Abstract

Power plants production, load, financials and environmental impact from power plants in the United States is publicly available either from the Energy Information Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency or Lazard among others. The general public is interested in US energy production and its potential environmental impact but the available information is complex and difficult to properly understand and not shared in ways that are accessible. Our objective was to gather this data and create different interactive visualizations that make it consumable. Each of the five visualization was designed to explain a specific part of energy that together can provide a solid but general understanding for the users. We then conducted a survey on the visuals to test our effectiveness on visual appeal and comprehension. In this paper, we discuss how we compiled and organized the relevant data, created the visualizations, and an analysis for each including the survey responses. We found our images allow for anyone, regardless of their prior knowledge of the power plants and electricity generation, to gain insights and learn about the subject.

Recommended Citation

Kimbark, Bruce P.; Luzardo, Melissa; South, Charles; and Taber, James (2019) "Visualizing United States Energy Production Data," SMU Data Science Review: Vol. 2: No. 2, Article 3.
Available at: https://scholar.smu.edu/datasciencereview/vol2/iss2/3