PAGE 6 March 18, 2009
MIT Tech Talk
u
NEWS
Power
down
IS&T recommends ways to
save electricity
GreeningMIT is
an occasional series
focusing on the broad
efforts to improve
energy efficiency on
campus.
With more than 20,000 personal
computers and thousands of servers on
campus, saving even a small amount of
energy on each could make a significant
impact.
Toward that end, Information Services
and Technology (IS&T) has made recom-
mendations about buying energy-efficient
computers, enabling energy-saving settings
and consolidating underused servers by
using virtualization.
With community adoption of these
guidelines, MIT would save about 8
million kilowatt-hours of electricity annu-
ally — enough to power 1,000 Cambridge
homes — says Laxmi Rao, IS&T’s energy
coordinator.
For example, IS&T recommends
powering down most computers when
they’re not being used and buying energy-
efficient models when replacing comput-
ers and monitors. IS&T provides detailed
information on its web site about the
energy management features that are built
into Windows and Macintosh operating
systems. One action everyone can take now
is to disable screen savers; they don’t save
screens, but they do waste power.
But there’s a catch: IS&T is aware
that its recommendation to power down
computers when idle is not feasible for
everyone at this time. Turning off your
computer when you head home at night
sounds like a no-brainer — but it is not a
viable option for about one-quarter of all
MIT’s personal computers because they
are set up for automatic nightly backups or
remote access.
IS&T and members of the commu-
nity are pursuing solutions. One possible
approach would allow a computer that
is powered down to wake up, complete a
scheduled backup and then return to a low
power mode.
“We know this has to be done,” says
Jonathan Hunt, IS&T senior manager for
software services. “The necessary solution
is being tested and enhanced to ensure it
will work reliably across different types of
computers.”
IS&T has also asked its computer
vendors to improve the efficiency of
computer power supplies. A few years
ago a typical computer power supply
was around 60 percent efficient, with the
remainder being dissipated as waste heat.
IS&T Departmental IT Resource Manager
Chris Lavallee worked with MIT Procure-
ment to set a standard for at least 80
percent efficient power supplies on all new
computers bought on campus or recom-
mended to students. Major vendors took
notice. Dell, for example, became the first
vendor to meet the 80-plus requirement
for personal computers in 2007. They are
continuing to make improvements and
hope to meet 90-plus certification for their
server line in the near future.
IS&T’s energy-saving efforts go beyond
recommendations for personal computers.
It is implementing virtualization software
for servers in MIT’s data centers. Virtual-
ization enables one server to consolidate
the functions of several separate servers,
and thus reduce the total number of serv-
ers and the energy required to run them.
Savings achieved in the data centers will
supplement savings from the recommend-
ed measures for personal computers.
IS&T is also looking at the environmen-
tal impacts of printing. A student-led effort
supported by IS&T has resulted in the
promotion of double-sided printing. Since
spring of last year, it has been the default
setting for all new Athena accounts — thus
reducing the use of paper and the energy
required to manufacture it.
The list of energy-saving guidelines
from IS&T can be found at http://web.
mit.edu/ist/initiatives/it-energy/guidelines.
html.
David Chandler
News Office
ANSWER FR
OM P
A
GE 5:
THE IMA
GE IS OF FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVEL
T
PHOTO / JOHN TYLKO
MIT alum lifts off
Space shuttle Discovery lifts off from Kennedy Space Center on March 15 with pilot Dominic Antonelli ‘89 at the controls.
Discovery’s crew will deliver and assemble the final solar array to the International Space Station. Antonelli will join fellow
classmate Michael Fincke ‘89, who is commander of the Expedition 18 crew already on board the space station.
No Tech Talk next week
Because of spring break, there will
be no Tech Talk next Wednesday,
March 25. Tech Talk will resume on
April 1. For up-to-date news and
information, go to web.mit.edu/
newsoffice.
WIN AN IPHONE!
There’s still time to enter
our photo contest
Don’t forget, the first-ever Sustainability
at MIT Photo Contest is going on through
March 31, so there’s still time to submit
your photos. Show us what you see and
what your aspirations are as MIT launches
its greeningMIT campaign to help the
Institute walk the talk on energy and the
environment.
