The White House has announced the launch of Energy.Data.Gov, a web site aimed at pulling together facts and figures on US energy use and facilitating collaboration between the private sector, the government and the public.
Currently the site includes 216 data sets and tools, gathered from agencies across the federal government. Data sets on the web site include the Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey, a quadrennial Department of Energy poll that collects information on the stock of U.S. commercial buildings, their energy-related building characteristics, and their energy consumption and expenditures.
The site also hosts data on monthly electric utility sales and revenue, broken down by state and end-use sector; petroleum and energy prices; and information from various cap and trade programs.
By the end of the year, the site will showcase data on federal building energy use, prospects for energy efficiency improvements, and the federal government's energy consumption and costs dating back to 1975, by agency and energy type, the administration says.
Along with the data sets the site also includes applications, tools and ideas about how to better manage and save energy. The site also simplifies access to challenges, prizes, and competitions that relate to energy data, the administration says.
Current challenges named on the site include the 2011 Energy Star National Building Competition, in which 245 buildings are competing to see which can be the most efficient, and the Environmental Protection Agency’s Apps for the Environment program that aims to get participants to find creative ways to deliver EPA data to cell phones, laptops and tablets.
The launch of Energy.Data.Gov follows the openings of similar web sites under the Data.gov banner focusing on health and law.
