Students Help Power Up New Ways to Analyze Energy Data

This story is part of the Climate Education Series

Led by Kyle Bradbury, the Energy Data Analytics Lab at the Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability is applying new data science techniques to satellite imagery to detect and map energy resources. These novel approaches can yield critical data for decision making to support the global transition to sustainable energy.

Over the past eight years, Bradbury and colleagues have engaged students in this research via Duke’s Bass Connections program during the school year and Data+ program (including the new Climate+ ) during the summer. A continuous chain of sixteen project teams has helped test and refine promising approaches, each team building on the work of the last.

“Through these projects, dozens of students from diverse degree programs have learned about machine learning, computer vision, and remote sensing techniques and also gained a better understanding of energy challenges and opportunities,” said Bradbury, a faculty member at the Pratt School of Engineering and Nicholas School of the Environment. “They have advanced the lab’s work while deepening their own research, project management and communications skills. Many have been able to add published journal articles and data sets to their resumes.”

Find out what you can learn about energy infrastructure from a satellite image:

Series: Climate Education at Duke
A Climate Commitment Series

This series aligns with the Duke Climate Commitment, which unites the university’s education, research, operations and public service missions to address the climate crisis.