Calculating carbon emissions for energy data in the UK

I've recently been taking a closer look at the Streamlined Energy & Carbon Reporting (SECR) guidelines. While we currently produce figures on CO2 emissions in Energy Sparks we're not producing SECR style reports for schools or trusts. This is something we're planning to add to the product soon, so I've been looking at what's involved … Continue reading Calculating carbon emissions for energy data in the UK →

Data format design is a UX issue

I've been getting frustrated by CSV files again. The context for this is my day job at Energy Sparks. I've written about the wide range ofdifferent CSV formats that we have to contend with in order to accept data from a range of energy suppliers and meter operators. While there are a number of loose … Continue reading Data format design is a UX issue →

The complexities of working with non-domestic half-hourly meter data

Energy consumption in non-domestic properties are more complex to analyse that domestic settings. Some notes on some of those challenges, particularly around metering.

Useful resources for designing data rich pages

One of the big projects we've currently got under way at Energy Sparks is redesigning the collection of pages that present the results of our detailed analysis of their energy data to school users. The existing pages have been around for a few years and our metrics and user testing has shown that they aren't … Continue reading Useful resources for designing data rich pages →

Reflecting on Energy Sparks as a “Community Tech” project

I recently attended the launch event for the new Power To Change Community Tech Fund and have been reading through the essays and report on the Community Tech network website. It's great to see this topic getting some attention and much needed funding. It's also prompted me to reflect a bit on my own experience … Continue reading Reflecting on Energy Sparks as a “Community Tech” project →

24 different tabular formats for half-hourly energy data

A couple of months ago I wrote a post that provided some background on the data we use in Energy Sparks. The largest data source comes from gas and electricity meters (consumption) and solar panels (generation). While we're integrating with APIs that allow us to access data from smart meters, for the foreseeable future most … Continue reading 24 different tabular formats for half-hourly energy data →