Vital Statistics

With apologies to those who know him better as Einharweinix.

Vitalstatistix, the chief of the tribe, has only one fear:
he is afraid the sky will fall on his head tomorrow
... but, as he says, tomorrow never comes!

It will hardly have escaped anyone's notice that these two statements almost exactly parallel the two extremes of any debate on climate change.

So much of the debate about energy is founded on unsubstantiated opinion. So the purpose of this topic is simply to provide some definitive sources of information. The problem, of course, is to distinguish between what is definitive and the mass of web pages and articles that use statistics to present a particular point of view.

This topic is a sticky that will stay at the top of the Engery Forum page. It's not intended to be exhaustive, and it can and will be expanded over time. If anyone has any suggestions about sources to add, please send a PM or email to Admin. But anyone is free to start or contribute to a new topic, and to quote from whatever sources they like in their posts.

A lot of the information here will be for the UK as a whole, rather than be specific to Wales. That's the nature of the beast. The main focus of discussion on this forum should be about what Wales needs to do in terms of energy, but of course we must also have an eye on the wider situation.


DUKES



This is the Digest of UK Energy Statistics, produced every year but with more frequent statistical updates. It is published by BERR, the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, but in future it will (in one form or another) be published by DECC, the new Department of Energy and Climate Change.

This should give you an idea of the way the information is set out:

Contents

Introduction
Contact list
Comparison of table numbers

Chapter 1 - Energy
Chapter 2 - Solid fuels and derived gases
Chapter 3 - Petroleum
Chapter 4 - Gas
Chapter 5 - Electricity
Chapter 6 - Combined heat and power
Chapter 7 - Renewable sources of energy

Annex A - Energy and commodity balances, conversion factors and calorific values
Annex B - Glossary and acronyms
Annex C - Further sources of UK energy publications
Annex D - Major events in the energy industry
Annex E - Energy and the environment
Annex F - UK oil and gas resources
Annex G - Foreign trade
Annex H - Flow charts
Annex I - Energy balance: net calorific values
Annex J - Heat reconciliation

Index Page - Long Term Trends

Monthly and quarterly data are also available for Energy, Solid fuels and derived gases, Petroleum, Gas and Electricity at:
www.berr.gov.uk/energy/statistics/source/index.html

Information on Energy Prices is available at:
www.berr.gov.uk/energy/statistics/publications/prices/index.html

These are the links to download the last three issues. Each issue contains comparison data for the past five years.

Dukes 2008
Dukes 2007
Dukes 2006


The Renewable Energy Foundation



This is a mine of information about renewable energy, but of particular use will be the links on the UK RENEWABLE ENERGY DATA page:

Together, these 15 documents provide the broadest available description of the performance of the renewable electricity sector in the United Kingdom, covering all generators registered under the Renewables Obligation, comprising some 900 stations. We believe that the provision of hard empirical data is essential.

Biomass and Biomass Co-firing Data (04.02-03.08)
Biomass and Biomass Co-firing: Overview of 2006
Biomass and Biomass Co-firing: Overview of 2007

Hydropower Data (04.02-03.08)
Hydropower: Overview of 2006
Hydropower: Overview of 2007

Landfill Gas Data (04.02-03.08)
Landfill Gas: Overview of 2006
Landfill Gas: Overview of 2007

Sewage Gas Data (04.02-03.08)
Sewage Gas: Overview of 2006
Sewage Gas: Overview of 2007

Windpower Data (04.02-03.08)
Windpower: Overview of 2006
Windpower: Overview of 2007

For example, the Windpower Data document gives the size, number and rating of turbines, and the total output and load factor for every windfarm supplying ROCs to the gird on a month-by-month basis over the last six years.