First Steps to Development of Regional Data – Data4Action

Carlow Kilkenny Energy Agency have taken the first steps to developing Regional Data as part of the Data4Action partnership, more specifically for the counties of Carlow and Kilkenny.

The aim was to gain specific information relative to local communities to assist in the promotion of sustainable energy practices and create more tangible Sustainable Energy Action Plans.

Using the National Energy Balance Data (form 1990-2013), sourced from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), the regional Energy Balance was developed for the counties of Carlow and Kilkenny.

The data is presented at a national level in the units of kToe, kilo Tonnes of Oil equivalent. In order to make it more universally accessible, the data was then converted to Gigawatt Hour (GWh), in complement to the Data4Action process.

With the SEAI Energy Balance information converted to GWh a regional factor was applied to the national data to account for the population within Carlow and Kilkenny. The population factor was generated through the use of Census population data sourced through the Central Statistics Office (CSO). Using both the national and regional populations a ratio was developed allowing for the energy baseline to be factored to a regional level.

The images below show some draft results. This initial process, while still in draft phase, has offered some insight for focus in the development of future Sustainable Energy Action Plans.