Linked Open Data (LOD) is a growing trend amongst governments and civil society organisations who understand that the internet now makes the entire storehouse of human knowledge available to anyone, anywhere, through access via computer or mobile device.  To reflect this new reality, many organisations are taking their existing data sets – many of which are in principle in the public domain already – and making them freely available for use and re-use by anyone.

REEEP is spearheading this movement as a critical factor for boosting clean energy development. The new book and the workshop answer many questions about what this means for an organisation’s strategy and what actually needs to be done at the technical level to make existing data available in machine-readable and standardised formats. REEEP’s clean energy portal (www.reegle.info), NREL's (National Renewable Energy Laboratory, USA) Open Energy Information portal (en.openei.org), and legislation.gov.uk are highlighted as best practice examples that already draw content from many data sources – and freely provide data to others.

“With the book and the workshop, we’re aiming to assist organisations in taking the first steps in opening up their data sets,” notes Florian Bauer, the book’s co-author and director of the web portal reegle.info. “The reegle.info website already draws from a dozen different sources to create our Country Energy Profiles, which make all key energy statistics and information for a given country available in a single easy-to-digest dossier. At this workshop we’re trying to broker face-to-face contact between data users and providers in the clean energy and climate arenas to duplicate this kind of achievement across the board.”

“This is a prime example of the kind of tipping point intervention REEEP likes to undertake,” says Martin Hiller, Director General of REEEP. “Something as simple as a quick-start guidebook can mean that many organisations get inspired to open up their data, providing a massive boost for clean energy.”