The grand-prize winner will receive an
iPhone and have his or her winning entry
published on the MIT home page and
in MIT’s official newspaper, Tech Talk.
Prizes will also be awarded to the first- and
second-place finishers.
For complete rules, including how to
enter, please visit web.mit.edu/newsof-
fice/2009/photo-contest-rules.html.
Awards Convocation
deadline is this
Friday, March 20
Nominations for MIT’s annual
Awards Convocation are being
accepted now through Friday,
March 20.
Encompassing more than 30
awards across many areas and
departments, the Awards Convo-
cation honors those — including
students, faculty and staff — who
have made special contributions
to the life of the MIT community.
The winners will be announced
during the convocation, which
will be held at 4 p.m. on Tuesday,
May 5, in 10-250.
For more information, and to
browse the awards descriptions
and previous recipients, see http://
web.mit.edu/awards/.
“They have all been very productive in research and every one
has been concerned with economic problems that are closely related
to policy issues,” Solow says.
Problem solvers
Romer, an economic historian and macroeconomist, has studied
the causes of the Great Depression and the effect of U.S. monetary
and tax policies on the recovery from that economic disaster. “Her
research positions her very well to tackle the problem of designing
an economic stimulus package for an economy that is sputtering,”
Poterba says.
Summers’ research spans both microeconomics and macroeco-
nomics, which gives him a broad range that is especially helpful in
handling the many issues that come before the NEC. More impor-
tantly, as Treasury secretary under the Clinton administration and
as a World Bank economist, Summers has had a hands-on role in
addressing world economic crises, such as the Mexican monetary
crisis of 1984 and the Russian market crises of 1998, Poterba says.
“He has a tremendous amount of experience at trying to fashion
policy remedies for the kind of crises we’re experiencing.”
Goolsbee is known for his research on how tax policy affects the
behavior of high-income households — a topic likely to be central
to tax and budget discussions after the current economic downturn
abates. Stein’s academic research focuses on corporate finance and
financial intermediation.
While some observers have characterized the Obama econo-
mists’ ideology as Keynesian (in reference to John Maynard Keynes,
who championed greater government spending as a way to lift
an economy out of recession), Solow says that is only because the
economic field has been almost monolithically anti-Keynesian in
recent decades. He prefers to characterize the group as “eclectic
Keynesians.”
Certainly, most economists have some ideological tilt, Poterba
says. “There are some people who would never, ever consider
nationalizing a bank. There are others who are prepared to consider
that,” he says. “I don’t think [the MIT-trained economists] are going
to stand on ideological principle. If they think something is going to
work, they’re going to try it.”
Which is, he notes, no guarantee of success in the face of tough
economic problems that have caught many economists by surprise.
“This is not like baking a cake where if you just follow all the recipe
directions, it is supposed to turn out perfectly,” Poterba says. “We’re
not quite sure what works in this situation.”
ECONOMY: MIT-trained economists bring pragmatic approach
Continued from Page 1
March 18, 2009 PAGE 7
MIT Tech Talk
BATTERY: New material could solve issues
Continued from Page 1
March 12 issue of Nature. Because the material involved is not new — the researchers
have simply changed the way they make it — Ceder believes the work could make it into
the marketplace within two to three years.
State-of-the-art lithium rechargeable batteries have very high energy densities — they
are good at storing large amounts of charge. The tradeoff is that they have relatively slow
power rates — they are sluggish at gaining and discharging that energy. Consider current
batteries for electric cars. “They have a lot of energy, so you can drive at 55 mph for a
long time, but the power is low. You can’t accelerate quickly,” Ceder said.
Why the slow power rates? Traditionally,
scientists have thought that the lithium ions
responsible, along with electrons, for carry-
ing charge across the battery simply move
too slowly through the material.
About five years ago, however, Ceder
and colleagues made a surprising discovery.
Computer calculations of a well-known
battery material, lithium iron phosphate,
predicted that the material’s lithium ions
should actually be moving extremely quickly.
“If transport of the lithium ions was so
fast, something else had to be the problem,”
Ceder said.
