1. Chapter 8 – Energy Balances
Leonardo Souza
United Nations Statistics Division
The 4th meeting of the Oslo Group on energy statistics
Ottawa, Canada, 2-6 February 2009

2. General Indicative brief outline of Chapter 8
Detailed annotated outline to be developed after OG4.
Envisaged that Chapter will be based on:
the UN technical report “Concepts and Methods in Energy Statistics, with special reference to energy accounts and balances” (1982); and
“Energy Statistics Manual” by IEA/OECD and Eurostat.
It will focus on the general concepts and principles relevant to energy balances.
More technical issues of balances compilation and details on good practices in the compilation of energy balances will be provided in the ESCM.
OG invited to provide comments on the suggested structure and coverage of the chapter.

3. Structure Concept and the general format of energy balances
B. Principles of energy balances compilation

4. A. Concept and the general format of energy balance
General differences between
commodity balances
energy balances
[Specifics of reformatting in Section B]
Description on top-down and bottom-up approaches:
Is it relevant to include it in this chapter?

5. B. Principles of energy balances compilation
Steps from individual commodity balances to overall energy balances
Conversion of individual fuel data to common energy units
Balances reformatting
Columns: products or group of products
Rows: flows, which may need to be rearranged (e.g., production of secondary-energy products)
Sign changes in the transformation sectors
Different ways in which an overall energy balance can be displayed.
Recommendations on the various forms of presentation

6. B. Principles of energy balances compilation
Setting an energy value to production of primary energy.
How to define the form of primary energy in the energy balance [also affected by discussion on definition and classification of primary and secondary energy products]*?
Principles for assigning energy value to primary energy production
partial substitution method
physical energy content
* Area where we have to be very careful, as only deviations from a rigid definition and classification will allow flexible (and meaningful) balance formats that respect the rule that only production of primary energy should come in the row allocated to it (usually the first one)

7. Primary energy in balances
What currently happens is that countries and organizations have exceptions to a similar definition of primary energy
In order to allow flexibility in their balance formats
In other words, they all have a statistical definition of primary energy, roughly meaning:
Primary energy = energy entering my statistical measurement system for the first time.

8. Ex: F.29 recommendations
“Primary energy should be used to designate those sources that only involve extraction or capture, with or without separation from contiguous material, cleaning or grading, before the energy embodied in that source can be converted into heat or mechanical work (para. 29; see also (16) below).”
“The primary energy input to hydroelectricity should be defined as the energy value of the electricity itself. (…)”
(16)“The primary energy corresponding to the so-called renewable sources of energy should be defined as follows and applied to the output of the first stage in an energy-capturing process that yields a measurable output of heat, electrical or mechanical energy: (…)”