{
  "reviewed_on": "2026-09-21",
  "review_due": "2026-12-21",
  "update_policy": "Manually reviewed snapshot. Review quarterly or when a source publishes a new edition; values do not update automatically.",
  "metrics": [
    {
      "id": "electricity", "category": "Energy", "title": "Electricity generated", "scope": "World", "period": "2025",
      "value": 31772.35, "display": "31,772", "unit": "TWh", "qualifier": "Annual generation",
      "trend": "More output", "tone": "neutral", "comparison_kind": "calculated_yoy", "previous_value": 30930.23, "previous_period": "2024", "change_label": "+2.7% from 2024",
      "interpretation": "More electricity was generated. The total alone does not establish cleaner energy, universal access, or dependable delivery.",
      "definition": "World electricity_generation series in the OWID energy dataset; annual electrical output, not primary energy or installed nameplate capacity.",
      "limitation": "Generation includes energy later lost or used within the energy system. It is not a measure of useful work delivered to homes and businesses, and must not be substituted into the primary-energy baseline above.",
      "source_name": "Our World in Data, Energy dataset", "source_url": "https://github.com/owid/energy-data", "data_url": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/owid/energy-data/master/owid-energy-data.csv",
      "source_evidence": "World electricity_generation: 2023 = 29665.340; 2024 = 30930.230; 2025 = 31772.350 TWh, retrieved 2026-09-21.",
      "history": [{"period":"2023","value":29665.34},{"period":"2024","value":30930.23},{"period":"2025","value":31772.35}],
      "next_step": "Pair new output with emissions, curtailment and reliability measures."
    },
    {
      "id": "access", "category": "Access", "title": "People without electricity", "scope": "World", "period": "2024",
      "value": 655, "display": "655", "unit": "million", "qualifier": "People still unserved",
      "trend": "Access rate stalled", "tone": "attention", "comparison_kind": "source_reported", "previous_value": null, "previous_period": null, "change_label": "Global access rate stagnated at 92%",
      "interpretation": "The access gap remains large. The 2026 report describes a plateau in the global access rate, despite gains in some regions.",
      "definition": "People lacking basic electricity access, as reported in Tracking SDG 7: The Energy Progress Report 2026, for 2024.",
      "limitation": "A connection does not establish reliable service or affordability. No numeric year-over-year change is inferred by subtracting totals from different report editions, which may revise history.",
      "source_name": "World Bank and SDG 7 partner agencies, 2026 report", "source_url": "https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2026/06/16/accelerating-universal-energy-access",
      "source_evidence": "The 2026 release reports 655 million without electricity and describes the 2024 global access rate as stagnant at 92%.",
      "history": [], "next_step": "Track affordable, reliable connections, especially in underserved regions."
    },
    {
      "id": "emissions", "category": "Climate", "title": "Energy-related CO₂", "scope": "World", "period": "2025",
      "value": 38.4, "display": "≈38.4", "unit": "Gt CO₂", "qualifier": "Annual emissions",
      "trend": "Still rising", "tone": "attention", "comparison_kind": "source_reported", "previous_value": null, "previous_period": "2024", "change_label": "Around +0.4% in 2025, reported by IEA",
      "interpretation": "Emissions grew more slowly, but still reached a new high. Slower growth is not an absolute reduction.",
      "definition": "IEA's headline global energy-related CO₂ total, including fuel combustion, industrial processes and fugitive flaring.",
      "limitation": "Not all greenhouse gases or all human-caused emissions. The growth rate comes from the same 2026 report; it is not calculated against the older 2025 report's unrevised total.",
      "source_name": "IEA, Global Energy Review 2026", "source_url": "https://www.iea.org/reports/global-energy-review-2026/co2-emissions",
      "source_evidence": "The report gives nearly 38.4 Gt in 2025, about 145 Mt higher than 2024, and growth around 0.4%.",
      "history": [], "next_step": "Measure absolute emissions alongside low-emission generation."
