MIT Earth Resources Laboratory
Earth Science for the Energy Transition
At ERL, we are dedicated to developing innovative strategies for sustainably and responsibly addressing modern societal needs, such as energy production, access to critical minerals, freshwater, and the safe, permanent storage of atmospheric CO₂. As climate change’s impacts become more pronounced, it is imperative that society finds new ways to sustain and enhance living standards globally while conserving our invaluable natural resources and protecting the environment. The transition towards ‘green energy’ and the evolving climate scenario pose both significant challenges and opportunities. At ERL, our approach involves thinking creatively and exploring ‘out-of-the-box’ approaches to provide Earth-based solutions to one of humanity’s most pressing issues: adapting our society to the realities of a changing climate.
We build upon our long history of collaborative, pluridisciplinary research with colleagues across different disciplines at MIT and other universities, industry partners and policy makers. Our new focus is on scalable, practical solutions that can become economically viable means for re-engineering our use of energy and other resources.
– Oliver Jagoutz
Director, MIT Earth Resources Laboratory
Cecil & Ida Green Professor of Geology
Geothermal Energy
Geothermal Energy
At ERL, we are interested in a range of fundamental and applied research questions towards understanding how to locate, access and extract deep heat in Earth’s crust, for large-scale power generation. Geothermal energy from supercritical fluids (hotter than ~400 °C) could be 5–10 times more powerful than today’s conventional geothermal systems. But tapping into these extreme conditions is difficult — drilling, well stabilization and heat extraction are major challenges.
To overcome these, ERL has a range of projects underway. We collaborate with MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center on new millimeter-wave drilling technologies and glass casing materials that can survive the intense environment deep underground. We develop novel approaches integrating sensing, imaging, chemistry and mechanics in the lab and field, to understand the fundamental physics of fluid flow in deep reservoirs, necessary to extract thermal energy at an unprecedented scale.
Carbon Sequestration
Carbon Sequestration
To avoid the negative consequences of climate change, there is an urgent need to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. In carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS), CO2 is captured from large-scale stationary sources such as power plants and then injected underground into geologic reservoirs like deep saline aquifers for long-term storage. While CCS is widely viewed as a critical enabling technology for climate-change mitigation during the energy transition, its deployment has been hindered by uncertainty in geologic storage capacities and sustainable injection rates. Our work includes two approached to carbon storage: mineralization and biological processing.
Geologic Hydrogen
Geologic Hydrogen
The energy transition demands carbon-free fuels, and hydrogen is one of the most promising candidates. In nature, hydrogen can be generated when iron in rocks is oxidized during serpentinization—the hydration of ultramafic rocks such as dunite. Although thermodynamic models predict complete transformation, natural systems typically display only partial serpentinization, with complex and heterogeneous microstructures that point to kinetic or transport limitations. Understanding these processes is essential for harnessing natural hydrogen production and developing engineered systems to enhance it.
Critical Minerals / In Situ Mining
Critical Minerals / In Situ Mining
Critical minerals (or elements) are vital to both economic strength and national security, as their supply chains can be vulnerable to disruption. In 2025, the U.S. Geological Survey recognizes 54 mineral commodities as critical, each playing a central role in electrification, renewable energy, and modern technologies. For example, copper underpins global electrification, rare earth elements enable the powerful magnets in wind turbines, and minerals like lithium, nickel, and cobalt are indispensable for energy storage.
As global demand for these materials surges, securing their availability will require reimagining mineral exploration strategies, developing new in-situ extraction technologies, and improving mineral processing to reduce energy use. The MIT Earth Resources Laboratory addresses these challenges by integrating fundamental research with real-world applications in collaboration industrial partners, combining geosciences, engineering, and data-driven approaches to advance a secure and sustainable mineral future.
