| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 69.67 |
| Liaison | Julie Newman |
| Submission Date | Sept. 30, 2021 |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
AC-8: Campus as a Living Laboratory
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
4.00 / 4.00 |
MIT
Office of Sustainability Director Office of Sustainability |
"---"
indicates that no data was submitted for this field
Campus Engagement
Yes
A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Campus Engagement:
Course: Solving for Carbon Neutrality
Solving for Carbon Neutrality is a multi-disciplinary, team-taught, project-based class that invites MIT students to engage with the campus by designing short-, middle-, and long-term solutions to sustainability challenges. Finding these solutions requires a deep understanding of technology options, and human behaviors, as well as regional, state, and municipal energy production and distribution systems, economic frameworks, and policy. The course is designed for students to consider the local, state, regional, and national context of solving for carbon neutrality and inform the development of the pathways they design. The course is also designed to leverage the campus as a test bed for understanding climate mitigation and preparing for a low-carbon future.
https://dusp.mit.edu/subject/spring-2018-11s938-0
Solving for Carbon Neutrality is a multi-disciplinary, team-taught, project-based class that invites MIT students to engage with the campus by designing short-, middle-, and long-term solutions to sustainability challenges. Finding these solutions requires a deep understanding of technology options, and human behaviors, as well as regional, state, and municipal energy production and distribution systems, economic frameworks, and policy. The course is designed for students to consider the local, state, regional, and national context of solving for carbon neutrality and inform the development of the pathways they design. The course is also designed to leverage the campus as a test bed for understanding climate mitigation and preparing for a low-carbon future.
https://dusp.mit.edu/subject/spring-2018-11s938-0
Public Engagement
Yes
A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Public Engagement:
Climate Mitigation Strategies - Leveraging Campus as Test Bed
MIT's Plan for Action on Climate Change is guided by five pillars to address the global challenge of climate change through research, technology, education, and outreach, as well as calling on MIT to use its campus operations and community as a test bed for change. As ongoing campus efforts in a dense urban environment contribute to incremental emissions reductions, Institute leaders recognize the need for rapid global mitigation efforts that deploy strategies both on and off campus. To advance this, MIT entered into a power purchase agreement, or PPA, in 2016 that enabled the construction of Summit Farms, a 650-acre, 60-megawatt solar farm in North Carolina. Since then, MIT has benefited annually from the Institute’s 25-year commitment to purchase electricity generated through the PPA and in 2020 alone purchased 87,320 megawatt-hours of solar power, which offset over 28,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions from on-campus operations.
https://news.mit.edu/2020/campus-test-bed-climate-action-starts-continues-mit-1218
MIT's Plan for Action on Climate Change is guided by five pillars to address the global challenge of climate change through research, technology, education, and outreach, as well as calling on MIT to use its campus operations and community as a test bed for change. As ongoing campus efforts in a dense urban environment contribute to incremental emissions reductions, Institute leaders recognize the need for rapid global mitigation efforts that deploy strategies both on and off campus. To advance this, MIT entered into a power purchase agreement, or PPA, in 2016 that enabled the construction of Summit Farms, a 650-acre, 60-megawatt solar farm in North Carolina. Since then, MIT has benefited annually from the Institute’s 25-year commitment to purchase electricity generated through the PPA and in 2020 alone purchased 87,320 megawatt-hours of solar power, which offset over 28,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions from on-campus operations.
https://news.mit.edu/2020/campus-test-bed-climate-action-starts-continues-mit-1218
Air & Climate
Yes
A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Air & Climate:
Visualizing a Climate Resilient future at MIT
The Climate Resiliency Dashboard joins many other data sets and visualizations available to the MIT community in the Sustainability DataPool — part of the fulfillment of Pillar E of MIT’s Plan for Action on Climate Change, which calls for using the campus as a test bed for change. “By testing these ideas on campus and sharing our data, findings, and planning frameworks, we’re not only supporting a more climate-resilient MIT, but also providing the tools for others to learn from us, solving these same challenges in their own communities and institutions,” says Goldberg.
