Using graphs to investigate the UK’s energy mix

There are many ways to present data in geography, from well-known techniques such as bar charts and pie charts to more complex tools, such as proportional circles and isoline graphs. As a GCSE geographer you need the skills to interpret and analyse a range of graphs and charts as well as being able to suggest why they are fit for purpose.

This article will focus on graphs showing the energy mix in the UK in the form of a pie chart, divided bar chart and stacked area graph. The data in this article are all from 8:40 p.m. on Monday, 14 March 2022. If you visit www.energydashboard.co.uk you will be able to see live data that you can compare with the data for March 2022.

The pie chart shows the energy consumed in the UK on 14 March 2022, and that 237 grams of carbon dioxide were produced per kilowatt hour of electrity (gCO2/kWh). Using the key below Figure 3 you can see that most energy (48%) was generated by natural gas, a fossil fuel, and only 29.3% was generated by renewable energy sources (e.g. wind power). The advantages of a pie chart are that it is quick to create using Microsoft Excel, and easy to visually compare the different energy sources. However, it does not show how energy generation and use change over time.