Boston University Institute for Global Sustainability

A Boston couple received $8,000 — covering ~90% of their costs — to install a #GreenRoof, which uses plants to absorb stormwater, improve insulation & reduce #electricity costs. The city is seeking more applicants 🌿

Full story by IGS affiliate @davabel.bsky.social & student Tavishi Chattopadhyay ⬇️

In the #EU, #energy efficiency has become increasingly understood through social policy concepts, such as energy poverty and energy #inequality. But it wasn't always that way. #NewStudy by IGS Visiting Researcher Johan Nordensvard & colleagues: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Welcome back to Grad Fellow Friday! Today, Tati Fontana explores the Brussels Effect & how U.S. markets reacted to the #EuropeanUnion's approval of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive #CSRD 🇪🇺 www.bu.edu/igs/profile/... buquestrom.bsky.social‬

These Cities Are Taking Action Against Extreme Heat Here's how cities around the world are responding to heat waves made worse by climate change.

With #ExtremeHeat on the rise, #cities around the world are taking action. gwellenius.bsky.social talks to time.com‬ about the power of building long-term, local solutions for #climate resilience: https://time.com/7305946/cities-tackling-extreme-heat/

Group of students smiling on grand staircase.

Students on a tour of the MA statehouse.

Students on a tour of the MA statehouse.

IGS supports our rising #sustainability experts in recognizing the #policy implications of their #research. Recently, our IGS #GradStudent Summer Fellows met up with the Pardee Center Summer fellows for a tour of the MA State House, followed by lunch and networking between the two groups. 🤝

What methods of electricity generation use the most water? In the 20th century, global energy and water use grew significantly. Population growth and rising affluence will continue to drive demand for both resources. Different energy technologies have varying...

The production & consumption of #water and #energy are closely interconnected. 💧⚡ All forms of energy require water for extraction/distribution, but some need more than others, per cutlercleveland.bsky.social: visualizingenergy.org/what-methods...

Urban trees vs. cool roofs: What’s the best way for cities to beat the heat? Cities are seeking low-cost ways to ease the heat island effect. Researchers found benefits and trade-offs in two popular options, but they vary by city and even neighborhood.

When it comes to cooling off #UrbanHeat, is planting #trees or installing cool roofs more effective? It all depends on the neighborhood and the city, explain Lucy Hutyra & Ian Smith of buearth.bsky.social‬theconversation.com/2-ways-citie...88 #ClimateResilience

A group of eight smiling students in front of the IGS logo.

Three people smile in front of a Boston University research poster.

A group of people in the audience of a presentation.

IGS faculty and staff pose in the office.

🎉 #Congrats to our 2025 IGS #GraduateStudent Summer Fellows on delivering their final #research presentations and posters, capping a summer of interdisciplinary collaboration, mentorship, and discovery. The IGS community gathered for a day of listening and learning with these talented #students!

Grad Fellow Friday is here! Creating alloys used in aerospace, nuclear, and deep-sea technology is an energy-intensive process. Bamidele Aroboto is using #DataScience, #MachineLearning, and materials science to accelerate #sustainable manufacturing of high entropy alloys 🏭 www.bu.edu/igs/profile/...

A group of five smiling students.

A student presents in front of a screen reading: "A Personal Project"

Congrats to the 2025 participants of the Social Science Summer Writing Internship Program (SWIP), led by buciss.bsky.social & Writing in the Disciplines program! Through SWIP, intern Sofia Sanchez joined IGS's #SciComm team, gaining experience & mentorship📝 www.bu.edu/writingprogr... 📷: Audrey Kurtz

YouTube video by 부산영어방송 Busan English Broadcasting [7/1 TUES] 출근길 영어뉴스 I Morning Wave in Busan

This summer has brought extreme, in many cases, record-breaking, #heat to communities around the world. patriciafabian.bsky.social talks health impacts of excessive heat and city, building & individual-level measures to protect human health on Morning Wave in Busan: www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2z1...

Four scholars in front of the IGS logo sign in an office.

We are thrilled to welcome our newest Visiting Researcher Muhammad Asif to the IGS community! He joins us from The King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals in Saudi Arabia, with expertise in #RenewableEnergy, #SustainableBuildings, #EnergyTransitions, & more: www.bu.edu/igs/profile/...

Brink Bites: Prescribing Cheaper Energy Bills and the Bible’s Agricultural Connections Other research news, stories, and tidbits from around BU, including a program to cut hospital patients’ energy costs, the environmental context of biblical parables, and lots of awards

The latest bostonu.bsky.social‬ Brink Bites roundup shines a spotlight 🔦 on exciting #research and #achievements by several IGS affiliates: https://www.bu.edu/articles/2025/brink-bites-cheap-energy-bills-and-bible-agricultural-connections/

"Energy really connects across every current and historical aspect of civilization," @cutlercleveland.bsky.social says in this podcast on the history and future of energy transitions. Listen to the full episode now ⬇️ 🎧

You’re Invited | IGS Summer Fellow Presentations Thursday 7/24, 11am - 2pm, IGS Office Enjoy lunch, listen to turbo presentations, and see research posters by our Graduate Student Summer Fellows.

Join us Thursday, from 11-2, at 111 Cummington Mall, Suite 149 for lunch, presentations, and posters with our IGS Graduate Student Summer Fellows! RSVP now: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

In today's Grad Fellow Friday spotlight, Breanna van Loenen zooms in 🔎 on harmful volatile organic compounds (VOCs) created during #FossilFuel production. With satellite data, she can better monitor these gases across the #US: www.bu.edu/igs/profile/...

