ABSTRACT
In this chapter we address the epistemological challenge posed by the analysis of energy flows at the level of the whole society. Nowhere is this challenge more evident than in the generation of national energy statistics. We will pinpoint important discrepancies in existing national datasets of energy statistics made available to and widely used by the public. We specifically focus on electricity (section 3.1), which is an energy input of exceptionally high quality and demands the use of specific conversion factors when accounting for its production from a given mix of primary energy sources.
