The MIT Energy and Climate Hack is an annual event that calls together students around the globe to come up with innovative solutions to the huge environmental challenges of our time. This year’s hackathon took place between the 10th and 12th of November, and it was conducted both virtually and in-person at MIT’s campus. The event saw a diverse set of participants who all showcased their fervor and commitment to tackling the energy and climate crisis. From the first day, they were presented with the real-world climate problems of several industries and then tasked to form teams and brainstorm applicable and efficient solutions within 48 hours.
Established in 2013, the hackathon has run for an entire decade, continuously initiating and nurturing sustainable inventions and progress in energy and climate solutions. Therefore, student organizer and communications director for this year’s hackathon, Claire Lorenzo, expresses optimism as she gets to witness these ingenious ideas come alive year in year out, saying that participants’ passion and dedication were beyond inspiring.
The primary focus areas in this year’s hack included energy markets, transportation, and farms and forests. As part of the event, tech behemoth Google, alongside Crusoe, Ironwood, Foothill Ventures, Koidra, Mitra Chem, Avangrid, Schneider Electric, First Solar, and Climate Ledger, led the lineup of corporate sponsors. A noteworthy development at this year’s event was the recognition of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a valuable tool in creating pioneering climate solutions. AI’s versatility was displayed in its applicability in areas like transportation and agriculture.
Four main AI applications were identified and given special consideration. These included speeding up discoveries while reducing waste, optimizing existing solutions through automation, enhancing predictive algorithms, and employing AI tools to analyze and process large amounts of data efficiently.
The concluding ceremony of the event saw Team Fenergy, which was handling challenges in the energy markets sector, declared winners. The team, including Alessandro Fumi, Amal Nammouchi, Amaury De Bock, Cyrine Chaabani, and Robbie Lee V, developed the “Unbiased Cathode”. This tool allows researchers to evaluate supply chain implications of battery materials even before labs begin developing them, thereby shortening the lab-to-production timeline.
For Lorenzo, the message that everyone walked away with was the need for cooperation from different industries and the application of diverse knowledge and experience in finding lasting solutions to climate change. Above all, the memorable experience left her with hope for the future, seeing numerous individuals willingly take on this immense challenge.
