AI and Sustainability: Energy
Learn how AI and optimization tools help keep power grids reliable, affordable, and clean—from predicting energy demand to planning the grid of the future.
Course Information
Certificate Track
About this Course
Discover how data science and artificial intelligence (AI) are transforming the way we manage energy. In this course, you'll learn how to build models that forecast energy demand, spot unusual patterns in power usage, and make smarter decisions about how to run and plan a power grid. You'll explore how engineers use AI to handle uncertainty—like unexpected weather events or sudden spikes in demand—and how those tools help keep the lights on while reducing carbon emissions.
You'll also look at the bigger picture: how planners use optimization and machine learning to design power systems that can handle more renewable energy, store electricity for longer periods, and meet clean energy goals for decades to come.
AI and Sustainability: Energy is one of the industry-specific courses in Universal AI, a self-paced program designed to help you go from beginner to AI authority—no coding or technical skills required.
What you'll learn
- Build forecasting models that predict electricity demand and learn how to spot when and why those models break down during extreme weather
- Use AI tools to find unusual patterns in power usage data and create practice scenarios for testing how a grid handles stress
- Compare different approaches to deciding which power plants to run, and understand how uncertainty and grid limits affect those decisions
- See how forecast results translate into real operational decisions, and learn how to measure the benefit of planning for uncertainty
- Explore how engineers plan future power grids by balancing renewable energy, long-term storage, and carbon reduction goals
- Understand how cutting-edge AI methods are helping engineers design cleaner, more reliable power systems at a large scale
Meet your instructors
Saurabh Amin
Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at MIT
Saurabh Amin is the Edmund K. Turner Professor in Civil Engineering at MIT’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. His research focuses on the design of control of infrastructure systems using game theory and optimization in networks. His research focuses on the design of control of infrastructure systems using game theory and optimization in networks.
