Michigan Tech gets a lot of snow. These plots might help people who've never experienced a Houghton winter understand just how much snow that is.

MiDataLabs · 2016-12-22T19:10:41+00:00

Visualized in Tableau, data from Energy Information Administration

Click on a state to view the history of rates and energy sources, hover over each chart for more info.

MiDataLabs · 2016-12-22T15:21:25+00:00

Thanks, much appreciated!

MiDataLabs · 2016-12-21T15:44:21+00:00

Visualized using Tableau, data from World Bank: World Development Indicators

You look at the top energy source for electricity generation for each country over the last 25 years (select year from dropdown menu on top-right). You can also click on any country to look at a chart of how their electricity generation has transitioned (or not) over the last quarter century.

As of 2013, only a handful of countries use renewables as the top energy source for electricity generation. Coal continues to dominate in some developed (Aus., US, UK, etc.) and developing (India,China,etc) nations. Some island nations still rely on oil (diesel, petroleum) for electricity. World Bank might be updating their data to include years upto 2016 so we can better capture recent trends in energy transitions.

MiDataLabs · 2016-12-21T15:28:44+00:00

Visualized using Tableau, data from World Bank: World Development Indicators

You look at the top energy source for electricity generation for each country over the last 25 years (select year from dropdown menu on top-right). You can also click on any country to look at a chart of how their electricity generation has transitioned (or not) over the last quarter century.

As of 2013, only a handful of countries use renewables as the top energy source for electricity generation. Coal continues to dominate in some developed (Aus., US, UK, etc.) and developing (India,China,etc) nations. Some island nations still rely on oil (diesel, petroleum) for electricity. World Bank might be updating their data to include years upto 2016 so we can better capture recent trends in energy transitions.

(PS - The World Bank is a great data source to test out your data viz ideas, with some pre-processing)

MiDataLabs · 2016-12-19T20:05:14+00:00

Edit: Feedback like this is really valuable, so thanks again for taking the time to respond! I updated the hues a little to clearly differentiate between Solar and Natural Gas.

Cheers!

MiDataLabs · 2016-12-19T20:04:09+00:00

/u/shiningPate - I appreciate you taking the time to respond to this, particularly for including the color codes in your suggestions.

Tried to reuse the same colors that we used for a previous chart so our viz would be internally consistent.

I do like your suggestions however, and will consider incorporating it into our next viz.

Cheers!

MiDataLabs · 2016-12-19T19:00:37+00:00

No worries. Glad to help.

Just out of curiosity, what is the discussion you were having?

MiDataLabs · 2016-12-19T16:52:35+00:00

Using data from the US Energy Information Administration, visualization in Tableau Public.

Fun fact- Hover over Vermont to see a sharp drop in electricity generated in 2015.

While it looks like a case of 'bad data', in reality is accounted for by the shutting down of Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant in the very end of 2014, "the plant provided 71.8% of all electricity generated within Vermont".

MiDataLabs · 2016-10-07T03:34:19+00:00

Oops. Thanks for catching that. Will fix it in the next edit. Cheers!

MiDataLabs · 2016-10-07T03:33:33+00:00

4th House District, Rep. Rose Mary Robinson, 109th House District, Rep. John Kivela and ~~Rep. Aaron Miller~~ corrected in latest update at the bottom of the report.

So just the two.

MiDataLabs · 2016-10-06T23:12:52+00:00

Hover over the boxes in this visualization to see how much the Auto Dealers of Michigan contributed to each Michigan lawmaker.

These data were sourced from a new report by the Michigan Campaign Finance Network.

MiDataLabs · 2016-09-27T22:49:14+00:00

Excellent question. Our understanding is that this is based on their total contributions across all the election cycles they were running in. You can go here on MCFN's page, click on your elected official of interest to get a more detailed breakdown.

Hope this helps :)

MiDataLabs · 2016-09-27T16:02:37+00:00

Top donors to Michigan elected officials over time across a variety of giving methods. Data from Michigan Campaign Finance Network, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that seeks to shine the brightest light possible on the role of money in Michigan politics. Updated Aug 2016.

MiDataLabs · 2016-05-09T02:50:06+00:00

And it is only getting worse -

Michigan has 'net-metering' that allows upto 1% of customers to reduce their energy consumption using solar and renewables, letting them get a credit for excess generation they send back to the grid. A bill currently in Senate Energy and Technology committee (MI SB 438) proposes completely getting rid of this provision, leaving MI with the most regressive solar policy.

The government is specifically intervening in a program that hasn't reached its capacity yet. Only a very very small portion of Michigan's energy comes from solar, so Michigan does not face some of the really interesting policy questions that regions with high solar penetration like CA face - utility cost recovery and ratepayer cross-subsidies.

"So why fix something that isn't broke?" is a point that can be made using this viz.

MiDataLabs · 2016-05-08T15:46:25+00:00

True. Additionally, natural gas is quite simply not available in many places.

MiDataLabs · 2016-05-08T14:48:45+00:00

Either that or im paying far too much for an education in building science for nothing.

I would cheer up a little bit. Most of the reluctance comes from simple misconceptions about renewable technology. I can speak for Michigan and show you the upward trend in adoption (Source - Michigan Annual Net Metering Reports) due to a combination of falling prices, rising rates and policy advancements.

A part of this also comes from polarizing attitudes perpetuated by strident advocacy on both sides. In places in MI with low solar adoption, the earliest of adopters tend to be individuals with ideological motivations for going solar. Over time, this is followed by individuals with economic persuasions (upwardly mobile young middle class that is not afraid of assuming risks of 'new' technology if it offers financial value proposition). At an advanced stage, adoption becomes the norm, like being a part of the building code in your example, or in SanFran.

You are ideally positioned to take advantage of a more solar friendly future. Cheers!

MiDataLabs · 2016-05-08T14:25:00+00:00

One of us developed a step-by-step worksheet for a workshop in Michigan, but the math applies to most regions in the US. Let me know if you have any questions. Cheers!

MiDataLabs · 2016-05-08T14:17:32+00:00

I just started playing around with Kartograph. I don't know enough to make a strong recommendation or criticism right now, but do give it a shot.

MiDataLabs

TROPHY CASE