    },
    {
      "id": "connections", "category": "Grid delivery", "title": "Time to grid connection", "scope": "United States", "period": "Built in 2025",
      "value": 5, "display": ">5", "unit": "years", "qualifier": "Median request-to-operation time",
      "trend": "Getting longer", "tone": "attention", "comparison_kind": "source_reported", "previous_value": null, "previous_period": null, "change_label": "Increasing duration, reported by Berkeley Lab",
      "interpretation": "Projects that reach operation face long waits. A shrinking queue alone is not proof that connection has become faster.",
      "definition": "Median time from interconnection request to commercial operation for projects built in 2025, in regions with available data in Queued Up 2026.",
      "limitation": "A US completed-project cohort, not a global average or the expected wait for a new application. Withdrawn and still-active projects are not in this completion-time median; no exact year-over-year delta is claimed.",
      "source_name": "Berkeley Lab and GridTracker, Queued Up 2026", "source_url": "https://emp.lbl.gov/queues",
      "source_evidence": "The 2026 summary says the time to commercial operations is increasing and the median exceeded five years for projects built in 2025 where data are available.",
      "history": [], "next_step": "Separate study, equipment, permitting and construction delays."
    },
    {
      "id": "reliability", "category": "Reliability", "title": "Time without power", "scope": "United States", "period": "2024",
      "value": 11, "display": "≈11", "unit": "hours", "qualifier": "Annual interruptions per customer",
      "trend": "Above historical norm", "tone": "attention", "comparison_kind": "historical_benchmark", "previous_value": null, "previous_period": "2014–2023 average", "change_label": "Nearly 2× the prior decade's annual average",
      "interpretation": "Major events accounted for 80% of interruption hours in 2024. Resilience to extreme weather matters alongside routine service reliability.",
      "definition": "EIA's average non-momentary interruption duration per US electricity customer, including major events, from Electric Power Annual 2024.",
      "limitation": "Compared with the 2014–2023 average, not just 2023. Major events dominate variation; this is not a weather-normalized trend or a worldwide reliability score.",
      "source_name": "EIA, Electric Power Annual 2024 / December 2025 analysis", "source_url": "https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=66744",
      "source_evidence": "EIA reports an average of 11 hours in 2024, nearly twice the preceding decade's annual average; major events account for 80%.",
      "history": [], "next_step": "Publish both all-event and normal-weather reliability measures."
    },
    {
      "id": "price", "category": "Cost proxy", "title": "Residential electricity price", "scope": "United States", "period": "2025 preliminary",
      "value": 17.30, "display": "17.30", "unit": "¢/kWh", "qualifier": "Nominal annual average",
      "trend": "Higher nominal price", "tone": "attention", "comparison_kind": "calculated_yoy", "previous_value": 16.48, "previous_period": "2024", "change_label": "+5.0% versus 2024's annual figure",
      "interpretation": "The nominal unit price increased. This is a price indicator, not a direct measure of household energy affordability.",
      "definition": "EIA's US residential annual average retail electricity price: 17.30 cents/kWh in the preliminary 2025 series, versus 16.48 in the 2024 annual table.",
      "limitation": "2025 is preliminary and may be revised. Not inflation-adjusted; bills also depend on usage, and affordability depends on income and other costs. This is not a global energy-burden measure.",
      "source_name": "EIA, Energy Explained and Electric Power Annual table 2.4", "source_url": "https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/electricity/prices-and-factors-affecting-prices.php", "comparison_source_url": "https://www.eia.gov/electricity/annual/table.php?t=epa_02_04.html",
      "source_evidence": "Energy Explained cites 2025 residential 17.30 cents/kWh from February 2026 preliminary data; annual table 2.4 reports 16.48 for 2024.",
      "history": [], "next_step": "Add household energy burden and inflation-adjusted prices before judging affordability."
    }
  ]
}