Estimating the energy consumption with nighttime city light from the DMSP/OLS imagery

A methodology is presented to accurately estimate electric power consumption from saturated nighttime DMSP/OLS imagery using a stable light correction. An area correction for the stable light image of DMSP/OLS for the year 1999 was performed and the building area rate data were used to clarify the intensity distribution characteristics of the stable light. Based on the spatial distribution characteristics of the stable light, the saturation light of the electric power supply area of Japan was corrected using a cubic regression equation. The regression between the correction calculations by the cubic regression equation and the statistical electric power consumption data was applied not only in Japan but also in China, India and 10 other Asian countries. Then, the correction method was evaluated. This study confirms that the electric power consumption can be estimated with high precision from the stable light.