Although the dashboard will always contain a certain level of uncertainty, the plan is to continue to evolve a more robust tool. “We called it the MIT Climate Resiliency Dashboard, and not the MIT Flood Viewer, because we plan to visualize more data related to climate resiliency, like extreme and prolonged heat events,” says Goldberg, noting that heat information is expected to be added in late 2021. “As the science advances, understanding heat impacts today and going forward will bring more of that into this dashboard.” Cambridge has already modeled some aspects of future heat risk and developed preparedness plans, allowing MIT to build upon the city’s heat risk modeling, communicate findings through the Climate Resiliency Dashboard, and anticipate how MIT can protect its community, research, academics, and operations from changes in heat over time.
https://news.mit.edu/2021/visualizing-climate-resilient-mit-campus-dashboard-0311
The Climate Resiliency Dashboard joins many other data sets and visualizations available to the MIT community in the Sustainability DataPool — part of the fulfillment of Pillar E of MIT’s Plan for Action on Climate Change, which calls for using the campus as a test bed for change. “By testing these ideas on campus and sharing our data, findings, and planning frameworks, we’re not only supporting a more climate-resilient MIT, but also providing the tools for others to learn from us, solving these same challenges in their own communities and institutions,” says Goldberg.
Although the dashboard will always contain a certain level of uncertainty, the plan is to continue to evolve a more robust tool. “We called it the MIT Climate Resiliency Dashboard, and not the MIT Flood Viewer, because we plan to visualize more data related to climate resiliency, like extreme and prolonged heat events,” says Goldberg, noting that heat information is expected to be added in late 2021. “As the science advances, understanding heat impacts today and going forward will bring more of that into this dashboard.” Cambridge has already modeled some aspects of future heat risk and developed preparedness plans, allowing MIT to build upon the city’s heat risk modeling, communicate findings through the Climate Resiliency Dashboard, and anticipate how MIT can protect its community, research, academics, and operations from changes in heat over time.
https://news.mit.edu/2021/visualizing-climate-resilient-mit-campus-dashboard-0311
Buildings
Yes
A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Buildings:
Carbon Neutral Cooling
An MIT class will design carbon-neutral cooling systems that could be integrated into MIT’s buildings. To ensure their design will be compatible with campus facilities, the class is working directly with staff at the MIT Central Utilities Plant (CUP), the on-campus power plant. Given the plant’s convenient location to campus, engineers from the CUP can visit the class to work with students on a regular basis.
The fall semester will be spent in design, and in the spring, students will develop their carbon-neutral solutions. Finally, a smaller group of students may stay on for the summer to test and apply the project on campus.
https://sustainability.mit.edu/article/office-sustainability-names-2018-grant-winners
An MIT class will design carbon-neutral cooling systems that could be integrated into MIT’s buildings. To ensure their design will be compatible with campus facilities, the class is working directly with staff at the MIT Central Utilities Plant (CUP), the on-campus power plant. Given the plant’s convenient location to campus, engineers from the CUP can visit the class to work with students on a regular basis.
The fall semester will be spent in design, and in the spring, students will develop their carbon-neutral solutions. Finally, a smaller group of students may stay on for the summer to test and apply the project on campus.
https://sustainability.mit.edu/article/office-sustainability-names-2018-grant-winners
Energy
Yes
A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Energy:
Testing batteries on campus
Solar energy is not available all the time, and this can be a challenge for renewable energy installations in regions like the Northeast where overcast skies and precipitation happen frequently and can last for days. One potential solution is to improve upon energy storage systems, but there are still limited data available about such systems, and much of what has been collected are proprietary. Trancik’s team plans to work with MIT Facilities to explore the installation of lithium-ion batteries.
