Energymix of Europe

Methods

First, the data for the energy mix and energy trade were collected and processed into Excel spreadsheets from the source. Then, the data was imported into ArcGIS and visualized as maps. These maps with pop-ups were then integrated into this website and complemented with additional texts. More information on the process of our project can be found in the project pitches linked in the About section.

Data

The data for this project was gathered from Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC) in two seperate spreadsheets for Energy Mix data and Energy Trade data. The trade data was manually implemented into an import-export matrix. Then, the trading data was further separated into an import and an export dataset for easier handeling of the data in the next steps.

The base layer of the Energy Trade map depicts the "Energy Index". We created this measurement ourselfs with the following equation:

$$\text{Balance Score} = \frac{\text{Exports} - \text{Imports}}{\text{Exports} + \text{Imports}}$$

This creates a score between -1 and 1 indicating if a country imports more energy than it exports. We assume that exporting more energy than importing can be seen as a good thing, since it means the energy is produced locally. But of course this can be challenged, since local production does not always mean clean production, especially in the field of energy production. This is illustrated by the example of Russia, whose energy production mostly relies on "dirty" oil and coal or nuclear powerplants. However, we argue that the information if a country is more dependant on energy import still is a valuebale information to gain a deeper insight into our data.

Map Design

This section explains how we created our maps and how we decided on the visualization choises. Questions of symbolization, like the trade networks and country visualisations were decided on the basis of Jaques Bertins "Semiology of Graphics: Diagrams, Networks, Maps", emphasizing higher values with darker hues or bigger sizes and depicting smaller values with lighter hues or smaller sizes.

• A dark basemap helps shifting the focus of the user onto the shown data while at the same time allowing an easy way of orientation if needed.
• The network lines in the Energy Trade map provide two independent ways of providing information: The colour and the size of the lines correspond to the trade value of each import/export relation of the chosen country. This way, people who have difficulties estimating colours or size can rely on the other visualization.

Website

The website was built with a template from www.startbootstrap.com and modified with Brackets in HTML5.

The website navigation is deliberately designed to be redundant so that it can be navigated either using the tabs at the top or by simply scrolling. There is also a prominent button directly on the homepage that leads directly to the maps. These are also the first section after the home page, so they can be opened as easily and quickly as possible. This is followed by further information, such as the background of the project, the methods and data bases and more.

Interactive links help you get to the sources and further information quickly and easily. The links are highlighted in a common format.

While it was initially planned to include device independency (meaning you can also use our website on a smartphone or tablet), we were not able to optimize the implemented map for other displays.