COVID-19 Teaches Us Lessons About Air Pollution, Environmental Justice, and Climate Change
The rapid spread of the COVID-19 Pandemic has highlighted some of the most pressing social and environmental issues in the modern world. One issue to rear its head is the impact of air pollution on human health. The WHO estimates that, in a typical year, air pollution causes 7 million premature deaths worldwide annually. Decades […]
Power after Carbon: Building a Clean, Resilient Grid
“Clearly written, assiduously researched, and never fantastical, Power after Carbon is a delight-filled primer for how to overhaul our electricity grid for the twenty-first century. If Fox-Penner can imagine and explain a carbon free system, then surely we can conceive of a way to build it!”—Gretchen Bakke, author of The Grid: The Fraying Wires Between […]
Still Charging: Energy Storage Commercialization in Massachusetts
With the mutually reinforcing trends of climate change mitigation and transport electrification, the opportunity for energy storage innovation has never been more apparent. Massachusetts supports a robust community of entrepreneurs who develop and commercialize their inventions in the state. Recognizing this, the Boston University Institute for Sustainable Energy and Greentown Labs conducted 25 interviews with […]
Still Charging: Energy Storage Commercialization in Massachusetts
IGS Research | May 2020
Coal Region Economic Transformation in China
Four years ago, in 2016, I was honored to post an inaugural blog for the Boston University Institute for Sustainable Energy. The blog tells my personal story of how I witnessed the economic ups and downs of my hometown city Wuhai (not to be confused with Wuhan) in Inner Mongolia, the number one coal-producing province […]
Environmental Impact of COVID-19: Sustainable Energy, Climate, and Societal Shifts
Webinar hosted by BU Alumni Relations
Earth Day 2020: Honoring the 50th Anniversary
Three BU environmental experts join the conversation on conservation, green legislation, and the history behind the first Earth Day celebration. 50 years ago American citizens and environmental activists came together to recognize the first official Earth Day celebration. Flash forward and the holiday is now observed in just under 200 countries to help to lift […]
Earth Day 50th Environmental Victories
Earth Day is a time to reflect on the progress made and work to be done in order to protect the health of people and the Earth’s natural systems. On the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, National Geographic describes in photos 50 key “environmental victories.” What do you think? Suggestions for important additions? 1970 First […]
Will Shale Oil Survive a Restructured Oil Market?
Shale faces a difficult future because the COVID-19 pandemic and the Green paradox are pushing Saudi Arabia and Russia to restructure an unstable alliance that cut production to defend higher prices to a more traditional market that favors low-cost producers. The negative effects of these changes are amplified by increased uncertainty, which reduces incentives to […]
Bringing Power and Progress to Africa in a Financially and Environmentally Sustainable Manner
IGS Research | April 2020