Today a new very useful application was launched to put European energy targets into a context and visualise data from (mainly) Eurostat. Eurostat provides free to re-use, open data – which is really useful and even more useful if you put these datasets in a context. The team of the Open Knowledge Foundation (OKFN) did a great job  and created the “Europe’s Energy” website as part of the LOD-2 project and launched it today.

On http://energy.publicdata.eu you can (for example):

• Compare different EU countries in terms of their carbon emissionsEmissions of greenhouse gases, greenhouse gas precursors, and aerosols associated with human activities, including the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, land-use changes, livestock, fertilisation, etc. (IPCC), renewable energyRenewable energy is power generated from infinite sources, such as wind or solar power. Conventional energy is generated from finite sources, such as natural gas or fossil oil. share, energy dependency, net imports, and progress towards their respective renewablesRenewable energy is power generated from infinite sources, such as wind or solar power. Conventional energy is generated from finite sources, such as natural gas or fossil oil. targets
• Find out how much energy different EU countries consume, how they consume it, and how this has changed in recent years
• Find out how much energy different EU countries produce, what the energy mix is like in different countries and how this has changed in recent years

Want to see some examples? Ok, here we go:

Let’s have a look on the electricity generationElectricity generation includes all technologies that turn some form of energy into useful electric energy. Electricity is a form of energy that has magnetic, radiant and chemical effects. Electric current is created by a flow of electrons.:

This figure shows the percentage of electricityElectricity generation includes all technologies that turn some form of energy into useful electric energy. Electricity is a form of energy that has magnetic, radiant and chemical effects. Electric current is created by a flow of electrons. generated by renewable sources in percent of the gross electricity consumption. Nice figure, isn’t it … (and don’t forget to congratulate Austria for being so green . Moving the mouse over Germany opens a small graph to see how they developed.

Another nice one is the graph on energy dependency:

This visualisation shows the proportion of gross energy from imports and gives a clear indication on the challange that Poland is facing (dramatical increase of energy imports). Having a look on this one I thought UK’s dependency in imports is quite low – but having a look on the next chart showed me, how dramatically the situation on energy import changed in the UK in the last 10 years:

This one shows the Net Imports in 1000 tons of oil equivalent. About 10 years ago, the UK exported more energy than they imported – the chart from 2008 is already showing a total different picture. And having a look on UK itself (just click on the bubble of UK) gives you a nice overview on the country:

I could continue with a lot more very interesting screenshots – but I think it makes more sense if you just try it – believe me, its worth it! If you want to read a bit more on the background and details, have a look on Jonathan Grays post in the OKFN Blog.