Definitions & Terminology
Understand what qualifies as energy data, its classifications, main energy types (total, electricity, heat), energy flow type, and renewability.
This article introduces the conceptual foundation of the Energy dataset. It explains what “energy” means in corporate sustainability reporting and how it is classified. It serves as an entry point for understanding the key ideas that shape energy accounting and reporting across industries and regulations.
What Energy Means
Every organization depends on energy to operate: to power buildings, produce goods, transport materials, support digital infrastructure and so on.
In scientific terms, energy is the capacity to do work: it enables movement, heating, lighting, and every form of activity in the physical world. In sustainability reporting, it represents the total amount of energy a company consumes, produces, purchases or distributes over a specific period, typically one fiscal year.
Yet, energy is more than an environmental metric; it is the backbone of the global economy. Virtually every economic activity is an act of energy transformation. The correlation between global energy consumption and GDP has historically been close to one, reflecting how deeply energy flows shape productivity, industrial output, and societal development.
Understanding energy data, therefore, isn’t only about environmental responsibility; it’s about grasping the material basis of economic growth. By tracking how organizations consume and produce energy, we gain insight into both their climate impact and their role in the broader economic system.
What is Energy Data
Energy data captures a company’s quantitative information about how it uses and manages energy: including consumption, production, purchases, exports, reserves, and production capacities.
By tracking this data, companies, investors, and regulators can:
Assess how resource-intensive operations are,
Evaluate efficiency and reduction efforts,
Measure dependence on renewable versus fossil energy sources,
Connect energy use directly to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and broader climate impacts, and
Understand how energy consumption underpins economic activity and productivity across industries.
Energy data, therefore, provides the foundation for climate performance analysis. It connects what companies do (their activities) to their environmental footprint.
How Energy Is Classified
Corporate energy reporting doesn’t just measure how much energy is used: it explains what kind of energy, where it came from, and how it was used. This conceptual structure reflects the principles of energy accounting and the logic behind international frameworks such as the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, GRI 302: Energy, and ISO 50001.
Energy data is classified along five core dimensions:
Energy Type
What kind of energy is it?
The physical form — e.g., electricity, heat, fuel
Energy Inflow
Where does the energy come from?
Whether it is produced internally or purchased externally
Energy Outflow
How is the energy used or distributed?
Whether it is consumed, sold, or stored
Energy Renewability
What is the nature of the source?
Whether it is renewable, non-renewable, or a mix of both
Energy Source or Technology
How or from what is the energy generated/produced?
The underlying source, such as solar, natural gas, or coal
Each dimension adds a layer of context, allowing analysts to understand not just how much energy a company uses, but what kind of energy system it operates.
Energy Dimensions in Detail
Energy Type: The Form of Energy
Energy can take many forms, and distinguishing between them helps clarify what part of a company’s operations is being measured. Common energy types include:
Electricity - Electrical power used in buildings, machinery, or data centers.
Heat - Thermal energy used for heating or industrial processes (e.g., district heating steam, chilled water).
Raw resources - Primary energy sources such as fuel, natural gas, or other physical resources that can consumed directly.
Example: A cement manufacturer may consume 200 GJ of electricity and 500 GJ of district heating. Here, electricity and heat represent two different energy types, both contributing to the company’s total energy use.
Energy Inflow: Where Energy Comes From
Energy enters a company’s system in two main ways:
Purchased Energy - Bought from external suppliers (e.g., electricity from the grid).
Produced Energy - Generated internally by the company (e.g., solar power, cogeneration).
Understanding inflows helps evaluate energy dependence and autonomy. For instance, whether a company relies heavily on the public grid or generates its own energy on-site.
Example: A logistics company purchases 10,000 MWh of grid electricity and produces 2,000 MWh from rooftop solar panels.
Energy Outflow: Where Energy Goes
Outflow tracks what happens to energy once it enters the organization: how it is used, sold, or stored.
Consumption/Use - Energy used in operations (e.g., to power offices).
Sold/Exported - Energy delivered to third parties (e.g., excess solar power sold to the grid).
Reserves/Storage - Energy stored for later use (e.g., batteries, fuel tanks).
Example: An industrial plant generates 100 MWh of electricity, consumes 90 MWh, and sells 10 MWh. The inflow (100 MWh produced) equals the outflow (90 + 10 MWh).
Energy Production Capacities
In addition to tracking actual energy flows, Tracenable also captures energy production capacities: the maximum potential output their energy systems can deliver. Production capacity represents how much energy infrastructure (e.g., power plants, solar farms, cogeneration units) could theoretically produce if operated at full load.
It is typically expressed as installed capacity, often measured in megawatts (MW) for electricity or gigajoules per hour (GJ/h) for thermal systems.
Unlike inflows and outflows, production capacity does not reflect actual energy produced or consumed, but rather the capability of a company’s assets. It helps analysts understand the scale and potential of a company’s energy generation systems — for example, comparing renewable versus non-renewable installed capacities across years.
Energy Renewability: The Nature of the Energy Source
Not all energy is created equal. This dimension captures whether the source is renewable, non-renewable, or a mix of both.
Renewable – Renewable energy comes from sources that naturally replenish on a human timescale, such as solar, wind, hydropower, geothermal, and bioenergy.
Non-Renewable – Non-renewable energy is derived from finite fossil fuel resources, including coal, oil, and natural gas.
This classification is essential for understanding a company’s transition to cleaner energy systems.
Sources and Technologies — How Energy Is Generated
This dimension identifies how and from what energy is generated, providing the most granular level of detail for analysis and reporting. It combines two complementary aspects:
Energy Sources - The natural resources from which energy originates, such as biofuels, biomass, biogas, coal, crude oil, natural gas, or uranium. These can be renewable or non-renewable depending on their regeneration potential and environmental impact.
Energy Technologies - The systems or methods used to generate, harness, or utilize energy, such as solar photovoltaic, wind turbines, hydropower, geothermal systems, nuclear plants, cogeneration units, fuel cells, or waste heat recovery systems.
This allows for rich analytical insights, such as comparing the share of wind energy versus fossil fuel energy within total consumption.