'Big' and Linked Data in Energy and Water Demand Research: Current Practices, Novel Insights and Future Agendas

Dear Colleagues,

As in many other fields, energy and water demand researchers are starting to make use of ‘big’ and ‘linked’ data to address challenges critical to the sustainability of human society on our planet. This Special Issue is looking for papers that review or present state-of-the-art big and linked data practices, novel and actionable insights from the use of such data and grounded, review-based agendas for future research. All papers, but especially the latter, should include nuanced discussions of conceptual and practical definitions of ‘big’ and/or ‘linked’ data and also situate themselves in ongoing discussions of the benefits, disadvantages, limitations and appropriate granularities of such data. 

Papers may cover any aspect of:

• Big & linked data collection, sampling, processing, cleaning, bias, consent and ethics in energy & water demand research;
• Novel big & linked data research practices aimed at embedding open research, reproducibility, data sharing and data re-use in energy & water demand research;
• Conceptual and practical aspects of linking ‘big’ transactional data with ‘small’ qualitative data to deepen and contextualise insights in energy & water demand research;
• Novel analysis methods that use big and linked data at appropriate scales to address challenging energy & water demand research questions;
• New insights for net-Zero energy & water demand strategies and policies based on empirical research with big & linked data; and,
• Case studies of the commercial and/or practical application of these methods to key challenges in the energy and water sectors.

Papers that take a post-disciplinary approach to interweave different forms of knowing and interpreting are especially welcome.

Dr. Ben Anderson
Dr. Thomas Rushby
Prof. Dr. Patrick James
Prof. Dr. AbuBakr S. Bahaj
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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