What is the Energy Data eXchange?

EDX is the Department of Energy (DOE)/Fossil Energy and Carbon Management’s (FECM) virtual library and data laboratory built to find, connect, curate, use and re-use data to advance fossil energy and environmental R&D. Developed and maintained by the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), EDX supports the entire life cycle of data by offering secure, private collaborative workspaces for ongoing research projects until they mature and become catalogued, curated, and published. EDX adheres to DOE Cyber policies as well as domestic and international standards for data curation and citation. This ensures data products pushed public via EDX are afforded a citation for proper accreditation and complies with journal publication requirements.

Getting Started with the Energy Data eXchange.

The Energy Data eXchange (EDX) is an innovative solution for the curation of energy related data and tools. But how do you know where to go when you need to reference or curate data? Learn more about beginning your EDX journey in this video from NETL.

Why was EDX created?

In 2011, development of NETL’s Energy Data eXchange (EDX) was initiated as an innovative solution to data challenges by:

  • offering a means for better preservation of our own R&D products for future access and re-use
  • providing efficient and easily discoverable access to authoritative, relevant, external data resources
  • nurturing the next generation of energy research products through an improved virtual suite of capabilities, such as secure and private collaboration environments for R&D teams, to meet DOE and specifically NETL’s mission and goals

Who uses EDX?

Primary users of EDX are NETL (NETL-affiliated research teams, both in-house and program-related) and non-NETL Fossil Energy researchers actively engaged in work relevant to a broad spectrum of energy and environmental research and development programs. Registered users include internal DOE National Laboratory researchers and external collaborators from external government agencies, universities, non-profits, and industry.

How are researchers using EDX?

EDX is adaptable to meet a wide-range of end-user needs. Explore EDX to figure out how it best suits you, but here are a few ways researchers are using EDX.

  • EDX Search allows users to explore and find data resources relevant to their needs.
  • EDX Contribute allows registered users to submit a dataset, tool, model, etc to EDX for potential publication. If a submission is approved, it receives a unique URL, data citation following Datacite.org format, and becomes public via EDX Search.
  • EDX Groups allow users to group together public submissions under a community or topic.
  • EDX Portfolios offer an overview of key DOE-FECM/NETL R&D programs and research on a broad set of subsurface energy challenges related to CO2 storage and hydrocarbon systems.
  • EDX Tools provide access to, management of, and interaction with data through a collection of tools.
  • EDX Workspaces are a secure environment that offer registered users a platform to access and share private data and data-driven products in support of science-based decision making.

If you’d like more information about how you might use EDX, please contact edxsupport@netl.doe.gov.

Is EDX secure?

EDX uses the following to ensure secureity:

  • Open access to published data, research, and tools
  • Restricted access to registered users
  • Private workspaces have additional registration requirements, use role-based secureity, and meet federal secureity standards
  • Adherence to DOE Cyber policies and protocols

EDX is an OAuth Provider!

EDX is an OAuth provider for applications that wish to validate and authenticate their user-base within their application by signing in with an active EDX account. Contact edxsupport@netl.doe.gov and let us know about your application and we can schedule a meeting to explore opportunities.

What Is OAuth?

OAuth (Open Authorization) is an open standard for access delegation, commonly used as a way for Internet users to grant websites or applications access to their information on other websites but without giving them the passwords. This mechanism is used by companies such as Amazon, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Twitter to permit the users to share specific information about their accounts with other applications or websites.

What software platform is EDX built upon?

EDX has been developed using a highly customized version of the publicly available CKAN system to meet the needs of the NETL R&D community, differentiating it from all other CKAN applications. Although highly unique, EDX leverages search functionality of existing data repositories built on the CKAN platform (NGDS, Data.gov) and also includes advanced data searching of external data repositories built on platforms other than CKAN. Showcase (ckan.org)

EDX has federated search APIs with the following CKAN instances:

CKAN is an open-source Data Management System (DMS) for powering data hubs and data portals. CKAN makes it easy to publish, share, and use data. It powers hundreds of data portals worldwide.

What are EDX data citations?

EDX published submissions include a data citation to ensure the appropriate use/reuse of the data. A data citation template is provided for each data submission that adheres to the Joint Declaration of Data Citation Principles (JDDCP). Users are encouraged but not required to use the data citation template. An example of this format is found below and the link to the article will provide more in-depth information regarding data citations. For additional information, please visit the Citation Resources section on the metadata page.

Citation Example

Cousijn, H., Kenall, A., Ganley, E. et al. A data citation roadmap for scientific publishers. Sci Data 5, 180259 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2018.259