23 April 2010, Cambridge, USA

Sustainability@MIT – MIT’s student group for sustainability – held their 2nd annual MIT Sustainability Summit on 23 April at Microsoft’s New England Research and Development Center. There were over 200 students and sustainability professionals in attendance. The event was entirely student run and organized and supported through sponsorship contributions from The Alliance for Global Sustainability. (more…)

Sarah Slaughter, Senior Lecturer, Sloan School of Management at MIT

The Sloan School of Management at MIT offers a course that specifically addresses how organizations of all kinds – including traditional manufacturing firms, those that extract resources, a huge variety of new start-ups, non-profits, and governmental organizations of all types – are tackling the massive challenges of sustainability. (more…)

This report describes a portfolio of policies which, in the view of authors, is needed to put personal vehicle transportation on the road to sustainability in the longer term.
Link to download the paper

21 November 2008, Cambridge, USA
MIT workshop on regional sustainability

A group of MIT faculty members from across the institute met to discuss the multi-disciplinary research projects on regional sustainability being developed at MIT. The objective was twofold:

1. To develop a broader understanding of the regional sustainability projects at MIT
2. To see if there is a synergy among the different projects that can be further explored or harnessed for the development of new initiatives

Contact person: Mr. Steven Connors

Futures Vehicles and Fuels report “On the Road in 2035″

The AGS Energy Flagship team at MIT released a synthesis report of research on future vehicles and fuels. “On the road in 2035: reducing transportation’s petroleum consumption and GHG emissions” first assesses the performance, cost, and life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of individual new vehicle and fuel technologies. The authors then evaluate the total impact of on-the-road fleets, and compare the potential of these technologies.

The report concludes that a 30-50% reduction in fuel consumption is feasible over the next 30 years through a combination of improved gasoline and diesel engines and transmissions, gasoline hybrids, and reductions in vehicle weight and drag – with costs in the range of US$1 500-4 500 per vehicle. Over the long term, plug-in hybrids and later still, hydrogen fuel cells may enter the fleet in numbers sufficient to have a significant impact on fuel use and emissions. In contrast, alternative fuels that could replace petroleum fuels in the near-term (such as current biofuels) are unlikely to change GHG emissions significantly.

Progress must therefore come from a comprehensive, coordinated effort to develop and market more efficient vehicles and benign fuels, and to find more sustainable ways to satisfy transportation demands.

Abstract and link to download the report