Digital Government Strategy Updates at Department of Energy: Robert Brese, CIO

Recently, Robert Brese, Chief Information Officer at the Department of Energy shared some updates on the Digital Government Strategy at the Department of Energy on the cio.gov blog. Brese states, “As part of the Digital Strategy, the Department of Energy is making more high-value data sets available through Application Program Interfaces (APIs) – helping programmers develop new opportunities, services and products for citizens. Additionally, these data sets and APIs are now housed on cloud-based servers, helping us to provide easy, scalable access to the public.”

Brese believes that moving the data sets to the cloud is an important step for the Department of Energy. By moving to the cloud, the DOE is able to share critical data sets more efficiently and easily with the public, and specifically with developers looking to develop mobile apps on the data, or develop new, innovative ways for people to consume information. In his post, Brese identifies several new data sets that have been moved to the cloud:

• The underlying data behind the Alternative Fueling Station Locator, which provides location-based alternative fuel station data for biodiesel, natural gas, propane, electric, hydrogen and ethanol.
• The DOE Green Energy API, offering data from research and development conducted by the Energy Department’s National Laboratories as well as university projects supported by the Department. The website provides two data sets on renewable energy and energy efficiency technical reports and patents.
• The Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Electricity API provides over 500,000 data points on generation, fuel quality, fuel consumption, and retail sales by generation plant and by state.

The Department of Energy is a great case study showing how agencies are complying with the Digital Government Strategy. The Department of Energy website states:

New expectations require the Federal Government to be ready to deliver and receive digital information and services anytime, anywhere and on any device. It must do so safely, securely, and with fewer resources. To build for the future, the Federal Government has developed a Digital Strategy that embraces the opportunity to innovate more with less, and enables entrepreneurs to better leverage government data to improve the quality of services to the American people.

If you have not checked out our infographic on the Digital Government Strategy, be sure to take a look. It gives a nice visual to some of the benchmarks that agencies need to hit for the digital government strategy.

As 2012 quickly (and amazingly) comes to a close, be sure to keep an on GovLoop. Over the next month we will be releasing a guide as a year in review of government technology, an infographic, and I’ll be writing some year end posts highlighting the year and resources you can find on GovLoop.

A lot has happen this year – and a lot for the government community to be proud of and build on in 2013. Stay tuned!

This post is brought to you by the GovLoop Technology Solutions Council. The mission of this council is to provide you with information and resources to help improve government. Visit the GovLoop Technology Solutions Council to learn more.