He MIT Energy and Climate Hack brought together participants from countless fields and disciplines to develop rapid, innovative solutions to one of the most complex challenges facing society today: the global energy and climate crisis. Hundreds of students from MIT and universities around the world gathered on the MIT campus and virtually for this year's event, which took place Nov. 10-12.
Established in 2013, the MIT Energy and Climate Hack has been the launching pad for innovative and sustainable solutions for a decade; an annual reminder that there are always exciting new ideas around the corner.
According to Claire Lorenzo, MIT student organizer and communications director for this year's Energy and Climate Hack, “a lot of people from a lot of places showed up; both virtually and in person. It was encouraging to see how motivated everyone was. How passionate they were about finding great solutions. You could see these ideas starting to form right away.”
On the first day, company representatives from numerous sectors presented to participants their most pressing energy and climate challenges. Once the meeting was divided into teams, participants had two days to “solve the challenge” they were assigned and present their solution to company representatives, fellow hackers, and judges.
Areas of focus at this year's event were energy markets, transportation, and farms and forests. Participating corporate sponsors included Google, Crusoe, Ironwood, Foothill Ventures, Koidra, Mitra Chem, Avangrid, Schneider Electric, First Solar and Climate Ledger.
This year's event also marked the first time that artificial intelligence emerged as a viable tool for developing creative climate solutions. Lorenzo noted: “I'm studying computer science, so exploring how ai could be leveraged to have a positive impact on the climate was particularly exciting for me. It can be applicable to virtually any domain. Like transportation (with emissions), for example. Also in agriculture.”
Energy and Climate Hack organizers identified the implementation of four core ai applications for special consideration: accelerating discovery (shortening the development process while producing less waste), optimizing real-world solutions (using automation to increase efficiency), prediction (using ai to improve prediction algorithms) and processing unstructured data (using ai to analyze and scale large amounts of data efficiently).
“If there was a shared sentiment among participants, it would probably be the idea that there is no single solution to climate change,” says Lorenzo, “and that requires the cooperation of various industries, leveraging knowledge and experience from numerous fields, to achieve a lasting impact.”
Once the initial round of presentations concluded, one team from each challenge advanced from the preliminary presentation evaluation session to the final presentation round, where they presented their solutions to a room full of attendees. Once the semi-finalists presented their solutions, the judges deliberated on the nominations and selected the Fenergy team, which works in the energy markets sector, as the winner. The team, consisting of Alessandro Fumi, Amal Nammouchi, Amaury De Bock, Cyrine Chaabani and Robbie Lee V, said: “Our solution, Unbiased Cathode, allows researchers to evaluate the implications of battery materials in the supply chain before development to begin, thus reducing the timeline from lab to production.”
“They created a tool based on LLM (large language model) that allows iterating and developing new innovative battery technologies much more efficiently,” added Lorenzo.
When asked what he will remember most about his first experience at the MIT Energy and Climate Hack, Lorenzo responded: “Having hope for the future. Hope to see the passion that so many people have to find a solution. I hope to see all of these people go this far to meet this challenge and make a difference. If we continue to develop and implement solutions like these globally, I am hopeful.”
Students interested in learning more about the MIT Energy and Climate Hackathon, or participating in next year's Hack, can find more information about the event. website.