Further calculations showed that lithium
ions can indeed move very quickly into
the material but only through tunnels
accessed from the surface. If a lithium ion
at the surface is directly in front of a tunnel
entrance, there’s no problem: it proceeds
efficiently into the tunnel. But if the ion isn’t
directly in front, it is prevented from reach-
ing the tunnel entrance because it cannot
move to access that entrance.
Ceder and Byoungwoo Kang, a graduate
student in materials science and engineering,
devised a way around the problem by creat-
ing a new surface structure that does allow
the lithium ions to move quickly around the outside of the material, much like a beltway
around a city. When an ion traveling along this beltway reaches a tunnel, it is instantly
diverted into it. Kang is a coauthor of the Nature paper.
Using their new processing technique, the two went on to make a small battery that
could be fully charged or discharged in 10 to 20 seconds (it takes six minutes to fully
charge or discharge a cell made from the unprocessed material).
Ceder notes that further tests showed that unlike other battery materials, the new
material does not degrade as much when repeatedly charged and recharged. This could
lead to smaller, lighter batteries, because less material is needed for the same result.
“The ability to charge and discharge batteries in a matter of seconds rather than hours
may open up new technological applications and induce lifestyle changes,” Ceder and
Kang conclude in their Nature paper.
This work was supported by the National Science Foundation through the Materi-
als Research Science and Engineering Centers program and the Batteries for Advanced
Transportation Program of the U.S. Department of Energy. It has been licensed by two
companies.
Bartolotta wins Jostens Trophy
MIT senior guard Jimmy Bartolotta added more hardware
to the most decorated basketball season in Institute history
as he was selected as the 2009 recipient of the highly coveted
Jostens Trophy. The annual award recognizes outstand-
ing student-athletes in NCAA Division III basketball for
excellence in the classroom, on the playing court and in the
community.
The winners are chosen by a national selection commit-
tee that consists of college coaches, former athletes, college
administrators and selected members of the media. The
members of the national
selection committee cast
their votes based on three
criteria: basketball abil-
ity, academic prowess and
community service.
Bartolotta will be present-
ed with the Jostens Trophy
on March 19.
Hewitt, 45-year MIT
employee, honored
for work with
Brockton youth
Kenneth “Sonny” Hewitt,
the assistant director for human resources and facilities at
the Lab for Nuclear Science and a 45-year employee of
MIT, was honored on March 15 by the Brockton Youth
Foundation for his ongoing leadership in supporting the
city’s youth.
Hewitt, who has served as a Brockton Community Basket-
ball official for 24 years, began his career at MIT on April
16, 1964, and has had various titles at the Institute through-
out the years, including coach of the junior varsity basketball
team.
The Brockton Youth Foundation was recently established
by parents and civic leaders to provide funding, leadership
and programs for youths in the city, and the event honor-
ing Hewitt and five other residents — titled “Breakfast with
Champions” — was its first fundraiser.
MIT E-Team participating
in March Madness for the Mind
The MIT E-Team, “Affordable Solar Thermal Micro-
generator Technology for Rural Cogeneration in Southern
Africa,” has been selected to participate in the National
Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance’s (NCIIA)
annual “March Madness for the Mind” exhibition on March
20.
March Madness for the
Mind is an opportunity for
the nation’s top Excellence
and Entrepreneurship Teams
(E-Teams) — collaborating
groups of college students,
faculty and industry mentors
who have received NCIIA
grants — to unveil their
inventions to the public,
many for the first time.
MIT’s team is working
on developing a novel solar
thermal technology that
lowers up-front and fuel
costs while decreasing the
risk of theft. The turbine
uses parabolic concentrating
solar collectors and a heat engine constructed from mass-
manufactured HVAC and automotive parts. The technology
can affordably supply both electricity and hot water/heating
to rural institutions such as primary schools or health clinics.
