Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about LowCarbonWorld
What is LowCarbonWorld?
LowCarbonWorld is a central online resource to provide open access to public data, global facts and information related to energy and climate change.
At this stage, the platform is at a working, proof-of-concept stage and there is a lot more in the pipeline!
We’ve built the platform for you. Please use it, talk about it, suggest datasets you’d like to see or ways we can improve it.
Why have we built the platform?
(Further to the information mentioned in About) To make it simple for people to access relevant global information and data related to energy and climate change. All the core information on this site already exists somewhere, however it is typically fragmented, disconnected, and hard to locate. We simplify access to critical information and enable people to use the data in more useful ways as follows:
- Making them available in portable data formats such as XML, CSV and JSON
- Creating the basis for an information framework that can link datasets together along a number of different axes such as location, date, data source and topic
- Providing a central user interface to provide access to these data. Initially there are two primary interfaces:
- A central portal that provides access to all datasets
- Country profiles that aggregate all relevant climate change data applicable to a particular country.
Who is involved in the project?
The Linked Climate Data Project was initiated by LowCarbonEconomy.com in cooperation with the United Nations Environment Program.
- TLCE provide the infrastructure and a proof of concept in terms of datasets, information framework and data manipulation/analysis tools
- UNEP provides guidance and approves the datasets
- YOU are very welcome to download any data to use in interesting ways and share your work with us!
- YOU are very welcome to send us more data sets you feel should be included!
Why Isn’t XXXXX Dataset Available?
This is just the beginning. If you know of more data that you feel should be included on the platform please let us know and ideally please submit your data for inclusion.
As soon as UNEP have approved the data as suitable for the platform we will upload it.
Can I Reuse this Data for my XXXXXX?
The simple answer is yes, but with conditions. LowCarbonWorld’s data and information framework is provided under a creative commons license. Please consult the license terms and conditions for details of what you can and can’t use the data for.
LowCarbonWorld by The Low Carbon Economy Ltd is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.
Based on a work at Multiple.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.lowcarboneconomy.com/Low_Carbon_World/Data/About.
You are very welcome to grab the apps we've built and embed them on your site, blog or wherever else you fancy. If you want to let us know, and even link to LowCarbonWorld, we'd be most grateful!
How Did You Make Those Graphs?
The graphs and tables on the site are collectively known as apps, and they are built on the YouCalc platform using the live data feeds from this platform.
We've found YouCalc to be a powerful and flexible way of visualising the data, and even better - it's collaborative. You can click on the 'get this app' icon in the bottom right of every app's container to visit the YouCalc site and get the code for embedding the app.
If you're feeling more adventurous, you could even download the YouCalc builder and make your own apps. As soon as we've finished annotating the files from which our apps are created, we'll make those available through the site. In the meantime, you can either grab the source directly from the YouCalc site, or you can contact us and we'll send you the raw files over and be on hand to answer your questions about them.
What Formats are Datasets Available In?
At present, we provide all the datasets on the platform in XML, CSV and JSON. Let us know if you think there are more useful ways we should be presenting the data or making it available.
How Can I Upload Data?
We’re currently working an a facility to make it easier for you to send us your data.
In the meantime, when your data is ready for inclusion, simply email it to data@lowcarboneconomy.com and we’ll review it and get back to you as quickly as possible. Please bear with us if it takes a few days as under the terms of our Memorandum of Understanding all data must be approved by UNEP before we can put it live.
We are also happy to send you our guide to submitting data, which includes:
- What format(s) and structure we can accept datasets in
- What terms and conditions you must agree to
- What categorisation the information framework provides (and how to use/change it)
What Datasets Do We Particularly Want?
There are a great number of valuable datasets available out here. Here’s a short list of ones we’d particularly like to include. If you manage these datasets, or know someone who does, please get in touch!
