quantifies the relationship between reduced life expectancy and elevated air pollution from coal fired boilers. MIT professor Michael Greenstone tells host Steve Curwood that residents in the north of China live 5 years less on average than those in the south as a result of higher exposure to air pollution from coal combustion.

Air pollution has taken a toll on the health of Chinese residents. A person living in the north of the River Huai can expect to lives 5 years less than a person south of the river, an unintended legacy of the government’s policy to give free coal for winter heating in the north of the country. (...

In The News
MIT News Office | Jul 09, 2013

With global warming, a study finds, tropical cyclones may become more frequent and intense.

Commentary
The Energy Collective | Jul 09, 2013
This is the first post of a multi-part series on Transforming China’s Grid, where Michael Davidson will be critically examining China’s efforts to reinvent and decarbonize its power sector and related energy goals. He begins with China’s efforts to create provincial and city-level carbon trading pilots as well as major obstacles to establishing a national system that can link with other ETS markets.

By Michael Davidson

China’s first mandatory carbon emissions trading system (ETS) pilot debuted last month before a packed auditorium in the southern city of Shenzhen. China’s first official carbon trade was greeted with fanfare and a well-choreographed script of climate officials....

In The News
TIME | Jul 09, 2013
Existing research suggests that hurricanes could become stronger but less frequent thanks to climate change. But a new study says both could happen.

(Also covered by ...

In The News
AP | Jul 08, 2013
A new study links heavy air pollution from coal burning to shorter lives in northern China.

(Also covered by ...

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