Energy Data base

Background and Explanation:

The Ministry of National Infrastructures has led a revolution in comprehending the statistical information in the field of energy, and in the manner of collaborating with the National Bureau of Statistics. This revolution marks a major landmark in cooperation among governmental bodies for the sake of transparency of information for both the public and the business community.

There is a wealth of varied statistical information available in the field of energy, collected by many different entities – the Ministry of National Infrastructures, the National Bureau of Statistics, the Israel Electric Corporation, the refineries, and many others.

The Ministry of National Infrastructures has specified the requirements for a national information system on energy, to collate most of the available information in the field on one website that is both accessible to the public and user-friendly. It has funded the project, and is continuously overseeing its implementation.

The project is taking place primarily in the Planning and Economics Department of the Ministry. For details and questions, please call 02-500-6789 or 02-500-6760 during regular working hours.

The Areas of Information Collected by the System:

1. The energy balance of Israel in physical units (tons and kWh) and units of energy (equivalent to a ton of fuel), including import and export of energy products, oil refining, and final consumption.
2. The costs of energy products: electricity rates, and surveys of fuel and LPG costs.
3. Fuel taxes.
4. A selection of energy data standardized in different ways, as final energy consumption per person.
5. Dozens of graphs for different fields within the energy market; the user may define the time frame.
6. A calculator that converts energy units among products.
7. Segmentation of energy use by branch.
8. An international comparison vis-à-vis the energy data for Israel. The international data are obtained with a two-year delay, and are based on the publications of the IEA, the International Energy Agency.
9. NEW – Investments in energy infrastructures by the following divisions: electricity, refining and infrastructures, drilling, exploration for fuel and gas.
10. NEW – Segmentation of energy consumption by branch of the economy.

The Principles of the System, its Innovation and Contribution:

1. Availability of information from anywhere in the world through the internet, at all times. Energy balances of the Ministry of National Infrastructures were in the past published in books and reports, and their availability was limited, both for the public and the governmental sectors.
2. The new system enables a quick examination of statistical trends over time, from 1970 onwards, with no need to enter data from various sources.
3. The information is available to everyone, free of charge, with no need for installations or licenses, and with no ancillary costs.
4. A friendly user interface, in Hebrew and in English.
5. There is a particularly convenient way to download series of data to the computer screen or into Excel files – this is a great help to statistical researchers in public, academic and business settings.
6. Instant access to yearly average data and yearly summaries.
7. Colorful graphs using set parameters in the field of energy, in which it is possible to choose time frames, which are meant to speed up the process of conveying the necessary information to decision-makers in both the governmental and business sectors.