Open Data about Energy production and consumption

(Paywall-free popularization like this is what I do for a living. To support me, see the end of this post)

(this page is part of my Open Data, Open Society report. Please follow that link to reach the introduction and Table of Content, but don’t forget to check the notes to readers!)

Energy PSI (Public Sector Information) is easy to define: these are the sets of data that would show, with at least daily updates, how much energy is used by a whole community and by all its public structures and offices and at which hours, together with information that explains where it was produced, by which sources (coal, oil, solar, wind…) and at which cost.

Having this information constantly updated on public websites would allow everybody to build dynamic graphs and table that display supply and demand of electricity, highlight wastages or show which areas are more dependent from energy coming from other areas. Another reason to open up the data from electricity suppliers would be to justify and make more acceptable for their customers migrations to time-sensitive tariffs or other programs meant to reduce energy wastes.

Who writes this, why, and how to help

I am Marco Fioretti, tech writer and aspiring polymath doing human-digital research and popularization.
I do it because YOUR civil rights and the quality of YOUR life depend every year more on how software is used AROUND you.

To this end, I have already shared more than a million words on this blog, without any paywall or user tracking, and am sharing the next million through a newsletter, also without any paywall.

The more direct support I get, the more I can continue to inform for free parents, teachers, decision makers, and everybody else who should know more stuff like this. You can support me with paid subscriptions to my newsletter, donations via PayPal (mfioretti@nexaima.net) or LiberaPay, or in any of the other ways listed here.THANKS for your support!