"We are trying to understand how to optimize energy storage systems used in conjunction with sources of renewable energy,” says Micah Ziegler, a postdoc in the Trancik Lab. “The opportunity to collaborate with the MIT Department of Facilities to collect relevant data will be invaluable for our research and for the design and operation of these energy systems."
https://sustainability.mit.edu/article/office-sustainability-names-2018-grant-winners
Solar energy is not available all the time, and this can be a challenge for renewable energy installations in regions like the Northeast where overcast skies and precipitation happen frequently and can last for days. One potential solution is to improve upon energy storage systems, but there are still limited data available about such systems, and much of what has been collected are proprietary. Trancik’s team plans to work with MIT Facilities to explore the installation of lithium-ion batteries.
"We are trying to understand how to optimize energy storage systems used in conjunction with sources of renewable energy,” says Micah Ziegler, a postdoc in the Trancik Lab. “The opportunity to collaborate with the MIT Department of Facilities to collect relevant data will be invaluable for our research and for the design and operation of these energy systems."
https://sustainability.mit.edu/article/office-sustainability-names-2018-grant-winners
Food & Dining
Yes
A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Food & Dining:
Analysis of Food Security on campus
Imagine an MIT where everyone has access to healthy, affordable, and culturally meaningful food in an environment designed for social connection, sustainability, and innovation. MIT is targeting the following 5 strategies to address food security on campus.
1. Access and education (low cost grocery store on campus)
2. Standards for food vendors
3. Comprehensive waste reduction strategies
4. Vibrant indoor and outdoor spaces
5. Innovation and experimentation (SwipeShare program, reducing stigma about seeking help and increasing awareness of on campus resources)
https://sustainability.mit.edu/sites/default/files/inline-files/Food_Security_Class_2.25.20.pdf
Imagine an MIT where everyone has access to healthy, affordable, and culturally meaningful food in an environment designed for social connection, sustainability, and innovation. MIT is targeting the following 5 strategies to address food security on campus.
1. Access and education (low cost grocery store on campus)
2. Standards for food vendors
3. Comprehensive waste reduction strategies
4. Vibrant indoor and outdoor spaces
5. Innovation and experimentation (SwipeShare program, reducing stigma about seeking help and increasing awareness of on campus resources)
https://sustainability.mit.edu/sites/default/files/inline-files/Food_Security_Class_2.25.20.pdf
Grounds
Yes
A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Grounds:
The HIVE
The Hive, MIT's new sustainability garden, is a collaborative project between the Office of Sustainability, Undergraduate Association Committee on Sustainability (UA Sustain), and MIT Grounds Services within the Department of Facilities. The Hive aims to bring the community together for sustainability education, collaborative thinking, and relaxation. Construction of the garden was completed in the summer of 2019.
https://sustainability.mit.edu/hive-garden
The Hive, MIT's new sustainability garden, is a collaborative project between the Office of Sustainability, Undergraduate Association Committee on Sustainability (UA Sustain), and MIT Grounds Services within the Department of Facilities. The Hive aims to bring the community together for sustainability education, collaborative thinking, and relaxation. Construction of the garden was completed in the summer of 2019.
https://sustainability.mit.edu/hive-garden
Purchasing
Yes
A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Purchasing:
Material flow analysis at MIT
A PhD student in MIT's School of Engineering '20 explored how materials flow into and out of the MIT campus. Her research was sponsored with a partnership between the MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative and the MIT Office of Sustainability. These research activities informed how campus systems operate, perform and function. The analyses now provides MIT with the data and key findings needed to optimize material flows via changes in purchasing and disposal behavior, policies, vendor management and material selection.
https://sustainability.mit.edu/article/material-flows-mit-qa-rachel-perlman-mitos-fellow-and-student-researcher
A PhD student in MIT's School of Engineering '20 explored how materials flow into and out of the MIT campus. Her research was sponsored with a partnership between the MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative and the MIT Office of Sustainability. These research activities informed how campus systems operate, perform and function. The analyses now provides MIT with the data and key findings needed to optimize material flows via changes in purchasing and disposal behavior, policies, vendor management and material selection.
