MIT Energy and Climate Hack 2023 Introduces AI to Tackle Climate Challenges

The annual MIT Energy and Climate Hack brought together participants from various fields and disciplines to address the global energy and climate crisis. This year’s event, held on Nov. 10-12, saw hundreds of students from MIT and colleges worldwide come together both physically and virtually to develop innovative solutions.

Since its inception in 2013, the MIT Energy and Climate Hack has consistently served as a platform for sustainable and groundbreaking ideas, reminding us that there is always potential for exciting new solutions.

Claire Lorenzo, one of the organizers and communications director for the event, highlighted the diverse and driven nature of the participants. She emphasized their passion for finding solutions and how ideas began to take shape immediately.

The first day of the hackathon involved companies presenting their most pressing energy and climate challenges to the participants. Divided into teams, the hackers had two days to “hack the challenge” they were assigned and present their solutions to company representatives, fellow participants, and judges.

The key focus areas for this year’s event were energy markets, transportation, and farms and forests. Corporate sponsors included Google, Crusoe, Ironwood, Foothill Ventures, Koidra, Mitra Chem, Avangrid, Schneider Electric, First Solar, and Climate Ledger.

This year’s hackathon also embraced the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in developing climate solutions. Lorenzo, particularly excited as a computer science student, acknowledged the applications of AI across various domains, such as transportation and agriculture.

The organizers identified four core AI applications for special consideration: accelerating discovery, optimizing real-world solutions, prediction, and processing unstructured data.

“There isn’t a singular solution to climate change,” said Lorenzo, reflecting the sentiment among the participants. “It requires cooperation and leveraging knowledge from various industries and fields to make a lasting impact.”

After the preliminary presentations, one team from each challenge advanced to the final presentation round, where they pitched their solutions to the audience. The winners of this year’s hackathon were team Fenergy from the energy markets sector, who developed the solution “Unbiased Cathode.” Their tool allows researchers to assess the supply chain implications of battery materials, reducing the lab-to-production timeline.

Lorenzo commended team Fenergy for creating a tool powered by a large language model (LLM) that enables the more efficient iteration and development of battery technologies.

Reflecting on her first experience at the MIT Energy and Climate Hack, Lorenzo expressed her hope for the future. Witnessing the passion and dedication of the participants gave her optimism that progress can be made in tackling the challenge of climate change.

Students interested in learning more about the MIT Energy and Climate Hackathon or participating in future events can visit the website for additional information.