Trace an energy transition
If an energy mix were a playlist, which tracks would grow louder?
25-40 minutes
Start with these sources
Your first move: Open Our World in Data’s Energy Mix page and choose electricity generation for one country.
Without AI
- Select three years with comparable data and record each electricity source’s share.
- Make a playlist card for each year; let each energy source be a track with its percentage as the length label.
- Compare the cards and add a note explaining why this electricity playlist does not describe all energy use.
With GenAI
Bring your own AI tool and the source material. This atlas does not send your data anywhere or run an AI model.
- Supply the three-year table and metadata, asking AI to suggest track names that preserve the real categories.
- Ask AI to draft captions that describe changes without attributing causes that the data cannot show.
- Check the shares and units yourself; mark unreported categories and revise any misleading music metaphor.
A prompt to make your own
Using only the electricity-generation shares and metadata below, draft three dated energy-playlist cards. Keep the original source categories visible beside any playful track names. Cite source URLs and years for every numerical claim. Mark missing categories or years explicitly; never fabricate numbers or force incomplete shares to sum to 100. Explain that electricity is not total energy. Describe changes but do not invent their causes. Supplied shares and metadata: [Paste here.]
Make something: A three-year energy playlist with source shares, definitions, and one open question.
Keep your footing
- Electricity generation differs from primary energy and final energy use.
- Check whether categories overlap before adding shares.
- A percentage can change even while the underlying amount rises.
Why follow this question?
Why this is interesting
A playlist makes composition tangible: one source can dominate while others enter, fade, or remain steady. The metaphor works best when the original category names and units stay in view. A playful label should never hide what was measured.
The Energy Mix page is a useful entrance because it places related energy measures near one another. That proximity also creates a puzzle: the word “energy” can cover different systems. Your cards become more useful when they explain their boundary.
Follow another thread
Look for a related energy table in UNdata and compare its unit and reporting year with your playlist. If the measures differ, leave them beside each other with an explanation rather than combining them. Another extension is to ask what information you would need to understand why a particular source gained ground.
Go a little further
Make a second playlist for a country with a different mix and compare the questions each raises.