Each year, global populations use at least 600 quadrillion British thermal units of energy supplied by gas, oil, solar energy, and other sources for use in powering cars, electrical grids, and industrial activity. Accurately quantifying these emissions and determining how they affect the Earth’s climate is crucial to understanding how we can better protect the planet while still meeting the global population’s energy needs.

NASA’s ability to track pollutants such as particulate matter, carbon dioxide, and methane with increasing precision is also integral to users studying the connection between air quality and public health. Our datasets on solar and wind energy production support users investigating how renewable energy systems may be effective alternatives to fossil fuels with significantly less environmental and public health impact.

Specific data products cover a broad range of topics and research areas related to renewable and non-renewable energy sources, and include estimates of carbon dioxide emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels, maps of methane plumes over identified point-source emitting infrastructures, visualizations of electric light use at night, and geoecology data that can be filtered down to specific U.S. counties.