Trove of data on energy use expands
By
Frank Konkel
New data sources and an extended API increase the Energy Information Administration's offering by 1.4 million data points.
The Energy Information Administration now offers data on state energy consumption through its expanded API. (Stock image)
The U.S. Energy Information Administration now includes important information on state energy consumption in the data it collects and shares publicly.
The agency announced on Jan. 29 that data from the State Energy Data System (SEDS) has been added to its application programming interface (API), adding approximately 1.4 million data points to the API that originally launched in October 2012.
New data points summarize energy production, consumption, prices and expenditures on a state-by-state basis. All information is accessible in machine-readable format, which the agency hopes will foster creative innovation among thinkers working in government, private and non-profit sectors.
“Expanding EIA's API to include important information on state energy consumption, production, and expenditure trends is a crucial enhancement that we are eager to share,” said EIA Assistant Administrator for Communications Gina Pearson. “While EIA has created many cutting-edge tools for the public to explore energy data, our expanded API now gives innovators direct access to state-level energy data to develop their own web and mobile apps.”
The updated API also allows five decade’s worth of data from single states to be compared to national averages in a variety of expressible units, such as barrels or tons. For example, a user could compare states by local gasoline expenditures or crude oil production.
The updated API now contains two main data sets: The State Energy Data System, featuring 30,000 series organized into 600 categories, and 408,000 electricity series divided among 29,000 categories.
The updated API is part of a push by the agency to comply with the federal government’s Digital Government Strategy to make information more transparent and accessible to the public. While information from the agency’s API is free, registration is required.