https://sustainability.mit.edu/article/material-flows-mit-qa-rachel-perlman-mitos-fellow-and-student-researcher
Transportation
Yes
A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Transportation:
ACCESS MIT: Reducing parking demand by 15 percent
In 2016, MIT set out to reduce parking demand on campus by 10 percent over two years with the launch of the Access MIT program. The MIT Office of Sustainability participated in the design process, along with researchers and decision makers, to create the program, which combines pay-per-day parking with zero-cost access to MBTA subway and local bus, among other benefits for employees. The team also launched a public awareness campaign to accompany the new benefits and reframe the commuting experience. Over its first few years, the program contributed to a nearly 15-percent decrease in on-campus gated parking demand, exceeding its initial goal. The program is still in effect today, and the MIT Office of Sustainability continues to work with its campus and city partners to explore new ways to provide commuters with the flexibility to choose, each day, how they would like to commute.
https://sustainability.mit.edu/access-mit
In 2016, MIT set out to reduce parking demand on campus by 10 percent over two years with the launch of the Access MIT program. The MIT Office of Sustainability participated in the design process, along with researchers and decision makers, to create the program, which combines pay-per-day parking with zero-cost access to MBTA subway and local bus, among other benefits for employees. The team also launched a public awareness campaign to accompany the new benefits and reframe the commuting experience. Over its first few years, the program contributed to a nearly 15-percent decrease in on-campus gated parking demand, exceeding its initial goal. The program is still in effect today, and the MIT Office of Sustainability continues to work with its campus and city partners to explore new ways to provide commuters with the flexibility to choose, each day, how they would like to commute.
https://sustainability.mit.edu/access-mit
Waste
Yes
A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Waste:
Promoting a circular economy at MIT
The VPF Property Office historically has worked with MIT Departments, Labs, and Centers to repurpose surplus lab equipment, furniture, and other reusable supplies. Last year, for example, in conjunction with the MIT Warehouse and Equipment Exchange, it tracked 840 pieces of lab equipment and furniture that were swapped from one lab to another. With an increase in buildings, lab space, equipment, and research activity on our campus, the Property Office has been looking for a more efficient way to help MIT's DLCs reuse surplus property. Enter Rheaply.
Rheaply (think “research cheaply”) is a new online service available to MIT that hosts a free reuse marketplace for furniture, supplies, and equipment. Currently in a pilot phase, Rheaply is now open to MIT community members with a Kerberos account. You can list surplus equipment and offer it to the wider community and post requests for specific equipment and supplies you need for your lab, center, or department. You can also personalize your Rheaply homepage to filter items of interest and receive notifications when new items are posted.
https://sustainability.mit.edu/article/mit-sized-neighborhood-swap
The VPF Property Office historically has worked with MIT Departments, Labs, and Centers to repurpose surplus lab equipment, furniture, and other reusable supplies. Last year, for example, in conjunction with the MIT Warehouse and Equipment Exchange, it tracked 840 pieces of lab equipment and furniture that were swapped from one lab to another. With an increase in buildings, lab space, equipment, and research activity on our campus, the Property Office has been looking for a more efficient way to help MIT's DLCs reuse surplus property. Enter Rheaply.
Rheaply (think “research cheaply”) is a new online service available to MIT that hosts a free reuse marketplace for furniture, supplies, and equipment. Currently in a pilot phase, Rheaply is now open to MIT community members with a Kerberos account. You can list surplus equipment and offer it to the wider community and post requests for specific equipment and supplies you need for your lab, center, or department. You can also personalize your Rheaply homepage to filter items of interest and receive notifications when new items are posted.
https://sustainability.mit.edu/article/mit-sized-neighborhood-swap
Water
Yes
A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Water:
Infinite cooling: Recovering fresh water from power plants
A new system devised by MIT engineers could provide a low-cost source of drinking water for parched cities around the world while also cutting power plant operating costs.
