Historical energy statistics compiled from multiple sources enable fossil fuel CO2 emission estimates back to 1751. The dataset synthesizes production and trade data for coal, brown coal, peat, and crude oil, processed using established methods from Marland and Rotty (1984). It was created by Dennis Gilfillan of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, with post-1950 data primarily sourced from United Nations energy statistics.
Use Cases
- Modeling long-term national carbon emission trajectories based on historical energy production data.
- Analyzing the evolution of global and regional fossil fuel use patterns over a 263-year period.
- Benchmarking climate policy scenarios against historical emission baselines derived from U.N. and USGS statistics.
Strengths
- Covers a 263-year time span from 1751 to 2014.
- Integrates data from multiple authoritative historical compilations and U.N. statistics.
- Includes emissions from cement production and gas flaring, derived from USGS and Department of Energy sources.
Limitations
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
- Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.
- Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
Provenance
- Source
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Dennis Gilfillan).
- Collection Method
- Digitized historical energy statistics from Etemad et al. (1991) and Mitchell compilations, combined with post-1950 U.N. data, processed using methods from Marland and Rotty (1984).
- Time Range
- 1751 - 2014
- Geography
- Global, regional, and national coverage.