RSI students take
$100K, $25K science prizes
Two students from MIT’s Research Science Institute
(RSI) summer program won top prizes at the Intel Science
Talent Search on March 10. Eric Larson won the top prize
($100,000) and Noah Arbesfeld ranked sixth ($25,000). They
were mentored by mathematics professor Pavel Etingof and
graduate student David Jordan.
u
Members of the MIT community may submit one ad
each issue. Ads should be 30 words maximum; they will
be edited. Submit by e-mail to ttads@mit.edu or mail to
Classifieds, Rm 11-400. Deadline is noon Wednesday the
week before publication.
HOUSING/RENTALS
Somerville: Condo/Townhouse for rent $1600.00 per month -
no utilities. End unit - 2 bedrooms - 2 full baths - Kitchen, Din-
ing room and Large living room. Air/cond units in wall, pergo
floors, security alarm, near transportation. Washer, dryer,
refrigerator, microwave. Location: 77A Mt. Vernon Street. 1
car garage & 1 outside parking space deeded, private back
yard—move in condition. Please call: (781) 820-2121 or (617)
253-3038 for appointment. Available immediately.
Eco-escape! Cape Breton, Nova Scotia rental. 3 BR ocean-
front farmhouse on historic Cabot Trail with 100 acres field
and forest. $725/wk, June-Oct. (Roger, rgmark@mit.edu)
Ocean front summer cabin, Mount Desert Island, ME:
2BD/1BA w/living/kitchen area; picture windows, deck over-
looking water; stairway to beach. Mins from Acadia National
Park, Bar Harbor. $1,000/week June-Sept. Steve at 253-
5757 or chorover@mit.edu.
North End 1 Bedroom, 1 Bath, on the quiet side of Hanover
Street. 819 square feet. Available April 1st. 1650 a month.
zorar@aol.com
Resource Development officer looking for simple accom-
modations during the week - bed, bath, parking - at reason-
able price. Cambridge/Arlington preferred. Respond to rrat-
wood@mit.edu.
Fabulous, light-filled loft w/expansion possibilities at 243
Bent St. - Unit 8, Cambridge. High ceilings, skylight, south-
facing windows. Walk to Kendall Square. Deeded parking
outside your door. Low condo fees, taxes. Beautiful court-
yard. $579K. Contact Cynthia Cronin 617.796.2476.
FOR SALE
2004 Pontiac Vibe GT(1.8L) Hatchback $7,995.00 Royal
White, Man_Trans, 26,900 mi, Ex Cond with New Battery,
Brake Pads, and a Xm Satellite Radio. Contact Bob, via Rvar-
Space@alum.mit.edu
CLASSIFIED ADS
Awards&Honors
James Bartolotta
Kenneth Hewitt
MIT Activities Committee
celebrates 25 years
Open houses planned this week in Stata, Lincoln Lab
The MIT Activities Committee (MITAC) is celebrating its 25th anniversary this
week with open houses on both MIT’s main campus and at Lincoln Laboratory.
MITAC began in 1984 with a simple mission: to offer cultural and recreational
events to the MIT community at a fair and affordable cost. Conceived of by the
Working Group on Support Staff Issues as a way to raise community spirit and
employee morale, the committee has since offered nearly 4,000 events to the
community. MITAC estimates that its customers have saved close to $100,000
annually on theatre shows, concerts, sports games, lectures and bus trips — not to
mention discounted tickets to cinemas and theme parks.
MITAC Coordinator Diane Betz Tavitian noted that among the group’s most
memorable activities was the trip it organized to Ground Zero to help New York
firefighters in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.
“We’re very grateful to the hundreds of MITAC committee members over the
years who have inspired creative and memorable events for the MIT community,”
she said.
Notable upcoming MITAC events include the annual Red Sox Lottery, for which
online registration will be held between March 24 and April 3. For further informa-
tion about the lottery and other MITAC events, please visit the committee’s web site
at http://web.mit.edu/mitac.
Members of the MIT community are invited to join MITAC’s 25th anniversary
celebration open house from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. on March 18 in the Stata Center Lobby
and from 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. on March 19 at Lincoln Laboratory.
PHOTO / MITAC
A sleighride was one of the first MIT Activities Committee (MITAC) events.
MITAC is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year with a party in the Stata
Center on March 18.
PHOTO / DONNA COVENEY
Gerd Ceder