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Lab hosts high school students in engineering outreach program
On Thursday August 9th, the Laboratory for Aviation and the Environment hosted high school students from the AeroAstro track of MIT’s MOSTEC Program (MIT Online Science, Technology and Engineering Community) which is administered by the MIT Office of Engineering Outreach Programs. Prior to visiting MIT, each student completed a month long online curriculum created by…
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Study released on the costs and benefits of desulfurizing jet fuel
A new MIT-led study has been released that assesses the economic and environmental costs and benefits of desulfurizing jet fuel. Aircraft emissions can reduce air quality, leading to adverse health impacts including increased risk of premature mortality. A technically viable way to mitigate the health impacts of aviation is the use of desulfurized jet fuel,…
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New study finds large variability in greenhouse gas emissions from alternative jet fuels
There’s a race afoot to give biofuel wings in the aviation industry, part of an effort to combat soaring fuel prices and cut greenhouse gas emissions. In 2008, Virgin Atlantic became the first commercial airline to fly a plane on a blend of biofuel and petroleum. Since then, Air New Zealand, Qatar Airways and Continental…
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A link between air travel and deaths on the ground
The atmosphere is full of natural and man-made chemicals, including emissions from fuel combustion and byproducts of living organisms. Many of these chemicals combine in the atmosphere to form tiny solid and liquid particles known as “fine particulate matter” that are 2.5 micrometers or smaller (the average human hair is about 70 micrometers in diameter,…
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New study links air pollution and early death in UK
In a study appearing this month in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, MIT researchers report that emissions from cars, trucks, planes and powerplants cause 13,000 premature deaths in the United Kingdom each year. The researchers analyzed data from 2005, the most recent year for which information is available. They found that among the various sources of emissions…
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LAE researchers collaborating with Delta to prevent persistent contrails
MIT researchers in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics Laboratory for Aviation and the Environment partner with Delta to prevent the climate warming effect of contrails. The focus of the study is how to eliminate persistent contrails, which make up about 10% of all contrails and which create clouds that trap heat and warm the…
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Half of air pollution in the U.S. to come from out-of-state emissions
More than half of all air quality-related early deaths in the United States are a result of emissions that originate outside of the state in which those deaths occur, LAE researchers report today in the journal Nature. The study focuses on the years between 2005 and 2018 and tracks combustion emissions of various polluting compounds from…
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New LAE study quantifies air quality and climate impacts of aviation
New research from MIT’s Laboratory for Aviation and the Environment has quantified the climate and air quality impacts of aviation, broken down by emission type, altitude and location. Writing in Environmental Research Letters, the research team examines how this damage can be mitigated, and provides consistent comparative assessments of aviation emissions trade-offs, considering both climate and…
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