"Right now, we see a warming-induced response from the trees, but maybe that’s temporary—maybe the trees will acclimate and their growth will slow down. We don’t know. That’s really the value of having long-term data," says Pamela Templer. Full story ⬇️🌲

Carbon footprint of bank loans Oil spills have been a persistent problem since the start of the oil industry. Millions of wells and trillions of barrels of oil extracted have resulted in significant environmental impact. Accidents ...

#DYK bank loans have #carbon footprints? 💰 Loans can accelerate #decarbonization by supporting clean, energy-efficient activity, or decelerate it by supporting fossil fuel-intensive, high-polluting activity. More from @cutlercleveland.bsky.social: visualizingenergy.org/carbon-footp...

YouTube video by Go Green Initiative Boston Public Schools

🏫✏️ For the past three years, patriciafabian.bsky.social has collaborated closely with Boston Public Schools to assess and improve #IndoorAirQuality in K-12 classrooms across the city. Go behind the scenes of this partnership in a new webinar: www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcUP...

#Geothermal uses the Earth's heat to warm and cool buildings. Outside of New England, it's also used for generating #electricity. Emily Ryan (IGS associate director) breaks down challenges and opportunities in this baystatebanner.bsky.social‬ article:baystatebanner.com/2025/07/09/i...k/

Cool Boston's hottest neighborhoods with more white roofs and trees, study says Boston University researchers found that planting about 2,500 trees and installing 3,000 “cool roofs” could bring relief to nearly 80,000 residents.

A combination of more #trees and white roofs could help to cool down some #Boston neighborhoods by a whole degree, according to new #research by experts including gwellenius.bsky.social, Lucy Hutyra & Dan Li: www.wbur.org/news/2025/07...

It’s finally Grad Fellow Friday! Amin Khodaverdian is making #AI more #sustainable and #accessible by using advanced 3D chip designs to streamline dataflows and boost energy-efficient performance📱⚡️: www.bu.edu/igs/profile/...

Sweating for Science: SPH Measures Heat Where Bostonians Work, Play, and Live As the summer heat intensifies in Boston, teams of SPH researchers have deployed a variety of sensors across the city to assess heat exposure among vulnerable residents and evaluate cooling interventi...

Researchers are placing sensors across Boston workplaces, childcare centers, and outdoor shade structures. The goal? To better measure heat exposure in vulnerable Bostonians & evaluate #cooling interventions. Feat. patriciafabian.bsky.social & mscammell.bsky.social: www.bu.edu/sph/news/art...

IGS Summer Fellows Instagram Takeover Thursday July 10, spend a day in the life with two Graduate Student Summer Fellows: Melissa Martin Sophia Tigges. Follow along: @BostonU @BU_IGS

📱☀️ TOMORROW: Two of our Graduate Student Summer Fellows will be taking over @bostonu.bsky.social's Instagram stories to share a day in their lives! ➡️ Join the fun: www.instagram.com/bu_igs/

The impact of air conditioning on residential electricity consumption across world countries We provide a first globally-relevant assessment of the electricity consumption consequences of households’ adaptation to ambient heat through air cond…

Air conditioning ownership increases households’ electricity consumption by 36%, on average, according to a new study co-authored by Ian Sue Wing (buearth.bsky.social), and demand is likely to increase on a #warming planet: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Oil spills: when, where, how big? Oil spills have been a persistent problem since the start of the oil industry. Millions of wells and trillions of barrels of oil extracted have resulted in significant environmental impact. Accidents ...

Major #OilSpills get attention, "but a steady stream of much smaller spills pose a significant, ongoing, and cumulative threat, especially in marine ecosystems," writes @cutlercleveland.bsky.social for Visualizing Energy. #NOAA reported 172 incidents in 2021: visualizingenergy.org/oil-spills-w...

Extreme #heat can have serious #health effects. High-heat days are increasing w/ #ClimateChange. baystatebanner.bsky.social‬ reports on a heat resilience symposium feat. IGS faculty: https://baystatebanner.com/2025/06/25/as-temperatures-soar-researchers-and-advocates-talk-extreme-heat-solutions/

Scientists’ warning on fossil fuels Abstract. The evidence is clear that fossil fuels—and the fossil fuel industry and its enablers—are driving a multitude of interlinked crises that jeopardi

Fossil fuels drive #ClimateChaos, #HealthCrises, #EnvironmentalInjustice & more. jjbuonocore.bsky.social, marydwillis.bsky.social‬ & colleagues present science-and-justice-based solutions in a new article for Oxford Open Climate Change: https://academic.oup.com/oocc/article/5/1/kgaf011/8099165

Where is new wind power in the United States being built? Modern wind energy in the U.S. began in the early 1980s in California, driven by favorable policies post-1970s oil shocks. By 2024, wind energy's national share rose from less than 1% in 1990 to appro...

If Texas were a country, it’d rank 5th in the world in #WindPower capacity. The early wind industry took off in California in the early 1980s after oil price shocks of the 70s. @cutlercleveland.bsky.social explores how U.S. wind #energy has evolved since then 💨 visualizingenergy.org/where-is-new...

Solar company accused of stashing cultural artifacts in Calif. storage facility One particular green energy project has been mired in controversy for years.

@sfgate.com reports on a recent IGS study (led by @sovacool.bsky.social) revealing patterns of corruption in the California solar market: "researchers say it could shine a light on other concerning patterns throughout the entire country’s renewable energy industry..." www.sfgate.com/bayarea/arti...