Energy’s Balancing Act

Overview

The “Energy’s Balancing Act” dashboard is an interactive tool developed by Kenneth B. Medlock III and Miaomiao Rimmer at the Center for Energy Studies. It draws inspiration from “Energy’s Tricky Tradeoffs,” an infographic published in Science in 2010. The tool is designed to provide a more holistic view of the multidimensionality of the various tradeoffs involved in energy production.

Purpose

The dashboard is designed to encourage discussions and research on a variety of complex issues related to the production of energy and the natural resources required to do it. This inevitably includes grappling with the balancing acts associated with managing trade-offs connected with land, water, air, and mineral resources that are required to stimulate economic growth and drive welfare improvement of populations everywhere.  

Dashboard Features

1. Global Energy:
   • This section provides a global overview of current energy demand, technical potential, and theoretical potential for resources such as solar, wind, and biomass. It also includes estimates of proved reserves and total resource endowments of hydrocarbons.
2. U.S. Wind and Solar Energy:
   • Focused on US wind and solar energy, this section overlays wind and solar resource data with population density by county. A swiping tool allows users to compare wind and solar resources directly with population density. Additional features include toggle layers and clickable tooltips for detailed, project-level information.
3. Land Use by Energy Type:
   • This section highlights 25 US cities with high levels of energy demand. The map zooms into a city when selecting it from the list in the right panel. The overlaid land-use buffers indicate the amount of land needed if a specific energy source was responsible for meeting the electricity demand for the entire city.
   • The tree map at the bottom provides a side-by-side comparison of land use by energy source, using Houston as an example.
   • Note that the land use for transportation corridors to move energy commodities by pipeline, wire, rail, tanker, and road is not considered in this calculation.
4. CO₂ Output and Water Consumption
   • This section uses tree maps to compare CO₂ emissions and water use for various sources of energy.

Layers and Data Sources

Wherever feasible, this material was reviewed by external experts prior to release. It has not undergone editorial review. Any errors are the responsibility of the author(s) alone.

This material may be quoted or reproduced without prior permission, provided appropriate credit is given to the author(s) and Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. The views expressed herein are those of the individual author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.