Climate Change

Climate Peril: The Intelligent Reader's Guide to Understanding the Climate Crisis, by John Berger

Several Switzer Fellows participated in September's People's Climate March in New York City, just days before the United Nations climate summit. Below are their impressions of the march.

A team of eight MIT undergraduate and graduate students won two awards in this year’s U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Better Buildings Case Competition, out of more than 150 students from across the country. The win means MIT students have taken home not just one, but two, prizes from the competition each of the three years it has taken place.

How does California’s energy pricing system impact consumer behavior, grid reliability, and the environment? This paper addresses the criticisms of the current system: pricing inefficiencies, blackouts, and negative environmental impacts. Although demand is highest during certain times—noon to six pm on weekdays—consumers pay a rate based on total electricity generated, regardless of demand fluctuations.

Dustin Mulvany recently provided analysis and testimony on behalf of the Sierra Club on Utah's net metering debate.

Los Angeles County is currently leaving around 98 percent of its solar capacity untapped. Achieving just 10 percent of its rooftop solar potential could create 47,000 jobs and slash nearly 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually — the equivalent of taking about half a million cars off the road — according to new findings released Tuesday by the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation and Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and highlighted in a White House announcement.