About 39 percent of all the fresh water withdrawn from rivers, lakes, and reservoirs in the U.S. is earmarked for the cooling needs of electric power plants that use fossil fuels or nuclear power, and much of that water ends up floating away in clouds of vapor. But the new MIT system could potentially save a substantial fraction of that lost water — and could even become a significant source of clean, safe drinking water for coastal cities where seawater is used to cool local power plants.
https://news.mit.edu/2018/new-system-recovers-fresh-water-power-plants-0608
A new system devised by MIT engineers could provide a low-cost source of drinking water for parched cities around the world while also cutting power plant operating costs.
About 39 percent of all the fresh water withdrawn from rivers, lakes, and reservoirs in the U.S. is earmarked for the cooling needs of electric power plants that use fossil fuels or nuclear power, and much of that water ends up floating away in clouds of vapor. But the new MIT system could potentially save a substantial fraction of that lost water — and could even become a significant source of clean, safe drinking water for coastal cities where seawater is used to cool local power plants.
https://news.mit.edu/2018/new-system-recovers-fresh-water-power-plants-0608
Coordination & Planning
Yes
A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Coordination & Planning:
Course: Exploring Sustainability at Different Scales
This class provides an introduction to the concept of sustainability from the perspectives of different disciplines, including, business and economics, science, engineering, social sciences and the humanities. We use the UN framework on Sustainable Development Goals to emphasize the breath of this concept, and the MIT campus and research and education missions to focus these broad perspectives onto a specific example that is close to home. The class emphasizes critical analysis and thinking, readings, discussion, and community action. We meet with various experts and identify team projects with final reports. The class includes both undergraduates and graduates with additional assignments for the latter.
https://dusp.mit.edu/subject/fall-2020-11s946
This class provides an introduction to the concept of sustainability from the perspectives of different disciplines, including, business and economics, science, engineering, social sciences and the humanities. We use the UN framework on Sustainable Development Goals to emphasize the breath of this concept, and the MIT campus and research and education missions to focus these broad perspectives onto a specific example that is close to home. The class emphasizes critical analysis and thinking, readings, discussion, and community action. We meet with various experts and identify team projects with final reports. The class includes both undergraduates and graduates with additional assignments for the latter.
https://dusp.mit.edu/subject/fall-2020-11s946
Diversity & Affordability
Yes
A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Diversity & Affordability:
MIT is one of only five colleges in the U.S. that is need-blind and full-need for all of our undergraduate students, domestic and international. Six out of every 10 students receive MIT need-based aid. The estimated average price for an undergraduate receiving financial aid in 2021–2022 is $22,969—that’s approximately what it costs to attend a state school. And for most students with family incomes under $90,000 a year (and typical assets), we ensure that scholarship funding will allow them to attend MIT tuition-free. Tuition-free means your MIT Scholarship covers at least the cost of MIT’s tuition.
https://sfs.mit.edu/undergraduate-students/the-cost-of-attendance/making-mit-affordable/
https://sfs.mit.edu/undergraduate-students/the-cost-of-attendance/making-mit-affordable/
Investment & Finance
Yes
A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Investment & Finance:
Aggregate Confusion Project
Capital markets are moving fast to incorporate Environmental, Social, and Governance factors. The problem? ESG data are noisy and unreliable. MIT found the correlation among prominent agencies’ ESG ratings was on average 0.61; by comparison, credit ratings from Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s are correlated at 0.92. This ambiguity around ESG ratings creates acute challenges for investors trying to achieve both financial and social return.
