The International Energy Agency recently reported strong greenhouse gas growth from energy production in 2018, with an emerging fleet of Asian coal-fired power plants leading the way. 

Pacific Catalyst, a partnership of fishery management experts in collaboration with the University of the South Pacific (USP), today announced their official launch and described several projects they have underway. They also introduced their new website at PacificCatalyst.org.

In an A.I. news roundup from Fortune:

Deep Learning as a solar energy tool. Duke University researchers published a paper on how deep learning could be used to predict the energy capabilities of solar panels scattered across the U.S. The researchers trained an A.I. system on 16,000 labeled images of solar arrays in California, and then used the system to discover and map solar arrays and their projected energy outputs across Connecticut.

Senior Emilia Chojkiewicz reflects on her experience researching energy retrofit solutions for a dormitory on Duke's East Campus as part of a Bass Connections in Energy & Environment team. The team wanted to explore waste energy from campus buildings. Chojkiewicz describes their research journey and what she learned from the collaboration. She links to the team's full research report, recently published in the new Duke journal Visible Thinking.

The Illuminating Hidden Harvests study will provide critical knowledge and information on small-scale fisheries globally, informing the way forward for sustainable development of the sector. 

Energy Initiative director Brian Murray identifies six important realities facing energy decision-makers in the North American West. Murray joined 150 business leaders, government officials, and academic experts to discuss these and related issues at the recent Western Energy & Water Forum, which was organized by the Colorado Energy and Water Institute in partnership with the Duke University Energy Initiative. 

Mechanical engineering major Shomik Verma (E'19) is the recipient of prestigious Marshall, Goldwater, and Udall Scholarships. An active member of the campus energy community, Shomik has served as co-president of the undergraduate Duke Energy Club, Duke Smart Home Club, and the Duke Electric Vehicles team (which in July 2018 broke the Guinness World Record for most fuel-efficient prototype vehicle). An energy engineering and mathematics minor, Shomik describes the Solar Spring Break program and research opportunities with outstanding faculty as highlights of his time at Duke.

This blog post's authors—Simeng Deng, Asger Hansen, Galen Hiltbrand, Santiago Sinclair Lecaros, and Sean Maddex—are pursuing master's degrees in environmental management at Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment. Their team's fall 2018 journey to Puerto Rico was supported by funding from the Duke University Energy Initiative and the Nicholas School's Career & Professional Development Center. 

How can Puerto Ricans increase grid reliability on their island?

The 2015 Paris Agreement became the most important climate accord of its decade by encompassing and embracing different circumstances and capacities around the world.

At Duke University, a new program is pushing past traditional disciplinary boundaries to develop scholars prepared to seize these opportunities, deftly using data and advanced quantitative methods in pursuit of accessible, affordable, reliable, and clean energy systems.

The Energy Data Analytics PhD Student Fellows program, designed to support a cohort of four doctoral students in 2018-2019 and a second cohort of four in 2019-2020, is funded by a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Applications for the 2019-2020 cohort of Energy Data Analytics PhD Student Fellows are due March 1, 2019 at 11:59 p.m.