What if it works?
by MIT Energy Initiative
Energy powers our homes, our cars, and our lives. But the kinds of energy we use—and the ways we use it—are rapidly changing our climate. We need new and clean energy, now. MIT Energy Initiative hosts Rob Stoner and Kara Miller talk with energy experts about the science, technology, and policies that can transform our energy systems and give us a more sustainable future. Hear from those testing new ideas and working on breakthroughs in labs, industry, and government—the ones who aren’t afraid to ask, “What if it works?”
Episodes
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Energy storage is heating up
Asegun Henry, an innovator and professor at MIT, says that energy storage is arguably the single most important technological problem we have to solve. He is developing and commercializing a new type of battery based on thermal energy conversion instead of the conventional electro-chemical...
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How energy systems are shaped
We rely on our energy systems to allow us to do work, travel, process information, and support all sorts of economic activity. MIT Professor Jessika Trancik helps us zoom out for a big picture view of how energy systems are shaped and where there is opportunity to innovate. What if it works? is a...
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Unraveling DNA to transform carbon
MIT professor and entrepreneur Ariel Furst is used to people underestimating what biology can do. But she is proving that DNA and microbes can help us decarbonize energy: DNA can be harnessed to transform carbon into useful products and in her words, “microbes are the coolest,”—they can be...
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The economics of clean energy
As an economist, Namrata Kala has considered how incentivization can alter human behavior and help policies succeed. She leverages this expertise to help us examine how the world's most populous country, India, is thinking about clean energy and the implications of electrification on its energy...
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Hydrogen beneath our feet
As a clean energy source, hydrogen has shown to have a lot of potential. But when generated using fossil fuels, hydrogen production can have a large environmental impact—even if the energy source itself doesn’t generate emissions. So, what if we can get readily available hydrogen from the ground...
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Removing fossil fuels from industrial processes
We talk a lot about decarbonizing cars, planes, and electricity, but about the hidden processes that are used to produce the steel in our buildings or the chemicals fertilizing our food? Yogi Surendranath, a chemist and chemical engineer at MIT, explores the surprisingly carbon-intensive…
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Turning light into electricity
2023 Nobel Prize winner Moungi Bawendi, a professor of chemistry at MIT, has thought a lot about how to reimagine clean energy technologies. His early work with quantum dots led to more energy-efficient lighting, televisions, and solar cells. Bawendi helps explain the energy of light and shares…
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The race to fusion
For years, the running joke was that fusion energy is always 30 years away, but today we are actually closer than ever. Dennis Whyte, a leader in fusion research, shares how MIT’s fusion program has started the move from the lab to market, and explains how unlocking commercial fusion could be a...
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Adding nuclear to the mix
Nuclear power has been the topic of controversy over the years, despite its current contribution of nearly 20% of the electricity generated in the United States. Jacopo Buongiorno, a nuclear scientist at MIT, argues that you can't get to a robust clean energy portfolio without nuclear and we have...
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The reality of capturing carbon
The Earth’s biological systems cannot keep up with the sheer scale of carbon that is being dumped into the atmosphere from human industrial systems, transportation, and more. So how can we remove it? Howard Herzog, a senior research engineer at the MIT Energy Initiative, lays out some of the...
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The environmental impact of “stuff”
All of our cars, planes, buildings, batteries are made of stuff—stuff that, when mined and manufactured, is responsible for over a third of global greenhouse gas emissions. MIT materials scientist Elsa Olivetti explains the environmental impact of materials and why it is critical that we make...
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Why we should care about methane
Methane is the only greenhouse gas that will change the rate of warming in our lifetimes, according to MIT Professor Desirée Plata. So, why aren’t we talking about it more? Plata explains methane’s role in climate change and shares how she, perhaps counterintuitively, is accelerating the rate at...
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Unconventional paths to energy efficiency
Large parts of the world don’t have access to energy. So how do we encourage cleaner sources when for many people that's not the real priority? According to Amos Winter, a professor of mechanical engineering at MIT, the key is to find solutions that allow people to do what they want but are by...
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Why do so many renewable projects stall?
Larry Susskind, a professor of urban and environmental planning at MIT, often finds himself in the role of mediator between renewable energy project developers and the communities affected. And he says there is one big thing stopping these projects in their tracks: a lack of representation of…
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Putting a price on carbon
While the carbon tax has received a lot of negative publicity in the United States over the decades, more and more countries have been implementing carbon pricing schemes of their own. It raises the question, could carbon pricing be the cost of decarbonization? Economist Catherine Wolfram delves...
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The next four years of U.S. energy
President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to repeal key climate and energy legislation enacted under the Biden administration. What should we expect over the next four years and what will this mean for climate and energy policy beyond those? As the rest of the world continues to move forward in…
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Rising to the climate challenge
Susan Solomon is a scientist known for her pioneering work explaining the hole in the ozone layer. And she believes that just as we solved that crucial environmental problem, we can also solve the great challenge of global temperature rise. She shares her three Ps for achieving success—when a...
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How to speed up the energy transition
The energy transition is happening—but why is it taking so long? We need to replace fossil fuels, but there is no one silver bullet. MIT Energy Initiative Director William Green explains why shifting to cleaner energy sources has been happening so slowly and how this process can move faster, and...
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Decarbonizing energy: The government’s role
What is the role of government and policy in decarbonizing our energy systems? As the former U.S. Secretary of Energy, Ernest Moniz helps us understand what its role has been so far and what the government’s role can and should be in the future. What if it works? is a production of the MIT Energy...
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Making the case for climate optimism
Climate anxiety is real—and if you are feeling it, you aren’t alone. Hosts Rob Stoner and Kara Miller are demystifying our current energy landscape, sharing what can be done and what solutions are already underway as we combat the climate crisis and eliminate the harmful emissions stemming from…
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Introducing What if it works?
Join us for a new podcast from the MIT Energy Initiative that talks with energy experts about the science, technology, and policies that can transform our energy systems and give us a more sustainable future. Coming October 23rd.
About this show
Energy powers our homes, our cars, and our lives. But the kinds of energy we use—and the ways we use it—are rapidly changing our climate. We need new and clean energy, now. MIT Energy Initiative hosts Rob Stoner and Kara Miller talk with energy experts about the science, technology, and policies that can transform our energy systems and give us a more sustainable future. Hear from those testing new ideas and working on breakthroughs in labs, industry, and government—the ones who aren’t afraid to ask, “What if it works?”
Hosted by
MIT Energy Initiative
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