The Sustainability Initiative is working to solve this problem through a program of research to improve the quality of ESG measurement and decision making in the financial sector. Our first step was to characterize the problem in our paper “Aggregate Confusion: The Divergence of ESG Ratings”. Now, MIT is seeking corporate member participation by asset owners and managers to chart a course toward more rigorous, coherent methods for ESG integration.
https://mitsloan.mit.edu/sustainability-initiative/aggregate-confusion-project
Capital markets are moving fast to incorporate Environmental, Social, and Governance factors. The problem? ESG data are noisy and unreliable. MIT found the correlation among prominent agencies’ ESG ratings was on average 0.61; by comparison, credit ratings from Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s are correlated at 0.92. This ambiguity around ESG ratings creates acute challenges for investors trying to achieve both financial and social return.
The Sustainability Initiative is working to solve this problem through a program of research to improve the quality of ESG measurement and decision making in the financial sector. Our first step was to characterize the problem in our paper “Aggregate Confusion: The Divergence of ESG Ratings”. Now, MIT is seeking corporate member participation by asset owners and managers to chart a course toward more rigorous, coherent methods for ESG integration.
https://mitsloan.mit.edu/sustainability-initiative/aggregate-confusion-project
Wellbeing & Work
Yes
A brief description of the projects and how they contribute to understanding or advancing sustainability in relation to Wellbeing & Work:
Interdisciplinary approach to PPE supply
In response to COVID-19, MIT was agile — collecting, fundraising, and facilitating the purchase of PPE donations (i.e., gloves, face masks, face coverings, gowns, face shields, sanitizing wipes) for front-line workers at MIT and beyond. Now, as campus repopulates with a percentage of students, staff, faculty, and researchers, there is an interdisciplinary research team convened by the MIT Office of Sustainability (MITOS) to “shape mindsets” and identify sustainable procurement and sourcing strategies for PPE going forward.
The team was brought together as part of the newest campus-as-a-test bed research project through the Campus Sustainability Incubator Fund, administered by MITOS, which seeks to enable MIT community members to use the campus itself for research in sustainable operations, management, and design. By testing ideas on campus, the project uniquely connects researchers and operational staff, allowing for immediate feedback and application of findings at MIT.
https://news.mit.edu/2020/interdisciplinary-approach-sustainable-ppe-1029
GetFit MIT
The MIT big data Living Lab team is partnering with the MIT Medical getfit@MIT fitness challenge team to develop a mobile activity logger. Every spring semester, MIT Medical runs a getfit@mit challenge to encourage fitness at MIT. For the challenge, participants join teams and log their activities to the getfit@mit website. The challenge had been running since 2004, but lacked a mobile presence. In November of 2014, the Living Lab partnered with getfit@mit to develop an iOS application. As of March of 2015, we released an app to the app store!
http://livinglab.mit.edu/why-getfit/
In response to COVID-19, MIT was agile — collecting, fundraising, and facilitating the purchase of PPE donations (i.e., gloves, face masks, face coverings, gowns, face shields, sanitizing wipes) for front-line workers at MIT and beyond. Now, as campus repopulates with a percentage of students, staff, faculty, and researchers, there is an interdisciplinary research team convened by the MIT Office of Sustainability (MITOS) to “shape mindsets” and identify sustainable procurement and sourcing strategies for PPE going forward.
The team was brought together as part of the newest campus-as-a-test bed research project through the Campus Sustainability Incubator Fund, administered by MITOS, which seeks to enable MIT community members to use the campus itself for research in sustainable operations, management, and design. By testing ideas on campus, the project uniquely connects researchers and operational staff, allowing for immediate feedback and application of findings at MIT.
https://news.mit.edu/2020/interdisciplinary-approach-sustainable-ppe-1029
GetFit MIT
The MIT big data Living Lab team is partnering with the MIT Medical getfit@MIT fitness challenge team to develop a mobile activity logger. Every spring semester, MIT Medical runs a getfit@mit challenge to encourage fitness at MIT. For the challenge, participants join teams and log their activities to the getfit@mit website. The challenge had been running since 2004, but lacked a mobile presence. In November of 2014, the Living Lab partnered with getfit@mit to develop an iOS application. As of March of 2015, we released an app to the app store!
http://livinglab.mit.edu/why-getfit/
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