An integrated dataset of energy efficiency measures published as linked open data

Abstract

Despite an extensive energy efficiency potential, measures are sometimes not adopted due to barriers, such as lack of information. An integrated database of available energy efficiency measures, which has not existed previously, is one step towards overcoming such barriers. To address this, we present a dataset (i.e., data-base) integrating energy efficiency data from Sweden (from the Swedish Energy Agency) and the USA (from the Department of Energy’s Industrial Assessment Centers), and publishing the data on the Web, using standardized Web languages and following the principles and best practices of so-called linked data. Additionally, several demonstration interfaces to access the data are provided, in order to show the potential of the result. These are entirely novel results, since this is the first dataset we are aware of that publishes this type of data using linked data principles and standards, thus integrating data from entirely different sources making them jointly searchable and reusable. Our results show that such data integration is possible, and that the integrated dataset has several benefits for different categories of users, e.g., supporting industry and energy efficiency auditors in overcoming the information barrier for investment in energy efficiency measures, and supporting application developers to more easily integrate such data into support tools for energy efficiency assessment.