Mapping the Inflation Reduction Act

An example of how you can quickly gain insights into a topic by mapping a public data set in Kumu

The Inflation Reduction Act is the biggest investment in clean energy and climate solutions in American history. It contains $500 billion in new spending and tax breaks that aim to boost clean energy, reduce healthcare costs, and increase tax revenues. So where is all that money going?

We came across this spreadsheet of all the programs that are being funded, and we thought that it would make for a great Kumu map! The result:

IRA Map

How to use this map

• Each colored element is a program or an item receiving funding, indicated in the legend
• Each colored element is sized by how much funding they are getting
• Bolded labels are the relevant Federal Agency. They are sized by the cumulative amounts of items in the IRA for that particular agency
• Unbolded labels are the primary topics of each item. They are sized by the cumulative amounts of items in the IRA for that particular primary topic
• The controls in the top-left corner allow you to zoom in more closely to the data that you’d like to analyze
• Clicking on any element opens a profile that allows you to see more information about that specific item

Sensemaking

The visualization makes it easier to make sense of the IRA data, because we can now quickly see:

• Which federal agency or primary topic each item is connected to
• Which agencies are receiving the most funding (e.g. Environmental Protection, Agriculture, Energy)
• Which topics are receiving the most funding (e.g. Technology & Infrastructure)

The Department of Energy (Federal Agency) and Technology/Infrastructure (Primary Topic) are receiving the most funding compared to other items.

How we built this map

Believe it or not. This map was created in less than an hour!

Here’s how we did it:

1. Adjust the spreadsheet for importing into Kumu
2. Set “Color by” to “Sector” and change the color scheme to accommodate for more color-options
3. Cluster elements by “Federal Agency” and by “Primary Topic”
4. Set “Size by” to “Total Program Value”
5. Add Controls for each of these three options
6. We added a list widget to the map description, for a quick list overview

And that was it! You can visit the IRA map here.

Curious what other public data sets can be used for visualization in Kumu? The options are endless! Get started now on kumu.io.